In 1984, with the demise of Allies, Dennis and Dawn form a new band called Détente, with Jim Tutone on guitar and Rob Farr on bass.
In April, Détente record their first demo, a three-track effort that includes "Shattered Illusions" and "Vultures in the Sky". Song themes primarily revolve around the atrocities of society as opposed to inner horrors that would surface in later recordings. Although Jim Tutone was the principal author of both "Vultures in the Sky" and "Shattered Illusions", it's not him that's on that first demo. Fred Rascon replaces Jim on guitar after both Tutone and Farr leave the band because of a big argument with Dawn. Fred leaves later, too. But Dennis and Dawn persevere, and through adverts in music magazines they attract the attentions of Caleb Quinn (guitar), Ross Robinson (guitar) and Steve Hochheiser (bass). Steve has been on stage before with Lizzy Borden.
'We started to play the club circuit in L.A. a few weeks later, which were the band's first gigs,' Steve Hochheiser recalls from these early days. 'Ross and I wrote the music to "Losers", "Widows Walk" and "Blood I Bleed" around that time.' This is also the line-up that records the second demo, which includes "Shattered Illusions" and "Vultures in the Sky" from the first demo, coupled with "Holy War" and "Widows Walk". This demo tape results in a lot of interest from record labels, including Combat, Noise, Music for Nations, Metal Blade and Roadrunner. A record deal is made with Metal Blade (US) and Roadrunner, the latter because the band reckoned they would be more successful in Europe. A rough version of "Widows Walk" is put on Metal Massacre VII (Metal Blade, 1986), even though, so Steve claims, 'we hated Brian Slagel' [boss of Metal Blade].
Détente play a lot of gigs in the Bay Area until they are banned after a riot breaks out at a gig with Megadeth and Dark Angel. 'Dawn and Dennis had bad feelings towards Dave Mustaine and Dave Ellefson of Megadeth,' Steve remembers, 'they lived together at the same place, where the Dave twins ran up a huge phone bill, refusing to pay for it after they had taken off.' At this gig, Dawn starts pelting Megadeth with filled beer cans, which ends in a riot. After that, gigs in L.A. are almost impossible to get.
Later that year, the band record "Recognize no Authority". They choose Dana Strum for a producer, due to the fact that he has good contacts with a top recording studio in L.A. called Baby O's. 'We paid him a third of our US$ 12,000 recording budget,' Steve says, 'Dana was an expert at scamming the studio for time. The band always started recording at 10 PM and usually finished at 7 AM, to avoid studio management. We would slip the nighttime workers a twenty each so we could borrow outboard equipment from the other artists (outboard gear from Michael Jackson was used on "Recognize no Authority"). We would also say we used 4 hours despite using 8 or 9. Studio time was US$ 175 per hour, so Dana's large piece of the budget was recovered quickly. I think it took about nine days to record the album'. Around that time, Dawn Crosby and Dennis Butler get married.
In the studio, problems quickly arise. 'Dawn would walk out of the studio after any disagreement,' Steve sighs, 'and after one of these episodes I went to her place and woke her up and started screaming at her.' Dawn goes back to the studio that night, but Steve is not allowed to go near her during her tracks. The result of all these trials and tribulations, however, doesn't fail to impress. Rooted in punk-rock, the tracks on "Recognize no Authority" are pretty straightforward and the politically oriented lyrics a far cry from the masterpieces that were yet to emerge. Reviewers consider the album a fine one.
Even before the album is released, Dana Strum has the potential to round up acts for the "Trick or Treat" soundtrack. 'Because Dana refused to work with Dawn after having worked with her on "Recognize no Authority"', says Steve, 'we inquired about the availability of a couple of singers and were planning on using Dennis on drums if it came to pass.' They tell Dennis of their plans, and Dawn reacts heavily to that. The Détente recording line-up plays a few more gigs, ending with a show at the Country Club in Reseda. Then the band decides to take a break. Dennis has a work-related accident with some type of acid, getting burned over a large part of his body. Dawn goes to Europe on a promotional tour. The individual members of the band go their own ways. This eventually leads to Steve and Ross leaving to form Catalepsy (called after the instrumental on "Recognize no Authority" that they'd written). They are replaced by LSN member Greg Cekalovich (guitar), George Robb (ex-Agent Steel and ex-LSN too, bass) and Mike Carlino (guitar). 'Dennis was asleep on the floor, it was about 2 AM,' says Mike, 'and Dawn and me started jamming until, like, 6 AM. That's how we wrote "Diseased", and I was in.' In March 1987 the band play a show in San Francisco (Country Club) without Greg (Greg had run into a little trouble with the law, nothing serious, but it did mean he couldn't show up to play). Greg leaves the band to re-form/join LSN, taking George with him. The band decide to continue with one guitarist.
The story continues with Fear of God here.
The Détente story continues here with the Détente reunion.