Wild Rompit

Wild Rompit is the fun in folk. Okay, maybe just the F in folk, but they’ve also got the U from punk and the N from alternative. Either way it spells fun, and that’s good. This group of sophomores from Drexel University have a unique musical charm that breaks the mold of so many genres. Featuring the sprawling feeling of Arcade Fire, and the in your face attack of alt rock tied into one tasty contemporary folk package. Fronted by the gruff brilliance of Blair Ollendorf’s voice and lyrics, the attention grabbing guitar riffs of Brandon Bost, and the locked in rhythm section of Paul Impellizeri and Sean Huber, Wild Rompit delivers a musical experience that can’t be missed.

Wild Rompit has been working on recording their new EP, Brotherhood. We caught up with them and talked to them about the band and the new EP.

Check it out.

How’d you guys meet?

Brandon: Blair and I were randomly paired as roommates as last year, we started jamming and ended up playing LNS from there… We became Wild rompit.

Sean: I mean, I knew Brandon earlier, during high school we were from pretty much the same area.

Where’d you guys get the name Wild Rompit?

Blair: We went and saw Where the Wild Things Are, and you know when they say, “Let the Wild Rompus Begin”? Well we thought they said, “Let the Wild Rompit begin.” And we were like, “Yeah dude, that’s pretty good.” To have that.

A week later we found out it was rompus and just kinda said “aww fuck that.”

What are your primary influences?

Paul: We all have different influences and I think that’s pretty cool.

Sean: Oh yeah we all have different backgrounds, I was into a lot of punk and stuff like that

Brandon: I think we all share a few big hitters, Arcade Fire Mumford and Sons, Cold War Kids, I think you can hear them in our sound.

Paul: And the music is real lyrics based, so some Bob Dylan there too.

Blair: Bruce.

Paul: Yeah, Bruce Springsteen

Who’s the primary songwriter?

Brandon: (Points at Blair) It’s all him.

You guys are recording a new EP, anything people should really be excited for with it?

Sean: I think it takes everything from our first EP and it’s a more unified sound, where our first EP was more all over the place, not in a bad way of course. We’ve really developed our sound since then. It’s just bigger.

Paul: The album is more like a story rather than random songs, so it’s kind of like listening to a whole album instead of just random songs

Sean: It has more experience behind it. With the last one I joined just a couple of weeks before we went in to record and Paul joined after we recorded than he recorded all of his bass parts.

Blair: It definitely meshes more and is more thought through.

Brandon: And we have two music industry kids producing it, Wes and Chris, and they’re doing a lot of work, probably working on it right now.

Sean: Yeah, we recorded the first EP in Brandon’s basement.

Brandon: Like a demo studio rig.

Best Moment so far while recording?

Sean: Gang vocals!

Blair: Yeah, gang vocals are sick. Gang claps, 16 hour overnight recording sessions, although I was kind of asleep for the last couple of takes.

Are there any songs that have radically changed since you first wrote them now that you’re in the recording process?

Paul: yeah, Fall was on the first EP, and when we met our producers, they were like, “Yeah, we really love that song, we have so many ideas, lets do it over and work with it.” So that song has developed through playing it on our tour this summer which got us knowing each other better, then having producers work with it.

Brandon: I think what was cool about this time coming around to recording was that we did a lot of preproduction and that’s where a lot of our songs changed. It’s cool to look back and see where Fall started and where it ended up.

Blair: We have one song that was supposed to be one long song, and now it’s two completely different songs.

Anything new you’ve been doing to market yourself?

Sean: Not much with recording going on, but I’ve been working on this new idea, this Rompit TV, which is a bunch of webisodes, plus the recording process was really documented. We’re hoping to tie that into the EP release.

Brandon: We’re already planning a release show too.

Paul: We have a lot coming with the release of the EP, new website, a new image.

Sean: New band members…

Paul: That was a joke.

Sean: That’s what he thinks

Brandon: Our last drummer died of an unfortunate gardening accident.

(Interviewers Note: Don’t worry, no murders were actually contemplated in this interview)

Any other shows coming up?

