The Miracle Workers were a

rock and roll Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock-n-roll, and rock 'n' roll) is a Genre (music), genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It Origins of rock and roll, originated from African ...

band in the 1980s, who began as a

garage rock Garage rock (sometimes called garage punk or 60s punk) is a raw and energetic style of rock music that flourished in the mid-1960s, most notably in the United States and Canada, and has experienced a series of subsequent revivals. The style is ...

revival band 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, ...

Background

The Miracle Workers were formed in January 1982 by Gerry Mohr (vocals), and Joel Barnett (bass guitar). The original guitarist and drummer, who were friends of Gerry's, left the band early on. Matt Rogers, a friend of Joel's, became the guitarist. Ron Sheridan became the drummer, though would later leave to pursue a business career. The band stabilized in 1984, with the addition of Dan Demiankow (guitar, organ), and Gene Trautmann (drums). The Miracle Workers lineup in 1987 became Gerry Mohr (vocals), Matt Rogers (guitar), Robert Butler (bass), and Gene Trautmann (drums).

Recording career

Several songs on compilation LPs, with the band line up being Gerry, Matt, Joel, and Ron. Recordings from 1982. *''

Miracle Workers A miracle is an event that is inexplicable by natural or scientific lawsOne dictionary define"Miracle"as: "A surprising and welcome event that is not explicable by natural or scientific laws and is therefore considered to be the work of a divin ...

'', was a four-song EP on Moxie Records, released in 1984. Line up was Gerry Mohr, Joel Barnett, Matt Rogers, Danny Demiankow, and a short term drummer, Jeff Grassi. *'' A Thousand Micrograms of the Miracle Workers'', on Sounds Interesting Records, 1984, 6 song EP, marked Gene Trautmann's recording debut with the band. *'' Inside Out'', Voxx/ Bomp 1985 LP, was recorded in Los Angeles. This is the band's most successful LP, and received critical acclaim in North America and Europe. It has since been re-issued on CD. Of all the recordings it is the easiest to find. These recordings, and the band's style was in line with contemporary garage rock revival acts, such as The Chesterfield Kings and

Lyres Yoke lutes, commonly called lyres, are a class of string instruments, subfamily of lutes, indicated with the codes 321.21 and 321.22 in the Hornbostel–Sachs classification. Description Yoke lutes are defined as instruments with one or more ...

. The Miracle Workers' liking for harder edged, late-sixties/early-seventies bands such as the

MC5 MC5 was an American rock music, rock band formed in Lincoln Park, Michigan, in 1963. The classic lineup consisted of vocalist Rob Tyner, guitarists Wayne Kramer and Fred "Sonic" Smith, bassist Michael Davis (bassist), Michael Davis, and drummer ...

The Stooges The Stooges or Iggy and the Stooges, originally billed as the Psychedelic Stooges, were an American rock band formed in Ann Arbor, Michigan, in 1967 by singer Iggy Pop, guitarist Ron Asheton, drummer Scott Asheton, and bassist Dave Alexande ...

, and

Flamin' Groovies Flamin' Groovies is an American rock band that formed in San Francisco in 1965, originally co-led by Roy Loney and Cyril Jordan. After the Groovies released three albums, on Epic ('' Supersnazz'') and Kama Sutra (''Flamingo'' and '' Teenage He ...

came to the fore. Their sound became very influenced by this and it can be heard on their LPs ''Live at the Forum'', ''Overdose'', ''Primary Domain'', and ''Roll out the Red Carpet'', with the first two being especially notable, regarding that influence. The 1989 LP on

Get Hip Records Get Hip Records is an independent Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, second-most populous city in Penn ...

, '' Moxie's Revenge'', supplemented this period with outtakes and unreleased recordings.

Los Angeles

In the Spring of 1986, the band decided to move to Los Angeles. Joel Barnett left the band at that time. Robert Butler, from The Untold Fables, became the bass player and Dan Demiankow quit over musical differences. Due to internal problems within the band, they split up in 1992. The band came together back in Portland to record "Anatomy of a Creep" a year later. The Triple xxx recording would be their last, produced by Thee Slayer Hippie (Steve Hanford/Drummer Poison Idea) and involved original drummer Gene Trautmann, replacing Aaron Sperske who was relieved of duties near the time of recording "Anatomy of a Creep".

