Song of the Day: Wampire - Bad Attitude

Every Monday through Friday, we deliver a different song as part our Song of the Day podcast subscription. This podcast features exclusive KEXP in-studio performances, unreleased songs, and recordings from independent artists that our DJs think you should hear. Today’s song, featured on the Midday Show with Cheryl Waters, is “Bad Attitude” by Wampire from the 2014 album Bazaar on Polyvinyl.

Wampire - Bad Attitude (MP3)

Over the course of two years, Portland's Wampire went from being a local house party staple to a project that expanded beyond its original membership and sound. Longtime friends Eric Phipps and Rocky Tinder formed Wampire in 2007 and played small local gigs around for Portland for a few years before going into the studio to record their debut album with Unknown Mortal Orchestra bassist Jake Portrait in late 2012. The result, 2013's Curiosity, showed a band experimenting in the studio while simultaneously refining the sharp energy that elevated their live shows. 2013 found the duo expanding Wampire to a quintet and touring extensively throughout the year before going to Brooklyn with Portrait to record their second album, this year's Bazaar. One of Bazaar's more upbeat tunes, "Bad Attitude" is the grimy soundtrack to a low budget haunted house party. In three minutes, Tinder and Phipps sprint through a loopy, Twilight Zone garage of grungy riffs and staccato organ stabs. Whereas much of their recorded work finds the band expanding their sound in the studio, "Bad Attitude" is the sound of the band doubling down on the days when they were just a (great) Portland house party band.

Wampire are finishing up a European tour this week, and if they announce any further touring or music in 2015, that news will be on their Facebook and website. Below, watch the band play "Giants" live on KEXP in 2013: