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Just for a moment, let's hop into the old rock 'n' roll time machine and drift back a decade or so.
Vicky Peterson is a member of The Bangles, one of pop's coolest bands and makers of hits such as "Manic Monday" and "Walk Like an Egyptian." Peter Holsapple is in The dB's, another of pop rock's most respected and influential outfits, and Steve Wynn is still blazing psychedelic trails with the Dream Syndicate, a band that paved the way for the hip and heavy alternative guitar acts of the early '90s.
Fast forward to tonight when what will surely be one of fall's most entertaining tours, featuring the Continental Drifters and Wynn, kicks off with a show at a club called Opal's in Oxford, Miss Peterson, Holsapple and Wynn's bass-playing bandmate in Dream Syndicate, Mark Walton, are now in the Drifters'. Another Drifter, guitarist Robert Mache, has played on Wynn's solo albums. If you don't believe this is one big family affair already, consider that singer Susan Cowsill, formerly of the pop group The Cowsills, is now married to Holsapple and is herself a Continental Drifter.
Wynn has just released his fifth solo album, a dynamite 12-track dis called "Sweetness and Light" that proves his penchant for updating '60s garage psychedelia is as sharp as ever, and The Drifters, who are based in New Orleans, have released a band new, rip-roarin' single called "Christopher Columbus Transcontinental Highway." It underscores what many fans and critics have been saying for years - the Drifters are one of the most versatile bands in America.
Combined, this flurry of recording activity reveals that Wynn and the Drifters have survived the '80s with their artistic integrity intact, and they're proving that great music has nothing to do with hip haircuts and hot videos.
"We really are survivors, too, because we emerged but without bitterness or a sense of having to do whatever it takes to sell," Peterson said by phone from New Orleans a week ago, "We emerge with a true love for the music we make - and this is the best part - a love for each other's music."
"I think we're survivors, but we're getting better at what we do," Wynn said during a phone call later the same day from New York. "We're learning new things, experimenting more. We still get excited and thrilled at doing it. I think all of us honestly feel that we're doing the best stuff of our lives."
Across a continent. The Drifters began five years ago as a group of like-minded musicians who got together occasionally to jam in a Los Angeles nightclub. Their sessions reflected the diverse backgrounds of the players, veering from countrified roots rock to shimmering guitar pop.
Members came and went but after relocating to New Orleans, the Drifters lineup solidified and the band recorded a self-titled album in 1994 that featured strong original material and cool covers of tunes such as Mike Nesmith's "Some of Shelley's Blues" and Gram Parsons' "A Song for You."
The Drifters met with much critical praise and earned a loud and loyal fan base in the Crescent City, but major record labels refused to take a chance on the band. It seems the amalgamation of talented veterans didn't fit the modern alternative-rock mold.
Not to be deterred, the Drifters continued to wright songs and perform every gig that came its way. Holsapple played solo acoustic shows, and Peterson and Cowsill worked up a cool pop-rock alter-ego called the Psycho Sisters. Then in 1995, Holsapple accepted a call from Hootie and the Blowfish to tour as a fifth member of the chart-topping group, and he proceeded to wing around the world with Hootie until the winter of 1997.
Holsapple's extracurricular work paid the bills, but it cast the Drifters into a state of flux and gave the impression to the outside world that the eclectic New Orleans outfit was just a side project for everyone involved.
No so. When the Blowfish decided to take an extended sabbatical that began seven months ago, Holsapple hightailed it to Louisiana and issued an all-hands-on-deck call to the Drifters. Drummer Carlo Nucio had left the band, but Russ Broussard (formerly of The Bluerunners) stepped in and brought his zydeco-flavored percussive punch to the mix.
With renewed energy, the sextet recorded Peterson's "Christopher Columbus Transcontinental Highway," a song she'd penned during long sessions of driving between L.A. and New Orleans two years earlier. With its battalion of gritty electric guitars and rumbling Hammond organ, it signaled that the Drifters were tired of messing around.
"We've got a very cool momentum kicking in," Peterson said. "We're having so much fun, I swear, we laugh more than any band I've ever been around. We have such a good time, we wanted to get some of that out there, so that's why we did the single. It's got a very lighthearted sense to it. It's a roadhouse song!"
There were rumors of an impending major-label deal for the Drifters this past spring, but nothing panned out. So for now, the band is planning to record an album this winter for a German label that will be released next year and become available to American fans as an import.
"We're the biggest mutual fan club," Peterson said, "and it's really sincere, too. I'm in a band with not only my favorite human beings but my favorite musicians, singers and songwriters, too."
A Wynning formula Wynn has received backing help from the Continental Drifters in the past including several times for Mardi Gras and New Year's Eve shows in New Orleans. For this tour, he'll be supported by Holsapple on Keyboards and guitar, Mache on guitar, Walton on bass and Linda Pitmon (who played on "Sweetness and Light") on drums.
"We're all really good friends," Wynn said, "and what it means is that I can start out with a band who already knows my stuff."
While the Dream Syndicate was one of the '80s most influential bands, Wynn has continued to make highly-original music as a solo artist and also with a band called Gutterball. He's more relaxed and confident about his music these days, and he understands the significance of the groundbreaking work he, Holsapple and Peterson did a decade ago.
"We were making our own rules, and that was kind of fun," he said. "Things were a little more raw and definitely more innocent.
"When the Dream Syndicate and The Bangles were playing clubs in L.A., I don't think we were looking 15 years ahead to when we would be continuing our music career. We would have laughed at that."
"It was a very important time for me," Peterson said, "and a frustrating time, a time of learning a lot of lessons. But one thing it did was cement in me the absolute resolve I needed to make music.
"After The Bangles broke up, it was like coming out of a very bad marriage, and I needed some breathing space. I didn't know at that point whether or not I wanted to make music . . . then I found the Drifters and it was like falling into this wonderful, confusing and loving family. It was so different from what had been surrounding The Bangles and it became a comfort for me, which I held onto tenaciously.
"Like I said, we've all had varying degrees of success, and at this point, I don't think any of us are trying to be huge pop stars. We just want to make music . . . and be able to continue to do it."
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