Game Day arrives - a short tale

On Friday, while my wife was showing our real estate agent around the house on Wilbon Street that we've recently moved from, a package came. It was a box of CDs. It was a box of Game Day promo CDs, in fact. I'd spent the better part of the last two weeks internally screaming and weeping with the silent knowledge that there were pressing plant issues that might delay my release day of July 27. It sounded so familiar, like many of the release tragedies I'd experienced in the past (label loses distribution, no records in stores for in-stores, etc.) so I went to that dark place for a while. And then this. The pall lifted, I felt renewed and ready to start the process again with a new solo record. 

Sarah and I both thought it was particularly poignant that the CDs were delivered to the house where I recorded and mixed the entire record but had vacated. It was a wonderful house, full of creative spirit and love, and I hope whoever ends up owning it will feel some of that vibe as well.

Remember, you can pre-order it at this link if you want to beat the crowds at your local record emporium 7/27. 

Commonplace - featured by Magnet Magazine!

Here's your first taste of Game Day, courtesy of Magnet Magazine and Omnivore Recordings!

http://magnetmagazine.com/2018/06/07/magnet-exclusive-premiere-peter-holsapples-commonplace/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+MagnetMagazine+%28Magnet+Magazine%29

Game Day Record Release Party - August 4, Cat's Cradle Back Room, Chapel Hill NC

Friends, I am happy to announce that the record release party for Game Day is happening August 4 at Cat's Cradle Back Room in Chapel Hill NC. I'll be sharing the festivities with the gracious and talented Anne-Claire whose album is also being fêted. We will have Chessa Rich opening the evening; Peter Holsapple Combo shall rock directly afterward for the better part of an hour, followed by Anne-Claire and her band.

Without being too cocky, I'm thinking this show will likely sell out so it might behoove you'uns to get your tickets in advance.

Copies of Game Day will be available for purchase at the show if you haven't already gotten it by then. 
😉

California shows and a lovely note from Fred at Blurt Magazine

Two gigs in the Los Angeles area to announce:

Saturday, August 25, 4:00 PM -- Wild Honey Backyard Show - with Rob Laufer 
Here's the link to the show, and here's the link to tickets.

Sunday, August 26, 8:00 PM -- McCabe's Guitar Store
And here's the link to that show.

It was sweet to discover that my old friend Fred Mills wrote this preview for my album at the Blurt Magazine website. 

Very exciting to watch the momentum build for July 27's release of Game Day!

The Return of Peter Holsapple, Forgetful Blogger

"I can see my house from here."

Hi everyone, your wayward correspondent here, begging for forgiveness and mercy again. 

So the single did what it was going to do, and the video Dan Andrews and Mike Allen did for it has gotten over 4000 views. Pretty good for no advertising, a little bit of radio (thanks Mike Marrone at The Loft) and scattershot shows. Basically, I'm really pleased with the calling-card nature of the thing, and I believe I reintroduced myself to the public in a positive light, even though "Don't Mention the War" is light as a battleship's anchor and as danceable as a funeral march. (And those are good things!)

That said, here we are in May 2018, and I'm getting ready to release a new album on July 25. I'm not at liberty to say who's releasing it presently, but I think you'll be very pleased when you find out. It's called Game Day, after the lead-off track.

Here's the trailer for the record. 

I played almost every note on the record. I recorded and mixed it in my basement studio. I'm so far inside this record I'm breathing dryer lint. So any semblance of objectivity about it and its chances at being loved by the general populace is nil.

The best thing is I did the record all by myself (that may also be the worst thing I did), and it's absolutely the record I wanted to make. People will undoubtedly hear it and scratch their heads and say it sounds weird and eccentric, at least I hope so. I can't I'm a professional producer or engineer, and indeed, a lot of stuff went down on the album by necessity or lack of fundamental tools. I was not going to let those things or any ineptitude or lack of skill stop me from getting this done, so you're getting a shank of my mind and soul, trussed up to look like an album of songs.

After I sent it to the record company, I felt a little emptied out, having spent so many of my spare hours finishing the record up. But fortunately, I also have an impending move to a new place to live concurrent with the finishing of this project, so I'm not spending a whole lot of waking hours anxious about the record. It is what it was made to be, a representative batch of newer songs that I like best in my catalog. No more, no less.

I'm prepared for people to love Game Day; I'm also okay with people not loving it because it doesn't sound like records or bands I've been involved with before. In past instances, I've allowed the opinions of my work to twist my emotions into rattails, but this album is different: I own it all. Every note. Every flub. Every effect on every guitar. It's my pleasure, it's my fault. I feel completely at ease with it, something I've never felt with a record before.

Now that the record's done, I'm also rehearsing a new group, the Peter Holsapple Combo which features Will Rigby on drums and Glenn Richard Jones on Fender bass. You know Will, but you may not know Glenn--we've been playing together in the Well Respected Men for a few years now, and I admire his playing and singing so much I bullied him into playing bass in this combo. He acquiesced and has been an important leg of this musical furniture. We're playing songs from this album, a couple dB's and Continental Drifters songs and some choice covers. Everyone's sounding really good, and we're having a ton of fun playing together. I'm trying to be a good bossman, but I'm getting the songs to sound like they need to without being a creep about it. No mutinies yet, so I'm ahead of the game, I guess.

We have a couple dates booked in August which I'll more post about as they become reality.

Thanks so much for your forbearance with this blog. I'm trying hard to be a better self-promoter but, as we all know, I seem to have all the qualities of a superstar with the exception of ambition. 

Love

PeterH

New blog post coming soon! Get ready! Get ready!

I've been gone, but I'm back again next week.

Stay tuned, lots to tell you!!!

Love Is For Lovers

Don't know if it's because I'm too 'inside' "Love Is For Lovers," but I never really pegged it as a love song, per se; it always seemed sort of standoffish and judgmental, my usual M.O.

Today on Facebook, however, a couple of friends took the ball and ran with it*, and they posted The dB's' tune, dedicating it to love on a day dedicated to love.

It's one of my favorite songs, and it's always big fun to play. Happy Valentine's Day, friends and lovers.

*Note--I am not licensed to use sports metaphors.

First week of release reviewed

A good week, indeed. Over 50 copies of the record sold through Big Cartel, a few more sold independently. Over 1800 views of the video. Gigs booked in NY, TN and all around NC. Ranked #2 in Rock/Durham with ReverbNation. Lots of love for the songs, and I'm feeling the love.

I had not expected to enjoy the one-man operation as much as I have. Maybe I'm doing it right... Thank you all for your support! Onward!