Garage rock inspiration long-lasting for Woggles
Thirty years ago this week, the Woggles played their first show at a house party in their hometown of Athens, Ga.
“I had a great moment where I fell off my soapbox and right into the drum kit,” recalled frontman Mighty Manfred, also known as the Professor. “That seemed the perfect moment to end the shenanigans.”
The Woggles’ showmanship has gotten considerably more polished since then. But the band is still out to bring wild and soulful garage rock to the world, and is still steeped in a love of ’60s pop culture: At their anniversary show in New York for Halloween, band members dressed as Patrick McGoohan’s character from “The Prisoner.” Tonight at the Middle East, the Woggles will headline a garage bash with the Swedish band Stupidity and two local favorites, the Andrea Gillis Band and Muck & the Mires.
“One reason we started was that we were tired of waiting for the Lyres and the Fleshtones to come through town,” Manfred said. “Nobody in Athens was doing this kind of music but us. Originally, all the members worked at the student radio station, so we had all this great music at our disposal.”
Manfred’s imposing stage presence is partly inspired by singers he’s discovered over the years, like the whitehaired raver Wayne Cochran.
“Nobody ever had helmet hair like his. And of course, the higher your hair, the closer to God you are.”
Though most of their songs are original, a great obscure cover comes in handy. Last year, they unearthed “Karate Monkey,” a sublimely goofy Chubby Checker non-hit. It was voted “Coolest Song of the Year” on Little Steven Van Zandt’s Underground Garage Sirius channel, where Manfred holds a regular DJ slot.
“I found that one in a thrift store. It was a great little 35-cent record. Little Steven thought we’d written it, and he got upset with himself for not having knowledge of that song.
“Apparently he loves it so much that he’s been brushing up his karate moves.”
The Woggles have lasted through a few garage revivals already, and they’ll probably make it through a few more.
“To us, garage is just a rock ’n’ roll thing, incorporating a lot of influences — the blues element and the R&B flavor, a few surf things we do. Every few years, it comes back in a big way, like it did with the Strokes. And people started telling us, ‘Maybe this is your big break’ — and maybe it would be if we were 30 years younger.”
But the band’s mission remains the same: “To get people up off their seats and onto their feet, to shake it and not break it. It’s all about those three chords of joy.”
The Woggles, with Muck & the Mires, Stupidity and the Andrea Gillis Band, at the Middle East, Cambridge, tonight. Tickets $10: mideast club.com.