The Cripples

Recognizing new wave’s origins in 1960s garage rock, the Cripples merge raw proto-punk energy with layers of synthesized noise. Greg Heino, who supplies vocals, guitar, and synthesizer, formed the group with Ross Marshall on synthesizer and vocals inside a high-school basement during the mid-1990s. By 1996 the duo was already performing as outsiders in tiny Seattle punk clubs, nearly ten years before new-wave textures would again interest indie listeners and A&R departments, even though the Cripples themselves were never punk. Early reliance on samples gave way when drummer Brian Wallace joined, after which bassist Jen Hale completed the lineup. Their debut 7-inch, “Breakdown,” appeared in 1997. Shaped by Devo’s pioneering electronics and the Boredoms’ turbulent clamor, the Cripples maintained a singular position in the punk underground that frequently set them at odds with prevailing local tastes. In 1998 Allie Holly-Gottlieb and Erik Stockinger replaced Wallace and Hale. The revised quartet played regularly around Seattle, supporting such Northwest fixtures as Mudhoney and Pure Joy. A second single, “So Tired,” surfaced in 1999. Shortly afterward the band signed with the Seattle label Dirtnap Records, which issued their first full-length album, Dirty Head, in 2002.