Formed in 1979, The Detonators were a part of the early hardcore scene
in Los Angeles. Based in Redondo Beach, The Detonators were founded by life-long
friends Bruce Hartnell and Juan Camacho. After several records and tours of
the North American and European continents, the band relocated to Eugene, Oregon
in 1987, and released their landmark LP "Balls To You"
Several other tours and records followed, and then the band took a financially
induced hiatus---playing their last live gig in 1997. Hartnell went on to start
a Mexican/spaghetti western band called Los Mex Pistols Del Norte, and sold
his interest in his club, (John Henry's,) to work as a audio engineer
at Eugene's Hult Center for the Performing Arts. Camacho ran several versions
of a latino restaurant called Sandino's, and currently fronts a band called
The Crimes Of Ambition.
In 2003, drummer Sean Schock, who had seen the band in Ohio in 1992, and had
recently moved to Eugene, found Hartnell and convinced him to release some of
the music the Detonators had not released to date. These tracks were from a
cassette tape -only release called ;A Thousand Points Of Punk that
was supposed to come out in 1992 on vinyl, but the idea was scrapped due to
lack of funds.
The band played a reunion gig at John Henry's in 2003 to celebrate the
20-year anniversary of their first LP, "Emergency Broadcast Systems"
with a line up of Hartnell, Camacho, Kirk Black on bass, and Scott Adamo on
drums. After the show, Black had expressed an interest in pursuing the band
further, and it was decided by Hartnell to carry on without Camacho.
Schock was added on drums, and the other guitar spot was taken up by first Robin
McDougall, and finally Will Lindsay-both from the Eugene band Human Certainty.
Schock and bass player Saxon (from another Eugene band, the Happy Bastards)
formed NFN records, and soon re-issued "Balls To You" on CD The
label has grown to include several releases from other Eugene acts, and has
also released some of the "Thousand Points" material on two 7
EPs, "Live in Hope, Die in Despair" and "Sonic Manifesto"
which were released in late 2004.
