THE HISTORY OF DB RECS

Everything you heard about the South was right. Until it was wrong.

In 1978, Danny Beard ran a record store on Moreland Avenue and took a chance on a band from Athens nobody had heard of. What followed was one of the most influential independent catalogs the American South ever produced.

1978

The first single

DB Recs presses the debut B-52’s single — “Rock Lobster” b/w “52 Girls” — out of the back of Wax ‘n’ Facts. The record travels far beyond Atlanta, and a label is born.

1980

Pylon, and the Athens sound

Pylon’s Gyrate and the “Cool” / “Dub” single (DB53) arrive. The angular, danceable Athens sound becomes the label’s calling card.

1982

Love Tractor & the Q’s

Love Tractor’s debut LP (DB60) and the Swimming Pool Q’s cement a roster that spans jangle, art-punk and pop. The catalog numbers climb into the sixties.

1983-1992

Peak catalog

The Coolies’ Doug, Guadalcanal Diary’s Walking in the Shadow of the Big Man, Anne Richmond Boston’s The Big House of Time, and the Squares Blot Out The Sun compilation.
The Reivers, The Jody Grind, Uncle Green, Right As Rain, Ottoman Empire, The Windbreakers all make appearances.

···

The quiet years

Wax ‘n’ Facts keeps the doors open. The records keep selling. The presses wait.

2026

The return

DB Recs starts pressing again — Anne Richmond Boston’s I Should Be Happy, the Swimming Pool Q’s Royal Academy of Reality 2LP, and more to come. Same address. Same bowling ball.