Wipers (band)

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.

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.

"[5]Inspired by Jimi Hendrix, Sage soon picked up the guitar; further, in 1969, at age 17, he played on an eponymous album by professional wrestler Beauregarde.

[6] 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.

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.

[7] 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.

Signing to Enigma's Restless Records division, Wipers released 1986's Land of the Lost, featuring the song "Let Me Know", used in the film River's Edge.

[9] 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.

[6] 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.

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.

McNabb formed the Beggars, and went on to work as a session and tour drummer for artists including Vigilantes of Love, Billy Pilgrim, Shawn Mullins, Indigo Girls, Brendan Benson, Howie Day, Dar Williams, Mandi Perkins, Big & Rich and Gavin DeGraw.

Davidson (who had previously recorded with the Sage-produced Rancid Vat in 1985) played bass on The Jesus and Mary Chain's 1993 EP Sound of Speed.

The expanded CD release, retitled Fourteen Songs for Greg Sage and the Wipers, also included covers by Hazel, Calamity Jane, Saliva Tree, Honey, Nation of Ulysses, and Thurston Moore and Keith Nealy.