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The Boston Globe - October 1st, 1998
Reproduced below is an article that was published in The Boston Globe newspaper.Reducers redux
By Jim Sullivan, Globe Staff(Originally published in The Boston Globe 10/1/98 in the Calendar on page 9)
A card comes in the post from Hugh Birdsall, singer-guitarist with the sharp, veteran Connecticut band the Reducers. "After 20 years," he writes, "what's left to say? We used to be young snots and now we're old farts? Whatever. No regrets, no apologies." Aging: The only alternative to death. Bummer.The Reducers, who play the Middle East Upstairs on Saturday, were part of the early wave of guitar-based pop-punk bands. Unlike most bands from that era, the Reducers are still active and vital.
"It feels weird," says Peter Detmoldt, who shares the singing and guitar chores with Birdsall, "because you start off young, out of high school, aggressive . . . and you find you've spent the last 15 years watching bands fall by the wayside out of boredom or tragedy. There's not many of us left. But we've always gotten a kick out of it, gotten positive feedback from friends and fans, and the four of us genuinely like each other."
One difference between then and now is that the Reducers aren't trying to climb the rock ladder. They all have day jobs. Detmoldt owns a bar; Birdsall's a teacher; drummer Tom Trombley works in a hospital; bassistSteve Kaika is a contractor. But, Detmoldt says, they have the same motivation as two decades back: "To have fun and knock people out." Remember, in the beginning of the punk era, "it was an exciting time, but there was no hope of getting on commercial radio."
If the Reducers failed to reach the big time, they also never bottomed out. They've taken breaks, but never broken up, never changed personnel. "A lot of guys our age get together to play golf or shoot pool, and this is just as valid as those things; it's still a gang/guy thing," Detmoldt says.
In concert the Reducers generally serve up a 3-to-1 ratio of originals to covers, but in their vast knowledge of covers they are, as Detmoldt says, "a punk rock jukebox." They'll cover Public Image, Ltd (the band and song), Elvis Costello's "No Action," and various Ramones and Sex Pistols songs. "We wear our influences proudly on our sleeves," Detmoldt says. A half-covers/half-originals live album is due in a couple of months.