What do the Peter Holsapple (guitar, vocals, keyboards), Will Rigby (drummer), Chris Stamey (guitar, vocals) and Gene Holder (bass) have in common? Well, quite a lot of things actually, they all grew up in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, they formed a Power Pop band, the dB’s in June of 1978 and earlier this year (2024) they reissued their first two albums, Repercussion and Stands for Decibels, on the record label Propeller Sound Recordings.  On December 6 th, they will conclude a 3-month tour in Winston-Salem, North Carolina at the Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art.

Drummer Will Rigby sat down with Riveting Riffs Magazine to talk about the band’s history and the two albums reissued.

“We started in New York City and Chris Stamey was already living there. He invited Gene Holder the bass player and myself, the drummer to come up and play some gigs with him in June of 1978. Peter (Holsapple) joined us in October of that year, to record the first two dBs albums. However, we were all from Winston-Salem, North Carolina. I was in the third grade with Peter, and I have known him since then, for more than fifty years, going on sixty at this point. I believe we did meet in 1964. Most of us knew each other, long before we made it to New York. Gene and I did not know each other, before we moved to New York, but I knew who he was, and I am sure he knew who I was. The rest of us all knew each other.

Peter and Gene were in a band with Mitch Easter, called Little Rittenhouse in 1971 – ’72. After that band broke up, Peter and I were in a band called Little Diesel,” recalls Will Rigby.

Continuing he says, “ We formed the dBs right away in June ’78 and we started playing gigs. We recorded a single pretty quickly after Gene and I moved there.  It was before Peter joined the group.”

Our conversation turns to Stands for Decibels and the reissue of the album in the spring of 2024 and Repercussion in October.

 “The impetus for these re-releases has been the label Propeller Sound Recordings. They have been very enthusiastic about making dBs’ music available again. They have been out of print for  years and it was pretty much their idea. We were happy to go along with it and we are happy to do shows to promote the re-releases,” he explains and, “ The co-owner of the label Jefferson Holt is an old friend of ours and we have known him for years and years. He used to be the manager of R.E.M., a long time ago. He lives in Chapel Hill, as do Chris and I. He is very enthusiastic about putting out the dBs catalogue as much as he can. Propeller already put out an album of songs from before the first album. That album is called I Thought You Wanted to Know. It was a double album release on one CD. It is a bunch of demos and live recordings.

(I Thought You Wanted to Know), is pretty important to me. It shows a side of the band that we had already moved past, by the time we had already made our first album. I think it is pretty great stuff.

The first album Stand for Decibels was recorded in New York. The second album, Repercussion was in London. It was the largest recording budget of any record I have ever made or played on,” he explains.

‘When Stands for Decibels came out in early 1981, the dBs went to the U.K., and we did a tour in support of (the record). 

I would say our reception in London was really good and we were actually starting to develop a following in London, because we played there repeatedly. We played at least three gigs in London. We were developing enough of a following to fill a club. I would say our overall reception in the U.K. was sort of lukewarm. We were pretty unknown, and they were small gigs.

When we were mixing Stands For Decibels, we went to several different studios to mix that album and one of them was Power Station, which was the new, big, hip recording studio in New York City at the time. We were assigned a house engineer, an employee of Power Station to oversee the mix and that was Scott Litt. That is how we met. Power Station is in mid-town Manhattan or was,” says Will Rigby.

Thinking that perhaps this more urban legend than factual, we asked about the promotion of Stands for Decibels with the concept of songs in a can. As it turns out, it was more factual than urban legend!

“In the early eighties cassettes were the new format. The record companies were really enthusiastic about cassettes and in retrospect it is not obvious why. (he chuckles) As a marketing gimmick they put out Stands For Decibels cassettes in a can, just like a can of tomato soup. There wasn’t much in the way of liner notes, but they are printed on the label of the can in extremely small lettering. It was just the name of the band members, the names of the songs and a few credits for the producer, designer and stuff,” he recalls.

The second dBs album Repercussion, as already alluded to was produced in London.

