Wipers - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

For the town in Belgium which was called 'Wipers' by British soldiers during World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

, see Ypres
Ypres
Ypres is a Belgian municipality located in the Flemish province of West Flanders. The municipality comprises the city of Ypres and the villages of Boezinge, Brielen, Dikkebus, Elverdinge, Hollebeke, Sint-Jan, Vlamertinge, Voormezele, Zillebeke, and Zuidschote...

and Wipers Times
Wipers Times
The Wipers Times was a trench magazine that was published by soldiers fighting on the front lines of the First World War.It was produced by English soldiers from the 12th Battalion Sherwood Foresters , 24th Division British Armies in France.In early 1916, the 12th Battalion was stationed in the...

.

The Wipers were a punk rock

Punk rock

Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...

group formed in Portland, Oregon

Portland, Oregon

Portland is a city located in the Pacific Northwest, near the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2010 Census, it had a population of 583,776, making it the 29th most populous city in the United States...

in 1977 by guitarist

Guitarist

A guitarist is a musician who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of instruments such as classical guitars, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themselves on the guitar while singing.- Versatility :The guitarist controls an extremely...

Greg Sage

Greg Sage was the principal songwriter, guitarist, and vocalist for the influential Portland, Oregon-based punk rock band Wipers. Greg Sage's first recording was on the pro-wrestler Beauregarde's full length album, released in 1971 . He met Beauregarde, recorded and played with him when he was only...

, drummer

Drummer

A drummer is a musician who is capable of playing drums, which includes but is not limited to a drum kit and accessory based hardware which includes an assortment of pedals and standing support mechanisms, marching percussion and/or any musical instrument that is struck within the context of a...

Sam Henry and bassist

Bassist

A bass player, or bassist is a musician who plays a bass instrument such as a double bass, bass guitar, keyboard bass or a low brass instrument such as a tuba or sousaphone. Different musical genres tend to be associated with one or more of these instruments...

Dave Koupal. Wipers were one of the earliest American purveyors of the genre, and the group's tight song structure and use of heavy distortion has been hailed as extremely influential by numerous critics and musicians, including Melvins, Mono Men

Mono Men

The Mono Men were an American garage punk band, based in Bellingham, Washington. Their sound contained elements of grunge , but the Mono Men filtered these through a mimicry of 1960s Washington proto-punk, garage rock bands such as The Sonics.-History:The Mono Men rose up from the ashes of another...

, Stephen Malkmus

Stephen Malkmus

Stephen Joseph Malkmus is an indie rock musician and icon, and a member of the band Pavement. He currently performs with Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks.-Early years:...

, Poison Idea

Poison Idea

Poison Idea was an American hardcore punk band formed in Portland, Oregon in 1980. The band originally dissolved in 1993, but has been playing intermittently since 1998.-Formation, 1980's and 90's:...

, My Vitriol

My Vitriol

My Vitriol are an alternative rock band from London, England. The band name, which is often misinterpreted, is taken from the novel Brighton Rock by Graham Greene...

, Nation of Ulysses

Nation of Ulysses

The Nation of Ulysses was an American punk rock band from Washington, D.C., formed in spring 1988 with four members. Originally known as simply "Ulysses," the first mark of the group consisted of Ian Svenonius on vocals and trumpet, Steve Kroner on guitar, Steve Gamboa on bass guitar, and James...

, Nirvana

Nirvana (band)

Nirvana was an American rock band that was formed by singer/guitarist Kurt Cobain and bassist Krist Novoselic in Aberdeen, Washington in 1987...

and Calamity Jane

Calamity Jane

Martha Jane Cannary Burke , better known as Calamity Jane, was an American frontierswoman, and professional scout best known for her claim of being an acquaintance of Wild Bill Hickok, but also for having gained fame fighting Native Americans...

Origins

The band was originated as the brain child of Greg Sage

Greg Sage

"I think I got that concept early on as a kid. 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."

