the Detonators

Formed in 1995, the Detonators started life as a straight 50’s style blues band “A-Bomb Tom and the Detonators” (harmonica player and all!). After a year in this format, it became quite obvious that: (1) .001% of the population enjoys 50’s blues- few of them frequent dive bars in NJ. (2) securing regular work in this style is a challenge on par with curing cancer.“A-Bomb Tom” soon left for greener pastures and a new line up was created.In order to stay employed, more rock and funk influences were brought in over a period of time, while still hanging on to the better aspects of the blues stuff as well. The Detonators have played many clubs, bars and festivals in the Northern NJ area and have had many different members over the years. Drummers in particular have been a challenge to keep. Here are a few of the more memorable people that we have encountered: 1) Mobster drummer who is one step ahead of the hired goons who want to whack him for missing last weeks vig 2) A fellow who really wanted to play, but “self-medicated” on his 3rd gig on front of a packed house. He was fired on the spot, although we’re not sure if he knew it or not. 3) At least 5 or 6 guys who auditioned through an ad in the local music rag. Our favorite was the guy who had a bad rug and insisted on wearing his “lucky drumming shoes”- puke green Chuck Taylors. Needless to say, he wasn’t any good. 4) A fellow who thought he was the next Peart, (Bozzio, Bohnam, etc) that had a bit of an attitude. He even financed a CD- too bad it’s mixed like a drum solo album. He quit while we thought of a nice way to fire him. 5) Uncle Lou- played with us for years- after a “financial restructuring” he is no longer with us. We do wish him well in his future projects. 6) We’ve also suffered through a few keyboard players who have ranged from pretty good to God-awful. We finally came across Pat after years of looking.At this point, founding members Martin “Dr. Funk” Martin (bass & vocals) and Sean Aumack (guitar) have joined forces with Pat Gustoso (keys & vocals) and Tom “Gooch” Marguccio (drums). This line up is stable (no co-dependent meth smoking girlfriends for us!) and more importantly, good! This is a band that enjoys playing for the sake of playing. Nothing is ever played the same way twice and the energy level is high. This translates to patrons staying longer and spending more money. Hire the Detonators if you have chance- they pack them in and keep them drinking long after most folks would have left.