Paul: We’re booking them now, we’ve been playing mostly house shows lately. Last week we were up in New York, played the R Bar for fun. That was a cool venue.

Sean: Yeah, stripper poles on stage.

I have to ask… Were the stripper poles utilized by anyone on stage?

Everyone: Well… Yeah…

Paul: See there was - The Correspondence

Wild Rompit is the fun in folk. Okay, maybe just the F in folk, but they’ve also got the U from punk and the N from alternative. Either way it spells fun, and that’s good. This group of sophomores from Drexel University have a unique musical charm that breaks the mold of so many genres. Featuring the sprawling feeling of Arcade Fire, and the in your face attack of alt rock tied into one tasty contemporary folk package. Fronted by the gruff brilliance of Blair Ollendorf’s voice and lyrics, the attention grabbing guitar riffs of Brandon Bost, and the locked in rhythm section of Paul Impellizeri and Sean Huber, Wild Rompit delivers a musical experience that can’t be missed.

Wild Rompit has been working on recording their new EP, Brotherhood. We caught up with them and talked to them about the band and the new EP.

Check it out.

How’d you guys meet?

Brandon: Blair and I were randomly paired as roommates as last year, we started jamming and ended up playing LNS from there… We became Wild rompit.

Sean: I mean, I knew Brandon earlier, during high school we were from pretty much the same area.

Where’d you guys get the name Wild Rompit?

Blair: We went and saw Where the Wild Things Are, and you know when they say, “Let the Wild Rompus Begin”? Well we thought they said, “Let the Wild Rompit begin.” And we were like, “Yeah dude, that’s pretty good.” To have that.

A week later we found out it was rompus and just kinda said “aww fuck that.”

What are your primary influences?

Paul: We all have different influences and I think that’s pretty cool.

Sean: Oh yeah we all have different backgrounds, I was into a lot of punk and stuff like that

Brandon: I think we all share a few big hitters, Arcade Fire Mumford and Sons, Cold War Kids, I think you can hear them in our sound.

Paul: And the music is real lyrics based, so some Bob Dylan there too.

Blair: Bruce.

Paul: Yeah, Bruce Springsteen

Who’s the primary songwriter?

Brandon: (Points at Blair) It’s all him.

You guys are recording a new EP, anything people should really be excited for with it?

Sean: I think it takes everything from our first EP and it’s a more unified sound, where our first EP was more all over the place, not in a bad way of course. We’ve really developed our sound since then. It’s just bigger.

Paul: The album is more like a story rather than random songs, so it’s kind of like listening to a whole album instead of just random songs

Sean: It has more experience behind it. With the last one I joined just a couple of weeks before we went in to record and Paul joined after we recorded than he recorded all of his bass parts.

Blair: It definitely meshes more and is more thought through.

Brandon: And we have two music industry kids producing it, Wes and Chris, and they’re doing a lot of work, probably working on it right now.

Sean: Yeah, we recorded the first EP in Brandon’s basement.

Brandon: Like a demo studio rig.

Best Moment so far while recording?

Sean: Gang vocals!

Blair: Yeah, gang vocals are sick. Gang claps, 16 hour overnight recording sessions, although I was kind of asleep for the last couple of takes.

Are there any songs that have radically changed since you first wrote them now that you’re in the recording process?

Paul: yeah, Fall was on the first EP, and when we met our producers, they were like, “Yeah, we really love that song, we have so many ideas, lets do it over and work with it.” So that song has developed through playing it on our tour this summer which got us knowing each other better, then having producers work with it.

Brandon: I think what was cool about this time coming around to recording was that we did a lot of preproduction and that’s where a lot of our songs changed. It’s cool to look back and see where Fall started and where it ended up.

Blair: We have one song that was supposed to be one long song, and now it’s two completely different songs.

Anything new you’ve been doing to market yourself?

Sean: Not much with recording going on, but I’ve been working on this new idea, this Rompit TV, which is a bunch of webisodes, plus the recording process was really documented. We’re hoping to tie that into the EP release.

Brandon: We’re already planning a release show too.

