Stephanie White and crew get Philthy on debut smash.

Talented ensemble band grooves to the voice of its own White light.
By Christian Ghigliotty

Some people wear their emotions on their sleeve.

Stephanie White wears hers on her foot.

On a sun kissed afternoon in Brooklyn, Stephanie and drummer Robbie LaFalce saunter up the sidewalk playfully exchanging words. From afar the two look like an odd coupling. Stephanie seems guarded, with her arms wrapped against her stomach almost as if she is hugging herself. With tawny, free falling locks, dusky brown eyes and a freckled complexion one might expect Stephanie to be a model or actress instead of a top twenty-one female vocalist selection on American Idol. Robbie with his hands in his pockets is much more relaxed. A stubble beard threads a wide eyed, boyish face underneath a low sitting cap. He looks like your brother’s geeky best friend from high school, and not the former drummer of the ska band the Miasmics.

When the clomps of Stephanie’s heels cease against the sidewalk it becomes apparent. Just above the arch of her left foot floats a treble clef staff , the veins under her creamy skin pointing up to the tattoo as if in awe. As she swings her ankle out to further display her branding, her black high heel looks the shape of an ‘F’ note.

Video Interview

Despite preconceived notions of the pair, within moments of Robbie strumming his guitar strings to Stephanie’s smoky croon on the steps of a brownstone it’s clear the two feed off each, displaying a musical verve that excites.

New York has a Philharmonic Orchestra . Say hello to New Jersey’s Philth Harmonic.

“So Alex (Ozolins) has played French horn in several orchestras, and he came to the conclusion that New Jersey doesn’t have a Philharmonic, and decided that we needed one, and since we like to enhance stereotypes, you know the dirty Jerz, we came up with Philth Harmonic.”

The unlikely duo are the founding members of Stephanie White and the New Jersey Philth Harmonic, a fusion group from Essex, New Jersey. Along with members Aleks “Mos” Ozolins, Eric “Yaz L” Lindberg and Nick LaFalce, Pat Smith, Cameron MacManus, Joe Schmidt, James Lawrence, Erik S. Donough, and Tom Spears, the group finds creative ways to combine rock, jazz and reggae with head nodding pop tunes.

The band’s debut album Knee Deep InSanity is a ten track melange (three of which, interestingly enough, were recorded acoustically in an old forge) of French horn, saxophone, drums, bass, guitars, keyboards, with White’s mellifluous voice flirting voraciously with them all. Thematically the album paints with broad stokes, touching on ideas of unrequited love and loss. While Stephanie doesn’t try to hide the fact that she was one of the top forty-two selected on American Idol , it isn’t something that she advertises freely. Taking her Hollywood experience and co-writing with Robbie on would become the second track on the album, aptly titled Tough Enough. “When I came home everyone was apologetic about my return (from American Idol) and questioning what I would do next. I told them I would make my own music and play for whoever would listen…I can handle the pressures of the industry, I’m tough enough.”

While listening to the album the level of musicianship is clearly at a high level, each band member bringing individual flair to the table when called upon (listen for the awesome tenor and alto sax components in Bogged Down and Tough Enough) and no one style or instrument hogs the spotlight, which often times can be difficult for fusion artists. Back on the steps of the brownstone, Robbie’s background vocals hum underneath as Stephanie’s voice rises to a crescendo. Inside the brownstone as the two perform their song Teardrops, the third song from their debut album, the haunting lyrics of the fairy-tale sans happy ending come to the forefront as Stephanie spins her tale

“Then one dark day it came/ my prince masked by his shame/ ’cause he knew he couldn’t stay/ but he rescued me anyway.”

The band dropped Knee Deep InSanity in 2007 and have been touring mostly since its debut. The band is now hard at work on its sophomore follow up, and will be charting the album’s progress on a video blog which can be found on its YouTube channel. The new single, King of Wishful Thinking can be heard on

the band’s homepage.

Philth Harmonic Photo Shoot