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June 25th of the year 1994 was when it all began.
Their first song, entitled "Why," was written during the first
practice with drummer Jay
Croft. At the time, Scott
Anger, Scott
Overholt, Rick Hernandez and Ed
Sertage had already been jamming under the name Livitikus, a hard rock
cover band which played at various school functions, with a different drummer,
Mike Hellrung. However, his lack of dedication became the factor that would
eventually have the co-founder of Livitikus replaced. After Jay did a gig
with Livitikus as a temporary replacement, the boys liked having him behind
the set so much that they decided to keep him as their full time drummer.
Overholt, the current rhythm guitarist and the other co-founder of the
band, wasn't happy with the band's decision to oust Hellrung, and he decided
he would leave Livitikus as well. |
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Naturally, with such a dramatic change in the lineup, the band needed
a new identity. The boys sped through a list of names, including "A
Quest for Tippy," named after a high school video project, but nothing
seemed to fit quite right. It wasn't until August that Sonic Reducer became
the permanent moniker of this hardworking rock band. |
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The entire summer of '94 was filled with 5 hour practices occuring
three to four  times
a week. After writing more songs, like "Things Just Aren't the Same,"
"My Blood," and "Tundra,"
Sonic Reducer began performing for the students of Southgate Anderson High
and anyone else who came to hear them play. Weekly open practices were
held at Jay's basement where anywhere from 5 to 40 people would cram together
to hear their favorite local rock band pump out popular cover tunes like
"Basket Case," and "For Whom the Bell Tolls," along
with the band's own eager rock songs. |
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After a while though, the boys started becoming very annoyed by each
other's habits, and arguments became a regular occurence at Sonic practices.
Anger, Sertage, and Croft decided that a member change was necessary to
preserve the existence of Sonic Reducer. Rick Hernandez, the bassist for
Sonic, parted ways from the rest of the members. His taste in music was
getting darker, and SR's songs didn't include lightning fast riffs with
rapping and growling vocals (yet). Aside from the music, personality conflicts
became a serious problem, and Rick just had to go. |
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The rest of the sonicboys had no replacement in mind, but luckily,
there was a volunteer. Scott Overholt, the guitarist who originally left
Livitikus, came back to fill the hole. At first, he wasn't expected to
stay, but the bass guitar became Scott's new instrument; his only prior
experience was playing in the school band! In time, he learned to excel
in his new position, and he had no problem learning all of Sonic's songs.
Shortly after Overholt's reunion, on May 25th, 1995, the band won Southgate
Anderson's annual talent show by a landslide. |
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Sonic Reducer spent the majority  of
the following summer recording their first album, "Sonicmobile--Live
Recordings: Volume One." This tape was recorded in Jay's basement
and included eleven original tracks (and a limited number of tapes included
a little something special--if you've got it, you know what we're talking
about!). After its release at Hunkapalunka '95, it was supported by a number
of gigs that would help sell over 300 copies of the self-written, self-produced,
and self-recorded demo tape they had constructed from just an old two track
tape recorder which hadn't been touched in nearly 5 years. |
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August 6th was Sonic's first show at the Mosquito Club in Detroit.
Gigs there and at  the
Zone Coffeehouse in Dearborn introduced the boys to the atmosphere of club
gigs. On August 18th, some of downriver's best local bands got together
to form a festival-like concert to support local musicians (the Hunkapalunka
mentioned above). All of the profit money went to the twelve bands that
performed, and out of which, Sonic Reducer would be the only one successful
in staying together with the same members to this day. |
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Bands like 20-Mine, Bulimist, and Kimble would later do shows with
Sonic at venues such as The Zone, The I-Rock, The Mosquito Club, and Kennedy
Hall. That continued through Sonic's addition and subtraction of rhythm
guitarist Kevin Wright, a very big fan of Sonic Reducer since the old days
in the basement. Kevin gave an element to Sonic that would help songs like
"Salvation Comes Today" and "Sticker" become possible.
Unfortunately, six months later, Sonic Reducer went back to being a four-piece
band due to constant conflicts in musical taste, and again, personal confrontations.
That situation led to the not-so-happy song, "Vertebreak,"
the last song written before Sonic went to the studio. |
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In '96 Sonic spent some of its non-active summer time
producing another album. Only this time, it wasn't so low-budget. They
travelled to Farmington Hills to reserve studio time for the creation of
the compact disc, "Smothered." Recording
began June 8th, and was completed  sometime
later that month, but because of mixing, mastering and financial problems,
the album wouldn't arrive in the hands of these eager musicians until the
month of December. "Smothered," named after a line in "Life,"
one of SR's more upbeat songs, had hit the 200 mark just two months after
its release date. The band received rave reviews on the quality of its
recording, the arrangement of the songs, and the obvious weeks of hard
work put into the disc. Unfortunately, however, the CD didn't rocket them
to stardom as was expected. :) |
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Not too long after their studio adventure, Sonic Reducer began writing
 more songs.
"Forgotten," "Face,"
"Uh-Oh," and "Children"
were just a few of the batch of new songs Sonic pumped out for their fans,
both new and old. Since then, the band has performed shows at Pharoh's
Golden Cup, The Zone, The Mosquito Club, and The Palladium, as well as
various appearances at talent shows, hall parties, and benefit concerts.
They've pretty much traversed the whole area known as Downriver Detroit.
They want to get out! |
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More than 10 new songs had been written since the recording of "Smothered," and plans were made to go back into the studio. However, conflicting interests led bass player Scott Overholt to decide to leave the band. Shortly after, the remaining members decided they'd bury the old band & start up with a new one -- bedford drive. And that was the end of Sonic Reducer. |
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Thanks for your time, and keep on rockin'! |