Paul: We have a lot coming with the release of the EP, new website, a new image.

Sean: New band members…

Paul: That was a joke.

Sean: That’s what he thinks

Brandon: Our last drummer died of an unfortunate gardening accident.

(Interviewers Note: Don’t worry, no murders were actually contemplated in this interview)

Any other shows coming up?

Paul: We’re booking them now, we’ve been playing mostly house shows lately. Last week we were up in New York, played the R Bar for fun. That was a cool venue.

Sean: Yeah, stripper poles on stage.

I have to ask… Were the stripper poles utilized by anyone on stage?

Everyone: Well… Yeah…

Paul: See there was - The Correspondence

The success of local musicians in the last five years speaks to the wealth of diverse venues, and receptive audiences, who yearn for more inspiring music than Top 40. More bands are coming to Philadelphia to take advantage of this welcoming atmosphere.

Wild Rompit are an indie rock band made up of four Drexel University students, originally from New Jersey. Brandon Bost and Blair Ollendorf met at an open mike night back home and started the band. They later added Sean Huber who lived in the same town as Brandon. They met Paul Impellizeri while he was running sound at the Drexel Open Mic , Late Night Series. They graciously signed onto a Skype video conference to answer some of Philly2Philly’s questions.

While all are here primarily to go to school, the location has fostered their musical goals too. Paul states, “At the Jersey shore, all they have are cover bands, in Philadelphia, it’s all about original music.” Their six song EP, Stampede was released in April in association with Lillian Records.

As the band establishes themselves, they have diligently played at the open mic nights in the area, and shared some of their favorite places to play - World Café Live, TriTone and The Lickity Split. Blair recalls their experience playing the extremely popular World Café Open Mike, Philly Rising, which is Mondays that start at 8:00 p.m. and typically has a huge line outside the door. “One time I went over at 3:30 for a 7:30 sign up – I was the first one there!”

The four members are all studying majors related to music. Brandon and Blair are both music industry majors, Blair’s taking courses in business, and the technical classes focused on the working in the studio. He’s also taking piano and music theory classes. Brandon explains, “The cool thing is that there are different tracks, you shift toward what you’re interested in.” He is also taking technical, music composition, and prelaw classes.

Paul is an entertainment, arts and management major, taking classes such as performing arts, film and theatre.” His program is also, “pretty broad – I’m taking a lot of business classes.” Sean is a film and video major, and shares that the Drexel music label Mad Dragon Records, “uses film and video students to produce the videos for the bands.”

The band recounts their worst gig – where they were double booked at a local brewing company who had also scheduled a private party the same night. Their favorite gig was an outdoor Drexel benefit concert, where they played the pre-show.

The band credits a supportive music community with getting them access to good gigs. Blair explains, “Open mic nights are good for networking, and we meet people who volunteer to help us out.” Being based within University City provides an instant fan base – with the biggest challenge for the band being half that group isn’t of legal age yet.

The band is enjoying a full schedule as they close out the school year. No sophomore slump for these gentlemen. If you’re looking for great performances and well crafted songwriting, you best come to Philadelphia.


Check out Wild Rompit live at one of their upcoming shows:

Lickety Split – May 26

Stone Pony – May 30

Wild Rompit are:

Blair Ollendorf

Brandon Bost

Paul Impellizeri

Sean Huber - Philly2Philly

The success of local musicians in the last five years speaks to the wealth of diverse venues, and receptive audiences, who yearn for more inspiring music than Top 40. More bands are coming to Philadelphia to take advantage of this welcoming atmosphere.

Wild Rompit are an indie rock band made up of four Drexel University students, originally from New Jersey. Brandon Bost and Blair Ollendorf met at an open mike night back home and started the band. They later added Sean Huber who lived in the same town as Brandon. They met Paul Impellizeri while he was running sound at the Drexel Open Mic , Late Night Series. They graciously signed onto a Skype video conference to answer some of Philly2Philly’s questions.

While all are here primarily to go to school, the location has fostered their musical goals too. Paul states, “At the Jersey shore, all they have are cover bands, in Philadelphia, it’s all about original music.” Their six song EP, Stampede was released in April in association with Lillian Records.

