The Nuns

Formed during 1977 in San Francisco, California, USA, the Nuns ranked among the leading local exponents of punk and new wave, anticipating the confrontational rock theatrics later associated with the Dead Kennedys. Persistent personnel instability curtailed their advancement, yet the resulting tensions produced their striking ‘Savage’/‘Suicide Child’ single. Tracks by the group surfaced on various anthologies such as Rodney On The Roq and Experiments In Destiny. After an initial split in 1979, they regrouped the next year long enough to issue The Nuns before dissolving again. Among the musicians who moved through the lineup were Ritchie Detrick on vocals, Jeff Olener also handling vocals, Alejandro Escovedo (born Alejandro Escovedo in San Antonio, Texas, USA) on guitar, Jennifer Miro on keyboards and vocals, Mike Varney on bass, and Jeff Raphael on drums. Escovedo went on to play with Rank And File and the True Believers before launching a solo career. Without Escovedo the band reconvened in 1986 to produce the distinctly different Rumania, an album marked by its cold, dance-oriented sound. In the late 1990s Olener and Miro revived the Nuns once more, although their emphasis on trashy goth rock already appeared out of step with the era.