The Ziplocs were part of the first crop of Portland, Oregon punk rock bands, contemporaries of King Bee, Ice-9 and the Wipers. Smart, alienated suburban teenagers inspired by the New York and UK bands as well as the burgeoning California scene. In addition to their original songs they did a cover of "Mr. Suit" by Wire and the Ramones staple "Let's Dance."
The Ziplocs played with groups including the Dead Kennedys, Pere Ubu, Smegma, The Fix, Lo-Tek, the Rubbers and many others. The Ziplocs appeared with Hari Kari and the Wipers at the now-legendary "Linnton Riot" at the Linnton Community Center. They gigged routinely at venues such as the Long Goodbye.
The group broke up when Williams and Murphy left Portland for college. Williams returned in 1980 and formed the Preps. He went on to play with Black September, the Posers, and the Hipsters. More recently he played bass with Morgan Grace, along with Sam Henry from the Wipers. Arjavac went on to play with Sado-Nation and the Wipers. He eventually moved to Los Angeles where he played with Pat Smear (Germs, Nirvana, Foo Fighters) in a group called Ruthensmear.
| The Ziplocs - Ziplocs Live on KBOO Radio, 4-23-79.mp3 Time 13:07, 12 MB MP3 | Live studio performance recorded off-the-air. Master tape has disintegrated in certain sections, resulting in distortion and loss of signal. KBOO, a community FM station, was the only Portland radio station programming punk or new wave music (one hour per week on Sundays). Ziplocs played as part of a fundraising drive for the station, along with The Fix and Lo-Tek. | |
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Long Goodbye gig flyer, June 1979, Ziplocs headlining and Smegma opening. Click to view full-size image. |
Wipers, Ziplocs, Fix and Psychedelic Unknowns at Long Goodbye August 1979. Psychedlic Unknowns – aka the Combos – were fronted by the late James "Jim Jim" Chasse. I'm told this photo was taken at the Experience Music Project in Seattle. Click to view full-size image. Wipers |
The Linnton gig |
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Hari Kari, from the same Linnton gig. Looks like Chuck was drumming for both Ziplocs and Hari Kari on this date; very clever with the kick drum band logos, Chuck.
Suzanne Wiest (L) and Bruce Calderwood (aka Bruce Loose of Flipper) circa 1979. Photo courtesy of Naomi Levich.
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