Peter Detmold

The Reducers

By Christopher Duda
(SugarBuzz Toronto)

SugarBuzz Magazine

The Reducers are perhaps one of the best kept secrets in Rock and Roll and I just spilled the vast pot of steaming stinkin’ brown beans. Not that I don’t like to share but it has been reported that even I the mild mannered kid from Canada did not play well with others. So, begrudgingly I will allow the rest of the listening subjects in on the cloak and dagger mystery. The Reducers from Connecticut will rock your ill fitting skinny jean wearing too tight for your cellulite ass off. Ladies and Gentlemen I give your Peter Detmold from the Reducers!

What has kept The Reducers together for almost 30 years?

PD: We were friends before we were a band. I’ve known Hugh since we were both about twelve years old, and Steve & Tom almost as long. We were all big fans of rock and roll before we ever thought about putting a band together. The fact that we managed to release records and achieve some success was a great bonus…….lots of guys in our position would just be happy with the friendship and the memories!

Why are The Reducers one of Rock and Roll’s best-kept secrets?

PD: Well, we’re not exactly the greatest self-promoters in the business! (But, having said that, it actually surprises me how far our reputation has traveled!)

How did the trip to England in 1977 influence you and more specifically the forming of The Reducers?

PD: First of all, it was the most thrilling, up close musical experience that I had ever witnessed, but at the same time, I kept thinking “We could do this!” That right there is the lesson that punk rock taught me – “WE can do it!” And, immediately upon returning home in early 1978, we set about planning the Reducers.

You were witness to Punk Rock History being made before your eyes in London 1977. What bands did you actually see perform?

PD: Hugh & I saw the Pirates at the Marquee the night we arrived in London. A very underrated band, and not exactly punk, but they were caught up in the same frenzy that everyone else in London seemed to be, and I was floored by their energy, and the crowds response. That jet lagged night sort of set the stage for our stay in the UK. Over the next week we saw the Sex Pistols, the Jam, the Motors, Eddie & the Hot Rods, Chris Spedding, the Only Ones and several others that I’m forgetting. We also saw the Kinks who I’ve always loved, and even they gave a nod to the punk rock thing with their current single – “Prince of the Punks.” Also……we had seen Elvis & the Attractions a day or two before we flew to England. And, when we got home it wasn’t long before we saw the Clash several times. It was like a crash course in Punk 101! (And, by the way, ……it didn’t cost more than five or six bucks to get into ANY of these gigs in 1977!)

How influential were The Ramones on The Reducers?

PD: Hugely! In fact, the first song that the four of us attempted as a band, in our first rehearsal, was “Rockaway Beach.” And, ya know what? It sounded great! We COULD do this! We opened for them about a dozen times. (We’d leave our version of “Rockaway Beach” off the set list.)

I hear a lot of Jam influences in The Reducers sound. Was The Jam a band that The Reducers respected?

PD: Completely. We were fanatical fans of the band, and traveled to see them whenever they toured the states. Those first two LPs were a big deal to us, and we stole a lot of ideas from them. I mean borrowed……..Respectfully.

Connecticut isn’t really seen as a Rock and Roll Mecca of the world. How was it in the early days performing for audiences?

PD: Actually, that worked for us, because we were able to introduce a sound and attitude that was unknown in our area. People had literally never heard, or seen anything like it, whereas that would definitely not have been the case had we been from New York or Boston. So…..whether or not they liked us, we got their attention.

When bands like The Replacements were getting signed how did The Reducers feel at the time given that you had similar direction and sounds? Did you feel like “we might be next”?

PD: We used to joke that we had chosen a great name for the band, because it was right in front of REM and the Replacements in the record bins. (This is when REM was on I.R.S. and the ‘Mats were on Twin Tone.) Then, both of those bands got signed to major labels and maybe we did figure that we might be next.

Did major labels approach you?

PD: Most of, if not all of them contacted us. One or two of them acted especially interested. I saved all of their eventual rejection letters.

Sometimes the bands that play by their own rules and create their own destiny are the ones that rise to the top in the end. Financial gain was obviously not The Reducers modus operandi. Do you feel that by existing by your own rules it has benefited The Reducers in the long run?

PD: We never did this to get rich. I’m pretty happy about how things have turned out – we made some money, traveled around, had unbelievable times, played with great bands in great cities and crappy bands in crappy cities (and vice-versa.) And we’re still together. The bands that served as our initial inspiration are all gone – the Ramones are nearly all dead, the Pistols are ancient history, the Jam hate each other and the Clash fell apart badly, and now Joe Strummer’s gone. In a way, I feel fortunate not to have met any of those fates - we’ve got gigs coming up and an album on the way!

Early punk scenes were built upon networking and the DIY ethic. Was this something the Reducers adhered too? Does this still exist today?

PD: I think about what a different world it was when we started – no computers, no internet, no ITunes, no MySpace, no YouTube - all the ways that kids now discover, and access, and create, and market music. We’d drive an hour to buy the newest import 45 from England, or to put up a flyer for an upcoming gig. It seems like ancient history! But, there was a great underground music scene, and publications like “Boston Rock” and “The New York Rocker,” that served as our internet. And people listened to college radio to discover new bands, rather than searching web sites. And there were more and better rock venues, because that’s where you were going to see bands that you loved or had never heard of, as opposed to watching them on a computer screen. (Do I sound like a cranky dinosaur that thinks it was “better back then????” Good!)

How did The Reducers decide to start Rave on Records?

