This is George Ripley...

The Stains were a well known punk band to come from Portland, Maine in the early 1980s and were led by guitarist George Ripley and vocalist Dave Buxton, Ira Nulton on bass as well as Joe Potter on drums. Lead guitarists in the studio and in live performance included Dave Morton, Steve Soma, Marc English, Gary Gogel, and Roger Miller. The Stains released a 7" EP on Gutterworst records with the songs "Feel Guilty" and "Give Ireland Back To The Snakes" on one side, and "Sick Of Being Sick" and "Submission" on the other. A posthumous LP was released on the same label in 1989 featuring 15 more songs recorded between 1979 and 1983.

Ripley and Potter along with Beth Blood moved on to form a garage rock band called GHOST WALKS.

--From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

George Ripley saw the legendary Sex Pistols show in San Antonio Texas in '78 (could've had a worse start!). When time ran out for George in Texas he shoved back home to Portland, Maine, with the intention of starting a band. Dave Buxton felt compelled to leave his home in Maidenhead, UK (no faux-accent on this gent). He flew to Boston as a random target, but he ended up in Portland. Where he met George. And as things unfolded, Joe and Ira and a cast of dozens. The band condensed in early '79: their first show was a performance of The Pistols' Submission that lasted for two hours. That could only be done once, so after that they began coming up with their own material, everybody writing. The only venue for these lads (and lass Beth Blood on bass for a while) in Portland was The Downtown Lounge. The group I was in (which also started in 1979) played there many times and every time The Stains were on the bill. The audience was sympathetic - more so than many places we played - even square-dancing when they so inspired. It was good. In 1980 the Stains moved to Boston, where they quickly became an integral part of the post-punk scene. They opened for many of the UK & US bands, and we played with them many, many times, both in Portland and in Boston. It was always an experience. Slick? Nope. Totally tight? Nope. But every time it was a new experience, one well worth attending to. We were all fans - period. (We took time out from working on Vs. to listen to a mix of There's no Music.) . . . Proof of Personal Power They nearly won the Boston Battle of the Bands in 1981. Is there not a god how could such a potentially good thing even come close to occurring? The other two bands worth catching at that one was Band 19 and The Young Snakes (featuring a pre-Til Tuesday Aimee Mann). All three bands smoked and unlike typical battles of the bands, it was not so much a competition as mutual inspiration. Dave flailing about on stage in his imitation of a broken pinwheel, stumbling about as if gravity was in constant flux; George staring ferociously at a point in space as if it were a black hole from where his guitar sound issued forth; Joe's gaze hypnotized by the shine of the winding on his ride cymbal; and Ian the calm looker of the band, oddly dressed in fairly snappy duds. The band ran through a variety of lead guitarists: Steve Rossi, Marc English, Gary Gogol, Chris Sear. I sat in w/them for a recording session while still in Burma. But the essence of the band was always retained. Lead guitarists? Chew 'em up, digest 'em, spit 'em back out. Social commentary Here's another point of view, indeed. Well, this disc probably cost you more than you would pay for your daily newsrag, but the perspective from the Stains was certainly more accurate than what you got from any newspaper. We all spent 8 years with Reagan in the US of A. Like all real punk rock, the Stains were definitely a response to the time. Now we've gone through 8 years of Bush: Sound the Horn! They finally came undone in 1983, Ira went on to The Cliffs of Doneen, and George and Joe regrouped as Ghost Walks (with original bassist Beth Blood). Were they sloppy? Sure. And totally capable of playing snappy punk rock (Fallish?), droned-out dirges (J. Divisional?), and excursions into impressionism and surrealistic story-telling (Ubic?). "When a missile from behind finds its way into your liver . . . Wouldn't I be happy: not so much a question, or even a statement, but a demand. With this Stains CD, the Stains' music, instead of dying, demands life. Check out Wouldn't I Be Happy

--Liner notes by Roger Miller of Mission of Burma

Posted: February 24, 2013
Author: George Ripley