{"id":23183,"date":"2022-06-24T05:30:34","date_gmt":"2022-06-24T09:30:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/?p=23183"},"modified":"2022-06-24T09:11:25","modified_gmt":"2022-06-24T13:11:25","slug":"the-dbs-in-black-and-white-part-four","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/2022\/06\/24\/the-dbs-in-black-and-white-part-four\/","title":{"rendered":"The dB’s in Black and White (Part Four)"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

\"\"The other three dB\u2019s are even more direct on the matter. \u201cI hate<\/i> power pop,\u201d says Gene Holder. \u201cThe dB\u2019s were more experimental [than that]. Chris\u2019s songs, especially, were always pretty odd, which was really cool.\u201d Will Rigby agrees, noting that in his estimation, The dB\u2019s had \u201ca little more intellectual heft than the average power pop band.\u201d He thinks of the band as \u201cmelodic rock. I prefer to think of us in the same category as Tom Petty, but I don\u2019t know; that might be an exaggeration.\u201d<\/p>\n

Peter Holsapple believes that The dB\u2019s aesthetic was closer in some ways to that of R.E.M., nobody\u2019s idea of a power pop group. \u201cBut I see them as having influences<\/i> in the power pop realm in the same way that we did,\u201d he allows. \u201cWhere are we on the continuum? That’s a really good question. I never thought that the music that Chris and I wrote was that far afield from the great stuff we heard on the radio growing up, and the stuff that The Pretenders and The Knack and The Only Ones were playing.\u201d<\/p>\n

The dB\u2019s quietly ceased operations shortly after the release of The Sound of Music<\/i>, with members going on to other pursuits. In subsequent years Holsapple was a member of another critically-acclaimed aggregation, The Continental Drifters. He toured an as auxiliary member of R.E.M. and for many years now has played with popular act Hootie and the Blowfish.<\/p>\n

After the group ended, Gene Holder got more into production and engineering, working with Cowboy Mouth, Steve Wynn, Marshall Crenshaw and many others. The rare drummer who\u2019s also a fine songwriter, Will Rigby has released several solo albums; the underrated composer\u2019s talents are on brilliant display on the playfully-titled The Page Turner Diaries<\/i>.<\/p>\n

\"\"Everyone remained friends; there was never a dramatic falling out that led to Stamey\u2019s departure or the indefinite hiatus post-The Sound of Music<\/i>. In fact Holsapple and Stamey teamed up for a pair of albums. Though separated by 18 years, 1991\u2019s Mavericks<\/i> and Here and Now<\/i> (from 2009) combine the dB\u2019s songwriting prowess with an acoustic-leaning vibe more than a bit reminiscent of The Everly Brothers. And in 2020, outtakes from the Here and Now<\/i> sessions yielded Our Back Pages<\/i>, a homespun album of covers of dB\u2019s and other songs in that same subtly countrified style.<\/p>\n

\"\"Holsapple\u2019s latest album, 2018\u2019s Game Day<\/i> shows that his songwriting chops have not dulled; the same is true for his instrumental skills: he plays nearly all the instruments on the record.<\/p>\n

Stamey has moved in an erudite direction, releasing albums featuring chamber instruments and other non-rock textures. His latest pair of releases, 2019\u2019s New Songs for the 20<\/i>th<\/i><\/sup> Century<\/i> and A Brand-New Shade of Blue<\/i> from 2020 find him making a credible bid for a composer of modern jazz vocal standards. But he still rocks now and then, and has been closely involved in the mounting of Big Star 3rd<\/i>-themed musical endeavors.<\/p>\n

After years without a dB\u2019s record, the group \u2013 with all four members back in the fold \u2013 reunited, putting the finishing touches on recordings that they had been tinkering with for many years. The resulting album, 2012\u2019s Falling Off the Sky<\/i> showcased everything that made The dB\u2019s great, adding layers of depth and maturity that those earlier records \u2013 fine as they are \u2013 didn\u2019t have. \u201cI don\u2019t think we could have made that record in 1981,\u201d Holsapple says. \u201cI think that we would’ve been too skittish and jumpy and nervous, too busy being bad boyfriends.\u201d<\/p>\n

