A1 - Has Been
A2 - Battling On
B1 - The Ugly Nancies
B2 - Boys Night Out
Great Punky/Powerpop from this Southern California band.
The Spoilers began Life on a sidewalk in Westwood, Los Angeles in 1978 where Dean Stefan was spotted busking Clash/Costello tunes by Chis Hickey.
Chris Hickey (Guitar, Voc)
Dean Stefan (Guitar, Voc)
George Padgett (Bass, Voc)
Bill Hickey (Drums) Chris' brother considered a semi-member of the band when he was not attending law school at Berkeley.
Shortly after this 45 was released Hickey and Stefan moved North to the Isla Vista area of Santa Barbara. Where Hickey enrolled at UCSB and the band got a new line-up under the management of local impresario Stan Bernstein.
Chris Hickey (Guitar, Voc)
Dean Stefan (Guitar, Voc)
Craig Wisda (Bass)
Mickey Kessler (Drums)
In 1979 This line up was to record a 2nd 4 track EP (Balloon Water Race - Unreleased) that contained
Focus (Dean Stefan)
Loose Words (Chris Hickey)
Mr. X (Craig Wisda)
Point Blank (Bruce Springsteen)
However a 7" Single did follow in 1980, again on White Lunch Records which featured Stefan’s brazen "Greta Don't Come” backed with Hickey’s “Loose Words.”
Having outgrown the Santa Barbara music scene, the band headed permanently South to Los Angeles. Here a 5 track Mini Album was recorded with Paul Wexler producing. The mini album was not released due to contractual haggling with Wexler.
Instead, the band recorded their second 7" of 1980 on Elton John’s The Rocket Record Company. This single contained Stefan’s “Reckless” backed by a new version of Hickey’s “Battling On.”
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.
They worked together again on Dean Stefan's 1987 solo album Trial and Error
Hickey went on to release many solo albums, co-lead the alt-folk band Show of Hands with future Beach Boy Randell Kirsch (& his wife LuAnn Olson), and lead the alt band Uma.
In 2006 "Empolyment Agency" an 11 track compilation was released which rounded up a lot of their unreleased tracks
Sounds & Scans
Useless Info - The Appearing On.... EP (Mainly for "Boys Night Out") gets a mention in Shake Some Action - The Ultimate Guide To Power Pop
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I remember having this one. One of those horrible paper sleeves, but I always loved 'Has Been' and 'Ugly Nancies is a cool rocker too. I must remember to comp them . . .
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