With a career spanning over three decades, The Woggles have become a cornerstone of the garage rock scene. Their latest album, ‘Time Has Come,’ showcases a captivating blend of rock and roll exuberance, featuring standout tracks that pay homage to their musical influences while carving out their signature sound.

Fronted by a charismatic and engaging lead vocalist, the band’s live performances are electrifying, marked by their high-energy stage presence and tight-knit musicianship. The Woggles continue to tour tirelessly around the globe. The band now feature a two-guitar attack with Graham Day (The Prisoners, Solar Flares, Thee Mighty Caesars) and Shane Pringle (Tiger! Tiger!, Bad Spell) on the 6 strings with Shane occasionally doubling up on saxophone! “The band is not as much an institution as a way of life,” says frontman “The Professor” Mighty Manfred. “The main thing is to keep swimming, cause the shark has got to keep moving.” The Woggles continue to feature the sock-it-to-them rhythm section of bassist Buzz Hagstrom and drummer Dan Eletxro, both also sometime members of savage English rockers Graham Day & The Gaolers. “Alan Freed once said that ‘Rock and roll is a river of music that has absorbed many streams,’” quotes Manfred. “The Woggles drink from its many tributaries, from early rock and roll and R&B to ’60s garage rock, British Invasion, ’60s soul and forward.”

“We keep replacing members that die.”

Can you discuss the main inspiration behind ‘Time Has Come’? Are there any overarching themes or messages you aimed to convey through this album?

Manfred Jones (aka The Mighty Manfred): In 2003, we lost our guitarist George Montague Holton III. He passed away from a bladder infection that had made its way to his heart. Our longtime producer, Jeff Walls, aka Flesh Hammer, asked to take his place, and knowing he’d be a perfect fit, we accepted him into the Woggles family. Jeff went on to play with us for 16 years, the longest of any lead guitarist in the band. Jeff, in turn, passed away in 2019 from pancreatic cancer.

When we began working on the new album, we weren’t certain who Jeff’s replacement would ultimately be, and we conceived of the album, or project, as one that would feature many of our guitarist pals. Then along came the pandemic, and things didn’t pan out exactly as we had planned. Ultimately though, it did feature a number of contributors, including our label head, Little Steven; Graham Day (The Prisoners); Peter Greenberg (Barrence Whitfield & The Savages); Greg Cartwright (Reigning Sound); and Pat Beers (The Schizophonics).

How has your sound evolved in ‘Time Has Come’ compared to your previous album, ‘Tally Ho!’? Were there any new musical directions or experiments you pursued in this record?

I don’t believe there was as much evolution of sound as the spontaneous generation of songs. The music and instrumentation were directed by or followed the needs of the songs. Several, but not all, of the guest guitarists contributed songs. I suppose in a sense we were experimenting with outside writers, but those writers share a similar perspective on the Woggles’ musical worldview.

Can you walk us through your songwriting process for this album? Did you approach it differently than your previous works?

As I mentioned, we had various guest guitarists, and some of them contributed songs. Otherwise, the band members wrote tunes. One consistent strength of the Woggles is that all the members write and contribute songs and song ideas.

You have contributions from artists like Little Steven, Greg Cartwright, and Peter Greenberg. How did these collaborations come about, and what impact did they have on the album?

All these individuals were solicited, given that there was no official lead guitarist in the band right after Jeff’s passing. They had all, at some time, expressed the desire to play with the Woggles if an opportunity should arise. We gave them that opportunity.

This album prominently features the twin guitar attack of Graham Day and Shane Pringle. How did this dynamic influence the overall sound and energy of the album?

Originally, when the band formed in 1987, there were two guitarists, and that was the case for about 7-8 years. Jeff Walls was an amazing guitarist, but going forward we wanted to explore the two-guitar lineup again. Shane started playing with us as a fill-in for Jeff when we were under the impression that Jeff’s condition required a double lung transplant. Those initial gigs with Shane were intended to raise funds for Jeff’s medical expenses but ultimately became memorial shows. Graham had asked years ago if there was ever an opening; he’d love to be our main guitarist. The fall after Jeff’s passing, we did shows with him in Europe. He was on board with writing and recording a couple of songs for the Woggles, and Shane played rhythm on those. The chemistry between them clicked, and by the end of the project, we had our two main guitarists.

