{"id":23181,"date":"2022-06-23T05:30:02","date_gmt":"2022-06-23T09:30:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/?p=23181"},"modified":"2022-06-24T09:11:58","modified_gmt":"2022-06-24T13:11:58","slug":"the-dbs-in-black-and-white-part-three","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/2022\/06\/23\/the-dbs-in-black-and-white-part-three\/","title":{"rendered":"The dB’s in Black and White (Part Three)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Continued from Part Two<\/a>\u2026 <\/i><\/p>\n

\"\"By the time the quartet\u2019s first single, \u201cBlack and White\u201d b\/w \u201cSoul Kiss\u201d was released in 1980, Rigby says that Stamey and Holsapple (who had moved to second guitar) \u201cwere on an equal basis in the band.\u201d Gene Holder agrees, noting that there was never anything like a power struggle in the group. \u201cWe were open to any of the songs, no matter who wrote them,\u201d he says. \u201cIt wasn’t any kind of dictatorship.\u201d<\/p>\n

The dB\u2019s honed their craft and built up a repertoire based on the original songs of both Peter Holsapple and Chris Stamey. But it wasn\u2019t always smooth sailing. Will Rigby recalls a gig in Los Angeles prior to the release of the band\u2019s debut album. \u201cIt was the first time we played L.A.,\u201d he says, \u201cand I think a lot of record company people were there at the Whisky a Go Go.\u201d Unfortunately, the band was not at its best, to put it mildly. \u201cWe pretty much stank up the joint,\u201d Rigby says. \u201cThat gig, more than any other, kept us from getting signed; there’s no doubt about it.<\/p>\n

The band did eventually land a record deal, but they had look beyond American shores to do it. \u201cChris and I went to London in 1980 to try to get us a record deal,\u201d Holder says. \u201cNo American label wanted to sign us,\u201d Rigby emphasizes.<\/p>\n

Holder and Stamey planned to employ a kind of bait-and-switch to pique the interest of British record executives. \u201cChris had a tape of some unreleased Blondie demos that he was thinking of putting out on Car Records,\u201d Holder says, noting that Blondie didn\u2019t want the recordings released. \u201cWe had that demo to try to get in the door; as soon as a record company knew that that existed, they were interested in that.\u201d Unfortunately, all of them lost interest when the subject changed to The dB\u2019s.<\/p>\n

\"\"Ultimately, UK-based independent label Albion \u2013 home to a string of releases by pub rocker Ian Gomm \u2013 was the only label interested in The dB\u2019s. \u201cWe would\u2019ve much rather have been on Sire or something like that,\u201d Rigby says, \u201cbut we had this reputation of being inconsistent.\u201d<\/p>\n

Albion released The dB\u2019s Stands for Decibels<\/i> in 1981. Produced by the band and Alan Betrock, the record\u2019s standout tracks include \u201cBlack and White\u201d and \u201cBad Reputation,\u201d both Holsapple tunes. Though it didn\u2019t sell in massive quantities, the long-player received widespread critical praise. That contrast between commercial under-performing and critical success would set a pattern, one that characterized the entire arc of The dB\u2019s story.<\/p>\n

It was only a few months later that The dB\u2019s returned with their second album, Repercussion<\/i>. Also released on Albion, it was the first production assignment for Scott Litt; he\u2019d later work with R.E.M. and Nirvana. Breaking the sophomore slump curse, Repercussion<\/i> often gets the nod as the finest dB\u2019s album, the one most representative of the group\u2019s considerable strengths. \u201cWe had the songs, we had the budget, and went in and did it,\u201d says Gene Holder. \u201cThat\u2019s my favorite record of The dB\u2019s.\u201d<\/p>\n

The album was divided almost equally between Stamey and Holsapple songs; the two composers rarely wrote together. Highlights include Stamey\u2019s punningly-titled \u201cFrom a Window to a Screen\u201d and Holsapple\u2019s classic \u201cAmplifier.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"The band toured extensively in that period. \u201cWe recorded Repercussion<\/i> in London,\u201d Rigby says. \u201cThat fall, we did a pretty long tour in the U.S., then another tour in \u201882, this time opening for Dave Edmunds.\u201d The band also played several shows on the Continent. \u201cThen we got back, and Chris said, \u2018This is the last tour, and I\u2019m quitting after this.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cChris was starting to feel ready to go somewhere [else],\u201d Holsapple says. But there was never any question about the band continuing. \u201cI never stopped wanting to play with Peter,\u201d Rigby says, though he admits that he felt the band should have changed its name after Stamey\u2019s exit. The group landed a deal with Bearsville Records, and accounts differ \u2013 nobody\u2019s quite sure after all these years \u2013 on the subject of whether Stamey signed the contract and subsequently back out.<\/p>\n

Even without Chris Stamey, 1984\u2019s Like This<\/i> was another critical success. All of the album\u2019s 11 songs \u2013 highlighted by \u201cLove is for Lovers\u201d and a new recording of \u201cAmplifier\u201d \u2013 are Holsapple originals. The group toured the U.S. opening for R.E.M. but behind-the-scenes record label issues helped doom the record\u2019s commercial potential.<\/p>\n

More touring ensued, but it would be nearly three more years before the fourth dB\u2019s album appeared on shelves. The Sound of Music<\/i> was released on I.R.S. Records; the label also licensed The dB\u2019s back catalog for reissue. Holder left when sessions were completed; he was replaced on bass by New Orleans musician Jeff Beninato, and guest musicians on the record included Syd Straw, Lisa Germano, Van Dyke Parks and old friend Benmont Tench.<\/p>\n

\"\"For live shows, the group added another guitarist whose name they take pains to avoid mentioning. \u201cHe was really, really not right,\u201d Rigby says. But the group once again landed an opening spot on the latest R.E.M. tour. \u201cSo we wound up playing for more people than any other lineup of The dB\u2019s did, with this guy we couldn\u2019t stand.\u201d One more tour with that guy\u2019s replacement, Eric Petersen, was more successful. \u201cThen, there was a tour in the summer of \u201888, and that was pretty much it,\u201d Rigby says. \u201cThat was the end of The dB’s.\u201d<\/p>\n

Critics like to put musical artists into boxes. And while The dB\u2019s understand how the game works, not a single one of the four members has even been comfortable with the term power pop<\/i>, especially when it\u2019s applied to their group. In his memoir, Stamey recalls his feelings on the subject during the band\u2019s heyday: \u201cA \u2018power pop\u2019 box on a press questionnaire might have been attractive to us North Carolinians for about a minute back in 1975, but that seemed to have been eons earlier,\u201d he writes. \u201cBy the early eighties, power-pop practitioners seemed overly reverent of the past, with slight chips on their shoulders, a British gear fetish, and hair dryers at the ready.\u201d<\/p>\n

Click here to continue<\/a>\u2026<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Continued from Part Two\u2026 By the time the quartet\u2019s first single, \u201cBlack and White\u201d b\/w \u201cSoul Kiss\u201d was released in 1980, Rigby says that Stamey and Holsapple (who had moved […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":23200,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[39,41,62],"tags":[529,890,1692,2153,2375],"class_list":["post-23181","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-indie","category-interview","category-rawk","tag-chris-stamey","tag-gene-holder","tag-peter-holsapple","tag-the-dbs","tag-will-rigby","cat-39-id","cat-41-id","cat-62-id","has_thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23181","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23181"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23181\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23277,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23181\/revisions\/23277"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23200"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23181"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23181"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23181"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}