By Ryan Settee

The Detonations are a perfect blend of booze and crime. Wait, no, make that a capital "C" in Crime, as in the legendary punk band out of San Francisco. A new band signed to the Alive records roster, the Detonations are a relatively unknown group, but they're gonna make a huge explosion in the dirty rock n' roll world. They have a sound that's kinda hard to pin down, it's energetic, it's grimy, it's classic, but it's not just looking to the past to create it's sounds. Pussy Galore Crime Explosion? The Stooges of Leather Uppers Devo-idoids? I dunno, you be the judge, but don't get back to me unless you think of something good. Featuring members from the bands Rock Antagonists Sex Hunter, and The Drags, they extol the merits of playing cheap guitars, and blurring genres a bit.

What I like about the Detonations' sound, is that it falls right in the middle of a more straightforward Jon Spencer Blues Explosion sound, and the Leather Uppers. Have you heard of the Leather Uppers, and are they an influence on the band, at all?
John Henry- No I am not familiar with the Leather Uppers, but I do get into alot of noisy New York blues, but more Honeymoon Killers/Pussy Galore than Blues Explosion.

Keith Herrera- I guess I can hear it in our sound, I've always been a fan of Pussy Galore, Blues Explosion, Oblivians & some Memphis stuff, but I think what has had a big influence on us is stuff like Crime, Electric Eels, Flipper & all the obvious stuff like Stooges, Dolls, Voidoids. We are just fans of good Rock & Roll. We dig It all. I actually have heard The Leather Uppers --my old band The Drags were on a Nardwuar comp with them a couple of years back.

Julien Fried- I think we sound more like Crime. I love Bow Wow Wow as well.

It says in the bio here, John, that you play a Fender Tele with bass strings, hooked up into a bi-amp system where you split the guitar and bass tones. How many bass strings are on the actual guitar? Tell me more about this unique setup.
JH - There are two bass strings on it, and the the object of the setup is to make it sound like there is a bass player playing the rhythm along with me and I can turn either of these sounds, bass or guitar, on and off when I want.

How does the bass strings/ guitar strings thing work? Are you playing power chords with one bass string, then one guitar string?
JH - I use a couple of different techniques but I don't think about that stuff too much I just try to make the sounds I like.

There's such a full sound on "Static Vision", and the bass drum really fills the sound up alot. But the album is still very dirty, like a Jim Diamond recording, where it sounds really full, but still really vicious and overdriven. Is this going to become the Detonations signature sound, or are you guys interested in creating different sounds, tonally, on each album?
KH- I think the record almost sounds like us live, which is a pretty hard thing to capture on a record. Jerry Teel like Jim Diamond and Tim Kerr, is pretty good at that. He just recently moved to New Orleans, which is great for us. He was someone I wanted to work with anyhow. I actually think he has been recording a little bit longer than Jim Diamond, but I might be wrong. Look at your record collection; he has probably recorded a few. A couple of stand out ones for me are the Oblivians' "Popular Favorites" & the first Yeah Yeah Yeahs e.p.

JF- I like to get different sounds. Maybe a smaller amp but very loud.

What did Jerry Teel add to the recording, in terms of experience, knowledge and attitude?
JH - He has a great ear for rock-n-roll and is really easy to work with. He recorded alot of the room sound and mixed it in to make it sound really live and dirty, we banged out all the songs in one day to keep from over thinking the music, then spent a handful of days mixing.

JF - He uses mike bleed as an effect, rather than making everything isolated.

How has Alive helped you out, in terms of seeing that your record is in stores, as well as getting the records into the right hands?
KH- To be honest, I was not really even aware of Alive. I have been a little out of touch as far as current stuff, but I have always been a fan of Bomp! records, which is the father label to Alive, and after they expressed interest (in our band), I realized I actually owned a couple of records on their label by Thee Machine Gun Elephant and an MC5 reissue, but yeah they have been cool & they paid for the recording & put it on vinyl which has always been important to me. Also the records are in stores which is all you can really ask for.

JH - Our relationship with Alive has just started. They are really into the record and I guess time will tell how it will work out.

I noticed that the band opts for some drop-d tunings on the guitars, and that would definetely give the band a darker, and heavier sound. That's what I like about the Detonations' sound, is that it's not afraid to deviate from the straight up garage/punk sound, but I was wondering if your band feels any stigma from the retro hardcores, to just stick to the same three chords, and not have dropped d tuned guitars, for example.
JH - I use drop-D because its easier for me to sing and get the bass tone I want, as far as deviating from the garage/punk sound it was never our intention to be that. I like that sound alot, I just don't like the retro-rock thing, I never understood that. We've never gotten any flack from anyone for anything we've done, but maybe someday we will, and we'll have a good haha about it. The only darkside of the band I see is when we tell clubs to turn off the big flashing lights.

JF- He's right, it's alot easier to sing and play. Less fingers.

Another similar band, the Gossip, has recently stated on their live recording "Undead In NYC", that they're "not a garage band, but a punk band". They sound pretty miffed at being lumped into the garage thing, although they definetely have that sorta sound. Although there's elements of garage to your sound, there's definetely punk elements. Does it matter to you what people term your music, or would you just rather be known as a rock n' roll band?
JH- We are a Rock-n-Roll band. Garage/punk/blues/noise/newwave are all in there but it's still rock-n-roll.

KH- We just want to get the records out & hopefully tour a little. I have never been a big fan of the labeling thing, like are you garage or indie? Punk or emo? Whatever happened to just being a band? I don't think Suicide or the Ramones gave a fuck about that shit, but for some reason people seem to care. To be honest I don't know what people think of us.

Julien uses re-wired microphonic guitars. What is this? I've never heard of it before!
JH - I like old crappy guitar pick-ups. I sort of swap around ones from different guitars. You gotta dip some of them in wax or else they will freakout to much. Too much wax and you'll cook it. New pick-ups are too clean. I played a Hagstrom with Kawaii parts and a Kay that John Henry found at a yard sale for $20.

Is there any news in the Detonations camp, in the way of touring, events, or cool stuff?
JH- Yes we are setting up some short tours in July and August, and we have a 7" of some more songs we did with Jerry Teel, which is coming out on Big Neck Records this summer.

You can check out the Detonations' stuff at www.thedetonations.com, and their new album, "Static Vision" kills, and everyone should own it. You can also check out Alive records' site at www.alive-totalenergy.com.