The Leather Nun (or why the search engine does not rule)

The 'Prime Mover' 12" is a fine thing, but I've never really got around to investigating their later work.

i really don't know anything about them other than that slow death is great.

Leather Nun released some great jams -- an obvious influence on Brainbombs and even Six Finger to an extent. The Prime Mover 7" is ferocious, fusing garage punk and industrial. The discography is kind of a mess, but there's a live record from the mid- to late-'80s that totally rips. They have this one demented jam -- kinda darkwave garage-disco thing -- that's titled FFA (Fist Fuckers Associated).

* Slow Death EP (1979, 7" EP)
* Live At Scala (1980, Cassette)
* Ensam I Natt (1981, 7" Single)
* Primemover (1981, 7" Single)
* Primemover (1984, 12" Single/UK)
* Slow Death EP (1984, 12" Extended Version)
* Industrial Records Story (1984, Comp. LP)
* 506 (1985, 7"/12" Single)
* Desolation Ave (1985, 7"/12" Single)
* Alive (1985, LP)
* Gimme Gimme Gimme (1986, 7/12"Single)
* Pink House (1986, 7/12" Single)
* Lust Games (1986, 12" Mini-LP)
* Gimme Gimme... Rejected Version (1986, 7/12" Single)
* No Rules (1986, Comp. LP/UK)
* Lust For Love (1987, 7" Flexi Single)
* Sounds Showcase 3 (1987, 7" Single)
* I Can Smell Your Thoughts (1987, 7/12" Single)
* Steel Construction (1987, LP/CD)
* Cool Shoes (1987, 7/12" Single)
* Lost And Found (1987, 7/12" Single)
* Force Of Habit (1987, LP)
* Dudes (1987, Soundtrack LP)
* Radio One Sessions (1988, 12" Mini-LP)
* Demolition Love (1988, 7/12" Single)
* International Heroes (1988, LP/CD)
* A Thousand Nights (1989, 7/12" Single)
* Ride Into Your Town (1990, 7/12" Single)
* Nun Permanent (1991, CD)
* Girls (1991, CD-Single)
* Gbg Punk (1993, Comp. CD)
* A Seedy Compilation (1994, Comp. CD)
* Fi-Fi Dong - A Gasolin Tribute (1995, Comp. CD)
* A Thousand Nights (1995, Comp. CD)

i no longer own a copy of force of habit and this makes me sad. cuz i love it so. i'll find one sooner or later.

That's the one thing I have of theirs! Edited cover, I gather.

i no longer own a copy of ledernacken's sex metal album either :(

Please to tell me more of this.

http://toestubber.com/b040406/leather1a.jpg

aren't you a ledernacken fan you old goth you?

distinctive cover:

http://images.tradera.com/542/44634542_1.jpg

i used to have that too. i must have given it away when i had a record purge. i kept 'amok'.

I am a Leather Nun fan in longstanding, as I've regularly documented elsewhere in numerous places.

These are the Leather Nun albums I still own:

* Alive (1985, LP)
* Force Of Habit (1987, LP)

These are the other ones I used to own (I think - "Primemover" had "F.F.A." on the B-side, right?):

* Primemover (1981, 7" Single)
* Slow Death EP (1984, 12" Extended Version)
* Desolation Ave (1985, 7"/12" Single)

The are the Ledernacken 12"'s I still own:

"Shimmy & Shake" (Strike Back, 1985)
"Amok!" (Strike Back, 1983)

My "Amok!" 12-inch cover is weird. It's made out of the kind of grey cardboard they make boxes out of, and you apparently had to cut at a dotted line on the right-hand side to open it up, but whoever owned it before me must have got impatient and not had a scissors handy, though they ripped it open instead.

"Primemover" had "F.F.A." on the B-side, right?)

correct. that's a great single, with some truly tasteless lyrics.

correct. that's a great single, with some truly tasteless lyrics.

fist and shout!

I am a Leather Nun fan in longstanding, as I've regularly documented elsewhere in numerous places.

Hey, it was you who got me into 'em. I just wish the mastering on Force of Habit was better.

totally. then there's like line that goes something like, "Shit on my knuckles/ pain in the ass for you." And with that accent, it's soooo obviously inspired Brainbombs.

Ledernacken I can honestly say I've never heard before, but saw the name many times in the press. I'll have to give that one a go. Thanks ILM!

in a nice bit of synchronicity, my dj partner played 'slow death' at our club tonight. it sounded awesome.

are there any cd compilations of the early stuff?

I think "A Seedy Compilation" goes back to '79

Leather Nun made some great friggin' music. "Force of Habit" and related EPs/singles from the era are all that were readily available in my local shoppes but i've picked up whatever i've come across over the past 20 years.

Also of note; i have the uncensored promo poster for "Force of Habit" that, for those un-initiated, depicts a nude rope-tied and chair-bound nun in the heaving throngs of some torturous exploit. Thing is - their US distributor (IRS, methinks) placed a light perforation just above the bust line so that one could de-boobify the image by tearing off the bottom section of the poster. Mine's mint.

I've previously shared my recollection of the live show (support act for the Bunnymen in 1988) and the straight-laced christian girl i brought to it (i think Johan's gesture-filled performance of F.F.A. ruined any chance of getting anywhere near those pants).

Somehow, i always seem to associate the Leather Nun with New Model Army -- maybe it's simply because they both cruise below the radar, or that i heard them both in the same timeframe -- but it's probably because they both were "another band" whose records were either too difficult or too pricey to come by. At the time i couldn't justify the premium of these imports since i was still covering the basics of my collection.

I programmed the setlist for my (first) wedding and selected the beautiful "For the Love of Your Eyes" as one of the featured slow dance numbers - it's truly a timeless track.

OTM re: For The Love Of Your Eyes....such a beautiful song....

I wish i hadn't sold Force of Habit now....

is alive STILL not out on cd? damn. :-(

Force of Habit is fucking awesome; very few things touch the claustrophobic majesty of "506".

Have to pick up more of their stuff. Is it all as unrepentantly HEAVY as 'Prime Mover'? Not at all a fashionable sound at the time.

I wouldn't say so; they definitely go tender at times ("For The Love Of Your Eyes", "Have Sex With Me") and a lot of their stuff on Force of Habit inhabits this weird border between post-punk and industrial ("Jesus Came Driving Along", "I Can Smell Your Thoughts", "Gimme Gimme Gimme A Man After Midnight", "506", "Pink Houses").

I need to dig this out again tonight.

OH HONEY
THIS IS NOT A ROMANCE
JUST THE PERFECT ENDING
TO A PERFECT NIGHT

Much as I have love for the rest of it, nothing is as good as Prime Mover.

"Jesus Came Driving Along", "506" and "Desolation Avenue" are DEFINITELY as good as "Prime Mover".

are there any cd compilations of the early stuff?
---
I think "A Seedy Compilation" goes back to '79

"A Seedy Compilation" doesn't, alas, go back that far. Four track from 1987 are the earliest on it :(