Greg Sage (born October 21, 1951) is an American songwriter, guitarist, and vocalist, regarded as an important influence on many

punk rock Punk rock (also known as simply punk) is a rock music genre that emerged in the mid-1970s. Rooted in 1950s rock and roll and 1960s garage rock, punk bands rejected the corporate nature of mainstream 1970s rock music. They typically produced sh ...

and

post-punk Post-punk (originally called new musick) is a broad genre of music that emerged in late 1977 in the wake of punk rock. Post-punk musicians departed from punk's fundamental elements and raw simplicity, instead adopting a broader, more experiment ...

artists. Sage is best known as the principal songwriter and vocalist/guitarist of the influential

Portland Portland most commonly refers to: *Portland, Oregon, the most populous city in the U.S. state of Oregon *Portland, Maine, the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maine *Isle of Portland, a tied island in the English Channel Portland may also r ...

, Oregon-based band Wipers.

Early years

Greg Sage was born in

Portland, Oregon Portland ( ) is the List of cities in Oregon, most populous city in the U.S. state of Oregon, located in the Pacific Northwest region. Situated close to northwest Oregon at the confluence of the Willamette River, Willamette and Columbia River, ...

, on October 21, 1951. His involvement with music began with cutting records at home as an adolescent, due to his father being involved in the broadcast industry. 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. Sage has been involved in music professionally since the age of 17, when he worked on a full-length album by the professional wrestler Beauregarde (''Beauregard'', 1971; re-released 2004). After several years of playing and recording guitar, Sage founded Wipers in Portland in 1977. The mood of Sage's lyrics is frequently dark, and rife with references to confusion and severe alienation. His song structures often take unexpected turns and are typified by fractured melodic passages punctuated by massive, intricate guitar parts, and use of heavy

distortion In signal processing, distortion is the alteration of the original shape (or other characteristic) of a signal. In communications and electronics it means the alteration of the waveform of an information-bearing signal, such as an audio signal ...

. He usually plays on a 1969 left-handed

Gibson SG The Gibson SG is a solid-body electric guitar model introduced by Gibson in 1961, following on from the 1952 Gibson Les Paul. It remains in production today in many variations of the initial design. SG stands for "solid guitar". Origins The S ...

with

P-90 The P-90 (sometimes written P90) is a single coil electric guitar pickup produced by Gibson Guitar Corporation since 1946, as well as other vendors. Compared to other single coil designs, such as the Fender single coil, the bobbin for a P-90 ...

pickups and a Bigsby tremolo.

Wipers

In 1977, Sage founded the Wipers. The name was inspired by a job he had picked up cleaning windows at a movie theatre; the crystal clear transparency of the glass was what he realized he wanted to emulate with his music. Its inception was at first an exclusive recording project. Then Sage planned to record 15 LPs in 10 years without touring or promoting. He believed it would be possible to avoid live shows, press, pictures and interviews, and this – coupled with the mystique of his unorthodox music – would encourage a deeper, more imaginative engagement with the recordings. In 1979, Sage established his own record label, Trap, and asked several Portland punk bands to record singles. 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''.

Solo career

Since the demise of Wipers, Sage has also recorded several albums as a solo musician and operates his own label, Zeno Records, based in

Phoenix, Arizona Phoenix ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities and towns in Arizona#List of cities and towns, most populous city of the U.S. state of Arizona. With over 1.6 million residents at the 2020 census, it is the ...

, where he currently resides.

Discography

Solo albums

*'' Straight Ahead'' (1985) *'' Sacrifice (For Love)'' (1991)

with Wipers

* ''

Is This Real? ''Is This Real?'' is the debut studio album by the Portland, Oregon-based punk rock band Wipers, originally released on vinyl in January 1980 by Park Avenue Records. The album was reissued on CD by Sub Pop in 1993, augmented by the three tracks ...

'' (1980) * ''

Youth of America ''Youth of America'' is the second studio album by American punk rock band Wipers. It was released in 1981 by record label Park Avenue. Content The album marked a distinctive change in the band's sound. Compared to its predecessor, ''Is This ...

'' (1981) * '' Over the Edge'' (1983) * '' Land of the Lost'' (1986) * '' Follow Blind'' (1987) * '' The Circle'' (1988) * '' Silver Sail'' (1993) * '' The Herd'' (1996) * '' Power in One'' (1999)

External links

The Wipers official homepage

Greg Sage at TapeOp.com

– Greg says he was 17 when he met Beauregarde in 1969.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sage, Greg 1952 births American punk rock guitarists American punk rock singers Living people Musicians from Portland, Oregon Singers from Oregon Guitarists from Los Angeles Guitarists from Oregon American male guitarists 20th-century American guitarists 20th-century American male musicians Restless Records artists Enigma Records artists