The band was founded by three students of Warsaw's vocational high school (technikum) - Robert "Robal" Matera (guitar), Krzysztof Grabowski (drums), and Dariusz "Stepa" Stepnowski (bass).

With fast guitar riffs and intelligent lyrics written by Grabowski, Dezerter's concerts drew thousands of fans and its LPs were very popular, especially in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

Nevertheless, it played in several European countries, as well as Japan and the U.S. (in New York City and Chicago, early November 2009, commemorating the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall).

At first, the band practiced at a Culture House in Nieporęt, moving in the late summer of 1983 to the Dziekanka Student Club in Warsaw.

In mid-November 1982, already under the name Dezerter, and together with other Polish punk rock bands (TZN Xenna and Deuter), it went on a tour across southeastern corner of the country.

In the summer of 1983, with help of Polish Radio reporter Marek Wiernik, Dezerter recorded a four-song 7″ EP, Ku przyszłości (Into the future) also known as Spytaj milicjanta (Ask a militiaman).

Before recording, which took place at the state company Tonpress in Warsaw's district of Wawrzyszew, the band provided a list of 12 songs, and Communist censorship office allowed four of them - Spytaj milicjanta, Ku przyszłości, Szara rzeczywistość (Drab reality), and Wojna głupców (War of fools).

The band prepared all their best songs, and during the frequent breaks, Skandal and Stepa would read excerpts from popular Polish comic books, such as Hans Kloss.

Furthermore, at one point the band requested firefighters, who were present at the stadium with their trucks, to water the dry grass, as there were clouds of dust in the air, caused by the pogo.

In the fall of 1984, after a concert at Warsaw's Hybrydy, the band met a man named Maciej Chmiel, who became Dezerter's manager.

First release was Dezerter's Jarocin 1984 show, issued as Jeszcze żywy człowiek (Still living man), which years later came out as a CD.

In early 1985 Dezerter attempted to perform in Jugoslavia, but Communist government of Poland refused to grant passports to the members of the band.

After the show, the Canadians met with Dezerter, and Joey Shithead offered to take band's recordings to North America, to try to publish them.

In the fall of 1985 Dezerter's bassist Dariusz "Stepa" Stepnowski was drafted into the People's Army of Poland, and the last show with band's original lineup took place at Warsaw's Róbrege Festival in late summer 1985.

It came out in early 1986, and at the same time, Dezerter's charismatic lead singer, Dariusz "Skandal" Hajn began to skip practices, due to his budding Polish heroin addiction.

On December 10, 1987 Dezerter for the first time in its history left Poland, and went by ferry to Finland, on invitation of Anarchist Collective Vox Populi from Helsinki.

After recording, in April 1990, Dezerter went on a two-month tour of Switzerland, France, Germany and Holland (30 concerts, mostly at clubs and squats).

A few days after returning to Poland (June 1990), Dezerter went to Frankfurt Airport, from where it flew to Tokyo, on invitation of Michiro Endo of The Stalin, a renowned Japanese punk rock band.

In exchange, Dezerter's manager Maciej Chmiel invited The Stalin for the 1990 Jarocin Festival, which took place in August of that year.

On the way back, a car accident took place on icy road near Łomża, after which both Matera and Grabowski ended up in hospital, with broken clavicles.

In 1993, together with Kasia Nosowska, Dezerter recorded new versions of its old songs Ku Przyszłości, Yugoslavia, Dla zysku (For profit) and Niewolnik (Slave).

Together with other old songs, and the 1980s live recordings, they were published in the CD Jak powstrzymałem III wojnę światową, czyli nieznana historia Dezertera (How I Stopped World War Three, or Unknown History of Dezerter).

In August 1993, Dezerter performed at the Energia Sztuki Festival, which took place near the site of the Żarnowiec Nuclear Power Plant (see YouTube video of Dezerter at the festival [5]), and in the autumn of that year, the band went on a tour of England, which was cancelled after the musicians were not allowed entry into the United Kingdom, and returned from Dover back to the Continent.

On May 8, 1995, Dariusz "Skandal" Hajn, Dezerter's legendary singer died at the age of 30, and as Grabowski wrote in his book: "We found out about it probably during a rehearsal, when someone told us (...) He had been hurting himself for years, and it happened.

As a result, members of the band had to find jobs to make both ends meet, with Lewandowski leaving Poland for England.

In November 2000 at Warsaw's Proxima Club, Dezerter for the first time performed with a new bassist, Jacek Chrzanowski, who also plays for Hey.

After coming back to Poland, Dezerter began working on a new album, Nielegalny zabójca czasu (Illegal Killer of Time), which was recorded at a studio in Piaseczno, and released in 2004, again by Metal Mind Productions.

In 2006, due to the anniversary of Dezerter's 25th years of existence, a double album Punk's Not Jazz was released, with band's most popular songs.