Wipers

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Biography

:''For the town in Belgium which was called 'Wipers' by British soldiers during World War I , see Ypres and Wipers Times .

The Wipers were a punk rock group formed in Portland, Oregon in 1977 by guitarist Greg Sage , drummer Sam Henry and bassist Dave Koupal. The group's tight song structure and use of heavy guitar effects|distortion has been hailed as extremely influential by numerous critics and musicians, including Melvins , Mono Men , Stephen Malkmus , Poison Idea , My Vitriol , Nation of Ulysses , Nirvana (band)|Nirvana , Calamity Jane (band)|Calamity Jane , and Cloud Nothings .

History

Origins

The band was originated as the brain child of 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

Their first album, Is This Real? , 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 , 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 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 recording|bootleg Wipers records for which the band received no royalties (until these early releases saw reissue on 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."Zeno Records Wipers Interview http://www.zenorecords.com/wipers/interview/page3.htm

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 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.. Archived at the Wayback Machine. Original link
"... 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.

Wipers records, in the United States were received
poorly upon their release, due to us avoiding the current trends.

It would take sometimes 6 to 9 years before our
records would become relevant in the States.
Europe was always very receptive, most of our tours were focused there." 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.

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 subsidiary Restless 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 (Greg Sage album)|Straight Ahead . 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 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 (Wipers 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 released the Wipers Box Set , 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 Pacific Northwest|Northwest songwriters like Pete Krebs , Morgan Grace and Jimmy Boyer. Sam also continues to perform with Napalm Beach , the band he formed with Chris Newman (musician)|Chris Newman in the early '80s. Travis went on to join Better Than Ezra and work with Shawn Mullins , Howie Day and Beggars, then toured for Bluegrass music|bluegrass / country music act Sugarland . He was replaced in Wipers by Steve Plouf who continues to work with 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.'"

In 1992, a tribute album Eight Songs for Greg Sage and the Wipers (Tim Kerr Records) was released on four colored 7-inch records, and included Wipers songs performed by Nirvana (band)|Nirvana , Hole (band)|Hole , Napalm Beach , M99 (band)|M99 , Dharma Bums (band)|The Dharma Bums , Crackerbash, 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 (band)|Hazel , Calamity Jane, Saliva Tree, Honey, Nation of Ulysses , and Thurston Moore -Keith Nealy.

Discography

Studio albums

Is This Real? (1979)

Youth of America (1981)

Over the Edge (Wipers album)|Over the Edge (1983)

Land of the Lost (Wipers album)|Land of the Lost (1986)

Follow Blind (1987)

The Circle (Wipers album)|The Circle (1988)

Silver Sail (1993)

The Herd (Wipers album)|The Herd (1996)

Power in One (1999)

Live albums

Wipers Live (album)|Wipers (1985)

EPs

Alien Boy (EP)|Alien Boy (1980)

Singles

" Better Off Dead (song)|Better Off Dead " (1978)

" Romeo (Wipers song)|Romeo " (1981)

" Silver Sail (song)|Silver Sail " (1993)

" The Herd (song)|The Herd " (1996)

" Insane (song)|Insane " (1996)

Compilations

Sub Pop 100 (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 (2001)

Outtakes LP (2010)

Copyright Citations

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1. Melvins 2. Unwound 3. The Melvins 4. The Wipers 5. Hot Snakes 6. punk music 7. Curt Cobain 8. Fog 9. Foggy 10. Greg Sage 11. Lou Christie 12. Menomena 13. Poison Idea 14. River's Edge 15. The Fuzztones 16. The Herd 17. The Rock Show 18. Vacuum 19. Disfear

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