The stars finally aligned for Louisville’s Digby. After laying low for 16 years, the band has announced their upcoming album, Happy Little Heartache, and shared the new song and video for “Love Is Love.”
The band is back with all five original members: Paul Moeller (Lead vocals & rhythm guitar), Rich Oeffinger (Lead guitar & backing vocals), Ben Schneider (Bass guitar & backing vocals), Mark Book (Drums & backing vocals), and John Shiner (Keyboards & backing vocals).
Digby “officially” formed in 2000 out of the ashes of 100 Acre Wood. Their first release, Laughing at the Trees, was self-produced and financed. In 2003, they signed to Label X and released 2 albums, Go Digby in 2003 and Falling UP in 2004. Their last 2 official releases were 2 EPs in 2007 and 2008, What’s Not Plastic and The Complicated Futility. The band stopped touring in 2008.
The band actually never broke up. They would all get together from time to time, but instead of playing music, would meet for dinner or drinks. Rich and Paul explained how it all came together for the new material.
Rich: ‘When all the stars aligned, we got together just to play around with our old material. Then Paul introduced us to a whole batch of great songs he’d been writing for a couple of years. Once we heard those, and started playing around with them as a band, it all just clicked again.”
Paul: “Those stars aligning were actually me annoying the hell out of Rich for the last 8 years. That said, in all honesty, the songs that I wrote that kicked all this off, I never envisioned them as Digby songs. I have always respected these guys and their personal lives - their commitments to their families. The fact that these guys were gracious enough to give their time and energy to them, and how they did it, just blew me away. And now they’re Digby songs in the way that only Digby can be. I’m excited for people to hear that. I’m dangerously in love with this record...like, if I take it home to meet the parents and they don’t absolutely fall in love with it I’ll be heartbroken and join the army.”
Speaking about the new single, Paul explained: “I wrote the first version of “Love Is Love” in the summer of 2022. The original inspiration came from being a witness to the passing of someone very close to me, and watching the journey of their spouse as they dealt with the aftermath - them realizing the impact that the loss of this person had on their life, and their identity. But ultimately, the song became a story of love’s journey over a lifetime -any love. The highs and the lows, and how they’re all educating moments for us individually to learn how to love more deeply.”
Watch the video for "Love Is Love" below:
Rich: "The accompanying video for the song is a love letter of sorts to our family, friends, and some of the fans that we had gotten to know as friends over the years. It’s entirely made up of old photos and videos from the last 25 years or so. We as a band are in it, naturally, but people we still hang out with, as well as people we have lost through the years."
Happy Little Heartache will be available on streaming platforms 3/1. Preorders for mp3’s and CD are available now via digbytheband.com or happylittleheartache.com
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