Spent Idols was a Carlsbad-based punk rock band fronted by Mike Spent. The group originally 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, though 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. Drummer Jesse Valadez passed away from cancer in 2011. A few years later, original guitarist Gabey Spent was battling throat cancer. The new century version of Spent Idols became mostly inactive after 2010.
Mike Spent launched a new band in summer 2012, Last Years Heros, alongside Joshy Capes on guitar. A reunited version of Spent Idols recorded a new CD for South American markets in 2015 and the band played a few live gigs over the next couple of years.
Spent and a new group called Black Belt released a debut single in summer 2016 called "I Am a Lion," featuring DNile from Spent Idols and recorded at Into the Black Studio in North Hollywood by Richard Duguay (Duff McKagan, Peter Murphy), who earned a platinum record for his work on Guns N' Roses' Spaghetti Incident. It was followed by a single for "Sun Goes Grey."
"Richard [Duguay's] has an ear for detail and experience he gained from being involved in some of best studios in the world while with Duff and Peter Murphy," Spent told the Reader. "I got to play with some greats! And collaborate musically, you just cannot put a price on that. That's where I came up with the Black Belts, these guys and this lady are musical black belts."