The Leather Nun – 506

Artist

The Leather Nun are a Swedish rock group. Careening from garage rock to goth and pop-rock.

The Leather Nun (a.k.a. Swedish: Lädernunnan) was formed in 1978 in Gothenburg, Sweden by radio DJ and fanzine editor Jonas Almquist (vocals) who, after getting agreement from Genesis P. Orridge to release a single on the Industrial Records label, recruited Bengt "Aron" Aronsson (guitar), Freddie Wadling (bass) and Gert Claesson (drums), all from punk band Strait Jacket.

Inspired by Velvet Underground and Lou Reed, Iggy Pop and Rory Gallagher, The Leather Nun released the debut EP, Slow Death in November 1979, featuring three newly recorded songs and the recording of "Death Threats" from 1978. John Peel played the title song each night for two weeks on his BBC radio programme.

Although many people think so, Jonas Almquist says the band did not take their name from the American underground comic Tales from the Leather Nun. He also tells that it was not taken from the stage name of a London stripper, but chosen because "it felt just as a clockwork name for a band who based its music on the dynamics between the pure innocent and the black shameful ...".

EP and LP

In the early 1980s, the band soon attracted controversy by showing adult movies as part of their live shows and often shocked some audiences by being accompanied by strippers when on stage and over their use of hard-core gay pornography. A handful of singles followed before The Leather Nun released their first LP, Alive in 1985, a live album recorded in Denmark.

Covering ABBA's "Gimme, Gimme, Gimme" earned the group respect in Sweden and Europe and was performed live on the UK Channel 4 all-night tv-show Euro Tube in June 1986. Several successful tours followed. Meanwhile, the group's imported singles found their way onto US college radio stations, earning airplay with "Pink House", a deadpan mockery of John Mellencamp's "Pink Houses". It also appeared on the Mini-LP Lust Games, which was only released in the UK and reached number 5 in the UK Indie Chart.

In 1987 the group released the top-selling compilation LP Force of Habit (consisting of the handful of singles plus other tracks from Lust Games), first in the US, adorned with a controversial cover shot by photographer Mick Rock. Also in 1987 "Jesus Came Driving Along" appeared in the soundtrack of the film Dudes and gained them more airplay and success.

Steel Construction

1987 saw the release, but only in the EU, of their second studio album, Steel Construction, which was critically acclaimed and also reached No. 5 in the UK Indie Chart.

In 1988 The Leather Nun were reviewed in Rolling Stone and quoted to be the first rock act to sell condoms as tour merchandise. It was during a sold-out Leather Nun-show at the Scream club in Los Angeles, that The Cult-vocalist Ian Astbury (major Leather Nun-fan) met with Swedish Leather Nun-fan and to-be video director Jonas Åkerlund (Madonna, The Prodigy, Metallica, Lady Gaga) and forming a long-standing friendship. Jonas Åkerlund used music by The Leather Nun in his debut movie Spun feat Mickey Rourke.

In August 1988 the band played at the 'Glasnost Rock' festival in Tallinn, Estonia, the first international rock festival to be staged in the Soviet Union, together with amongst others Big Country and PiL.

Their third studio album, International Heroes, was produced by Kim Fowley and was released in 1990, again only in Europa! While releasing their fourth studio album Nun Permanent (produced by Mick Ronson) in winter 1991, their record company went bankrupt and could no longer deliver copies of the album. Being without a record company The Leather Nun continued to play gigs for a few years, but never got so successful again.

i'm stuck in room 506
forgotten by the world
and there is nothin u can do..about it baby
theres nothin to do at all
i eat my chinese take away
and drink the last of the beer
but still this question's buzzin in my head:
what am i doing here?

i'm stuck in room 506
forgotten by the world
i'm stuck in room 506

i am lookin out the window
it's raining outside
the streets are full of people
but no one comes inside
i talk a walk down the lonesome hall
and I got back to my room
the night is gettin darker
but the hours feel so long

i'm stuck in room 506
where the looney has lead
i'm stuck in room 506

i'm pickin up the newspaper
i've already read
and on the tv they screening some movie
i've already seen
i'm turnin on the radio
but nothin turns me on..
and the night is gettin darker
but the hours feels so long

i'm stuck in room 506
forgotten by the world
i'm stuck in room 506

...

I'm stuck in room 506
forgotten by the world
i'm stuck in room 506

i'm lookin out the window
it stopped raining outside
and the streets are full of people
but no one comes inside
i take a walk down the lonesome hall
and i get back to my room
the night is gettin darker
but the hours feel so long

i'm stuck in room 506
forgotten by the world
i'm stuck in room 506

i'm stuck in room 506
forgotten by the world
and there is nothin u can do..about it baby
there's nothin u can do at all
i ate my chinese take away
and the beer is gone
but still this question's buzzin in my head:
what am i doing here?

sono bloccato nella stanza 506
dimenticato dal mondo
e non c'è niente che tu possa fare...a riguardo baby
non c'è niente da fare
mangio il mio cibo cinese da asporto
e bevo l'ultima birra
ma questa domanda mi ronza ancora in testa:
cosa ci faccio qui?

sono bloccato nella stanza 506
dimenticato dal mondo
sono bloccato nella stanza 506

sto guardando fuori dalla finestra
fuori piove
le strade sono piene di gente
ma nessuno entra
faccio una passeggiata lungo il corridoio solitario
e torno nella mia stanza
la notte si sta facendo più buia
ma le ore sembrano così lunghe

sono bloccato nella stanza 506

dove il pazzo ha condotto
sono bloccato nella stanza 506

sto prendendo il giornale
che ho già letto
e in tv trasmettono un film
che ho già visto
sto accendendo la radio
ma niente mi eccita..
e la notte si sta facendo più buia
ma le ore sembrano così lunghe

sono bloccato nella stanza 506
dimenticato dal mondo
sono bloccato nella stanza 506

...

Sono bloccato nella stanza 506
dimenticato dal mondo
sono bloccato nella stanza 506

guardo fuori dalla finestra
ha smesso di piovere fuori
e le strade sono piene di gente
ma nessuno entra
faccio una passeggiata lungo il corridoio solitario
e torno nella mia stanza
la notte si sta facendo più buia
ma le ore sembrano così lunghe

sono bloccato nella stanza 506
dimenticato dal mondo
sono bloccato nella stanza 506

sono bloccato nella stanza 506
dimenticato dal mondo
e non c'è niente che tu possa fare...a riguardo baby
non c'è niente che tu possa fare
ho mangiato il mio cibo cinese da asporto
e la birra è finita
ma questa domanda mi ronza ancora in testa:
cosa ci faccio qui?