the dbs Archive
30 Jan 2026
40 11 Great Albums You May Have Missed
A few issues back, SPIN Magazine asked its regular contributors (including me) to help build a list of 40 albums of the past 40 years that you likely missed. I […]
15 Sep 2024
30 Days Out, Sept. 2024 #2: Battle of the Bands, The dB’s, Kaleo, Sunday Jam
The next 30 days are extra-special musicwise here in WNC. Indie rock heroes The dB’s have reunited for select shows, and Asheville is on that list! Icelandic rockers Kaleo make […]
24 Jun 2022
The dB’s in Black and White (Part Four)
Continued from Part Three… The other three dB’s are even more direct on the matter. “I hate power pop,” says Gene Holder. “The dB’s were more experimental [than that]. Chris’s […]
23 Jun 2022
The dB’s in Black and White (Part Three)
Continued from Part Two… By the time the quartet’s first single, “Black and White” b/w “Soul Kiss” was released in 1980, Rigby says that Stamey and Holsapple (who had moved […]
22 Jun 2022
The dB’s in Black and White (Part Two)
Continued from Part One… A single credited to Chris Stamey and The dB’s featured an a-side (“(I Thought) You Wanted to Know”) played by Stamey with Television’s’ Richard Lloyd, who […]
21 Jun 2022
The dB’s in Black and White (Part One)
Four musicians from North Carolina came together in the 1970s as The dB’s. Perennial critics’ darlings, the group never hit the big time on the level of their friends, kindred […]
29 Jun 2021
Album Review: Various Artists – Yesterday’s Tomorrow
If you’re at all familiar with the alternate and/or college rock scenes of the 1970s and ‘80s, you’ll know the names Mitch Easter (Let’s Active, producer of R.E.M.), Peter Holsapple […]
06 Jul 2020
Album Review: Holsapple & Stamey — Our Back Pages
As wonderful as the dBs were during their original run (featuring Peter Holsapple with and then without Chris Stamey), the more acoustic-flavored efforts by Holsapple and Stamey – 1991’s Mavericks […]
01 Apr 2017
BONUS: Two Single Reviews
Every so often, I get a single in for review. Two recent releases are of particular note and merit. So that justifies a rare Saturday post from me. No fooling. […]
21 Feb 2017
Sneakers: A Walk Through Powerpop History, Part 2
Continued from Part One … Speaking of wanting (or not wanting) to know, around the time that the original Sneakers EP was released, the band couldn’t get many gigs. In […]
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