If you weren’t around in the Seventies it’s hard to appreciate just what an impact the Bay City Rollers had.

This was the era of Rollermania when tartan scarves were tied around the wrist to show your support for the lads from Edinburgh.

The band had a string of top 10 singles including Shang-a-Lang and Bye Bye Baby and also had major success on the other side of the Atlantic.

Lancashire Telegraph: Stuart Wood on stage (Picture: Gemma Leigh)

Guitarist Stuart ‘Woody’ Wood was just 16 when he joined the band in 1974, completing what fans regard as the classic line up alongside singer Les McKeown, brothers Derek and Alan Longmuir and Eric Faulkner.

Next week he will be bringing the current version of the Bay City Rollers to Blackburn and he’s promising fans all the hits - and more.

“I feel honoured to be able to play these songs to people,” he said. “I think that they have stood the test of time and we are really lucky because the fans have stood by us over all these years.”

Stuart is sadly the only Roller still touring. Bassist Alan Longmuir died in 2018 and Les McKeown in 2021.

“The band now brings out the best in people,” he said. “When people come to see us they can’t help but smile and jump about. You can see it almost like a switch, this wave of nostalgia sweeps over them.”

Much has been written about the Bay City Rollers at their peak when major tours coincided with album schedules and countless TV appearances, leaving the band unsure of what day it was.

Lancashire Telegraph: The Bay City Rollers (Picture: Gemma Leigh)

But Stuart has no regrets.

“No, you can’t have regrets.” he said, “you just learn from things and move on.

“Back then because we were so young we had no fear. We were just a product and the record companies saw us as a money making machine and we were too young to challenge that.

“There was constantly stuff going on but we were clueless.

“I definitely enjoy it more now. I can travel to places and actually have a look round. We’re not just bundled into the back of a car and driven away after a gig. We get to meet the fans and talk to them which is great.”

And those fans are not just the diehards who have grown up with the Rollers.

“There are definitely quite a few of them,” said Stuart, “but there are different generations in the audience. Some of the younger ones probably grew up listening to the music being played by their parents.

“You also get music fans who are just curious coming to gigs and there’s a nice satisfaction when you see a face in the crowd at the beginning who is clearly unsure and then they start to get into it.”

Some bands with a string of hits object to playing them live but Stuart would never turn his back on the ‘classics’.

“I did go through a stage where I didn’t like them,” he admits, “but there was a turning point and every time I get up on stage now I love playing them. I think that the current band brings a real energy to those songs too.”

Next year marks the 50th anniversary for the classic Rollers line-up.

“There are a number of things being discussed to mark it,” said Stuart and one of them could be a new album.

“We have got about 25 songs, it’s just a question of whittling them down,” he said.

“Although next year is our 50th anniversary in the UK, it’s the anniversary a year later in the States and then Japan the year after that so there’s going to be plenty to look forward to.”

Bay City Rollers, King George’s Hall, Blackburn, Friday, December 8. Details from www.bwdvenues.com