Greg Sage's first instrument was bass guitar, because of the low tones that made larger grooves in the vinyl records due to slower modulations. Basses were harder to find and much more expensive when Sage was in grade school, so he used guitar instead.

Greg Sage's idea behind the Wipers started as only a recording project. The plan was to record 15 LPs in 10 years without touring or promotion. Sage thought that the mystique built from the lack of playing traditional rock & 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, interviews. He looked at music as art rather than entertainment; he thought music was personal to the listener rather than a commodity.

Foundation, early years

Sage founded the punk rock

Punk rock

band the Wipers in Portland, Oregon

Portland, Oregon

in 1977 along with drummer

Drummer

Sam Henry and bassist

Bassist

Dave Koupal. Wipers' first single, Better Off Dead was released in 1978 on Sage's own Trap Records. After several years of playing and recording guitar Greg felt he wanted to do something different in music, and being labeled as a band seemed to be the first tradition and standard he should try to avoid. He wanted to make his own recordings and manufacture and run his own label himself without anyone else's financing to keep it as pure as possible. In 1979, Sage approached several Portland punk bands and asked them to record singles for his new Trap label. Some of those early bands were The Stiphnoyds, The Neo Boys and Sado Nation. Sage later re-released some of the material on a compilation record entitled The History Of Portland Punk, which included some tracks from the Wipers.

Their first album, Is This Real?
Is This Real?
Is This Real? is the 1980 debut album of the punk rock band the Wipers. It was digitally remastered by Greg Sage in 2001, and released as a part of the Wipers Box Set, with the songs in a slightly different order, along with some previously unreleased tracks.The album was later re-issued on Sub Pop...

, came out in 1980 on Park Avenue Records, a bigger label that the band hoped would get them wider distribution. Originally recorded on a 4-track in the band's rehearsal studio, the label insisted the band use a professional studio. Once released, the LP quietly gained a cult following

Cult following

A cult following is a group of fans who are highly dedicated to a specific area of pop culture. A film, book, band, or video game, among other things, will be said to have a cult following when it has a small but very passionate fan base...

, although the band was best known for their live shows around the Portland area. At the time of its release, Is This Real? defied categorization, and its catchy, driving punk anthems are now regarded as post-punk

Post-punk

Post-punk is a rock music movement with its roots in the late 1970s, following on the heels of the initial punk rock explosion of the mid-1970s. The genre retains its roots in the punk movement but is more introverted, complex and experimental...

classics.

Between the release of their first two LPs, Park Avenue released 1980's Alien Boy EP, consisting of the title track and three demo outtakes. Released without the band's permission, the EP was the first of many unauthorized or bootleg

Bootleg recording

A bootleg recording is an audio or video recording of a performance that was not officially released by the artist or under other legal authority. The process of making and distributing such recordings is known as bootlegging...

Wipers records for which the band received no royalties

Royalties

Royalties are usage-based payments made by one party to another for the right to ongoing use of an asset, sometimes an intellectual property...

(until these early releases saw reissue Sage's own label Zeno Records in 2001). Sage has said regarding Is This Real?, "Hell, that record was in print for over twenty years and we never received a cent for it."

Sage then tweaked and evolved the Wiper's sound with each subsequent release. Sage became known for not only his do-it-yourself ethic and guitar solos, but also for his domineering approach to the band’s creative process. With the new rhythm section of bassist Brad Davidson and drummer Brad Naish (ex-Styphnoids), Wipers' recorded a second LP for Park Avenue. With its epic title track and generally longer song lengths, 1981's Youth of America
Youth of America
Youth of America is the second album by the punk band Wipers. The album marks a distinctive change in the band's sound. Compared to its predecessor Is This Real?, which was composed mostly of raw, sleek and relatively traditional songs, Youth of America features much longer and complex...

stands in sharp contrast to the short/fast punk approach of the time. This change of pace was according to Sage a deliberate counter-reaction against the trend of releasing short songs, which many punk bands did at the time. 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. Along with other records by the Wipers, Youth of America has since come to be acknowledged as an important album in the development of American underground and independent rock movements of the early 80s. Following a dispute over the album's cover art, Wipers parted ways with Park Avenue for good.

