The Nuns of Brixton

It happens all too often. In the hustle and bustle, in the desire to make “art,” in the compulsion to get attention, in the need for compensation, it’s easy to forget that live music is largely about entertainment. We’re not talking about “Masterpiece Theatre” here. We’re talking full- on goofy, happy, hands-in- the-air good times.

Fortunately, the Nuns of Brixton, Denver’s habit-wearing, Clash-song-playing quintet that headlines Monsters of Mock tonight at 3 Kings Tavern, hasn’t forgotten how to have a good time.

“The goal is to purely entertain people at a bargain price,” said Tim Beckman, the band’s bassist and founder. “And isn’t that lacking? I think we’re the best entertainment value, honestly.”

Beckman, best known for his stints in the Geds and major-label ’90s alt-rockers Spell, had literally dreamed of starting a Clash cover band, but finally decided to make it a reality while watching Jim Yelenick (of Pitch Invasion) play acoustic covers as his alter ego, Sputnik Slovenia.

“Who else is gonna be Joe Strummer?” Beckman asked to explain his choice of the veteran singer and performer. “I just knew I wanted to be in a band with that guy, playing Clash songs.”

Soon, the two recruited Tony Weissenberg, formerly of Boss 302, to take on drumming duties. “Weissenberg is the only drummer I know who can do that type of drumming,” explains Beckman. “(Clash drummer) Topper Headon is an exceptionally intricate drummer.”

Meanwhile, Yelenick roped in longtime friend Jon Solomon (also of improvisational skronkers Aenka) to take on guitar duties. The two had shared a love for the Clash since their high-school days at Regis.

To ensure that the boisterous Yelenick was free to bounce outrageously around the stage, the band put an ad on Craigslist for a second guitarist. The ad dug up Robb Froschheuser, formerly of Fort Collins rockers Social Joke. At a birthday party for Solomon, the group came up with the name Nuns of Brixton — playing off the Clash classic “Guns of Brixton” — and a concept was born.

“We just chose it because it rhymes,” laughed Beckman. “If you play this music, you can’t dress up like the Clash, so you might as well take it to the most uncool extreme possible.”

Weissenberg concurs.

“The goal is not to be a tribute band. We’re just five dudes who like the Clash.”

Corrected Yelenick: “We’re just five transvestites who like the Clash.”

The outfit’s shared passion for the music of one of punk’s progenitors is a large part of what makes Nuns shows so entertaining. As the quintet belts out song after song with simultaneous conviction and abandon, anyone for whom the music of the Clash is meaningful can’t help but be caught up in the energy.

For his part, Yelenick remembers vividly his first experience with the Clash.

“When I was 12, it was my sister’s birthday, and my dad took me to Sears to buy her a record. That’s when Sears sold records,” he said. “She said she wanted that song that went ‘stand by your man’ — it was ‘Train in Vain.’ We got it and it’s a two-record set. We put it on in her room and I found myself being transformed as each song went on.”

For Yelenick, who’d been schooled in the classic rock his older brothers so loved, “London Calling” was a revelation.

“Anyway, we’re getting to the end of side four and thinking maybe the song isn’t on there,” he said. “It was an unlisted song, right after ‘Revolution Rock.’ As soon as it came on, she hit the record button on her cassette deck. Once it was over, she told me I could keep the record. I proceeded to go back to my room and listen to it for eight days straight.”

Solomon’s musical interests were also shaped by obsessive Clash listening.

“I remember sitting down in my basement for six hours a day, learning guitar at 14, 15, 16,” he said. “I learned how to play solos from Mick (Jones of the Clash).”

The Clash played an important role in Beckman’s musical education, too.

“When ‘Sandinista’ came out, I used to take that empty sleeve into Underground Records, now Twist & Shout,” he said. “I’d wave it in the air as I walked in, to say I was going to trade it in or sell it or whatever, and then I’d go back in the bins and load it up with Buzzcocks, the Clash, whatever. And then I’d wave it on the way out to say that I’d changed my mind or hadn’t found anything I wanted to trade it for. I stole a lot of records. But I reconciled with (Twist owner) Paul Epstein years later. I felt really guilty.”

Guilt, despite the group’s austere Catholic costumes, is not part of the Nuns of Brixton experience. Thanks to the band’s musical proficiency and Yelenick’s captivating stage presence, the five veterans bring the raw excitement and spirit of the Clash’s music back from the dead without remorse.

“It’s so accessible,” said Yelenick of the band’s performance. “In the ’70s, you had bands like Yes and you’d think you could never be in a rock band. But the Clash made me feel like I could be in a rock band. It’s complicated, but it’s simple.”

Added Weissenberg: “I like that it wasn’t pretty. The Beatles, to me, were the original boy band. The Clash were not a boy band. It was just good, rippin’ music!”

Beckman agrees.

“I think the whole thing is creative,” Beckman said of the Nuns of Brixton’s own rippin’ approach. “We’re playing covers, but we have everybody putting their effort into making this thing that’s really entertaining,” muses Beckman, who knows firsthand how hard it is to find and keep an audience with any musical project.

“There’s always people that want to see our band. And that’s hard to do!”

Eryc Eyl is a regular contributor to Reverb: heyreverb.com, twitter.com/rvrb - Denver Post

“The Nuns [of Brixton] take their mission quite seriously: to deliver crushing live renditions of The Clash,” the Denver-based cover band told AXS during a recent interview. “The Nuns of Brixton: catalogue with unmatched recklessness and to uphold the crooked dub punk thunder of The Clash for the poor and the grubby to humbly partake.” Covering The Clash’s extensive catalogue of British punk songs, The Nuns of Brixton are performing live at Goosetown Tavern on Saturday, July 11 for the first annual Bluebird District Musical Festival. The group discovered their six years of covering The Clash in this exclusive Q&A.

