The Insaints were an American

punk rock Punk rock (also known as simply punk) is a rock music genre that emerged in the mid-1970s. Rooted in 1950s rock and roll and 1960s garage rock, punk bands rejected the corporate nature of mainstream 1970s rock music. They typically produced sh ...

group from

Modesto Modesto ( ; ) is the county seat and largest city of Stanislaus County, California, United States. With a population of 218,069 according to 2022 U.S. Census Bureau estimates, it is the 19th-most populous city in California. Modesto is locate ...

and later

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

, United States, fronted by controversial vocalist

Marian Anderson Marian Anderson (February 27, 1897April 8, 1993) was an American contralto. She performed a wide range of music, from opera to spirituals. Anderson performed with renowned orchestras in major concert and recital venues throughout the United S ...

from 1988-1994. She was noted for her powerful, sexually charged and provocative live performances which frequently included on-stage nudity and sex acts. The Insaints made Bay Area headlines when Anderson was arrested for lewd conduct after a performance at

924 Gilman Street The Alternative Music Foundation located at 924 Gilman Street, almost exclusively referred to as "Gilman", is a non-profit, all-ages, collectively organized music club. It is located in the West Berkeley, Berkeley, California, West Berkeley ar ...

Berkeley, California Berkeley ( ) is a city on the eastern shore of San Francisco Bay in northern Alameda County, California, United States. It is named after the 18th-century Anglo-Irish bishop and philosopher George Berkeley. It borders the cities of Oakland, Cali ...

. The charges were eventually dropped after a year long legal battle, but the band broke up in 1994. In 2001, Anderson died of a

heroin overdose An opioid overdose is toxicity due to excessive consumption of opioids, such as morphine, codeine, heroin, fentanyl, tramadol, and methadone. This preventable pathology can be fatal if it leads to Hypoventilation, respiratory depression, a let ...

at the age of 33. In 2005, the group reformed under the same name with

Eva Von Slut Eva or EVA may refer to: * Eva (name), a feminine given name Arts, entertainment, and media Fictional characters * Eva (Dynamite Entertainment), a comic book character * Eva (''Devil May Cry''), in the ''Devil May Cry'' video game series * ...

as its new vocalist. A documentary about the Insaints and the life of vocalist Marian Anderson, entitled ''Last Fast Ride: The Life, Love, and Death of a Punk Goddess'' directed by Lilly Scourtis Ayers and narrated by

Henry Rollins Henry Lawrence Garfield (born February 13, 1961), known professionally as Henry Rollins, is an American singer, writer, spoken word artist, actor, comedian, and presenter. After performing in the short-lived hardcore punk band State of Alert in 1 ...

, was released in February 2011. It features interviews with Insaints guitarist Daniel DeLeon, and Bay Area musicians

Tim Armstrong Timothy Ross Armstrong (born November 25, 1965) is an American musician, songwriter and record producer. Known for his distinctive voice, he is the singer/guitarist for the punk rock band Rancid (band), Rancid and hip hop/punk rock supergroup T ...

of Rancid,

Dexter Holland Bryan Keith "Dexter" Holland (born December 29, 1965) is an American musician, best known as the co-founder, lead vocalist, rhythm guitarist, main songwriter and composer, and only constant member of the punk rock band the Offspring. He co-found ...

The Offspring The Offspring is an American Rock music, rock band formed in Garden Grove, California, in 1984. Originally formed under the name Manic Subsidal, the band currently consists of lead vocalist and guitarist Dexter Holland, Bryan "Dexter" Holland, ...

Texas Terri Texas Terri (born Terri Laird, April 6, 1955) is an American punk rock singer, songwriter and actress, originally from Austin, Texas, United States. Texas Terri has been compared to Wendy O. Williams and others by the music press. Like Williams, ...

Laird, and other assorted

Gilman Street Gilman Street () is a street in Central, Hong Kong, Central, Hong Kong. The street starts north at Connaught Road Central, crosses Des Voeux Road Central and continued as a Cul-de-sac, dead-end pathway leading to several shops at The Center, th ...

veterans as well as photos and footage of the band in action.

Post-breakup

After the Insaints broke up, Anderson played guitar and sang backups in local San Francisco band

The Ritalins ''The'' is a grammatical article in English, denoting nouns that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The' ...

with John Kiffmeyer (or Al Sobrante) on drums, "Rotten" Ron Ready on bass, and Josh Donald on vocals. The Ritalins performed in and around the Bay Area for almost two years where they were noted mainly for their chaotic and unpredictable shows. Shortly before her death in 2001, singer Anderson and Insaints guitarist Deleon formed a

psychobilly Psychobilly (or punkabilly) is a rock music fusion genre that fuses elements of rockabilly and punk rock. It has been defined as "loud frantic rockabilly music", it has also been said that it "takes the traditional country rock, countrified rock ...

band called

The Thrillkillers ''The'' is a grammatical article in English, denoting nouns that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The' ...

. The group's only performance was in September 2001. Marian Anderson is survived by her daughter, Hannah Lolly Anderson. As of 2012, Daniel DeLeon is active in the

band Rezurex and

gothic rock Gothic rock (also called goth rock or simply goth) is a style of rock music that emerged from post-punk in the United Kingdom in the late 1970s. The first post-punk bands which shifted toward dark music with gothic overtones include Siouxsie an ...

/ new wave band Neon Kross. Eva Von Slut is a burlesque performer and has fronted the

band Thee Merry Widows, as well as the punk band The White Barons.

Recordings

Before their breakup in 1994, The Insaints had only one official release; ''Diesel Queens vs. Insaints'', a split, double 7-inch EP with The Diesel Queens from San Jose, California, released by

Maximum RocknRoll ''Maximumrocknroll'', often written as ''Maximum Rocknroll'' and usually abbreviated as ''MRR'', is a not-for-profit monthly online zine of punk subculture and radio show of punk music. Based in San Francisco, ''MRR'' focuses on punk rock and ...

in 1993. On November 9, 2004 the six tracks from the 1993 EP, along with the four other outtakes from the 1993 recording and nine additional live tracks, were collected and released as a full-length album called ''Sins of Saints'' on the Disaster Records label.

Discography

*''Diesel Queens vs. Insaints'' (Split 7 inch w/ the ''Diesel Queens'') (1993) *''Sins of Saints'' (LP/CD) (2004)

References

External links

Insaints MySpace page

Last Fast Ride Official Movie Page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Insaints Punk rock groups from California Musical groups from San Francisco