The dB's at The Foundry (Athens, Georgia)

Come see The dB's at The Foundry in Athens, Georgia!

Get ready for a night of amazing music as The dB's take the stage at The Foundry on Thursday, September 19, 2024 at 7:00 PM. Don't miss your chance to see this legendary band live in person!

Located in the heart of Athens, The Foundry is the perfect venue to enjoy a night of great music with friends. Grab a drink, hit the dance floor, and sing along to all your favorite songs by The dB's.

Mark your calendars and get your tickets early - this is a show you won't want to miss!

The dB’s’ debut album Stands for deciBels has just been reissued on CD

and vinyl (its first time on vinyl in the US) on June 14, 2024 and is now available all digital platforms on through Propeller Sound Recordings.

The first digital single will be “Big Brown Eyes,” came out on April 26, followed by “Cycles

Per Second” on May 17. On the album street date, June 7, a third single, “Black and White,” was released, 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.”

R.E.M.’s Mike Mills calls his first listen to The dB’s’ Stands for deciBels a defining

moment in his – and his band’s – genesis: “This is the one that let me know we weren’t

alone, that there were others out there with the same curiosity, the same willingness to

dive into melody, structure and pop sensibility with no fear, no reserve, only joy and

well-deserved excitement. I still love listening to Stands for deciBels, and I always will,”

he says.

In late summer, the band will announce a fall multi-format reissue of its second album,

Repercussion, whose street date will coincide with extremely rare American live dates –

details of which are still coming together. The last dB’s national shows were in 2012 on

the heels of their studio album of that year, Falling Off the Sky.

Track listing for Stands for deciBels:

1. “Black and White” (Holsapple) – 3:09

2. “Dynamite” (Holder, Holsapple, Rigby, Stamey) – 2:35

3. “She’s Not Worried” (Stamey) – 3:04

4. “The Fight” (Holsapple) – 2:54

5. “Espionage” (Stamey) – 2:39

6. “Tearjerkin’” (Stamey) – 3:56

7. “Cycles per Second” (Stamey) – 3:06

8. “Bad Reputation” (Holsapple) – 3:11

9. “Big Brown Eyes” (Holsapple) – 1:58

10.“I’m in Love” (Stamey) – 3:29

11. “Moving in Your Sleep” (Holsapple) – 4:35

CD and digital only bonus track:

12.“Judy” (Holsapple) – 2:48

Host or Publisher Aubrey Entertainment