As the band establishes themselves, they have diligently played at the open mic nights in the area, and shared some of their favorite places to play - World Café Live, TriTone and The Lickity Split. Blair recalls their experience playing the extremely popular World Café Open Mike, Philly Rising, which is Mondays that start at 8:00 p.m. and typically has a huge line outside the door. “One time I went over at 3:30 for a 7:30 sign up – I was the first one there!”

The four members are all studying majors related to music. Brandon and Blair are both music industry majors, Blair’s taking courses in business, and the technical classes focused on the working in the studio. He’s also taking piano and music theory classes. Brandon explains, “The cool thing is that there are different tracks, you shift toward what you’re interested in.” He is also taking technical, music composition, and prelaw classes.

Paul is an entertainment, arts and management major, taking classes such as performing arts, film and theatre.” His program is also, “pretty broad – I’m taking a lot of business classes.” Sean is a film and video major, and shares that the Drexel music label Mad Dragon Records, “uses film and video students to produce the videos for the bands.”

The band recounts their worst gig – where they were double booked at a local brewing company who had also scheduled a private party the same night. Their favorite gig was an outdoor Drexel benefit concert, where they played the pre-show.

The band credits a supportive music community with getting them access to good gigs. Blair explains, “Open mic nights are good for networking, and we meet people who volunteer to help us out.” Being based within University City provides an instant fan base – with the biggest challenge for the band being half that group isn’t of legal age yet.

The band is enjoying a full schedule as they close out the school year. No sophomore slump for these gentlemen. If you’re looking for great performances and well crafted songwriting, you best come to Philadelphia.


Check out Wild Rompit live at one of their upcoming shows:

Lickety Split – May 26

Stone Pony – May 30

Wild Rompit are:

Blair Ollendorf

Brandon Bost

Paul Impellizeri

Sean Huber - Philly2Philly

Wild Rompit-Stampede

The first thing I noticed about this group was their instant likeability. People were coming to me at clubs and saying, “Who are these guys? I really like what they’re doing.” And the reason that’s happening is because the band really has a genuine, fresh sound. They also have the ability to squeeze honest emotion out of their performance, demonstrating that nothing phony is going on, and the audience picks up on that fast. I have to admit when I first heard the band name I thought they were some sort of pot smoking Harry Potter ensemble that came from under a bridge full of demons and mushrooms, however, once I got past the moniker and in front of the group I was pleasantly surprised with what I saw and heard.

Wild Rompit is a New Jersey foursome that has just released their debut disk titled Stampede. Lead singer Blair Ollendorf’s voice is undeniably unique and can best be described as gritty, sand papered, crushed broken glass rasp, rubbed with Tom Waits and Ezra Koenig soul. To call this guy a yowler is sort of understatement (Like saying that Samuel Jackson talks kind of loud) and his simple, short burst delivery compliments the simple two guitars, bass and drums line up perfectly. Wild Rompit has a very upstate New York or California vibe, bringing forth earthy visions of The Band, the starkness of Tom Waits and the melodic mystery of Band Of Horses.

Their 6-song EP is actually almost an album’s worth once you add up the song times. The longest logs in at over seven minutes and while that might seem a bit much, it doesn’t leave you wandering away to check your Facebook updates. It’s a riveting project and I’m always happiest when a band uses their God-given hands and minds instead of stepping on pedals or leaning on crutches such as that horrible auto-tuner shit. There is none of that on Stampede.

Simple production on Stampede makes for the wide-open feel throughout the disc. Each song is different. Standout tunes include disc opener, “Fall,” a droning, fast-paced arabesque journey that introduces the listener to Ollendorfs scratchy vocal and the band’s amicable abilities.

“Sister” continues the vibe of Band Of Horses with its ominous melody and Ollendorfs spotlight rasp. Minimalist instrumentation and wide-open dynamics shine on this.