Will Rigby talks about that time, “It was pretty fun, but also hard work. We were all living together including the producer Scott Litt, which I don’t recommend for those out there listening. Don’t live with your producer. We had good times, but we were working the whole time. We were working six days a week.”

There are some crazy, in a good way things about the album Repercussion. For instance, there is a video, which you can watch on YouTube, for the song, “Neverland,” and Will Rigby is playing the drums with two drumsticks in each hand. Okay, we have got to ask about that. 

Chuckling he explains,  “There was a video, but it was not live. I have done that on stage. It doesn’t really add that much. It makes it sound a little crazy, every note is sort of hit twice. It doesn’t change it a whole, heck of a lot. It is more a showmanship thing. It is more a look at me, look at me, kind of thing. In drumming they call it a flam when you play with both hands at the same time and this sort of is like a flam. It is more visual than audio.”

Then there is the song, “Ask for Jill,” and the rumor that Will Rigby played with his drumsticks on the floor.

Confirming that he did indeed play with the drumsticks on the floor, he says, “Yes, when you listen to one part of the song, it comes up or maybe two parts of the song. We (put a mic) on the floor and I played the really nice wood floor. That one song was recorded at Power Station, before we went to London. It is an overdub. If you know that is what it is, it is obvious when it comes up, because it is a pretty quirky sound.”

As for the backstory for the song, Will Rigby says that is a question for Chris Stamey and there were several different Jills that perhaps the song alluded to. It adds a bit of mystery to the song don’t you think?

“Neverland,” was the first single released during the reissue of Repercussion and Will Rigby explains why, “It is the last song on the album, and it is very memorable. It is the up-tempo song that was the obvious first choice. Also, I will say one of the reasons it came out first is we had a video ready to go for “Neverland.”

The song structure is in a lot of three and sixes, which is a little unusual, because people are used to hearing songs in the fours and the eights in the measures that is. The lines in the verses are three measures each. It is like that through much of the song and that is unusual. It is unusual that Gene is playing an eight-string bass, which is the bass equivalent of a twelve-string guitar. Every note that you hit is being played on two strings instead of one.”

The second single released was “Ask for Jill,” and he says that was the record label’s decision, because with two main songwriters in the band, they wanted to feature their songs in rotation.

Repercussion was recorded at Ramport Studios in the south of London. It was a studio built and owned by the Who in 1973. “They had moved on by that point. It was a bit of an orphan, but it was still going. The album was mixed at George Martin’s AIR Studios in London,” says Will Rigby.

Conversation turns to the song “Amplifier,” at first blush an innocent enough of a title.  

“The first line of the song is, “Danny went home and killed himself last night.” It is about a breakup when the woman takes everything he owns, except she left his amplifier. The killing himself part is straight hyperbole. It does not have anything to do with reality. It was a straight up, made up scenario.

As for recording, it I had a little difficulty finding the groove and Scott encouraged me to simplify it and just play the backbeat. After that it pretty much came together.  I liked to play more complicated stuff back then, but now I am more of a straight backbeat type of drummer.

Peter played the guitar and the piano. I think that is worth noting,” he says.

Will Rigby describes the song, “We Were Happy There,” as being melancholy and then quotes the lines, “’Cause we were happy there / It was a long, long time ago / We were happy there,” and then the lines, “Are you happy now? / And we’re going to go back home.”  I think of it as a sad song. On Repercussion there are a lot of songs about lost love or break up songs.”

If you are a fan of seventies Power Pop / Jangle the reissues of Repercussion and Stands for Decibels, should be in your music collection. To learn  more visit the dBs website. Return to Our Front Page

Photos::  Top Photo:   by Lindsay Metivier protected by copright, © all rights reserved  Second Photo: featured Peter Holsapple (guitar), Will Rigby (drums), photo by Daniel Coston, protected by copyright ©, all rights reserved

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This interview by Joe Montague  published November 11th, 2024 is protected by copyright  and is the property of Riveting Riffs Magazine All Rights Reserved.  All photos and artwork are the the property of  dBs unless otherwise noted and all  are protected by copyright © All Rights Reserved. This interview may not be reproduced in print or on the internet or through any other means without the written permission of Riveting Riffs Magazine.