Are there any tracks on ‘Time Has Come’ that hold special significance for you personally? Can you share the story behind one or two of these tracks?

The opening track, ‘Flesh Hammer,’ is a tribute song to Jeff, written by Pat Beers of the Schizophonics. The last tour we did with Jeff was on the West Coast of the USA with the Schizophonics. Jeff and Pat became quite close. When Graham hasn’t been available to play shows, Pat has filled in for him.

The second track on the album, ‘Her Majesty’s Pleasure,’ is one I wrote with Shane based on his initial idea. This song’s title was a strong contender for the album title. A lot of our female fans were lobbying for this to be the album’s title.

During the pandemic, I wrote a couple of songs with Peter Greenberg, sending files back and forth. One of them is about the much-maligned creature called the slug. Unlike a snail, it doesn’t even have a home on its back. So sad! As a child, my dad used to enjoy beer quite a lot, and one day he poured some of his “special drink” into a saucer and told me to take it out to the tomato plants. I asked what for, and he said it was for the slugs. I asked if they liked to drink beer, and he said they sure do. Did they ever! The next morning, I went out to look, and those poor ol’ slugs had drunk themselves to death, just floating in the beer! I told my dad about it, and he said, “Let that be a lesson to you, Boy!”

You’re embarking on a tour this summer. What can fans expect from your live performances during this tour, especially with the new material?

We just finished playing a couple of weeks in the Southeast US. In August, we’ll do two shows in the UK and a festival, The Gutter Island Garage Rock Festival, in Denmark. In September, we’ll do two weeks with our pals Southern Culture on the Skids in the Northeast US. We’ll play shows in California in December. At any of our gigs, one should expect a high-energy rock and roll show. That means we’re movin’ to get the audience to do the same!

The Woggles have been together for over 30 years. What do you believe is the key to your longevity?

We keep replacing members that die.

What’s next for The Woggles? Are there any future projects or directions you’re excited to explore?

In the fall, on the small French label Rouge Records, we’ll have a couple of previously unreleased songs come out on a 7”. These date from our Rock and Roll Backlash sessions from around 2004-5. They were recorded at Kudzu Ranch Studios in North Carolina and engineered by Rick Miller from Southern Culture on the Skids. They both feature Jeff Walls on them. One is one that he wrote, ‘Anty Way The Wind,’ and the other, ‘Slippin’ Out,’ is one that we co-wrote.

What would be the craziest gig you ever played?

Shows both in Spain and Japan can get really wild, if that’s what you mean by crazy. One of the weirdest gigs we did was at Cal’s Aqua Lounge in Salisbury, MD. We were told that there was a college nearby, and this is where the students went to check out live music. There were three students there, and they come into the story much later. When we pulled up, we figured out pretty quickly it was a sort of redneck roadhouse, with a deli in the front part of the building. Basically, if you were bigger than the doorman, you didn’t have to pay to get in. All through the night, the rednecks were doing coke in the bathroom. This was the only place we ever played where I wished there was chicken wire between me and the audience.

While the opening band played, a fight broke out, and an old-timer turned to me and said through the three or four good teeth left in his head, “You fellas are lucky; last night we had three fights before the first band finished, and you fellas only had one!”

We played our set, and it was a hard sell. I don’t remember people leaving, but there was definitely a vibe of “We ain’t seen nothing’ like you before.”

To quote Blanche Dubois, we have always depended on the kindness of strangers when finding a place to crash for the night, as hotels can add up to a lot of money quite quickly. At first, the lead singer in the opening band offered his place and said, “Man, we’re gonna get back to my place, and we’re gonna PARTY ALL NIGHT LONG!!! Gonna just rake them beer cans outta the way, and you can just crash on the floor if you need to.”

