Wipers was a punk rock band formed in Portland, Oregon, in 1977 by guitarist and vocalist Greg Sage, along with drummer Sam Henry and bassist Dave Koupal. The group's tight song structure and use of heavy distortion were hailed as extremely influential by numerous critics and musicians. They are also considered to be the first Pacific Northwest punk band.[1]
History
Origins
Sage's intense interest in music began with cutting records at home as an adolescent.[1]
"I was very lucky to have my own professional record cutting lathe when I was in 7th grade due to my father being involved in the broadcast industry. I would cut records for friends at school of songs off the radio and learned the art of record making long before learning to play music. I would spend countless hours studying the grooves I would cut under the microscope that was attached to the lathe and loved the way music looked, moved and modulated within the thin walls. I might have spent too much time studying music through a microscope because it gave me a completely different outlook on what music is and a totally opposite understanding of it as well. There was something very magical and private when I zoomed into the magnified and secret world of sound in motion. I got to the point that I needed to create and paint my own sounds and colors into the walls of these grooves."[2]
Inspired by Jimi Hendrix, Sage soon picked up the guitar, and in 1969, at age 17, he played on an eponymous album by professional wrestler Beauregarde.[1]
Foundation, early years
Sage founded Wipers in Portland in 1977 along with drummer Henry and bassist Koupal, originally just as a recording project. The plan was to record 15 albums in 10 years without touring or promotion.[3] Sage thought that the mystique built from the lack of playing traditional rock 'n' roll would make people listen to their recordings much deeper with only their imagination to go by. He thought it would be easy to avoid press, shows, pictures and interviews. He looked at music as art rather than entertainment; he thought music was personal to the listener rather than a commodity.[citation needed]
Wipers' first single, "Better Off Dead", was released in 1978 on Sage's own Trap Records.
Sage wanted to make his own recordings and manufacture and run his own label without outside financing. In 1979, Sage approached several Portland punk bands (including Neo Boys, Sado-Nation and Stiphnoyds) and asked them to record singles for his new Trap label.
The Wipers first album, Is This Real?, was issued in January 1980 on Park Avenue Records, a label that the band hoped would gain them wider distribution. It was originally recorded on a 4-track in the band's rehearsal studio, but the label insisted that the band use a professional studio.[3] Once released, the album gained a cult following, although the band was best known for their live shows around the Portland area.
Henry left to join the Rats, and Koupal moved to Ohio.[3]
Later in 1980, Park Avenue released the Alien Boy EP, consisting of the title track and three demo outtakes.
With the new rhythm section of bassist Brad Davidson and drummer Brad Naish (ex-Stiphnoyds), Wipers recorded a second album for Park Avenue, the last for that label. Youth of America, released in 1981, contrasted with the short/fast punk songs of the time. According to Sage, this change of pace was a reaction against the punk trend of releasing short songs.[4] The album was, according to Sage, not well received in the United States at the time of its release, though it did fare better in Europe.[4] Along with other Wipers records, Youth of America came to be acknowledged as an important album in the development of American underground and independent rock movements of the early 80s.[5]
The next album, Over the Edge, issued in 1983 by Trap via Brain Eater Records, was the first Wipers record to gain significant modern rock airplay.[3] It was led by the song, "Romeo", which had already been released the previous year as a 7" single by Trap. The band then embarked on their first extensive tour, documented on the Wipers Tour 84 cassette-only live album, which was reissued by Enigma Records in 1985 as Wipers.
In 1985, Naish was replaced by Steve Plouf, and Enigma issued Sage's first solo album, Straight Ahead.
In 1989, drummer Travis McNabb joined Wipers for a tour, during which Sage announced that the band was ending due to music business frustrations and the loss of their studio space. Sage then relocated to Phoenix, Arizona,[3] and Davidson left to move to London. After building a new recording studio in Arizona, Sage released a second solo album, 1991's Sacrifice (For Love).[3]
Two compilations were released in this era: The Best of Wipers and Greg Sage in 1990 by Restless, and Complete Rarities '78–'90 in 1993 by Germany's True Believer Records. The latter included the first Wipers 7", the B-side of the "Romeo" 7", sampler contributions, and live material from 1986 and 1989.