The next LP, the militant, distortion-drenched Over the Edge, was the first Wipers record to meet with immediate acceptance. The song "Romeo", which had already been released on 7" by Trap, actually got some airplay. The band then embarked on their first extensive tour, documented on their 1984 Live LP. In spite of the original idea to not focus on live music, Wipers did play live, eventually releasing a live album, called Wipers Live.

Many of the Wipers' recording techniques and musical equipment were designed by Sage and the band. The band members purposely relied on word-of-mouth advertising for their albums, often rejecting interviews, and played far fewer live shows than many of their punk contemporaries. Despite this, Wipers made the jump to Enigma Records

Enigma Records

Enigma Records was a popular rock and alternative American record label in the 1980s. It was initially a division of Greenworld Distribution, an independent music importer/distributor, which it split-off from in 1985 to become its own company...

subsidiary Restless Records

Restless Records

Restless Records was started in El Segundo, California in 1981 by Enigma Records and primarly released alternative, metal and punk records. Restless also licensed and released records from Bar/None Records, Metal Blade Records and Mute Records...

, one of the biggest independent labels of the time signing punk-related bands. First to be released was Sage's solo album Straight Ahead
Straight Ahead (Greg Sage album)
Straight Ahead is the debut solo album of Wipers frontman Greg Sage. It was released in 1985. Dinosaur Jr. frontman J Mascis covered the song "On the Run" on his 1996 solo album, Martin + Me.-Track listing:#"Straight Ahead"#"Soul's Tongue"...

. Sage played all acoustic, electric, and bass guitar parts, and on many songs was backed by a drummer. The next few years saw three more LPs released on Restless, one being the 1986's Land Of The Lost which featured the song "Let Me Know", used in the Keanu Reeves

Keanu Reeves

Keanu Charles Reeves is a Canadian actor. Reeves is perhaps best known for his roles in Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure, Speed, Point Break and the science fiction-action trilogy The Matrix...

film, River's Edge. Copies of this album are highly sought after collectibles. In 1988, then-18-year-old drummer Travis McNabb joined the band for the tour for the album The Circle. They released five studio albums before Sage decided that their sixth, The Circle, would be the Wipers last.

In 2001, Greg Sage’s Zeno Records released the Wipers Box Set
Wipers Box Set
The Wipers Box Set is a compilation box set, and is a remastered re-release of the Wipers' first three albums: Is This Real?, Youth of America and Over the Edge. The collection includes 23 bonus tracks, including 6 never before released songs, with liner notes by Greg Sage...

, which included the first three Wipers albums, which by that time had been long out-of-print, with additional never-before-released material. Recently Jackpot Records and Sage reissued Is This Real?, Youth of America, and Over the Edge on vinyl records, utilizing the original master recordings.

Post-Wipers

Sam Henry is still an active musician in Portland, Oregon, and continues to play with popular Northwest

Pacific Northwest

The Pacific Northwest is a region in northwestern North America, bounded by the Pacific Ocean to the west and, loosely, by the Rocky Mountains on the east. Definitions of the region vary and there is no commonly agreed upon boundary, even among Pacific Northwesterners. A common concept of the...

songwriters like Pete Krebs, Morgan Grace

Morgan Grace

Morgan Grace is a songwriter from Portland, Oregon. Mostly a solo acoustic performer, she released her first album The Rules of Dating in 2003 on Lady Lush Records. In 2004, she joined up with former Wipers and Napalm Beach drummer Sam Henry...

and Jimmy Boyer. Sam also continues to perform with Napalm Beach

Napalm Beach

Napalm Beach is an American punk rock band from Portland, Oregon. One of the longest-running punk bands in the U.S., they are credited by some as being early innovators of the grunge sound. Napalm Beach shared the stage with bands such as X, Public Image Ltd., Joan Jett, Johnny Thunders, Gun Club,...

