A welcome return to visit to Oxted for At The Barrier where promoter Dom Damesick continues bringing quality acts to the Surrey town. On this occasion, Peter Holsapple.

A welcome return

After hosting Chris Stamey a few years ago, we were treated this time to the other half of the legendary DB’s Peter Holsapple. An overdue visit for Peter who hasn’t been playing in Europe much since the demise of the Continental Drifters ! The evening was opened by Pat Thomas, man of many talents (journalist, historian) who on top of his job of adding percussion to Peter’s song also played two short sets of spoken waord musings ably accompanied by Waterboys key maestro (and sharp dresser) James Hallawall on keys. Filled with humour and nostalgia, it was a great way to set up the mood for both of Peter’s sets. 

A career spanning set

Welcomed warmly by the crowd of regulars at the sessions, Peter certainly ticked all the boxes in his repertoire from his early years in the DB’s all the way to his latest album The Face of 68  which was released last year in the US and soon to be too in the UK ! Peter proved an amiable host sharing anecdotes on his career in music with self deprecating humour and even fighting of request for REM songs (Peter played with them on the Green tour) gracefully. Many DB’s songs were aired with a heavy portion coming from 1984’s Like This including the sprightly pop rocker Not Cool and the lyrically gloomy Amplifier.

Musical Comrades

Peter was careful to highlight the importance of his many musical partners in crime over the years even airing the stomping Larger Than Life penned as a eulogy to former Continental Drifters drummer  Carlo Nuccio who passed away four years ago ! Congratulating Chris Stamey on his production of their mid nineties duo LP Mavericks ( “he made a 30000 dollars album sound like a 300000 dollars one“) he also announced that if all went well a deluxe reissue of the album should be coming out in the not too distant future. 

New songs and old songs

A smattering of tunes from the record (including the beautiful Angel) proved it has stood the test of time. A new song about the temptation of having a drink after a long period of sobriety was prefaced by Peter as being a proof he hadn’t been twiddling his thumbs since Face of 68 was released. The beautiful Daddy Wants It To Rain from the Continental Drifters’ 1998 Vermillon proved a highlight of the evening, a beautiful narrative which really hit home melodically and lyrically. A really beautiful evening !

Peter Holsapple : Website 

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