The Nunfuckers

The Nunfuckers were a Waterloo, Ontario hardcore punk band active from 1985 until early 1988. Their brief career grew out of the Kitchener-Waterloo underground and eventually connected them with the larger southern Ontario punk network centred around Toronto and Hamilton, along with a loose community of bands, punk houses, campus radio stations, record stores and independently produced fanzines.

The group began in July 1985 at a practice in drummer Bob Davies’ garage. The original lineup consisted of Davies, guitarist Dave Cherry, vocalist Ian and guitarist Todd Gillies. When Gillies left partway through the first practice, the remaining three musicians wrote and recorded an informal cassette titled Today Is a Good Day using a household tape recorder.

Ian left the following month after his family moved to Calgary. Derek Henderson joined on bass during the fall of 1985, followed by vocalist Rob Purdie, establishing the band’s best-known lineup of Purdie, Cherry, Gillies, Henderson and Davies.

The Nunfuckers initially performed at house parties around Waterloo. Their first formal appearance was at Chuggy’s in Hamilton, opening for Vancouver band the Resistance. The sleeve of their later EP thanks Geoff for arranging the show and Andy from Hamilton for placing the group on its first bill.

A few months later, the Nunfuckers recorded the cassette Into the Pit at CKMS, the University of Waterloo campus radio station. The twenty-song demo documented much of the band’s early repertoire, including ‘Ziffco Punx,’ ‘Spoiled Brats,’ ‘Burning Chemicals,’ ‘Cheap Friends’ and ‘Be Yourself.’

Although the cassette insert identified the musicians only as Dave, Bob, Rob and Todd, the spoken introduction on the recording gives a different session lineup: Rob Purdie on vocals, Dave Cherry on rhythm guitar, Sergio Albagile on lead guitar, Derek Henderson on bass and Bob Davies on drums. This confirms Henderson’s participation and indicates that Todd Gillies did not perform on the demo.

Copies of Into the Pit circulated through the local punk community. One was given to members of Toronto’s Bunchofuckingoofs at the White House, a punk house and gathering place in Waterloo. The Bunchofuckingoofs subsequently invited the Nunfuckers to open for them at Lee’s Palace in Toronto, introducing the band to a larger Toronto hardcore audience.

The Nunfuckers soon began playing regularly in Waterloo, Kitchener, Hamilton and Toronto with bands including D.O.G., M.S.I., Sons of Ishmael, NoMind and the Doughboys. One particularly unusual appearance paired them with NoMind in a Chinese restaurant in Kitchener. Their EP sleeve also documents connections with Senile Decay, the Resistance and the wider community surrounding the White House, Waterloo campus radio and independent punk fanzines.

In 1987, the band returned to CKMS to record its only vinyl release, Dead and on the Floor. According to the band’s surviving history, its eleven songs were recorded live to stereo in approximately two hours at a cost of $30. The record featured Rob Purdie on vocals, Dave Cherry and Todd Gillies on guitars, Derek Henderson on bass and Bob Davies on drums. Music was credited collectively to the Nunfuckers, while the lyrics were credited to Purdie, Cherry and Henderson.

The seven-inch compressed eleven short songs into approximately twelve minutes. Its stripped-down production, rapid tempos and compact arrangements reflected the economy of mid-1980s hardcore. Songs such as ‘Decimation,’ ‘Snap,’ ‘Social Butterfly,’ ‘Burning Chemicals,’ ‘Cheap Friends’ and ‘Spoiled Brats’ addressed school, friendship, social pressure, chemical warfare and everyday frustration.

One thousand copies were reportedly manufactured by World Records in Bowmanville, Ontario. According to the retrospective band history, the pressing sold out through mail order within five months, with many copies going to Germany. Although the exact sales figures have not been independently confirmed, the record’s overseas circulation was consistent with the international tape-trading, mail-order and fanzine networks supporting independent hardcore releases during the period.

Dead and on the Floor received a favourable review from Steve Spinali in the June 1987 issue of Maximum Rocknroll. Spinali praised its concise thrash, basic production, sharp riffing and flashes of personality and songwriting, ultimately rating it a very good release.

During the summer of 1987, Brian Taylor, associated with YYY and Toronto record store the Record Peddler, reportedly invited the Nunfuckers to open for D.R.I. at Ildiko’s in Toronto. At the show, Purdie gave D.R.I. vocalist Kurt Brecht a copy of Dead and on the Floor and received a D.R.I. pin in return. The exchange later inspired the unreleased Nunfuckers song ‘Rock God.’

Cherry left the band shortly afterward to work in New Zealand. He was replaced by a rhythm guitarist named Jeremy, whose surname has not been established. In September 1987, the later lineup appeared with Problem Children and SNFU at Ildiko’s, a performance remembered in the surviving band history as one of the Nunfuckers’ strongest shows.

The Nunfuckers also appeared on underground cassette compilations. ‘Be Yourself’ was included on Still Thinking, while ‘Burning Chemicals,’ ‘Spoiled Brats’ and ‘Ziffco Punx’ appeared on the 1988 compilation Ontario: Yours to Discover!. The latter cassette was assembled to document Ontario’s independent alternative music scene and included several bands associated with the same southern Ontario punk network.

The band broke up after a poorly received performance at the University of Guelph in early 1988 with NoMind and Waterloo band Two-Fisted Law. Despite lasting less than three years, the Nunfuckers left behind the informal Today Is a Good Day cassette, the Into the Pit demo, the Dead and on the Floor EP, several compilation appearances and a small surviving archive of photographs, flyers, handwritten lyrics and handmade artwork.

A later locally circulated CDr compiled the complete Dead and on the Floor EP, the Into the Pit demo and several additional recordings, including live and compilation tracks. Copies were reportedly sold through Orange Monkey Music in Waterloo during the early 2000s.

–Robert Williston