As I pondered this generous housing opportunity, those three students came over to talk to us (this was after the gig was done). I’d forgotten they were there. Although they were students, two of them—a man and a woman—were closer to our drummer Kurt Wood’s age than mine. Kurt was born in ’58, so he is seven years older than me. So these folks were probably in their mid-30s, and the remaining gal was in her mid or early 20s. They were friends and had seen a flyer for our show at the nearby commuter college and gone to see us on a lark. The older woman’s husband had been a touring bluegrass musician, who’d since become a contractor. He was out of town, but she offered their place to crash at. She claimed to be fresh out of beer cans on the floor to rake away, and so we leapt at the chance to check out her digs.

It was a mansion. I slept in the music room. In the morning, she had picked fresh strawberries from her garden and fixed a scrumptious breakfast for us. The house was in a cul-de-sac, and as we were leaving, a fire truck came down the street, and all the doors to the homes flew open, and little kids came running out to see the truck as it slowly made its way around the street with the firemen hanging on and waving.

Suddenly it was like we were in a David Lynch movie.

Oh! About that guy student: he and the woman had known each other for years. Maybe they had even gone out years ago. Anyhow, he had been in a punk band a long time ago. Kurt is a record collector and started collecting around 1975. He used to write off to order punk singles from all sorts of magazines. He asked the guy what his band was, and the guy kept putting him off, saying, “You’d never have heard of us.” Kurt asked if they had put out a 7” and he admitted yes, but “You’d never have heard of us.” Kurt finally got him to tell the name of the group and then told the guy, “Oh yeah, I have that!” He told the guy what the b-side was too, and the guy was floored. Sorry, I can’t recall what his band was.

Let’s end this interview with some of your favorite albums. Have you found something new lately you would like to recommend to our readers?

I am not so much on albums as songs. Here’s a setlist I played a couple of weeks back when I DJ-ed a 50s/60s R&B and soul night with a couple of sets.

Don Gardner – ‘My Baby Likes to Boogaloo (Tru-Glo_Town)’
Bobby Peterson Quintet – ‘Mama Get the Hammer’ (V-Tone)
Lulu – ‘Shout’ (Parrot)
Barbara Randolph – ‘Can I Get a Witness’ (Soul)
Brian Auger – ‘Black Cat’ (ATCO)
The Equals – ‘Softly Softly’ (President)
Etta James – ‘You Got It’ (Cadet)
Irma Thomas – ‘Breakaway’ (Imperial)
The “5” Royales – ‘The Slummer The Slum’ (King)
Leola & The Lovejoys – ‘He Ain’t No Angel’ (Tiger)
Bo Diddley – ‘Mam, Keep Your Big Mouth Shut’ (Checker)
Ronnie Love – ‘Chills and Fever’ (Dot)
Mickey Hawks – ‘Bip Bopp Boom’ (Profile)
Lord Luther – ‘Thinking Man’s Girl’ (Imperial)
Betty Everett – ‘Bye Bye Baby’ (ABC)
Rex Garvin – ‘Emulsified’ (Epic)
Edwin Starr – ‘Agent Double O Soul’ (Ric-Tic)
Dee Dee Warwick – ‘You’re No Good’ (Jubilee)
The Kittens – ‘We Find Him Guilty’ (ABC-Paramount)
The Chanteurs – ‘Grizzly Bear’ (Vee Jay)
The Chants – ‘Dick Tracy’ (Verve)
Wayne Cochran – ‘Get Down With It’ (Mercury)
Wayne Cochran – ‘Harlem Shuffle’ (Mercury)
Sir Latimore Brown – ‘Shake and Vibrate’ (7 Sound Stage)
The Parkays – ‘Late Date’ (ABC-Paramount)
Fontella Bass – ‘Rescue Me’ (Checker)
Don & The Good Times – ‘Turn On Song’ (Wand)
Jimmy Liggins – ‘Drunk’ (Specialty)
You’ll note there are not one, but TWO Wayne Cochran songs. It was my buddy’s birthday that night, and he was on a WC kick, so two from Wayne it was.

Thank you for taking your time. The last word is yours.

Well, I can sum it all up with the famous quote, “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times,” and in that sense, it’s all kind of equaled out to a pretty good run so far!

Klemen Breznikar

The Woggles Official Website / Facebook / Instagram / Twitter / Bandcamp