The Spoilers (punk rock)
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The Spoilers were a Southern California punk rock/New Wave band formed in 1978. The classic 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. However, it is difficult to determine who actually played what on the EP, especially since the drums were credited to the nonexistent “Johnny Spoiler.” The sound of the EP was cool and raggedy, with in-your-face lyrics. In short, the Spoilers were 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, owner of the ultimately hip record store, Morninglory Music, transitioned from a punk to a "New Wave" band, as was appropriate in the sunny environs of Santa Barbara. With the addition of Mickey Kessler on drums and Craig Wisda on bass, the classic Spoilers lineup was born. The burgeoning music scene embraced the Spoilers' edgy pop sound. The Spoilers were the house band at the Shack, a club that later gave birth to Toad The Wet Sprocket. Stefan established himself as the main songwriter and de facto leader of the band. Wisda proved to be a prolific songwriter as well.
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). The Spoilers beat Springsteen to recording his own song "Point Blank" after hearing it in concert and learning it from bootlegs. "Point Blank" was recorded live at Doug Weston’s legendary West Hollywood nightclub, the Troubadour. By this time, the “Troub” had become the band’s hangout and favorite place to play when not in Santa Barbara. The band also played at the Whiskey A Go Go, Gazari's, the Starwood, Madame Wong's and San Francisco's punk rock palace, Mabuhay Gardens, along with scores of other night clubs. Through constant gigging, the band played with old and new rock royalty including: Arthur Lee & Love, the Go-Go's, 999, the Plimsouls, Magazine, Joan Jett, Fear, John Hiatt and several bands that really should have made it into notoriety such as the Zippers, the Bags, the Readymades and the Alleycats.
A 45 single followed in 1980 on White Lunch Records. It featured Stefan’s brazen “Greta,” backed with a sleek, breezy rerecording of Hickey’s “Loose Words.” The single had the distinction of being played by both Rodney Bingenheimer on the world-famous KROQ and Dr Demento on his syndicated show. The press wrote favorable reviews of the band in the Los Angeles Times, the LA Weekly, BAM Magazine and Stefan was also featured in a California Magazine (now known as Los Angeles Magazine) interview.
Having outgrown the Santa Barbara music scene, the band headed permanently south to Los Angeles. A five-song mini album was recorded with Paul Wexler producing. Wexler, the scion of Atlantic Records co-founder and renowned producer Jerry Wexler, brought in prominent studio wildman, Tim Kramer, to engineer the recordings. The mini album was recorded at Shangri Lai studio in Malibu, home to Bob Dylan’s premier backup confederates, The Band. Two members of the Band, Richard Manuel and Rick Danko, dropped by during the session. Manuel expressed no interest on playing piano on a studio version of Like A Rolling Stone, although it was the customary Spoilers concert finale. He begged off by saying, "Naw, those are Al Kooper's licks."
The mini album was not released due to contractual haggling with Wexler. Instead, the band jumped ship to record a 1980 single on Elton John’s record label, Rocket Records. This single, which contains Stefan’s “Reckless” backed by a new version of Hickey’s “Battling On,” is probably the Spoilers' finest hour. Jef Levy, formerly of the Bottles, produced the single at MCA Studios. The sound is crystal clear, dynamic and powerful (and clearly Beatles inspired), while still maintaining the Spoilers' trademark edginess. However, Rocket Records went on hiatus when Elton John left MCA Records to record for David Geffen’s new label (the appropriately named Geffen Records), and only 5,000 copies of the single were produced.
Discouraged, Kessler and Wisda left the band in 1981. Hickey and Stefan then recorded a 12-song album, with Steve Verroca (of Link Wray fame) producing. Studio musicians were utilized for the recordings. The sound of the record, particularly the melancholy “Sight & Sound," is much more somber than prior Spoilers recordings. Kessler and Wisda rejoined the band in 1982, but the spark had faded. In 1983, Hickey announced that he was leaving.
Chris Hickey went on to release three solo albums, co-lead the alt-folk band Show of Hands with future Beach Boy Randell Kirsch, and lead the alt band Uma. Both bands released CDs on major labels (IRS and MCA Universal, respectively). Dean Stefan released a solo album Trial And Error and wrote much of the soundtrack music to the children’s television series, Rainbow Fish. These songs were released as a CD on Sony Music. Stefan also writes and edits many well-known modern cartoons. Mickey Kessler drummed for High Noon and has since replaced the drums with a steady gig playing bass guitar. In the interim, he was signed to Polygram Records as a brasswinds arranger. He currently leads a band, the Realtors, that has opened for Brian Wilson, among others. Craig Wisda, switching temporarily to mandolin, formed the bluegrass band the Tennessee Choirboys with Rob Meador (of Amy Allison's back up band The Maudlins). Later, back on bass, he led the hard rock band Seventh Star. He has released three solo CDs on the Retro Alternative Music label.
The band regrouped sporadically throughout the 80s and was rumored to have been seen in the studio as recently as 2005. The Spoilers decided to forego the customary 25th year reunion concert series, however. Hickey was widely considered to be the one digging in his heels against the concept. In 2006, the band released a CD of vintage Spoilers material on White Lunch Records, Employment Agency.
