{"id":27755,"date":"2024-07-05T05:30:20","date_gmt":"2024-07-05T09:30:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/?p=27755"},"modified":"2024-06-28T14:10:08","modified_gmt":"2024-06-28T18:10:08","slug":"the-dbs-tar-heelers-in-the-big-apple-part-2-of-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/2024\/07\/05\/the-dbs-tar-heelers-in-the-big-apple-part-2-of-2\/","title":{"rendered":"The dB’s: Tar Heelers in the Big Apple (Part 2 of 2)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Continued from Part One<\/a>…<\/i><\/p>\n

At Irving Plaza, The dB\u2019s tore through a dozen songs, including covers of Bobby Lewis\u2019 1961 hit \u201cTossin\u2019 and Turnin\u2019,\u201d the Grass Roots\u2019 \u201cLet\u2019s Live for Today,\u201d an old Sneakers cut (\u201cWhat I Dig\u201d) and Holsapple\u2019s \u201cBad Reputation.\u201d But even though Peter had one of his songs in the set, he understood from the start that the group was envisioned primarily as a vehicle for Stamey\u2019s songs. \u201cI was always under the impression that I was to be the keyboard player,\u201d he says. \u201cWe would be doing Chris\u2019s songs.\u201d<\/p>\n

Yet the transition to a more balanced arrangement came about without conflict. \u201cThe way I remember it,\u201d says Rigby, \u201cis that Peter was going to start his own band; there would be two bands. But it quickly became, \u2018Let\u2019s do Peter\u2019s and<\/i> Chris\u2019 songs.\u2019\u201d He emphasizes that he was in favor of the one-band arrangement, but he cautioned Stamey: \u201cThere\u2019s going to come a time when there are too many songs because there are two songwriters.\u201d That time did come, but not until a few years later.<\/p>\n

The group befriended Television manager (and CBGB regular) Terry Ork; he planned to release a series of singles: some by Peter Holsapple, others by The dB\u2019s. \u201cBut the project quickly turned into, \u2018Let\u2019s just make an album,\u2019\u201d Rigby says. When the band failed to interest any domestic labels, they headed to London and secured a deal with UK-based Albion Records.<\/p>\n

Recording with co-producer Alan Betrock, the group cut songs for their debut, Stands for deciBels<\/i>. Released in January 1981, the record was an immediate hit\u2026 with critics. A review in Trouser Press<\/i> observed, \u201cFew pop records are as consistently aurally interesting as this without resorting to gimmickry.\u201d<\/p>\n

Few listeners in the U.S. heard the album at the time. Holsapple believes that the music was right \u2013 in other words, commercially viable \u2013 for the time. \u201cWe didn\u2019t seem too far afield from something accessible,\u201d he observes. \u201cBut the fates would have it that we didn\u2019t get it released in the United States. And that was problematic.\u201d<\/p>\n

A similar fate would befall The dB\u2019s second album, RePercussion<\/i>. Released months after the debut, it too earned rapturous reviews, earning a place among the best and most influential releases of the indie-, college- and\/or alternative-rock albums of the era.<\/p>\n

While the UK-pressed RePercussion<\/i> did technically receive a U.S. release, today it\u2019s very rare to find a copy in the wild stateside. Stands for deciBels<\/i> and RePercussion<\/i> would eventually get domestic release on I.R.S. Records, nearly a decade after their creation. But those releases would be on CD and cassette only; today they too are long out of print.<\/p>\n

The dB\u2019s would land a U.S. label deal in 1984, releasing Like This<\/i> on Bearsville. But by that point in the band\u2019s history, Stamey had left for a solo career. The Holsapple-led group would go on to achieve a bit of commercial success, but by 1988 The dB\u2019s called it a day. Lifelong friends, all four founding members remained on good terms: as a duo, Holsapple and Stamey made a two (again, critically acclaimed and modestly selling) albums, and in 2005 the four reunited for a pair of shows. In 2012 The dB\u2019s came together once again \u2013 this time in the studio \u2013 recording and releasing Falling Off the Sky<\/i>. That album and the handful of shows in support of it demonstrated that the defining qualities that made the dB\u2019s exemplars of smart, arty yet accessible pop had not diminished a bit.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

In celebration of the long-awaited domestic vinyl release of Stands for deciBels<\/i> on June 7 (and, later this year, RePercussion<\/i>) on Chapel Hill-based Propeller Sound Recordings, the four \u2013 Holsapple, Stamey, Rigby and Holder \u2013 will come together once again to play select concert dates. The mini-tour will kick off with a performance at the Hopscotch Festival in Raleigh; other dates in major markets are to be announced.<\/p>\n

At the time of this interview, Chris Stamey was sequestered on another project, but he did offer his thoughts on Stands for deciBels<\/i>. \u201cComing back to this record now, I can hear that although I was still several years away from hitting my stride as a songwriter, Peter seems fully realized,\u201d he says. \u201cThe musical and lyrical vocabulary is economical and precise, and the band\u2019s performances and sonic detailing (smashed lightbulbs, whispers, backward reverbs) match the intent most closely. And underpinning it all, Will and Gene are agile, lively, and attentive at every turn. I\u2019m proud to have been on board for this.\u201d<\/p>\n

The dB\u2019s certainly would have liked wider success to have come their way back in 1981, but Holsapple and his band mates take a long view. \u201cWe didn\u2019t plan on being collectors\u2019 items,\u201d he quips. Decades on, he doesn\u2019t seem to have hurt feeling about the low profile of those first two records; people who heard them, loved them. And The dB\u2019s are in good company. \u201cHey,\u201d he points out, \u201cOur record collections are filled with bands that we love, but that didn\u2019t sell squat.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Continued from Part One… At Irving Plaza, The dB\u2019s tore through a dozen songs, including covers of Bobby Lewis\u2019 1961 hit \u201cTossin\u2019 and Turnin\u2019,\u201d the Grass Roots\u2019 \u201cLet\u2019s Live for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":27758,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[41,62,64,73],"tags":[5451],"class_list":["post-27755","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interview","category-rawk","category-reissue","category-vinyl","tag-dbs","cat-41-id","cat-62-id","cat-64-id","cat-73-id","has_thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27755","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=27755"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27755\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27761,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27755\/revisions\/27761"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27758"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27755"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27755"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27755"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}