AXS: Are you Denver natives? If not, where is everyone originally from?
The Nuns of Brixton: We hail from the seediest dank filled Cathedrals in South London, but as a matter of course, we all have undergone the sacramental rebirthing exercise which officially ties us to the spiritual umbilical cord that is the city of Denver.

AXS: What brought The Nuns of Brixton together?
The Nuns of Brixton: We were all separately hiking outside a rock’ n roll retreat we were attending near Lourdes, France, when we simultaneously happened upon an open field only to see a collective vision of Joe Strummer in the heavens. No words were said, but he telepathically communicated to each of us that our collective future had been written.

AXS: How long have The Nuns of Brixton been together? What have you learned during that time?
The Nuns of Brixton: The Nuns have been around for about six years now, and in that time, we have learned many important spiritual lessons, including that the process of ingesting a Chocodile can take quite a long, long while, and, in a similar vein, it takes no more, and no less than three licks to get to the center of a tootsie pop; and that the Nuns, like The Clash, never play their songs “live” the same way twice.

AXS: Where was your first show in Denver, and what was the experience like? Who else did you play with at the show?
The Nuns of Brixton: Our first show in Denver was a super star affair with the likes of Truckasaurus and No Good Reason. Truckasaurus was just off their tour with the Victoria’s Secret Suicide Girls, and as such played the whole show in the most fabulous lingerie. No Good Reason, on the other hand, was just coming off their tour with Marcel Marceau, and as such mimed their whole show, brilliantly expressing their hit record, “the art of silence”.

AXS: Have any Denver musicians inspired The Nuns of Brixton?
The Nuns of Brixton: In a real sense, all Denver musicians are a part of and inspire The Nuns of Brixton. But our “real” influence, just like all bands who claim to be a part of the “Denver sound”, comes from the spiritual musical wonders created by Firefall.

AXS: What projects are The Nuns of Brixton currently working on?
The Nuns of Brixton: At this time, we are in the process of learning the Arabic, Latin, and Hebrew languages, as we have been slated as ambassadors to go to the Middle East to drive forth an effort to bring peace to the region through music. As part of the effort, we will be singing Clash songs in styles of Gregorian Chant, Sufi Ghazal, and Jewish Baqashot.

AXS: What else is The Nuns of Brixton involved in locally, either as individuals or as a group?
The Nuns of Brixton: As the Nuns have to maintain their vow of silence when not praying in the form of performance, most of the Nuns live simple contemplative lives, spending time gardening, studying, and translating indecipherable lyrics from the late 70’s and early 80’s. The one exception is Jonny SoloNun [guitar], who still maintains a secular position managing on the professional midget wrestling circuit.

AXS: Does The Nuns of Brixton have a goal in mind for the sound the band produces? Are there certain influences or themes the band tries to inject into its own music?
The Nuns of Brixton: The Nuns take their mission quite seriously: to deliver crushing live renditions of The Clash. The Nuns of Brixton: catalogue with unmatched recklessness and to uphold the crooked dub punk thunder of The Clash for the poor and the grubby to humbly partake.

AXS: For someone who has never seen or heard The Nuns of Brixton, what would you tell them to entice them to watch your set?
The Nuns of Brixton: Have you ever seen the CNN footage from the first days of Gulf War I? No? Well, it’s kinda like that.

AXS: What would your ideal live show look like? Where would it take place? Any particular time of year? Would a specific band/musician share the bill with or open for The Nuns of Brixton?
The Nuns of Brixton: As Nuns, we are not permitted to dream, but the local parishioners have been clamoring for us to play with the Film On The Rocks series. I believe the two suggestions have been Monty Python and the Holy Grail and/or Heathers.

AXS: What shows are you looking forward to over the next few months?
The Nuns of Brixton: Come join the Nuns of Brixton as we celebrate life, love and unity at first annual Bluebird District Music Festival, July 11 at The Goosetown Tavern.

AXS: What do you enjoy most about Denver’s music scene, and why?
The Nuns of Brixton: What do we like about the scene… the firmness, the flavor, and it has a good beat. You can dance to it - axs.com

"It all paid off. There were many familiar faces and even for those you didn’t know, you seemed to have something in common – shared experience or maybe just the beer or music (though Fishbone headlined and had a huge following at the party, as did The Toasters, it was the Nuns of Brixton who stole the show with a frontnun who refused to let you look away from his stage command, and then post-show as he worked the audience with further shenanigans and charisma, still in costume)." - dgomag

Denver is hardly lacking for cover bands. But one of the best for my money is the Nuns of Brixton, the group that covers the Clash while wearing nun habits.

It helps that the band has the perfect frontman behind the mic: Jim Yelenick. Yelenick is the kind of charismatic ham that can pull off such a preposterous feat. Punk staples “Should I Stay or Should I Go,” “Rock the Casbah” and of course “The Guns of Brixton” — all from an imposingly tall, friendly-faced man cross-dressed as a Catholic nun.


Description of . Nuns of Brixton at Bender's Tavern in September 2010. Photos by Michael McGrath, heyreverb.com.

And they make it work. Primarily because they take the Clash’s music very seriously.

We’re giving away two pairs of tickets to the band’s Friday-night show at the Bluebird Theater right here. It’s a holiday show — “Clash-mas,” they’re calling it — and also on the bill are the Shaloms (a Jewish Ramones tribute), Weasel Saurus (a Screeching Weasel tribute) and the Bloody Scallywags (an Echo & the Bunnymen tribute). - Denver Post