The disc’s self-titled number features herky-jerky rhythm and blues meets straight ahead dirty white boy Black Oak Arkansas rock. Greasy slide work seesaws in and out of thick bass and up stroked conundrums, making way for simple, single stringed Mick Ronson guitar lines. How Ollendorf manages to sing as he does for more than a few seconds is an amazing mystery to me. Even Bon Scott couldn’t hold a candle to this guy.

If there were anything close to a single on this disc it would have to be “Most Likely,” a rambling half-time Smokey Mountain tumbler that’s brings forth recollections of The Felice Brothers. Starting out with pianos and acoustic guitars, Blair and the boys ramp it up into the classy chorus with building block style. Simple and lonesome backing vocals are quite complimentary to Blair’s plaintive front wail and the chorus is addictive. Once the band kicks in things move along Americana style. At 6:17 this song would benefit most from a more repetitive use of the great chorus, but that’s a minor gripe. The addition of harmonica in the end tag literally pushes this song into another dimension.

“Fighting” reminds me of what Kurt Cobain might be doing today if he didn’t blow his brains out. Blair takes his time on “Fighting,” setting up the song with step-by-step layers of acoustic guitars and piano melodies, his bare and guttural vocal cutting straight to the emotive core. You don’t even here drums until around 2:10 into the song. Pianos push diminished guitar minors and vocals growling with darkened purpose. Sparse percussion takes you into the next simple breakdown before disappearing yet again until about 3:35 into the tune. It’s a rare instance of the drums actually being used as an effect instead of pounding throughout the whole song and it works.

“Foolish” sees some guitar breakout ala Neil Young or The James Gang. The intro riff is a cool opening hook that leads smoothly into Ollendorf’s Mick Jagger swagger. The sing along chorus is catchy and 1960s innocent. The almost two-minute guitar solo outro might be a bit much for non-enthusiasts but the hell with ‘em, I liked it fine.

If you are a music lover that demands no-nonsense rock and roll that delivers message and mystery time after time, then Wild Rompit is worth a listen. My suggestion would be to go see this non-pretentious band and pick up the disc thru the usual outlets. Wild Rompit is: Blair Ollendorf, Brandon Bost, Paul Impellizeri and Sean Huber. For further information on upcoming shows and disc purchasing head over to www.myspace.com/wildrompit.

Patrick Slevin-Editor Extraordinaire And All Around Good Egg

Just wanted to take a minute to - The Aquarian

Wild Rompit-Stampede

The first thing I noticed about this group was their instant likeability. People were coming to me at clubs and saying, “Who are these guys? I really like what they’re doing.” And the reason that’s happening is because the band really has a genuine, fresh sound. They also have the ability to squeeze honest emotion out of their performance, demonstrating that nothing phony is going on, and the audience picks up on that fast. I have to admit when I first heard the band name I thought they were some sort of pot smoking Harry Potter ensemble that came from under a bridge full of demons and mushrooms, however, once I got past the moniker and in front of the group I was pleasantly surprised with what I saw and heard.

Wild Rompit is a New Jersey foursome that has just released their debut disk titled Stampede. Lead singer Blair Ollendorf’s voice is undeniably unique and can best be described as gritty, sand papered, crushed broken glass rasp, rubbed with Tom Waits and Ezra Koenig soul. To call this guy a yowler is sort of understatement (Like saying that Samuel Jackson talks kind of loud) and his simple, short burst delivery compliments the simple two guitars, bass and drums line up perfectly. Wild Rompit has a very upstate New York or California vibe, bringing forth earthy visions of The Band, the starkness of Tom Waits and the melodic mystery of Band Of Horses.

Their 6-song EP is actually almost an album’s worth once you add up the song times. The longest logs in at over seven minutes and while that might seem a bit much, it doesn’t leave you wandering away to check your Facebook updates. It’s a riveting project and I’m always happiest when a band uses their God-given hands and minds instead of stepping on pedals or leaning on crutches such as that horrible auto-tuner shit. There is none of that on Stampede.

Simple production on Stampede makes for the wide-open feel throughout the disc. Each song is different. Standout tunes include disc opener, “Fall,” a droning, fast-paced arabesque journey that introduces the listener to Ollendorfs scratchy vocal and the band’s amicable abilities.

