The dB's
Encyclopedia
The dB's are a jangle pop
/power pop
group who came into prominence in the late 1970s and 1980s. The bandmembers were Peter Holsapple
, Chris Stamey
, Will Rigby and Gene Holder, all of whom were from Winston-Salem, North Carolina
. The group was formed in New York City
.
in New York during 1977, and with Television
guitarist Richard Lloyd recorded "(I Thought) You Wanted to Know" that year. A single of this song, backed with "If and When" (on which Rigby and Holder played), appeared in 1978, credited to Chris Stamey and the dB's. Holsapple joined the group in October 1978.
They released their first album, Stands for Decibels
, in 1981, to critical acclaim but negligible sales. Their sound was a modernized version of earlier power pop, with precise arrangements and highly accomplished instrumental work. Stamey and Holsapple were the band's songwriters, and while Holsapple was skilled in the composing of fairly straightforward tunes such as "Big Brown Eyes" and "Bad Reputation," Stamey's songs, which include "Espionage" and "Tearjerkin'," tended to be somewhat more experimental. They released a second album in 1982, Repercussion
, which built upon the strengths of the first album, and also released singles such as "Judy." These two albums, recorded on the British label Albion, have since been reissued on one compact disc.
Stamey left the group after the second album, and pursued a career as a solo artist and producer. The group then recorded a third album, Like This, released in 1984. The band had finally landed an American record deal, Bearsville Records
, but distribution woes caused the album to be greatly delayed. Rick Wagner joined the band on bass, and Holder moved to lead guitar.
Their last album, The Sound of Music, was released in 1987 with New Orleans bass player Jeff Beninato, founder of the New Orleans Musicians Relief Fund. Again under Holsapple's direction, this is perhaps the band's most traditional pop album. Jeff Beninato participated in the subsequent tour. Gene Holder left the band to join the Individuals
, and Eric Peterson was recruited on lead guitar after replacing temporary guitarist/keyboardist Harold Kelt. Holsapple ended up moving to Beninato's home town of New Orleans after living in Los Angeles toward the end of the band's career.
Since the group's demise, Holsapple has worked as a session musician, issued one solo album, and was a member of the Continental Drifters
. He currently tours with Hootie and the Blowfish. Stamey has released solo records and is a record
producer. Rigby is a respected drummer, playing for Steve Earle
and others, and Holder has continued to record and produce. Beninato produced Little Queenie's""Q-Ball", is currently producing New Orleans guitar collective Twangorama and administers The New Orleans Musicians Relief Fund.
The band reunited in 2005, and has been recording a new album. The band recorded a moving version of What Becomes of the Brokenhearted
to benefit the New Orleans Musicians Relief Fund. The song is available on iTunes
and has helped provide help to hundreds of displaced musicians.
November, 2006 saw the release of "Christmastime," an updated version of an album released in the eighties with contributions from Mitch Easter
, Ryan Adams
, and many other guests. It was reviewed and recommended by USA Today in December, 2006.
In September, 2005 the "classic" lineup of the dB'S played two shows in Chicago, and two in Hoboken, New Jersey. The Bowery Ballroom in NYC hosted the dB'S in January 2007, and in February 2007 the dB's performed at Cat's Cradle in Carrboro NC. Work on the new album continues as time allows.
, reviewing their first album, said "This is pop at its tensest--the precise harmonies, broken rhythms, and Byrdsy zoom effects are drawn so tight they make the expertly rendered romantic ups and downs of the songs sound intense and earned." However, their later recordings were felt by some critics to compare poorly to their first three albums. Christgau again, on The Sound of Music: "Yeah, it rocks, but when a pop group leaves it at that they're no better than their latest song, and when their sole remaining songwriter is still dissecting serial monogamy as he says bye to thirty, chances are his latest song doesn't even interest him all that much."
Trouser Press
, however, favorably reviewed the record, writing: "The Sound of Music finds the dB's continuing in the style of Like This, with similarly fine results."
Jangle pop
Jangle pop is a genre of alternative rock from the mid-1980s that "marked a return to the chiming or jangly guitars and pop melodies of the '60s" bands such as The Byrds, with their electric twelve-string guitars and power pop song structures. Mid-1980s jangle pop was a non-mainstream "pop-based...
/power pop
Power pop
Power pop is a popular musical genre that draws its inspiration from 1960s British and American pop and rock music. It typically incorporates a combination of musical devices such as strong melodies, crisp vocal harmonies, economical arrangements, and prominent guitar riffs. Instrumental solos are...
group who came into prominence in the late 1970s and 1980s. The bandmembers were Peter Holsapple
Peter Holsapple
Peter Holsapple formed, along with Chris Stamey, the singing, songwriting, and guitar-playing core of the dB's, a jangle-pop band from Winston-Salem, North Carolina. He became the band's principal songwriter and singer after Stamey's departure. The dB's were at the forefront of the guitar bands...
