Soul Assassins

The Soul Assassins was a garage-rock revival band started in September 1986 by High Times Executive Editor Steven Hager, High Times Assistant Art Director Brian Spaeth, and East Village Eye Art Director Flick Ford. The band's first performance was a High Times Christmas Party in 1986. The original line-up was Ford on lead vocals, Rick DeHaan on vocals, Bob Brandel on lead guitar, Hager on rhythm guitar, Spaeth on bass and Brian Morse on drums. All members had been in previous bands during the original garage rock movement. Hager briefly played bass for the Knight Riders, a band based out of Champaign-Urbana, IL, and booked by Bob Nutt, who began as the booking agent for the Finchley Boys, the town's most famous rock band. Nutt's assistant Irving Azoff would go on to become a major record company executive. Bob and Brian also performed in the C-U area. Brian briefly played drums for the Finchley Boys. Before joining the Soul Assassins, Spaeth played sax for The Fleshtones, New York's original and most famous garage-rock revival band. The Assassins eventually added three female singers: Kimona 117, Abbie Lavine, and Lucy Knight, who were known as The Assassinettes. Film director John McNaughton (a grade school friend of Brandel's), appeared twice as the band's organist, and put their song "Scream" into his fourth film, "The Borrower." At its peak, the band consisted of Flick Ford on vocals and harmonicas, Bob Brandel on lead guitar, Steven Hager on rhythm guitar, Brian Spaeth on bass and Dave Rodway on drums, along with the three Assassinettes. The band was interviewed on Bill Kelly's "Teenage Wasteland" on WFMU radio and released two singles: "Stop and Listen" (1988) and "Don't Tread on Me" (1989). They became a popular bar band in the East Village for a few years and their biggest show was opening for the Butthole Surfers in Washington DC. They also performed annually at the Hash Bash in Ann Arbor, MI, and the Midwest Harvest Festival in Madison, WI. They made one appearance at the Boston Freedom Rally. The band disbanded in 1990 but has performed two reunions since.