“Sister” continues the vibe of Band Of Horses with its ominous melody and Ollendorfs spotlight rasp. Minimalist instrumentation and wide-open dynamics shine on this.

The disc’s self-titled number features herky-jerky rhythm and blues meets straight ahead dirty white boy Black Oak Arkansas rock. Greasy slide work seesaws in and out of thick bass and up stroked conundrums, making way for simple, single stringed Mick Ronson guitar lines. How Ollendorf manages to sing as he does for more than a few seconds is an amazing mystery to me. Even Bon Scott couldn’t hold a candle to this guy.

If there were anything close to a single on this disc it would have to be “Most Likely,” a rambling half-time Smokey Mountain tumbler that’s brings forth recollections of The Felice Brothers. Starting out with pianos and acoustic guitars, Blair and the boys ramp it up into the classy chorus with building block style. Simple and lonesome backing vocals are quite complimentary to Blair’s plaintive front wail and the chorus is addictive. Once the band kicks in things move along Americana style. At 6:17 this song would benefit most from a more repetitive use of the great chorus, but that’s a minor gripe. The addition of harmonica in the end tag literally pushes this song into another dimension.

“Fighting” reminds me of what Kurt Cobain might be doing today if he didn’t blow his brains out. Blair takes his time on “Fighting,” setting up the song with step-by-step layers of acoustic guitars and piano melodies, his bare and guttural vocal cutting straight to the emotive core. You don’t even here drums until around 2:10 into the song. Pianos push diminished guitar minors and vocals growling with darkened purpose. Sparse percussion takes you into the next simple breakdown before disappearing yet again until about 3:35 into the tune. It’s a rare instance of the drums actually being used as an effect instead of pounding throughout the whole song and it works.

“Foolish” sees some guitar breakout ala Neil Young or The James Gang. The intro riff is a cool opening hook that leads smoothly into Ollendorf’s Mick Jagger swagger. The sing along chorus is catchy and 1960s innocent. The almost two-minute guitar solo outro might be a bit much for non-enthusiasts but the hell with ‘em, I liked it fine.

If you are a music lover that demands no-nonsense rock and roll that delivers message and mystery time after time, then Wild Rompit is worth a listen. My suggestion would be to go see this non-pretentious band and pick up the disc thru the usual outlets. Wild Rompit is: Blair Ollendorf, Brandon Bost, Paul Impellizeri and Sean Huber. For further information on upcoming shows and disc purchasing head over to www.myspace.com/wildrompit.

Patrick Slevin-Editor Extraordinaire And All Around Good Egg

Just wanted to take a minute to - The Aquarian

Wild Rompit is an indie/folk/rock group made up of Drexel students who originate from New Jersey. The four-some have just released their debut EP titled Stampede. The six song effort is made up of excitingly original songs that don't follow any typical song structure. That's not all that makes this band stand out though. Blair Ollendorf's voice is undeniably unique in the best way possible. I can't help, but feel as if Wild Rompit are the gritty folk-rock version of Vampire Weekend. Their EP also ends up being as long as many full-length records, so you most definitely won't feel cheated after listening to it all the way through and listening to it all the way through is something I highly recommend. You can download Wild Rompit's debut EP for FREE here. Feel free to preview a song off the EP below first. The group also has a bunch of shows coming up. You can check out all of those here. - NJ Underground

Wild Rompit is an indie/folk/rock group made up of Drexel students who originate from New Jersey. The four-some have just released their debut EP titled Stampede. The six song effort is made up of excitingly original songs that don't follow any typical song structure. That's not all that makes this band stand out though. Blair Ollendorf's voice is undeniably unique in the best way possible. I can't help, but feel as if Wild Rompit are the gritty folk-rock version of Vampire Weekend. Their EP also ends up being as long as many full-length records, so you most definitely won't feel cheated after listening to it all the way through and listening to it all the way through is something I highly recommend. You can download Wild Rompit's debut EP for FREE here. Feel free to preview a song off the EP below first. The group also has a bunch of shows coming up. You can check out all of those here. - NJ Underground