“Well Wishes evokes the happenstances of chance, the longings of loss and belonging, and the art that gets made in the process… These songs are cast with hope and desperation, and one way or another the listener gets caught.” -Kowtow Popof, singer-songwriter

Wampeters were named for a term in Kurt Vonnegut’s Cat’s Cradle. They released seven albums on the Wampus label: Screen Test (1987), Folk Medicine (1989), Pagan’s Nest (1990), Bloodline (1993), Look What’s Left (1994), Hey Judas (1997), and Murder Your Darlings (1999). They also recorded Jonathan Richman’s “Twilight in Boston” for the Wampus tribute CD, If I Were a Richman (2001).

The band performed at IOTA and Galaxy Hut in Arlington, Virginia, as well as at Clarendon Grill and other D.C.-area venues.

Eamon Loftus now produces and engineers music at his own facility, Brick House Recording. Scott Goodrick runs the official site of Hitchcock Blonde. Mark Doyon records as Arms of Kismet (and sometimes as Waterslide).

The most recent Arms of Kismet album, Ballast and Bromides, features the Wampeters collaboration, “Be There.”

The full Wampeters catalog was remastered in early 2025, and is now available at Bandcamp. A pair of outtakes from Murder Your Darlings, “Evidence” b/w “Glacier Park,” was released to streaming on August 22. Well Wishes, the Wampeters Limited Edition CD Slipcase Set, comes out October 3, 2025.

Preorder the Well Wishes Limited Edition CD Slipcase Set at Bandcamp | Amazon

Listen to Wampeters at Bandcamp | Apple Music | Amazon | Spotify

Interview with Washington City Paper