User:Jennydont/sandbox

Sam Henry (born 1956)is considered on of the most influential drummers in the punk scene.

Early Years
Samuel William Henry was born 12/28/1956 in Oregon City, Oregon. Sam started playing drums at 7 years old with the influences of Buddy Rich (whom he met at age 10). He graduated from Rex Putman High in Oak Grove in 1975 and throughout his school years he won multiple outstanding musician awards in the school's jazz band.

The Wipers
Henry played with multiple bands growing up but it wasn't until 1975/76 when he met Greg Sage and Dave Koupal that he formed his first serious band. The trio played for a year or so together before moving to Cape Coral in Fort Meyers, Florida, and forming what then became become the legendary band The Wipers in 1977, with the original lineup of Sam Henry on drums, Dave Koupal on bass, and Greg Sage on guitar and vocals. "We had to move out of Portland because the insurgence of the 70's disco left us with no place to play", recalls Henry. After moving out of Florida and back to Portland The band recorded and released their first two singles ("Better Off Dead" and "Alien Boy"), as well as their first full length "Is This Real". The band continued to move around the country including making a move to New York, but in 1979 Henry left the band and joined Fred Cole and his wife Toody Cole to play in The Rats.

Napalm Beach
Henry was the drummer in the Rats until 1982 when he left the band and joined Chris Newman and Mark Nelson to play in Napalm Beach.

Current
In 2009 Henry formed the current Portland band "Don't" with Jenny Don't, Dan Lowinger, and David Minick. The group released a full length LP titled "Away, Away" and two 45's on Kelly Halliburton's label "Doomtown Sounds" and one single on the Long Island label "Dead Broke Rekerds". Don't went on tour with Pierced Arrows as direct support for two U.S. tours in 2011 and 2012 and toured Europe in 2013.

Henry and Jenny Don't also joined with Kelly Halliburton to form the roots / alt- country band Jenny Don't and The Spurs. The trio released their first single on Fred Cole's label Tombstone Records.

In 2011 Henry was inducted into Oregon's Music Hall Of Fame for his drumming and contributions to the Portland music scene.