Biography
Born Steve Bator on October 22, 1949, in Youngstown, Ohio, Stiv Bators first drew notice fronting the Dead Boys through their abrasive, confrontational punk assaults. Once that group dissolved, his trajectory carried him across new wave territory with the Wanderers, goth rock with the Lords of the New Church, power pop in a short-lived solo phase, and a brief stretch of film acting. Early on he gravitated toward garage rock and proto-punk, frequently recounting the night he passed Iggy Pop the jar of peanut butter used during the Stooges’ notorious 1970 Ohio festival broadcast; he also struck up a friendship with the Ramones after their initial Ohio gig. That fascination prompted him to join guitarist Cheetah Chrome and several others in the fleeting local band Frankenstein. Convinced that Ohio held scant promise, Bators urged Chrome, guitarist Jimmy Zero, and drummer Johnny Blitz to relocate to New York City in 1976, where the Dead Boys took shape. The gamble succeeded: the quartet quickly embedded itself in the CBGB circuit, recruited club owner Hilly Kristal as manager, and secured a Sire contract. Their stage spectacle, heavily indebted to Iggy Pop and featuring Bators hurling himself about until bloodied plus a staged onstage hanging, created immediate momentum that surged further with the arrival of the 1977 debut Young Loud & Snotty. Momentum proved fleeting, however; the band managed only one follow-up, the comparatively muted 1978 release We Have Come for Your Children, before collapsing. In the aftermath Bators attempted to shed his notorious image by exploring new wave, cutting power pop demos and singles for Bomp! that later surfaced on the 1994 compilation L.A., L.A. His lone full-length solo effort, 1980’s Disconnected, fused those pop leanings with lingering punk energy. Rather than continue alone, he formed the Wanderers alongside ex-Sham 69 members Dave Parsons on guitar, Dave Tregunna on bass, and Rick Goldstein on drums; the sole result, the ambitious concept album Only Lovers Left Alive, traded punk grit for glossy futurism. Still puzzling former fans, Bators next took a small role in John Waters’ 1981 comedy Polyester. Shortly afterward he linked with ex-Damned guitarist Brian James to launch the Lords of the New Church, whose Bauhaus-tinged goth sound diverged sharply from their punk pedigrees. The Lords outlasted his earlier projects, issuing The Lords of the New Church in 1982, Is Nothing Sacred? in 1983, and The Method to Our Madness in 1984 before Bators departed—an exit he marked by wearing a shirt reproducing the newspaper ad announcing his own replacement at the final show. The late 1980s found him collaborating briefly with ex-Hanoi Rocks vocalist Michael Monroe, appearing in the 1988 film Tapeheads and the Sun City video, and joining occasional Dead Boys reunion performances. After settling in Paris, France, his profile remained low, though it later emerged that he had tried assembling a punk supergroup with ex-New York Dolls guitarist Johnny Thunders and ex-Ramones bassist Dee Dee Ramone, an effort that advanced no further than a handful of rehearsals. Bators died on June 4, 1990, from injuries sustained in a car accident.
Albums
