Formed in July of 1977 by Kidd Spike, Johnny Stingray, and Gaye Austin,
The Controllers became one of the prominent bands in the seminal days of the LA punk community, centered around Brendan Mullen's underground club/rehaersal space, The Masque.
By September of that year, they were joined by D.O.A. Dan Davis on bass and Hillary Dillary on drums.
Hillary and Gaye Austin left the band after thier first gig and Charlie Trash signed on as drummer.
In November of 1977, The Controllers were recording thier first single for What Records 'Neutron Bomb' and 'Killer Queers'.
Spring of 1978 saw more changes, with the departure of Charlie Trash and DOA Dan. Johnny Stingray switched from lead guitar to bass and The Mighty Maddog, the Gene Kruppa of punk, joined on drums.
Now under the zen management of Fluxus artist, Al Hansen, the new 3 piece
line-up became the powerful, tight band featured on such releases as 'Suburban Suicide', 'Slowboy', and 'Do The Uganda'. Recorded for Siamese Records in 1978 and produced by 'Ace Toronto' (actually David Campbell, father of Grammy winner Beck Hansen), the single brought attention and airplay to the hard-working Controllers.
Early in 1979, the trio recorded tracks for the well-respected compilation, 'Tooth and Nail'. With thier version of the Frankie Laine torch sone, 'Jezebel' and Kidd Spike penned classics 'Another Day' and "Electric Church', the band continued to tour and gig with such punk luninaries as X, The Dickies and The Avengers.
By mid-year of 1979, the Controllers disbanded temporarily with Kidd Spike joining The Gears and Johnny Stingray forming KAOS with Amy Wichmann.
While the band continued to play sporadically, it wasn't until 1999, with the release of 'The Controllers' CD on Dionysus Records that the band regained some of thier momentum, playing the 'Class of '77' reunion gig as well as Sleazefest West and dozens of smaller venues, continuing to the present day.
Kidd Spike and Johhny Stingray remain the original members of the band and with the help of very talented players such as Sean Antillon, Steve Spills and Designated Dale record and play for new generations of fans!
Please check, out 'Another Sunny Day' on Artifix records - all previously unrelease demos and a live performance from 1982.