, the band he formed with Chris Newman

Chris Newman (musician)

Christopher Lynn Newman is an American musician from Oregon.Born in Longview, Washington, he spent most of his musical career in Portland, Oregon, leading bands such as the Untouchables ; and Snow Bud and the Flower People...

in the early '80s. Travis went on to join Better Than Ezra

Better Than Ezra

Better Than Ezra is an American alternative rock trio based in New Orleans, Louisiana.-Formation and early success:Better Than Ezra was formed in 1988 by its four original members - vocalist and guitarist Kevin Griffin; Joel Rundell, the lead guitarist; bassist Tom Drummond; and drummer, Cary...

and work with Shawn Mullins

Shawn Mullins

Shawn Mullins is an American singer-songwriter who specializes in folk rock, instrumental rock, adult alternative, and Americana music. He is best known for the 1998 single, "Lullaby", which hit number one on the Adult Top 40 and was nominated for a Grammy Award.-Career:Mullins was born in...

, Howie Day

Howie Day

Howard Kern "Howie" Day is an American singer-songwriter. Beginning his career as a solo artist in the late 1990s, Day became known for his extensive touring and in-concert use of samplers and effects pedals in order to accompany himself...

and Beggars, then toured for bluegrass

Bluegrass music

Bluegrass music is a form of American roots music, and a sub-genre of country music. It has mixed roots in Scottish, English, Welsh and Irish traditional music...

/country music

Country music

Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...

act Sugarland. He was replaced in Wipers by Steve Plouf who continues to work with Greg Sage

Greg Sage

and on other music projects. Steve operates a vintage goods/Zeno Records store in Portland Oregon appropriately named Zeno Oddities.

Influence and legacy

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.'"

Wipers became better known after the wildly popular grunge

Grunge

Grunge is a subgenre of alternative rock that emerged during the mid-1980s in the American state of Washington, particularly in the Seattle area. Inspired by hardcore punk, heavy metal, and indie rock, grunge is generally characterized by heavily distorted electric guitars, contrasting song...

band Nirvana

Nirvana (band)

Nirvana was an American rock band that was formed by singer/guitarist Kurt Cobain and bassist Krist Novoselic in Aberdeen, Washington in 1987...

covered two songs from Is This Real?, "D-7" and "Return of the Rat

Return of the Rat

"Return of the Rat" is a song by the punk rock band Wipers, and is the first track on Wipers' 1980 debut album Is This Real?. Like much of the album, the song structure is circularly tight and catchy, containing a driving drum beat and choppy, distorted guitar riffs.The song grew in popularity...

". Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain

Kurt Cobain

Kurt Donald Cobain was an American singer-songwriter, musician and artist, best known as the lead singer and guitarist of the grunge band Nirvana...

spoke of being heavily influenced by the band. The Wipers were a major influence on the grunge

Grunge

music scene in general, with bands such as The Melvins

The Melvins

The Melvins are an American band that formed in 1983. They usually perform as a trio, but in recent years have performed as a four piece with two drummers. Since 1984, singer and guitarist Buzz Osborne and drummer Dale Crover have been the band's constant members...

, Mudhoney, and Dinosaur Jr. citing them. Wipers albums like Is This Real? and Over the Edge are now widely considered to be among the greatest and most influential punk albums of all time.

In 1992, a tribute album Eight Songs for Greg Sage and the Wipers
Eight Songs for Greg Sage and The Wipers
Eight Songs for Greg Sage and the Wipers is a Wipers tribute album released on Tim/Kerr Records in 1992. The album was first released as a box set of 4 colored 7-inch records....

(Tim Kerr Records) was released on four colored 7-inch records, and included Wipers songs performed by Nirvana

Nirvana (band)

Nirvana was an American rock band that was formed by singer/guitarist Kurt Cobain and bassist Krist Novoselic in Aberdeen, Washington in 1987...

