Skip to main content
WOKE-1tune in
Wipers

Wipers

Is This Real?

Portland's first punk band, whose raw early records gave way to post-punk landmarks praised by Kurt Cobain and John Peel.

APPLE MUSIC

Is This Real?

Wipers

About

MOODS · punk · post-punk · raw · driving · anthemic · influential · DIY · Pacific Northwest · guitar-driven · cult classic · melodic · underground

BIOGRAPHY

Wipers formed in Portland, Oregon, in 1977 when guitarist and vocalist Greg Sage joined with drummer Sam Henry and bassist Dave Koupal, becoming the first punk rock band to emerge from the Pacific Northwest. Their debut, Is This Real?, arrived in January 1980 on Park Avenue Records, followed by Youth of America and Over the Edge, as the band shifted from driving punk anthems toward a more post-punk sound. Kurt Cobain named Is This Real? among the fifty albums most influential to Nirvana's sound in his Journals, and BBC Radio 1's John Peel called it one of his twenty favorite albums in a 1993 interview. Sage revived Wipers that same year with bassist Plouf, releasing Silver Sail, The Herd, and Power in One before the band went inactive in 1999.

WHY THEY'RE COOL

Wipers' early records defied easy categorization, their catchy, driving punk anthems now regarded as post-punk classics that helped define the Pacific Northwest scene. Both Kurt Cobain and J Mascis of Dinosaur Jr. praised Greg Sage's guitar work and cited him as a direct influence, while Is This Real? and Over the Edge are counted among the most influential punk albums ever made.

ON WOKE-1

First play on WOKE-1.