Wampire

Wampire, the psychedelic pop duo based in Portland, Oregon, comprises Rocky Tinder and Eric Phipps. The pair first connected as childhood friends and started creating music while still enrolled in middle school; they adopted the band name from the distinctive pronunciation of “vampire” offered by Phipps’ goth German friends while he lived in that country. By the mid-2000s the two had established themselves as regulars on Portland’s house-party circuit, where they focused on producing tracks engineered for maximum volume and danceability. When preparing their first Wampire album they opted for broader sonic range, signing with Polyvinyl Records and working with Jake Portrait of Unknown Mortal Orchestra as producer. The resulting sessions delivered the single The Hearse in March 2013 and the album Curiosity that May. A period of continuous touring followed, exposing the band to more performances and previously unvisited locations within twelve months than in all earlier years combined. Drawing fresh momentum from those experiences, Tinder and Phipps immediately began writing and recording their next album, Bazaar, which Polyvinyl Records released in late 2014.