Born in England in 1948, Dave Hole moved with his family to Perth, Western Australia when he was a child.
As a teenager he fell for the blues upon hearing a friend’s Muddy Waters record and began to teach himself to play by listening to records of Blind Willie Johnson, Skip James, Blind Lemon Jefferson, Robert Johnson, Elmore James and Mississippi Fred McDowell. He joined a high school band and continued playing while studying Physics at University. After graduating in 1971 he turned professional ,having decided that music was his first love. Then, either by accident or by fate, Hole broke his little finger in a football game. The only way he could continue to play guitar without pain was to put a slide on his index finger and hang his hand over the top of the guitar neck. When his finger eventually healed, Hole had become so used to the ‘wrong’ way of playing (and grown so fond of the tone he was getting), that he never turned back.
Throughout the 1970’s and 80’s Hole was gigging non-stop around Perth and the country towns of Western Australia. In 1991 he self-produced SHORT FUSE BLUES (BCD 1001), an album intended purely for direct sale to his local fans. On a whim he mailed a copy to Jas Obrecht, then editor of the influential American “Guitar Player” magazine. “Magnificent, staggering, almost beyond belief. Utterly Blues approved. … ferocious, fire-breathing slide … What more could you ask?” raved Obrecht, who then tipped off Alligator Records president Bruce Iglauer. Iglauer, encouraged by his staff’s excitement on hearing the album, released it to a world-wide audience. Almost overnight, Dave Hole became an international phenomenon. The album review in “Guitar Player” was followed by a July 1991 feature story which launched Hole to stardom. Dave’s explosive live show quickly won him critical acclaim wherever he went and invariably left audiences spellbound in his wake. Rave reviews have appeared in Guitar World, Billboard, Esquire, Living Blues, New York Magazine, The Chicago Tribune, The Washington Post and many other major publications. And it’s not just the critics who have been paying attention. Metallica’s Kirk Hammett has named Dave Hole as one of his all-time favourite guitarists, saying “His slide playing kills me”. When veteran rock and blues guitarist Gary Moore first heard “SHORT FUSE BLUES”, he was so impressed that he invited Dave to join him on two European tours, playing large stadiums and arenas and concluding with two memorable nights at London’s Royal Albert Hall.
Hole has headlined festivals in many countries including America, Canada, Germany, Denmark, Holland, France, Switzerland, Norway, and Australia. His two appearances at the prestigious Leverkusen Blues Festival in Germany were televised nationally. Tours have also included performances in Brazil, Sweden, Russia, Austria, Italy, Spain, Belgium, Poland, The Czech Republic, and the U.K.
After 9 Album releases and innumerable world tours, Dave Hole is widely regarded as one of the all-time slide guitar greats, with accolades from around the globe and a large world-wide fan base.
Dave’s WORKING OVERTIME album won a prestigious American NAIRD award and “UNDER THE SPELL” won an Australian ARIA.
During 2015 Hole has been devoting much of his time to writing and recording in preparation for a much anticipated new release. His current touring band consists of Ace Follington on drums and Roy Daniel on bass.