Straight Ahead

Biography

Greg Sage was the principal songwriter, guitarist, and vocalist for the influential Portland, Oregon-based punk rock band Wipers. Sage's dark lyrics were rife with references to confusion and severe alienation. His songs took unexpected turns and were typified by fractured melodic passages punctuated by massive, clean, intricate guitar parts, and use of heavy distortion. He usually plays on a 1969 left-handed Gibson SG with attached Bigsby tremolo. Sage has been involved in music professionall...

Greg Sage was the principal songwriter, guitarist, and vocalist for the influential Portland, Oregon-based punk rock band Wipers.

Sage's dark lyrics were rife with references to confusion and severe alienation. His songs took unexpected turns and were typified by fractured melodic passages punctuated by massive, clean, intricate guitar parts, and use of heavy distortion. He usually plays on a 1969 left-handed Gibson SG with attached Bigsby tremolo.

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). In 1977, Sage founded Wipers in Portland.

The Wipers were not popular at all in the punk genre upon their debut and were never recognized as an important part of punk history until well into the 1980s. Wipers' records were not received well in the US until many years after their release. However Greg Sage is now viewed as an amazing songwriter and lyricist. Future generations of rockers such as Kurt Cobain would later cite Sage as one of their most important influences.

Sage operates his own label, Zeno Records (based in Phoenix, Arizona) and has also recorded several albums as a solo musician. He also builds his own music equipment and built his own studio.

Solo Studio Albums

Straight Ahead (1985)
Sacrifice (1991) Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.