, Chris Stamey
Chris Stamey
Chris Stamey is an American musician, singer, songwriter and record producer. After a stint playing with Alex Chilton, and a brief partnering with Mitch Easter under the name Sneakers, he formed The dB's, whose stewardship he would share with Peter Holsapple.In 1977 in New York, Chris founded the...
, Will Rigby and Gene Holder, all of whom were from Winston-Salem, North Carolina
Winston-Salem, North Carolina
Winston-Salem is a city in the U.S. state of North Carolina, with a 2010 population of 229,617. Winston-Salem is the county seat and largest city of Forsyth County and the fourth-largest city in the state. Winston-Salem is the second largest municipality in the Piedmont Triad region and is home to...
. The group was formed in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
.
History
Stamey played bass with Alex ChiltonAlex Chilton
William Alexander "Alex" Chilton was an American songwriter, guitarist, singer and producer, best known as the lead singer of the Box Tops and Big Star...
in New York during 1977, and with Television
Television (band)
Television was an American rock band, formed in New York City in 1973. They are best known for the album Marquee Moon and widely regarded as one of the founders of "punk" and New Wave music. Television was part of the early 1970s New York underground rock scene, along with bands like the Patti...
guitarist Richard Lloyd recorded "(I Thought) You Wanted to Know" that year. A single of this song, backed with "If and When" (on which Rigby and Holder played), appeared in 1978, credited to Chris Stamey and the dB's. Holsapple joined the group in October 1978.
They released their first album, Stands for Decibels
Stands for Decibels
Stands for Decibels is the acclaimed 1981 debut album by The dB's. It was initially commercially unsuccessful but has since become recognized as a crucial album in the power pop canon, alongside releases by Big Star and Let's Active...
, in 1981, to critical acclaim but negligible sales. Their sound was a modernized version of earlier power pop, with precise arrangements and highly accomplished instrumental work. Stamey and Holsapple were the band's songwriters, and while Holsapple was skilled in the composing of fairly straightforward tunes such as "Big Brown Eyes" and "Bad Reputation," Stamey's songs, which include "Espionage" and "Tearjerkin'," tended to be somewhat more experimental. They released a second album in 1982, Repercussion
Repercussion
Repercussion is the second album by The dB's. Like its predecessor, Stands for Decibels, the album was commercially unsuccessful but has since developed a cult following and is now arguably regarded as just as much of a classic as Stands for Decibels by both fans of power pop and rock fans in...
, which built upon the strengths of the first album, and also released singles such as "Judy." These two albums, recorded on the British label Albion, have since been reissued on one compact disc.
Stamey left the group after the second album, and pursued a career as a solo artist and producer. The group then recorded a third album, Like This, released in 1984. The band had finally landed an American record deal, Bearsville Records
Bearsville Records
Bearsville Records was founded in 1970 by Albert Grossman. Artists included Todd Rundgren, Elizabeth Barraclough, Foghat, Halfnelson/Sparks, Bobby Charles, Randy VanWarmer, Paul Butterfield's Better Days, Lazarus, Jesse Winchester, and NRBQ. The label closed in 1984, two years before Grossman's...
, but distribution woes caused the album to be greatly delayed. Rick Wagner joined the band on bass, and Holder moved to lead guitar.
Their last album, The Sound of Music, was released in 1987 with New Orleans bass player Jeff Beninato, founder of the New Orleans Musicians Relief Fund. Again under Holsapple's direction, this is perhaps the band's most traditional pop album. Jeff Beninato participated in the subsequent tour. Gene Holder left the band to join the Individuals
The Individuals (New Jersey band)
The Individuals were a Hoboken, New Jersey-based band led by Glenn Morrow and featuring Janet Wygal , Janet's brother Doug Wygal , and Jon Light Klages...
, and Eric Peterson was recruited on lead guitar after replacing temporary guitarist/keyboardist Harold Kelt. Holsapple ended up moving to Beninato's home town of New Orleans after living in Los Angeles toward the end of the band's career.
Breakup
Two CDs were released after the dB's broke up. Ride the Wild Tom-Tom collected demos, early recordings and singles, and Paris Avenue was a posthumous album by the final lineup, based on demo tapes from the band's waning days. In 1991, Stamey and Holsapple reunited (not under the dB's moniker) as a duo to record an album entitled Mavericks.Since the group's demise, Holsapple has worked as a session musician, issued one solo album, and was a member of the Continental Drifters
Continental Drifters
The Continental Drifters was an American rock band, formed in Los Angeles, California in 1991 and dissolved in New Orleans, Louisiana about a decade later...
. He currently tours with Hootie and the Blowfish. Stamey has released solo records and is a record
Gramophone record
A gramophone record, commonly known as a phonograph record , vinyl record , or colloquially, a record, is an analog sound storage medium consisting of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove...
producer. Rigby is a respected drummer, playing for Steve Earle
Steve Earle
Stephen Fain "Steve" Earle is an American singer-songwriter known for his rock and Texas Country as well as his political views. He is also a producer, author, a political activist, and an actor, and has written and directed a play....
and others, and Holder has continued to record and produce. Beninato produced Little Queenie's""Q-Ball", is currently producing New Orleans guitar collective Twangorama and administers The New Orleans Musicians Relief Fund.
