[pullquote quote="In some ways, this feels like the record that we could have made between our first and second albums." credit="Chris Stamey"]It’s been a quarter- century since we have last heard a new album from The dB’s. But, on June 12th, the band will release Falling Off the Sky on Bar/None Records with the band’s original lineup of singer/songwriter/guitarists Peter Holsapple and Chris Stamey, bassist Gene Holder and drummer Will Rigby. It will be the first time in 30 years that the original lineup will be featured together after such beloved early-’80s classics like Stands for deciBels and Repercussion.
The dB’s have been working on a new album since reuniting in 2005. The band’s publicist explains that the band has taken its time recording “due to conflicting geography, work and tour schedules.” Holsapple further explains, “Our main concern was just to make a really great dB’s record, one that would stand up beside our best work. Obviously the songs had to be good and had to fit together, and it had to sound interesting in a way that would bear repeated listening. But mainly, it was important to us that we make a record that sounds like us.”
The band released their song “Revolution of the Mind” in 2011. Available for download on slicingupeyeballs.com, the song was not intended for the new album but features Yo La Tengo’s Ira Kaplan on guitar. Additionally, as part of the Record Store Day, the band released singles Picture Sleeve and Write Back on 7 inch vinyl, both assigned for the new album in 2011.
Self-producing it with the assistance from longtime associates Scott Litt and Mitch Easter, The dB’s 12 song album will be the band’s first studio effort since 1987 with The Sound of Music. The quartet find themselves invigorated and motivated by their new work, saying how the dozen new original songs easily rank among the group’s best and most influential music. Stamey clarifies, “In some ways, this feels like the record that we could have made between our first and second albums. There are, however, fewer angry songs, and more songs about transformation. It’s also the first dB’s album to be recorded primarily in North Carolina, which is something that we’re very proud of.”
The band will premiere their albums through six shows at South by Southwest this March.
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