Biography
Emerging with a roar from New London, Connecticut, the Reducers ranked among the '80s most overlooked acts. In less than two years they issued three albums of rowdy rock & roll steeped in punk and pub-rock energy, each brimming with sardonic reflections on everyday existence and romance. Post-punk formalists at heart, they clung to the two-guitar, bass, and drums format that recalled mid-'60s British Invasion and American garage rock. What set them apart from ordinary retro bar bands was their sharp humor, intelligence, and the presence of two exceptional songwriters, Hugh Birdsall and Peter Detmold, who supplied the wry, comically fraught material heard on "Let's Go" ("Let's go to London/where all the music's good/Let's go to Paris/they've got a lot of nice food"), "Rocks" (as in "New London hardly ever"), and the standout "Maximum Depression."
An almost deliberate absence of pretension may have ultimately hindered their reach. Free of gimmicks, inflated stardom claims, and glossy posturing, they were simply working-class musicians who viewed rock & roll as a chance at a better life and perhaps a way out of New London. That same drive and sincerity kept even their lesser songs charged with conviction. Their third album, Cruise to Nowhere, proved unintentionally telling when the band vanished into obscurity by the end of 1986. An early-'90s CD compilation gathered their strongest tracks, yet all three original albums still deserve space in any serious rock collection belonging to fans of Dr. Feelgood, the Sex Pistols, and ? and the Mysterians who happen to call a town like New London home.
An almost deliberate absence of pretension may have ultimately hindered their reach. Free of gimmicks, inflated stardom claims, and glossy posturing, they were simply working-class musicians who viewed rock & roll as a chance at a better life and perhaps a way out of New London. That same drive and sincerity kept even their lesser songs charged with conviction. Their third album, Cruise to Nowhere, proved unintentionally telling when the band vanished into obscurity by the end of 1986. An early-'90s CD compilation gathered their strongest tracks, yet all three original albums still deserve space in any serious rock collection belonging to fans of Dr. Feelgood, the Sex Pistols, and ? and the Mysterians who happen to call a town like New London home.
Albums
Singles
