The August 1981 “Rumours” column said that the band had formed early that year, with Tom joining a month earlier. They play 50 percent originals and ska/rock covers, and intend touring New Zealand later in the year, after the release of their debut single. “We want to play everywhere we can,” said Geddes. Waters, Rothsey, and Wesley were their main songwriters, said Waters: “We write from personal experiences, but we don’t write love songs.” 

Three months later, in the September 1981 issue, Rip It Up reviewer Francis Stark reviewed the debut single, ‘Not Really Bad’ b/w ‘In Line’. “The Instigators’ Battle of the Bands’ prize of studio time was overseen by the Blams’ Don McGlashan and these two tracks are the result. ‘Not Really Bad’ and ‘In Line’ are both dense, with something of the Pop Mechanix about them. ‘Bad’ wins out on the strength of its vocal.” 

At the 1982 Brown Trout festival the band had an “irresistable dance beat and somewhat bitter lyrical content”

When the Instigators played the Brown Trout festival, near Dannevirke, in January 1982, Susie Fraser wrote in Rip It Up, that they were “plagued by mixing problems. Nonetheless, they were an immediate success with their irresistable dance beat, and somewhat bitter lyrical content.”

Reviewing the band’s performance at Sweetwaters that month, Duncan Campbell was intrigued but reserved: “The Instigators, four rude boys and one rude girl, played copybook ska and reggae, taking a strong line through the Specials and the Selector, competent, sometimes angry, but hardly stunning.” At the Nile River festival later that summer, the band’s set was notable for the dancing of bassist Tarewai Wesley, which caused him to disappear into the stage three times.  

The Instigators polished up the high-stepping Desmond Dekker hit ‘Israelites’ for one of New Zealand ska’s best releases. The track appeared on the early 1982 Ripper collection Goats Milk Soap.

But it was a year before Ripper released a followup single to ‘Not Really Bad’, and it was just before they split in late 1982. ‘Hope She’s Alright’ added fine staccato punk to their legacy. “I’ve never liked the Instigators’ copybook ska, but this parting shot by them is very different,” wrote Mark Phillips in September 1982. “Hard-edge punk, strong guitar lines, vicious singing all make for their best effort ever.” (The song was included on the 1983 Ripper compilation Rip Shit Or Bust, and the 1988 Propeller collection Bigger Than Both Of Us).

During their two-year existence, the Instigators toured New Zealand regularly on the busy club and pub circuit, with regular gigs at the Island Of Real, the Rumba Bar, the Reverb Room, and Mainstreet Cabaret, as well as their festival appearances.

Sonya Waters released a solo mini-album for Ripper in October 1983 (the last record on the label) and after spending several years overseas was later in The Broken Heartbreakers, White Swan Black Swan and Fang. Eddie Olsen drummed for Auckland Walk and then The Exponents  before moving to the UK where he reverted to his real name of Eddie Rayner (he had changed his name to avoid confusion with the Split Enz keyboardist). Ed Geddes played on Dominic Blaazer’s 2017 album The Lights Of Te Atatu.

In March 2024, all five of the Instigators’ studio tracks, plus five live tracks and a dub version of ‘No Problems’, were released on the vinyl album The Best of the Instigators (Ripper).

Sonya Waters recalled: “In the cities we played to big crowds at rock venues where everyone was jumping up and down and connected with our anti-government message. The rural pubs were a different story, they didn’t want to hear our songs about real life, gang warfare, and a missing prostitute. In Blackball they tried to beat us up and chased us down the street!”