White Noise & Lightning: The Continental Drifters Story (2024) Book Review

If you know the Continental Drifters, then you are almost certainly planning on buying a copy of White Noise & Lightning: The Continental Drifters Story. If you are unfamiliar with the Continental Drifters, then you should definitely pick up a copy of the book. This is a band that more folks should know about, and that, in fact, has been a big part of their story all along. Throughout the book, different people express variations of the idea that the best bands do not always make it to the level of popularity that they deserve, something my friends and I have been fuming about for decades. And if you’re the kind of person who reads this music blog, I bet you can name ten or twenty bands that deserve more recognition than they’ve received. What’s interesting about the Continental Drifters is that you are probably more familiar with the band than you think, at least as far as you know many of the band’s members through their other work. For among the band’s ten members are Mark Walton (of The Dream Syndicate), Peter Holsapple (of The dB’s), Susan Cowsill (of The Cowsills), Vicki Peterson (of The Bangles), Danny McGough (of Shivaree), and Robert Mache (who played with Steve Wynn). You’d think a band like that might start at the top, or quite near it. But no, this book tells the story of a band’s struggles, with everything you might expect of an unknown band, such as vans breaking down and troubles securing the interest of a record label. And while the book details that stuff, it’s not really the focus. The focus is the joy and sense of family that the band had from the beginning, and that is why reading it is such an enjoyable experience. Plus, it is written with a clear love for the band.

The book largely tells the band’s story in chronological order, and gets into the important part Raji’s played in the band’s development and history. I wish I had been in Los Angeles to experience those shows, but author Sean Kelly does a great job of getting across the feel of those special nights. Kelly writes, about Raji’s, “It was a welcoming environment; one where nobody was too precious about anything” (p. 11). There were plenty of guest musicians from the beginning, including Rosie Flores and Jackson Browne, and that’s in fact how some of the members, including Peter Holsapple, ended up joining. The story of The Continental Drifters is also, in part, the stories of several other bands, essential to understanding this group, and Sean Kelly does an admirable job of keeping all these connecting threads clear. And it started with The Subdudes, the band’s original name being the Continental Drifters, something I had no idea about.

There is some fascinating detail about the recording of Vermilion, and about the eventual signing to Razor & Tie. We also get details on how certain beloved songs came about, such as “The Rain Song” (that stuff about Dwight Twilley is crazy), “Who We Are, Where We Live” and “Na Na.” And we learn the various relationships of people within the band (marriages and divorces and children and so on). There were ten members over the course of the band’s history, and this book does a great job of detailing the musical history of the various members, including some information on Rittenhouse Square, the band Peter Holsapple had with Mitch Easter and Chris Stamey in the years before The dB’s. And even when a member has left the Continental Drifters, that does not mean he is out of the story. After all, this band is like a family, as all the members attest to. And while the members of this band were mostly already known for their other projects, as Sean Kelly writes, “Because of how they were marketed and the, at times, sparse touring schedule, the assumption was often that they were a side project; a ‘supergroup,’ if you will, whose members had other things going on and made the occasional record together when time permitted” (p. 150). That was a description and notion the band members did their best to dispel. And the book succeeds in doing so.

Reading this book is such an enjoyable experience, though that doesn’t mean there aren’t sections toward the end that will have you in tears. The material on Carlo Nuccio’s declining health and the stuff about Hurricane Katrina (band members lost so much) are particularly compelling. The book also includes several photos, including a group of photos documenting the band’s 2015 reunion, in which all ten members were on stage together. I do feel a need to mention the author’s incorrect use of the word “unique.” At various points, Kelly writes “extremely unique” (p. 22), “most unique voices” (p. 72), and “one of the more unique obstacles” (p. 144). But something is either unique or it isn’t. There are no degrees of uniqueness. But that of course did not detract from the book’s impact. Read the book, then go pick up whatever music you can by the Continental Drifters. You will not be disappointed.

White Noise & Lightning: The Continental Drifters Story was published in September 27, 2024 through Cool Dog Sound.