Originally formed under name S.A.G.

Crimpshrine originally formed in 1982 under the name S.A.G. with Aaron Cometbus playing guitar and Jesse Michaels (later of Operation Ivy ) on vocals, both 13 years old. Michaels initially attempted to play guitar, but “didn’t know any chords, so I played with my thumb”. According to Cometbus, the band had a “serious lack of equipment” during this time, as they had one drum and only three strings on the guitar, which was tuned to a barre chord . They quickly added friend Jeff Ott , then 12, on drums initially but switched to guitar soon after and Cometbus took over drums. Regarding Ott’s guitar skills, Michaels described him as “twenty times better than us”. Michaels was kicked out of the band in 1984, which he said was for “smoking too much pot”, and Ott and Cometbus changed the band’s name to Crimpshrine. According to Ott, the name came from a nickname for a girl they knew who had “bleached-blond, burned, crimped hair”. The group initially wanted a female singer, but could not find one so Ott took over on vocals in late 1984 and they then went through various different line-ups during 1985. Ott began experimenting with playing synthesizer and piano , a man named Isaac joined on violin and Tim Armstrong (then known as Lint) played bass for a brief period. Pete Rypins joined as the group’s bassist in October 1986 and, according to Cometbus, “started to get out of Jeff’s basement and play some parties and shows”.