The band reunited in 2005, and has been recording a new album. The band recorded a moving version of What Becomes of the Brokenhearted
What Becomes of the Brokenhearted
"What Becomes of the Brokenhearted" is a hit single recorded by Jimmy Ruffin and released on Motown Records' Soul label in the summer of 1966. It is a ballad, with lead singer Jimmy Ruffin recalling the pain that befalls the brokenhearted, and their struggle to overcome their sadness so that they...
to benefit the New Orleans Musicians Relief Fund. The song is available on iTunes
ITunes
iTunes is a media player computer program, used for playing, downloading, and organizing digital music and video files on desktop computers. It can also manage contents on iPod, iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad....
and has helped provide help to hundreds of displaced musicians.
November, 2006 saw the release of "Christmastime," an updated version of an album released in the eighties with contributions from Mitch Easter
Mitch Easter
Mitch Easter is a songwriter, musician, and producer. As a producer, he is probably best known for his work with R.E.M. from 1981 through 1984, though he has also worked with many other acts including The Hang Ups, Pavement, Suzanne Vega, Game Theory, Marshall Crenshaw, Velvet Crush, and...
, Ryan Adams
Ryan Adams
David Ryan Adams is an American alt-country/rock singer-songwriter, from Jacksonville, North Carolina. Initially part of the group Whiskeytown, Adams left the band and released his first solo album Heartbreaker in 2000...
, and many other guests. It was reviewed and recommended by USA Today in December, 2006.
In September, 2005 the "classic" lineup of the dB'S played two shows in Chicago, and two in Hoboken, New Jersey. The Bowery Ballroom in NYC hosted the dB'S in January 2007, and in February 2007 the dB's performed at Cat's Cradle in Carrboro NC. Work on the new album continues as time allows.
Critical reception
Although the dB's enjoyed only a limited popularity, their recordings were held in high esteem by critics. Robert ChristgauRobert Christgau
Robert Christgau is an American essayist, music journalist, and self-proclaimed "Dean of American Rock Critics".One of the earliest professional rock critics, Christgau is known for his terse capsule reviews, published since 1969 in his Consumer Guide columns...
, reviewing their first album, said "This is pop at its tensest--the precise harmonies, broken rhythms, and Byrdsy zoom effects are drawn so tight they make the expertly rendered romantic ups and downs of the songs sound intense and earned." However, their later recordings were felt by some critics to compare poorly to their first three albums. Christgau again, on The Sound of Music: "Yeah, it rocks, but when a pop group leaves it at that they're no better than their latest song, and when their sole remaining songwriter is still dissecting serial monogamy as he says bye to thirty, chances are his latest song doesn't even interest him all that much."
Trouser Press
Trouser Press
Trouser Press was a rock and roll magazine started in New York in 1974 as a mimeographed fanzine by editor/publisher Ira Robbins, fellow Who fan Dave Schulps and Karen Rose under the name "Trans-Oceanic Trouser Press" ...
, however, favorably reviewed the record, writing: "The Sound of Music finds the dB's continuing in the style of Like This, with similarly fine results."
Studio albums
- Stands for DecibelsStands for DecibelsStands for Decibels is the acclaimed 1981 debut album by The dB's. It was initially commercially unsuccessful but has since become recognized as a crucial album in the power pop canon, alongside releases by Big Star and Let's Active...
(Albion Records 1981) - RepercussionRepercussionRepercussion is the second album by The dB's. Like its predecessor, Stands for Decibels, the album was commercially unsuccessful but has since developed a cult following and is now arguably regarded as just as much of a classic as Stands for Decibels by both fans of power pop and rock fans in...
(Albion 1982) - Like ThisLike This (album)-Track listing:# Love Is for Lovers# She Got Soul# Spitting in the Wind# Lonely Is # Not Cool# Amplifier# A Spy in the House of Love# Rendezvous# New Gun in Town# On the Battlefront# White Train...
(Bearsville RecordsBearsville RecordsBearsville Records was founded in 1970 by Albert Grossman. Artists included Todd Rundgren, Elizabeth Barraclough, Foghat, Halfnelson/Sparks, Bobby Charles, Randy VanWarmer, Paul Butterfield's Better Days, Lazarus, Jesse Winchester, and NRBQ. The label closed in 1984, two years before Grossman's...
1984) - The Sound of Music (I.R.S. RecordsI.R.S. RecordsI.R.S. Records was a record label, started in the United States in 1979 by Miles Copeland III along with Jay Boberg and Carl Grasso. Miles was also the manager of Wishbone Ash, The Police, and later, Sting, as well as other bands. I.R.S. was the sister label of Copeland's Illegal Records .I.R.S...
1987)
Compilations
- Ride the Wild Tom-Tom (Rhino Records 1993)
- Paris Avenue (Monkey Hill Records 1994)