PD: Well, aside from the fact that no one else was having us, we thought that it was cool to “do it yourself,” and have complete control – it was very much the punk way to do things. Once again, it goes back to the idea that “WE can do this” - we’ve written the song, we’ve contacted the recording studio, we’ve paid for the session, so, why stop there? We can also design the artwork, contact the pressing plant and pay for a thousand 45’s to be printed up. And then we can send it to every college radio station and underground music publication that we’d ever heard of and wait for the airplay and reviews to happen! That, in a nutshell, was our thinking. And it actually worked!

How important is word of mouth in terms of The Reducers getting known?

PD: Very important. But even more important was the fact that radio stations actually started playing our records, and reviewers actually started giving us good reviews. That enabled us to book tours, and we generally were very well received by however many people had heard the songs or word of mouth and come out to the shows.

Why did the Reducers not relocate to a bigger city like Boston or New York? If that move did take place do you feel it might have rewritten the history books?

PD: It’s the old story – big fish in a little pond, or little fish in a big pond. Speaking for myself, I’m comfortable in the small waters. (With easy access to the big ponds…….it’s just a short swim up, or downstream!)

How has your audience changed over the years?

PD: As for our original fans……they’re not quite as young, cute and skinny as they used to be, but neither are we. On the other hand, lots of their kids are coming to shows, or checking us out on their internets! Certainly more people know about us now, so our audience is larger.

Has the Internet helped The Reducers?

PD: I got dragged into the computer age, and I have hugely mixed feelings about its benefits, but there is no question that it has helped the band. We did a two week tour of Japan a few years ago that would never have happened without the internet, and it was one of the best things that have ever happened to us! Plus, we’re selling more CD’s, and even our old LP’s than ever! And then there’s the whole digital download thing……..

How influential was the early Stiff artists on The Reducers?

PD: Well, just when we got intrigued by the whole punk think that was emerging from England in 1977, and just when we started to buy every 45 that seemed to be a part of that scene, people like Nick Lowe and Wreckless Eric started to put out 45’s that were so simple, and yet so great, that it was just an affirmation to us that we were onto something. We loved the Pistols, and the Jam, and the Clash, but we could never do anything other than ape them. On the other hand, Nick Lowe, Eric and the other Stiff artists seemed more ordinary, although still fantastic, and most certainly rocking! It brought it a little closer to us, and made the whole “recording artist” thing seem even more accessible. So….once again, hugely influential. I own a couple of dozen early Stiff 45’s. All the Nick Lowe, Wreckless Eric, Elvis Costello, etc. Bought ‘em when they came out!

I am a huge New York Dolls fan. Seems everyone has a favorite Johnny Thunders story to tell. Do you have any memories of the show The Reducers did with him and where was it and when?

PD: Uh-oh…….I’m not a big Dolls fan, and the night we shared a stage with Johnny Thunders was memorable for all the wrong reasons. The show was in Louisville, and I probably should not go into any more detail than that there were problems involving hard drugs, hookers, and a severely under rehearsed band. Let me just say that JT failed to win us over! (I’ll fill you in on the details if you want – but maybe “off the record” would be best!)

Have you played with the Fleshtones recently? I have to say they put on very fun shows to attend.

PD: We’ve shared a lot of stages with them, and I love their attitude and sense of fun – they come from the same era as we do, and they remember the days before rock was a business. They still have a blast on stage. (And frequently off!) It’s infectious. I love ‘em!

Could the Reducers out drink the Replacements?

PD: Not a chance! But, we never tried. If we got a case of beer in the dressing room before a gig, we were happy. (You should have seen the backstage rider the ‘Mats used to demand!) Don’t get me wrong……we drank plenty, and some of us still do, but our live gigs rarely turned on how drunk we were in the way “Mats’ shows did. We played shows with them, and they were wildly erratic – sometimes tremendous, and sometimes awful.

How did the tour of Japan in 2004 come about?

PD: We had fans in Japan that we’d never known about. Then, with the dawn of the computer age, we started to get contacted by some of these people. At first it was to order records, and CD’s. Eventually we were asked to come over and tour. It was initiated by the guys from Firestarter, who used to be Teengenerate. We did a two week tour with them, and it was tremendous!

Will the live tape that was handed over to NKVD records ever surface as a CD?

PD: I see no reason why we can’t start releasing selected live tapes from our vast archives.

Why were tracks left off the Redux CD?

PD: Well, not everything from our first three LP’s would fit on one CD. Plus, we wanted to throw in a few unreleased tracks. I’ve always felt that there should be a “Redux II” that collects all the odds & ends, and tracks left off of the original Redux. There’s a lot of good stuff that didn’t make it onto that.

Are there plans to release the early LP’s with bonus tracks?

PD: Yes, but like so many of our plans, it doesn’t happen as quickly as we’d like it to. Stay tuned!

How do you feel your last release has fared?

"Guitars, Bass & Drums" sounds good to us - we're probably better at getting our sound down on tape after all this time. Playing a gig is second nature to us by now - we've done about a thousand of 'em. But getting that translated to the recording studio is a tricky thing and I just think we're getting closer to achieving that. Our producer Richard is also more comfortable with how we work, so it's just a case of us all getting better at what we're trying to do.

We're determined to not let our next release take so long. With that in mind, we'll be recording in NYC this weekend and hopefully get a few of our new songs down on tape. We'll let you know!

www.thereducers.com
www.myspace.com/thereducers
www.youtube.com/watch?v=h_YXTiDY5VU&feature=related
SugarBuzz Magazine