Chesterfield legend and former Pulp drummer to be celebrated

A powerhouse of a song writer, a gifted musician and one that never relied on playing just one instrument.

Peter could play drums, bass, guitar and keyboards as well as having a damn fine singing voice.

According to his peers he was hardly ever at school and when he finally did show up to take his exams, passed them all with flying colours.

He was also a talented actor and playwright, putting on his own plays and also taking part in productions with the North East Derbyshire Young Peoples Theatre (NEDYPT) and the Reg Shore led ‘Limited Company’.

His introduction to the local music scene led him to Dronfield, Sheffield in 1980 where he teamed up with Chris Taylor (later of The Poison Girls) and formed Mortuary In Wax. This attracted the attention of Sheffield producer Marcus Featherby and his PAX record label and the duo ended up with on Featherby’s ‘5 Miles to Midnight’ album release in 1981.

This Sheffield connection led to a meeting with Jarvis Cocker and in 1982 Peter joined PULP. Initially as the drummer, but then changed over to keyboards and guitar and got involved with song writing and arrangements within the band. In February 1983, Reg Shore organized the ‘Non Stop Cabaret’ which was a record breaking attempt at the worlds longest cabaret which was held at Joplins on Low Pavement in February 1983 and ran for a week – breaking the record.

Boam played piano between acts dressed in his grandmothers clothes to keep the show running and also performed there with Pulp. In particular an astonishing duet with Jarvis on the song ‘My Lighthouse’.

Pulp’s first album ‘It’ was released in 1983 and that song opens it, but Peter left the band a few months later.

After an appearance in ‘Cabaret’ at the The Pomegranate Theatre, Chesterfield in 1983, Peter began landing lead roles in other plays.

His performance of John Christie in the John Connolly directed ‘Christie In Love’ by Howard Brenton led to great acclaim, as did his eponymous role in ‘The

Education Of Skinny Spew’.

Aside from acting, Peter’s music was still on course. He had continued recording demos and performing gigs with his trusty band of local Chesterfield musicians, which also included on bass guitar, the now famous TV, film and Theatre actor Ben Miles and February 1985 saw the release of the 5 track audio cassette, ‘Love Lies Red’.

He performed gigs as support for Billy Bragg and Pulp in Chesterfield, while also performing at Chesterfield Live Aid, he also had a residency at the Queens Park Hotel. At the end of the 1980’s he formed the band ‘Catch 22’ with a male model singer which designed to showcase Peter’s songs, while he stayed in the background playing bass and directing proceedings.

He moved to Brighton at the start of the 1990’s and while there, recorded his final album with producer Julian Tardo. It was to be his last and Peter sadly died in Hove in 2006 aged just 42 years old.

I knew of Peter Boam from being involved in the Chesterfield music scene from an early age but, only recently got to hear the ‘Love Lies Red’ cassette tape for the first time. I was bowled over by the song writing, arrangements and musicianship and wondered to myself how something this good could have been overlooked and just be left on a shelf, lost to the world.

I had already started making a documentary film about aspects of the Chesterfield music scene of the 1980’s but this quickly changed to be a film about Peter Boam. It’s what he deserves. His story needs to be told.

If anyone has any old photographs, tape or video recordings of his performances then please get in

touch at [email protected].