Biography

Formed in San Francisco, California, USA, in 1977, the Nuns were one of the city’s leading punk/new wave attractions, forerunning the rock and outrage antics of the Dead Kennedys. Their insubstantial progress was further limited by continual line-up problems, but such frustrations coalesced to astonishing effect in their ‘Savage’/‘Suicide Child’ single. Their work appeared on several compilations, including Rodney On The Roq and Experiments In Destiny, but having split up in 1979, they re-formed the following year to complete The Nuns, only to disband once more. Ritchie Detrick (vocals), Jeff Olener (vocals), Alejandro Escovedo (b. Alejandro Escovedo, San Antonio, Texas, USA; guitar), Jennifer Miro (keyboards, vocals), Mike Varney (bass) and Jeff Raphael (drums) were among those passing through the Nuns’ ranks, of whom Escovedo subsequently joined Rank And File and the True Believers, before embarking on a solo career. The Nuns re-formed again in 1986, without Escovedo, to record a completely different record, the icy, dance-fixated Rumania. Olener and Miro resurrected the Nuns in the late 90s, although their trashy goth rock fixations by now seemed rather dated.