The Formative Years – Wipers
There are many bands that could be considered as genre coining in the realm of punk and hardcore, with most of them being considered because they were to first create a certain new sound or style.
Then there are bands that did the aforementioned and had a “je ne sais quoi” pervade their emissions, which made them stand out amidst a sea of epigones.
Wipers is one of those bands.
Formed by Greg Sage in 1977, they were considered to be one of first punk bands of Portland without classifying themselves as such and even their earliest recordings convey that music was more for them than mere entertainment and a commodity. Equipped with a dedicated DIY ethic at the core of everything they were doing, including Sage building his own recording equipment, they created their own lane and charged onwards.
Wipers’ debut, Is This Real? was released in 1980 and was still rather formulaic as far as the traditional punk rock approach was concerned, while their second album Youth of America sees them deliberately taking the foot off the gas pedal. It was still punk but different as it actively defied known tropes. Their third one Over the Edge completes a triumvirate of albums that should really be in the collection of anyone remotely interested in underground guitar driven music.
I have always loved the detachment, disdain, dread, solitude and despair that is inherent in each and every Wipers song, which was only enhanced by the band’s refusal to be categorized, which aided in making their songs timeless hymns of dissatisfaction with the status quo.
Wipers managed to create goosebumps moments through carefully created sublime sounds, the whole of which accumulated to something bigger than the mere sum of its components.
I was listening to them as a teenager it felt as something intangible was coming off the grooves. Something that resonated with terrifying awe.
