A Tier II

The Leather Nun.

Swedish group · formed in Gothenburg in February 1979 by Jonas Almquist · the only Swedish act on Industrial Records, whose debut EP Slow Death (IR0006, 1979) was the label's Scandinavian first-wave entry · sleeve by Peter Christopherson · Almquist was among the named audience on Throbbing Gristle's Heathen Earth · later moved from its abrasive early industrial idiom toward garage rock and goth, becoming a long-running cult act at home

filed under
Industrial-adjacent post-punk · the abrasive 1979 EP is the industrial document; the later catalogue careers through garage rock, goth and pop
Gothenburg, Sweden · 1979 onward · one IR release plus a live cassette · the Swedish node of the early Industrial Records network, routed through TG and Monte Cazazza
FormedGothenburg, Sweden · February 1979 · by Jonas Almquist (vocals), recruiting the remains of the Gothenburg punk act Straitjacket: Bengt "Aron" Aronsson (guitar), Freddie Wadling (bass) and Gert Claesson (drums)
The nameTaken from that of a London stripper · the group did not, by most accounts, actually wear leather
Industrial RecordsThe only Swedish act on the label · Almquist secured a contract for a single with Industrial Records; the b-side material recorded with the full group at Chall Sound Studio in May 1979, the a-side "Death Threats" recorded December 1978 · IR could not choose, so the release became a four-track 7" EP
Debut EPSlow Death (IR0006, released November 1979) · the group's noisiest and most industrial record by some distance · sleeve by Peter Christopherson using a press photograph of the dying Roberto Crescenzio, a student fatally burned in a 1977 political firebombing in Turin
TG connectionAlmquist is among the audience credited by name on Throbbing Gristle's Heathen Earth (recorded at the IR studio, 16 February 1980) · the group played the Leap Year Day all-nighter at the Scala Cinema, London, in 1980 alongside Throbbing Gristle and Monte Cazazza
UK receptionA sustained push from John Peel in the winter of 1979 gave the group a rapid UK reputation, topping the independent charts in the music weeklies
Later directionThe catalogue moved away from the abrasive debut toward garage rock, goth and, on occasion, pop · a string of singles, then the live LP Alive (1985) · Freddie Wadling left in 1982 to join Blue for Two
Later yearsCult standing at home rather than wide success · the group broke up in 1995 and reunited in 2004 for a 25th-anniversary show in Gothenburg
StatusLong-running cult act · intermittently active since the 2004 reunion
Filed atartist file · leather-nun.html
§ 01
Editorial
the Swedish entry on Industrial Records

The Leather Nun is filed for one record and the network around it. Formed in Gothenburg in February 1979 by Jonas Almquist, the group came to Industrial Records when Almquist secured a contract for a single; needing a b-side, he assembled the band from the remains of the punk act Straitjacket. The result, the Slow Death EP of November 1979, is the only Swedish release on the label and by some distance the group's most abrasive and industrial record, before the catalogue turned toward garage rock and goth.

What earns the file is the act's position in the early Industrial Records cluster rather than the later music. The Slow Death sleeve was made by Peter Christopherson from a press photograph of a dying man, in the confrontational IR manner; Almquist appears among the named audience on Throbbing Gristle's Heathen Earth, recorded at the IR studio in February 1980; and the group shared the 1980 Scala all-nighter bill with Throbbing Gristle and Monte Cazazza. It sits in the same IR roster the archive already files through Cazazza, Clock DVA, Thomas Leer and Robert Rental.

The Bureau files The Leather Nun on documentary necessity: the Industrial Records roster is incomplete without its Swedish entry, and the group is the clearest Scandinavian node of the first-wave IR network.

§ 02
Cross-references
The Leather Nun across the archive

Label. The Swedish entry on Industrial Records: the Slow Death EP (IR0006, 1979) and a later live cassette.

Network in the archive. Sleeve by Peter Christopherson; Almquist in the Throbbing Gristle Heathen Earth audience; the 1980 Scala bill with TG and Monte Cazazza.

Roster peers. Filed alongside the other IR acts the archive holds: Cazazza, Clock DVA, Thomas Leer and Robert Rental.

Forms. The 1979 EP belongs to the industrial proper founding moment; the later catalogue leaves the form for garage rock and goth and is not filed there.

§ 03
Coda
closing note

The Leather Nun is a one-record entry in the strict sense: the abrasive 1979 Slow Death EP is the industrial document, and the long catalogue that followed belongs to garage rock and goth rather than to this archive. But the record's place in the early Industrial Records network, the Christopherson sleeve, the Heathen Earth audience, the Scala bill, makes the group the roster's Swedish node.

Filed at Tier II on documentary necessity within the Industrial Records cluster.

↑