The Spoilers were a Southern
California punk rock/
New Wave band formed in 1978. The Spoilers lineup included
Chris Hickey (guitars, vocals),
Mickey Kessler (drums, piano),
Dean Stefan (guitars, vocals), and
Craig Wisda (bass, vocals).
The Spoilers began in
Los Angeles, California in 1978. The founding members were Chris Hickey, George Padgett and Dean Stefan. Bill Hickey was also considered a semi-member of the band when he was not attending law school at Berkeley.
Their first EP was released in 1978 on
White Lunch Records and contained the songs "Has Been" (Dean Stefan), "Battling On" (Chris Hickey), "Boys Night Out" (Dean Stefan) and "The Ugly Nancies" (Chris Hickey). Hickey and Stefan were credited with guitar and Padgett with bass. e the opposite of Boston, Foreigner and all the other “Corporate” bands that American formula radio was embracing.
Hickey and Stefan migrated north to
Santa Barbara, while Padgett stayed south. Hickey enrolled at
UCSB, and the band, under the management of local impresario Stan Bernstein, transitioned from a punk to a "New Wave" band as befitting their image as soft clean-cut suburbanites.
Bernstein put out a second Spoilers opus, “Balloon Water Race,” in 1979 that contained "Focus" (Dean Stefan), "Loose Words" (Chris Hickey), "Mr. X" (Craig Wisda) and "Point Blank" (
Bruce Springsteen).
A 45 single followed in 1980 on White Lunch Records. It featured...
Read More