Break up and slow fade

Gene Trautmann quit the band circa 1990 and was replaced on drums by Aaron Sperske. Aaron Played on the ''Roll Out the Red Carpet'' album. The Miracle Workers split in the early 1990s, but before calling it quits they returned to Portland and recorded a new CD, ''Anatomy of a Creep'', for their label, Triple X. Gene Trautmann resumed drumming duties. This record was apparently issued, but in small quantities, as it is difficult to find. Members of the group resurfaced in Portland, Oregon in the mid-1980s and in

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

in the late 1990s, in several bands playing

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form that originated among African Americans in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues has incorporated spiritual (music), spirituals, work songs, field hollers, Ring shout, shouts, cha ...

psychobilly Psychobilly (or punkabilly) is a rock music fusion genre that fuses elements of rockabilly and punk rock. It has been defined as "loud frantic rockabilly music", it has also been said that it "takes the traditional country rock, countrified rock ...

, and

, such as The Bo Diddley Headhunters; Cavemannish Boys; The Wicked Ones;Get Hip Recordings
/ref> The Get Lost and

Queens of the Stone Age Queens of the Stone Age (commonly abbreviated as QOTSA or QotSA) is an American rock band formed in Seattle in 1996. The band was founded by vocalist and guitarist Josh Homme shortly before he returned to his native Palm Desert, California. ...

. In LA the band incorporated more

hard rock Hard rock or heavy rock is a heavier subgenre of rock music typified by aggressive vocals and Distortion (music), distorted electric guitars. Hard rock began in the mid-1960s with the Garage rock, garage, Psychedelic rock, psychedelic and blues ...

and

alternative rock Alternative rock (also known as alternative music, alt-rock or simply alternative) is a category of rock music that evolved from the independent music underground of the 1970s. Alternative rock acts achieved mainstream success in the 1990s w ...

influences paralleling the

grunge Grunge (sometimes referred to as the Seattle sound) is an alternative rock Music genre, genre and subculture that emerged during the in the U.S. state of Washington (state), Washington, particularly in Seattle and Music of Olympia, Washington, O ...

scene in

Seattle Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...

. The Miracle Workers were amongst the founding bands of the

stoner rock Stoner rock, also known as stoner metal or stoner doom, is a rock music fusion genre that combines elements of doom metal with psychedelic rock and acid rock. The genre emerged during the early 1990s and was pioneered foremost by Kyuss and Sl ...

movement. In the late 1980s, alternative cartoonist

Joe Sacco Joe Sacco (; born October 2, 1960) is a Maltese-American cartoonist and journalist. He is credited as the first artist to practice rigorous, investigative journalism using the comics form, also referred to as comics journalism. His groundbrea ...

followed the band on their Europe tour, as T-shirt salesman and chronicling comics journalist. These comics have been collected in the compilation ''But I Like It'', published by

Fantagraphics Fantagraphics (previously Fantagraphics Books) is an American publisher of alternative comics, classic comic strip anthologies, manga, magazines, graphic novels, and (formerly) the Erotic comics, erotic Eros Comix imprint. They have managed sev ...

in 2006.

Discography

Studio albums

*''Inside Out'' (Voxx Records 1985) *''Overdose'' (Love's Simple Dreams 1987) *''Primary Domain'' (Glitterhouse Records 1989) *''Roll Out the Red Carpet'' (Triple X Records 1991) *''Anatomy of a Creep'' (Triple X Records 1995)

Singles and EPs

*''Miracle Workers'' (Moxie Records 1984) *''1000 Microgramms Of The Miracle Workers'' (Sounds Interesting Records 1984) *''Blue Girl'' (Lost Trails 1987) *''When A Woman Calls My Name'' (Love's Simple Dreams 1988) *''Miracle Workers Slow Death / I Got A Right'' (Teenager From Outer Space Records 1988) *''Strange Little Girl'' (Get Hip Recordings 1989) *''Mary Jane'' (Glitterhouse Records 1989) *''Way Back When'' (Sympathy For The Record Industry 1990)

Live albums

*''Live At The Forum'' (Glitterhouse Records 1988)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Miracle Workers, The Garage rock groups from Oregon American garage punk groups Musical groups from Portland, Oregon Rock music groups from Oregon Musical groups established in 1982 Musical groups disestablished in 1992 1982 establishments in Oregon 1992 disestablishments in Oregon Glitterhouse Records artists Triple X Records artists