One of the earliest and most distinguished groups to arise from San Francisco's punk milieu, the Avengers existed as a unit for just two years and issued no full-length album in that span. Their fervent sound and resolute perspectives nevertheless supplied significant impetus to a movement that expanded and thrived well after their dissolution, while the few singles they issued captured a unit of rare intensity and drive. Equally significant, vocalist Penelope Houston stood among the trailblazing female figures in American punk, demonstrating that women had a viable role in the emerging sound.
The Avengers formed in the first months of 1977, shortly after Penelope Houston relocated from her native Seattle, Washington, to San Francisco. A newcomer at the San Francisco Art Institute, Houston encountered Danny Furious, an SFAI alumnus who remained a familiar presence on campus. Both shared admiration for artists such as Lou Reed and Patti Smith. Furious, the drummer, sought to assemble a rock group and persuaded longtime acquaintance Greg Ingraham to travel from Orange County to play guitar. Houston arrived unannounced at their early rehearsal space ahead of the others; after vocalizing over a stereo broadcast through the band's PA, she later recounted, "I was so enamored with the power of amplification that I said, 'I'm gonna be your new singer.'"
June brought the Avengers' debut performance, supporting the Nuns at the Mabuhay Gardens, the city's foundational punk club. By August, bassist Jimmy Wisley had joined—succeeding Jonathan Postal, who would later establish the Readymades—completing the group's definitive lineup. The quartet rapidly emerged among the leading acts on California's developing punk circuit, though this meant performances remained confined to a small number of venues in San Francisco and Los Angeles. Later that year, Dangerhouse Records, Los Angeles's leading punk imprint, issued the band's three-track EP containing "We Are the One," "Car Crash," and "I Believe in Me." The release drew strong critical notice and solid sales, yet major labels showed no interest. Early 1978 presented what appeared a prime break: supporting the Sex Pistols at Winterland in San Francisco on the closing night of the British band's inaugural U.S. tour. Eyewitnesses widely judged the Avengers' set superior to the headliners', and the group formed a rapport with guitarist Steve Jones, who offered to produce them. The encounter with the broader industry proved disheartening; Danny Furious later remarked to a reporter, "It was obvious at Winterland -- everyone knew how to behave, everyone knew how to spit, how to dress -- everyone knew how to pack the place. But it was just sensationalism, a spectacle." The Sex Pistols' split days afterward further damaged punk's commercial standing, complicating prospects for acts like the Avengers.
Steve Jones did produce a session for the band in late 1978 that resulted in a four-song EP, yet 1979 proved difficult. Friction had developed between Greg Ingraham and Penelope Houston; Ingraham departed at the close of 1978 and was replaced by Brad Kent. The group's core continued to erode, and after two sold-out farewell concerts in late June, the Avengers disbanded. The Jones-produced EP appeared that summer. Houston subsequently pursued work as an acoustic singer-songwriter, while Jimmy Wisley spent many years in Chris Isaak's band; he died on December 24, 2018.
In 1983 the San Francisco indie label CD Presents acquired the Avengers' catalog and issued the 16-track compilation simply titled Avengers, gathering their prior vinyl output plus unreleased studio tracks. When CD Presents folded, the recordings entered a prolonged period of unavailability, prompting fans to press Houston for copies over the following decade. She therefore gathered circulating live tapes and, with Greg Ingraham's assistance, assembled highlights from performances and unreleased demos into the album Died for Your Sins. To fill gaps where suitable recordings could not be located, Houston and Ingraham cut fresh studio versions of three songs as the Scavengers, joined by bassist Joel Reader and drummer Danny "Panic" Sullivan; Wisley and Furious declined to take part. After Died for Your Sins appeared in 1999, the Scavengers performed several San Francisco dates before Houston and Ingraham again went separate ways. The 2004 release of The American in Me prompted another reunion, leading to nationwide touring alongside bassist Joel Reader and drummer Luis Illades.