In support of the critically lauded Falling Off the Sky<\/i>, the band played dates all over the U.S. including multiple performances at Austin’s annual SXSW Festival \u2013 before the four once again went their separate ways. They\u2019re reunited in a sense to put together the new collection of previously unreleased material that forms I Thought You Wanted to Know<\/i>; famed music journalist (and longtime friend of the band) Fred Mills was instrumental in sourcing rare live tapes for the project, and Stamey worked hard to bring those tapes up to release quality.<\/p>\n

And today, while there are no plans to record or perform together again, everyone is leaving that door open. \u201cWe were friends before we were in a band,\u201d Holsapple emphasizes. \u201cWe had a lot of fun going out on the road together. That, to me, is maybe what I miss most of all.\u201d<\/p>\n

A shorter version of this feature appeared previously in <\/i>Record Collector. <\/span><\/p>\n

Here\u2019s a bonus to go along with my dB\u2019s feature…<\/i><\/p>\n

Inspired by New York City-based Ork Records \u2013 the label that put out Television\u2019s 1975 debut single \u201cLittle Johnny Jewel\u201d \u2013 Chris Stamey launched an independent record label of his own. Founded in 1977 and lasting a short time, Car Records only released an EP and a small handful of singles, but all are significant in the world of indie rock and (whether one likes the term or not) power pop.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Peter Holsapple \u2013 \u201cBig Black Truck\u201d b\/w \u201c96 Second Blowout\u201d and \u201cDeath Garage\u201d<\/b> \u2013 At the time of this single\u2019s release, Holsapple hadn\u2019t yet joined The dB\u2019s\u2019 the picture sleeve credits him as of the H-Bombs.\u201d Quickly recorded and mixed in November, the recording also features pals Mitch Easter (drums) and Chris Stamey (backing vocals).<\/p>\n

Chris Bell \u2013 \u201cI Am the Cosmos\u201d b\/w \u201cYou And Your Sister\u201d<\/b> \u2013 Big Star figures significantly into the story of The dB\u2019s. Peter Holsapple met Bell on a trip to Memphis, and Bell introduced him to Alex Chilton. This single would be Bell\u2019s only post-Big Star music released during his lifetime. Bell died in an an auto accident in December 1978.<\/p>\n

Chris Stamey and The dB\u2019s \u2013 \u201c(I Thought) You Wanted to Know\u201d b\/w \u201cIf and When\u201d<\/b> \u2013 Stamey initially formed The dB\u2019s in 1978 with Will Rigby and Gene Holder as an ad-hoc group to play these songs. The A-side was written by Television guitarist Richard Lloyd, who provides the song\u2019s signature dive-bomb guitar runs). The new \u2013 pre-Peter Holsapple \u2013 group is featured on the flip.<\/p>\n

Sneakers \u2013 <\/b>In the Red<\/b><\/i> EP<\/b> \u2013 Recorded in 1977, the nine-song Sneakers EP was the most commercial in a long succession of home recordings made by lifelong friends Chris Stamey and Mitch Easter. Guitarist Easter wasn\u2019t officially a member of Sneakers when the basic tracks were cut, though he\u2019s all over the final recordings. Will Rigby (later of The dB\u2019s) was Sneakers\u2019 drummer.<\/p>\n

Chris Stamey \u2013 \u201cLet it Be Me\u201d b\/w \u201cThat\u2019s Why I Hate (The Replacements)\u201d<\/b> Nearly two decades after its initial run of singles, Chris Stamey briefly revived the Car Records imprint for this one-off release. The pair of songs was recorded in 1994 at the popular Cat\u2019s Cradle nightclub in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Continued from Part Three\u2026 The other three dB\u2019s are even more direct on the matter. \u201cI hate power pop,\u201d says Gene Holder. \u201cThe dB\u2019s were more experimental [than that]. Chris\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":23209,"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-23183","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\/23183","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=23183"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23183\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23276,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23183\/revisions\/23276"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23209"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23183"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23183"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23183"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}