Sage restarted Wipers in 1993, rejoined by Plouf, releasing three additional albums as a duo: Silver Sail (1993) and The Herd (1996), both on the Tim/Kerr label, and Power in One (1999) on Sage's new Zeno Records. The band became inactive after 1999.
In 2001, Zeno released Wipers Box Set, which included the first three Wipers albums, which by that time had been long out-of-print, along with the songs from the Alien Boy EP and additional previously unreleased material. Jackpot Records and Sage later reissued Is This Real?,Youth of America and Over the Edge on vinyl.
Post-Wipers
Henry formed Napalm Beach with Chris Newman in 1982. He remained an active musician in Portland, Oregon, and continued to play with Napalm Beach and Don't, as well as popular Pacific Northwest songwriters such as Pete Krebs, Morgan Grace and Jimmy Boyer. Henry died from complications of stomach cancer on February 20, 2022, at the age of 65.[7]
Plouf operated a vintage goods/Zeno Records store in Portland, appropriately named Zeno Oddities, which closed sometime between 2009 and 2010.
Sage later remarked on their initial reception: "We weren't even really a punk band. See, we were even farther out in left field than the punk movement because we didn't even wish to be classified, and that was kind of a new territory. ... When we put out Is This Real? ... it definitely did not fit in; none of our records did. Then nine, ten years later people are saying: 'Yeah, it's the punk classic of the '80s'".[8]
The Wipers had an influence on Nirvana.[9] Wipers gained significant exposure as a result of Nirvana's 1992 covers of two songs from Is This Real? ("D-7" on the EP Hormoaning, and "Return of the Rat" on the Eight Songs compilation), and Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain's mention of Wipers as a major influence. As did Cobain's wife Courtney Love, whose band Hole covered "Over the Edge" both on recording and frequently at live performances. German grunge band Alien Boys named themselves from the Wipers song Alien Boy. Other bands that have cited the Wipers as an influence include Cloud Nothings,[10][11]Hot Snakes,[12] and Metz.[13]
Members
Final lineup
Greg Sage – vocals, guitar (1977–1989, 1993–1999) bass (1993–1999, only in the studio)
^ ab"Youth of America". ZenoRecords.com. Archived from the original on 2008-02-28. ... at the time of this recording, it was the trend that most songs by bands were very fast and short, to the point that some were doing songs as short as 13 seconds or so. I did just the opposite to make some songs reach 10 minutes long. This did not make us popular in the USA, but overseas was a different story.[self-published source]
^Hyden, Steven (January 23, 2012). "Dylan Baldi of Cloud Nothings". A.V. Club. Archived from the original on October 3, 2023. Retrieved March 7, 2024. I did, for the first time, listen to The Wipers, about a year ago, and they've since become one of my favorite bands. They were a huge influence on this record, and they have some heavier moments. (...) [T]hey've influenced the songwriting, just in that I really structured those songs exactly in the way Greg Sage structures his songs. The way it flows from one part to the next is really Wipers-y. And also I got really into his guitar tone, and the way he plays guitar, and I think I may have picked up some of that. That's on our record, too.
^Terich, Jeff (February 21, 2021). "Dylan Baldi picks the 10 best Cloud Nothings songs". treblezine.com. Archived from the original on December 11, 2023. Retrieved March 7, 2024. It reminds me of, during that time, I was basically trying to be The Wipers. That was my goal as a human—to make Wipers albums. And I wasn't really capable of doing that, but this is our take on that. It has that darkness to it, but the chorus is this big celebratory thing. To me it is a single, or could have been but isn't as obviously melodic I guess. (...) Because like I said, I was just trying to rip off the Wipers for two years of my life. I even went as far as buying guitars and amps that I saw photos of Greg Sage using in the '70s and '80s. And this was kind of like me saying I can have these influences but I can make something where someone says "that sounds like Cloud Nothings" rather than just trying to copy another band.