, Hole

Hole (band)

Hole is an American alternative rock band that originally formed in Los Angeles in 1989. The band is fronted by vocalist/songwriter and rhythm guitarist Courtney Love, who co-founded Hole with former songwriter/lead guitarist Eric Erlandson...

, Napalm Beach

Napalm Beach

, M99, The Dharma Bums

Dharma Bums (band)

The Dharma Bums were a U.S. garage band in the best traditions of the MC5 and early 80s college-rock bands such as Rain Parade and R.E.M.. The band's members were Jim, John, Jeremy, and Eric...

, Crackerbash, Poison Idea

Poison Idea

, and The Whirlees. The CD release of the tribute album was called Fourteen Songs for Greg Sage and the Wipers, and expanded to include covers by Hazel

Hazel (band)

Hazel was an United States alternative rock band based in Portland, Oregon. The group was a quartet, consisting of Jody Bleyle , Pete Krebs , Brady Smith , and Fred Nemo ....

, Calamity Jane, Saliva Tree, Honey, Nation of Ulysses

Nation of Ulysses

, and Thurston Moore

Thurston Moore

Thurston Joseph Moore is an American musician best known as a singer, songwriter and guitarist of Sonic Youth. He has also participated in many solo and group collaborations outside of Sonic Youth, as well as running the Ecstatic Peace! record label...

-Keith Nealy.

Studio albums

Is This Real?
Is This Real?
Is This Real? is the 1980 debut album of the punk rock band the Wipers. It was digitally remastered by Greg Sage in 2001, and released as a part of the Wipers Box Set, with the songs in a slightly different order, along with some previously unreleased tracks.The album was later re-issued on Sub Pop...

(1979)
Youth of America
Youth of America
Youth of America is the second album by the punk band Wipers. The album marks a distinctive change in the band's sound. Compared to its predecessor Is This Real?, which was composed mostly of raw, sleek and relatively traditional songs, Youth of America features much longer and complex...

(1981)
Over the Edge (1983)
Land of the Lost (1986)
Follow Blind
Follow Blind
Follow Blind is a studio album by The Wipers, released in 1987. Recorded at 421 Sound, Portland, Oregon.Released by Restless Records/Enigma Records on LP , MC and CD Follow Blind is a studio album by The Wipers, released in 1987. Recorded at 421 Sound, Portland, Oregon.Released by Restless...

(1987)
The Circle (1988)
Silver Sail
Silver Sail
Silver Sail is the first studio album by the Portland, Oregon punk rock band the Wipers since their reunion, released in 1993. After disbanding The Wipers in around 1988 and releasing a solo album, Sacrifice , in 1991, Sage decided to release a new album under the Wipers name...

(1993)
The Herd (1996)
Power in One (1999)

Singles

"Better Off Dead" (1978)
"Romeo" (1981)
"Silver Sail" (1993)
"The Herd
The Herd (song)
"The Herd" is the first single by the Wipers to appear on Compact Disc. This single is a one track promotional item that features the album version of the song "The Herd". A limited amount of copies also included a wall poster of "The Herd" album cover. The single never had a retail release....

" (1996)
"Insane" (1996)

Compilations

Sub Pop 101 (1986)
The Best of Wipers and Greg Sage (1990)
"Complete Rarities '78–'90" (1993) (Compilation of the first Wipers 7", the "Romeo" 7" B-Side, some contributions to samplers, and the B side consists of live material from '86 and '89)
Wipers Box Set
Wipers Box Set
The Wipers Box Set is a compilation box set, and is a remastered re-release of the Wipers' first three albums: Is This Real?, Youth of America and Over the Edge. The collection includes 23 bonus tracks, including 6 never before released songs, with liner notes by Greg Sage...

(2001)
Outtakes LP (2010)

External links

Interviews

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