The dB's - The Original Lineup On Tour

Overview

The dB's - The Original Lineup On Tour:
CHRIS STAMEY - PETER HOLSAPPLE - WILL RIGBY - GENE HOLDER

Coinciding with the first-ever U.S. vinyl release of the band's debut album, Stands for deciBels.
 

The dB’s’ debut album Stands for deciBels will be reissued on CD and vinyl (its first time on vinyl in the US) on June 14, 2024 and all digital platforms on June 7 2024, through Propeller Sound Recordings.

The first digital single will be “Big Brown Eyes,” due out on April 26, followed by “Cycles Per Second” on May 17. Both will be available on streaming services. On album street date, June 7, a third single, “Black and White,” will follow, both audio and video.

The album was produced by the band in association with the late Alan Betrock, founder of the seminal post-punk publication New York Rocker, with Don Dixon, Scott Litt and Martin Rushent mixing. It was originally issued in 1981 on the UK-based Albion label.

Pitchfork cited Stands for deciBels among its 100 Top Albums of the 1980s. AllMusic applauded “a reverence for British pop and arty post-punk leanings . . . rarely is experimentation so enjoyable and irresistibly catchy” and said The dB’s were “the band that bridged the gap between classic ’70s power pop . . . and the jangly new wave of smart pop personified by R.E.M.”

The dB’s are singer/songwriters Peter Holsapple and Chris Stamey along with Gene Holder on bass and Will Rigby on drums. The foursome grew up in Winston-Salem, NC, and helped define what would become the rich North Carolina indie-rock scene but emigrated to New York in the late 1970s and formed the band, frequently appearing at CBGB, Maxwell’s and other influential venues. The band’s early history is well documented on Propeller Sound Recordings’ celebrated 2021 release I Thought You Wanted To Know 1978-1981.

“This was primarily a band-produced and -arranged record, recorded old-school analog in fits and starts at the dawn of what became ‘indie,’ at Blue Rock Studios, with producer Alan Betrock as an éminence grise to intermittently steady the ship. And after we’d filled up all 16 of the tracks on all the songs with a cornucopia of ideas, we lucked out: aces Scott Litt (at Power Station, NYC), Don Dixon (at Drive-In, NC) and Martin Rushent (at Genetic, UK) joined to help mix,” Chris Stamey said.

“We recorded it in the run-down Manhattan of 1979, in the aftermath of the CBGB explosion, when ‘anything goes’ was the rule; we were Southern expats playing on bills with the likes of the Feelies, Bush Tetras, and X, but felt a special camaraderie with a few of the more musically versatile yet still rebellious bands of the time, the Soft Boys, NRBQ, and the Attractions among them,” he added.

The dB’s drummer Will Rigby recalls the 44-year journey in getting vinyl to American fans via a domestic label: “There were no takers among US record labels, so it wound up being released on UK label Albion Records in several European countries plus Japan and Australia, but not in North America. Its history since has included a US release on CD, but this is the first time it has been released on LP in the United States.”

“Stands for deciBels was the first place many people heard The dB’s – thanks to intrepid college deejays who brought their personal copies into the stations. Hopefully those old disc jockeys can now replace their original copies with pristine new ones,” says Peter Holsapple.

The CD edition will include the bonus track “Judy,” a single not included on the original release but available on a late ’80s (long out of print) I.R.S. Records CD reissue.

Propeller Sound Recordings’ Jefferson Holt noted: “It was a natural fit for us to reissue these incredible dB’s albums for old fans and to create new ones. I think these are two of the greatest albums in all of rock ’n’ roll.”

Musicologist / country music historian Tyler Mahan Coe linked the band’s track “Dynamite” from Stands for deciBels and commented on X: “Any time someone is talking about their favorite rock band ever I just pretend they said a bunch of sh*t about how great The dB’s were because that’s the band they’d be talking about if they knew anything.”

Wilde Green: 

Charlotte-based Wilde Green are an ambitious quartet whose resounding array of influences bring to mind a melding of melodic craftsmanship to the tune of British sound lore and the restless ambitions of those who took that inspiration to new heights. Led by songwriter, vocalist and guitarist Kevin Terrell, their collectively sourced inspiration is a kindling of genres from the 60’s on through the 90’s. From The Beatles, The Kinks, The Who and The Rolling Stones, there in also emerges a notable pop and psychedelic sensibility that channels the 60’s garage bands of obscure fame likening to The Creation and The Smoke. With hints of 70’s glam of Bowie and Bolan and playful power pop of 70’s punk bands like Flamin’ Groovies, all nestled among the melancholic 80’s sounds of The Smiths’ (more Marr than Morrissey), the beat driven pop of The Stone Roses, Oasis, Ocean Colour Scene and a touch of that shoegaze dreaminess of Ride and Spacemen 3, their sound is an entanglement of intrigue.

The group formed in early 2024 through the inspirational songs and sounds heard on Kevin Terrell’s most recent solo album entitled “Idyll Mind.” Terrell wrote, performed, recorded and produced the album in just a few short weeks, and in August of 2022 it was released. After performing songs from “Idyll Mind” along with a steady stream of new material as a solo act, Terrell brought together a talented, like-minded and passionate group of musicians to bring to fruition the visionary essence of his songwriting. With Shawn Lynch on lead guitar, Adam Roth on bass and Pete Oram on drums, Wilde Green are an imaginatively influenced and influential presence whose distinctive sound and sonically driven style bring to life the lyrical and idyllic visions of Kevin Terrell.