Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

Spent Idols

RIYL

Dogs Detroit, Mike Spent & Black Belt, the Zeros, the Penetrators, Just in Case, Cardiac Kidz, Social Distortion, N.Y. Whores, Last Years Heros

Inception

Carlsbad , 1979

Influences

The Pagans, the Ramones, the Clash, New York Dolls, the Sex Pistols, Ian Drury, the Germs, Elvis Costello, Menace, Dead Boys, Lurkers, Social Distortion, Vibrators

Discography

Sponsored

Spent Idols started as an early 1980s Carlsbad-based punk rock band fronted by Mike Spent. After making their mark playing around town and opening for punk headliners, the band split in 1982, without having released any records. Over the next several years, Spent worked in the nuclear power industry.

Ten years later, Spent launched a new 1990s version of the band with guitarist Jon Pankopf (aka Lurch) and drummer Jesse Valadez. From 1993 through 1994, they released three cassettes: the six-song Punk Rock!, For Your Ears Only, and a concert album called For Your Ears Only Live, as well as several singles and split-singles. The lineup shifted again with Gabey Spent replacing Jon "Lurch" Pankopf, and the group split again in April 1997 after playing the Flipside in Hollywood.

After fronting a late '90s group called N.Y. Whores and singing with the Dead End Kids, Spent relaunched Spent Idols again in 2002, this time with bassist Diana (Dnile), guitarist Blane Bizzaro, guitarist Jake “the Worm,” and drummer Melanie.

Bassist Dnile (2002-2008) was replaced by Dead On a Wire bassist Jerm Lemaster (also a guitarist). 1990s drummer Jesse Valadez passed away from cancer in 2011. A few years later, 1990s guitarist Gabey Spent was battling throat cancer. The new century version of the band became mostly inactive after 2010.

DNile played with Blues Denial, featuring members from Big Brother & the Holding Company, Blue Cheer, and the Boz Scaggs band, as well as with Dead Blonde Girlfriend and Van Halen tribute group OU812.

Spent launched a new band in summer 2012, Last Years Heros (named after a song from the first Spent Idols cassette), alongside Joshy Capes on guitar.

The 2015 incarnation of Spent Idols featured Spent with longtime member Jerm LeMaster (guitar), Casey O'Brien (guitar), and Zach Gralnic (drums), with the quartet releasing a new CD in South America that year, Living in the Land of the Lost. "It consists of unreleased music and demos off cassette masters from the early days up until 2007," says Spent. "It was a 25 year anniversary release, to commemorate the band's late drummer Jesse Spent and all the past and present members. It was only released in South America due to Venezuela's fall. We did get some international airplay, and Micky from the Undertones played tracks on his BBC radio show."

In summer 2016, Spent and a new group called Black Belt released a debut single called "I Am a Lion," featuring DNile from Spent Idols and recorded at Into the Black Studio in North Hollywood by Richard Duguay (Duff McCagan, Peter Murphy). It was followed by a single for "Sun Goes Grey."

Spent Idols played several gigs in 2016, including August at Skinny’s Lounge in North Hollywood and at Lake Tahoe’s Geezer Grindfest in September.

Sponsored

Upcoming Local Shows

No shows scheduled

Post a show View show history
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

This Week’s Reader This Week’s Reader