About

Make Your Event Unforgettable

Meet the Stompers – a gumbo of full-time, touring musicians bringing non-stop party energy from the Jersey Shore to wherever you need us. Think New Orleans brass meets Jersey Shore soul, with a dash of everything in between!

Where NOLA brass meets Jersey Shore soul, and every event is a party

Ocean Avenue Stompers rocking on stage with a vibrant light show

House Band

The Stompers House Band is a live band we’ve built from the ground up, gig by gig, show by show. It continues to grow weekly out of our Monday nights at R Bar in Asbury Park and has become one of our most adaptable setups for private parties, weddings, restaurant residencies, and summer concert series.

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Brass Band

The Ocean Avenue Stompers Brass Band is our New Orleans meets New Jersey-inspired mobile band — built to bring joy, energy, and spontaneity to any moment. Whether we’re parading through the street, surprising guests on a lawn, uplifting a celebration of life, or anchoring a high-energy cocktail hour, the brass band turns heads and creates connections.

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Full Band

Weddings + Festival + Private Events

This is the Ocean Avenue Stompers in full force — our most versatile, high-energy format designed to bring a soulful, brass-powered dance party to weddings, private events, and festivals across the Northeast.

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Themed Shows

Experience the OAS Horns with Start Making Sense, the nostalgic charm of A Charlie Brown Christmas, the vintage swing of Ocean Avenue Swingers, various sit-ins and recordings, and more. All delivered with the signature Stompers blend of NOLA brass and Jersey Shore soul.

A Charlie Brown Christmas

Ocean Avenue Swingers

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DJ Hybrid

This is for anyone torn between a DJ and a live band — a high-energy hybrid that blends both. DJ Gray keeps the groove steady while Stompers horns and drums bring the fire of a live band straight to the dancefloor. You get the best of both worlds: full control over your playlists and the energy only live musicians can deliver.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Once we’ve had a chance to chat and things feel like a good fit with one of our musical services, our bandleader Ian Gray will send you a basic contract to read over. Once signed, a 25% deposit (via check, credit card, Zelle) is required to confirm the booking. We start working through planning, logistics, and music requests thereafter! We will ideally schedule a time to meet up / zoom / facetime after sending final invoice / contract to review to lock all the details in and again 1-2 months before the big day to go crosscheck final details and organize a shared document so we can work close and efficiently with your day of planner, venue and VIPs involved.
Well, the simple answer is - the music you want to hear and yes.

We’re a total gumbo and the recipe to that lies in this here playlist -

New Orleans - Funk - Soul - Sounds of Asbury Park & the Jersey Shore - Hip Hop - World Music

.. aka not your typical cover band…tho we’ve played with most of them on the Jersey Shore!

With the Stompers wedding band, we work with you on a music questionnaire to go over songs you love, would like to hear or would rather skip off of our vocalists song list assigned to your wedding. Our vocalists know SO MANY songs in addition to the different songs other band members sing. If you don’t see a song on their list, we can always ask. You will also receive a playlist that defines the Stompers unique “New Orleans meets Jersey Shore” sound where you can identify some favorites for us to play or any to skip. An example of this unique sound might include us replacing Sweet Caroline with Iko Iko, or Shout with When the Saints Go Marching In.. tho we can definitely rip a fun version of Shout :) We want to make sure everyones having fun, able to clap and singalong, and most importantly rock out on the dance floor all night long. Our collective experiences allow us to be the ultimate room readers and our setlist choices are mostly made live and in the moment so we can make sure everyone gets their chance to rock the dance floor.

*A note on requests - we love when fans of the band pick a song or 2 that they know would fit well for us and might already be familiar. We’re happy to take 1-2 tunes like that on if we both agree its a good fit and it’s with enough notice. In other cases, some songs can just be difficult to get arranged and together to the standard we like to perform at.

- Please have look at our Add-ons section for rates to request a special song arrangement.
Nope. We’re completely self booked and ran by our band leader and trombonist, Ian Gray.

Pretty good at running around every night of the week playing / pursing music and predictably average at sitting still on emails. It's a must 'til the next step, and no ones ever a bother reaching out more than once!

We have noticed a trend of emails at 8pm on a Friday, right after the second glass of wine is sipped which is usually when most of us Stompers clock in to the work week! For us, Tuesday - Thursday is typically GREAT for scheduling an in-person meeting, zoom, or phone call. The # is 732-272-2080 if you'd prefer sending a text.

Are you a booking agent interested in taking on a band like us? Please email

oceanavenuestompers@gmail.com.

Heck yea we do! We enjoy weddings and pretty confident we come off that way too.

Who wouldn't want to play apart in the best day of someone's life? View our different services here. The Stompers take every minute seriously by connecting to the love and soul of the evening, reading the room and keeping continuous musical entertainment happening all night long. We might not be the perfect wedding band for some, but if you want to party like we're in New Orleans on the Jersey Shore, we might be it! We can also party like we're on the Jersey Shore in New Orleans no problem, 'cause we do travel.
8-10+ piece high energy band

Up to a four hour reception

Up to eight hour event time frame

Pro sound system and sound tech

Press play cocktail & dinner playlists

MC Services

Wireless mic for toasts / speeches

Customized music selection from vocalist / band song list
We're there to try and connect with anyone at any age that was invited to your wedding!

With the Stompers brass band, we have our go to of second-line classics to be able to work the room with excitement and energy while also being able to take the volume down or slow it down at any moment.

SPOTIFY: OAS BRASS BAND COCKTAIL HOUR PLAYLIST

With the Stompers wedding band, we work with you on a music questionnaire to go over songs you love, would like to hear or would rather skip off of our vocalists song list assigned to your wedding. Our vocalists know SO MANY songs in addition to the different songs other band members sing. If you don’t see a song on their list, we can always ask. You will also receive a playlist that defines the Stompers unique “New Orleans meets Jersey Shore” sound where you can identify some favorites for us to play or any to skip. An example of this unique sound might include us replacing Sweet Caroline with Iko Iko, or Shout with When the Saints Go Marching In.. tho we can definitely rip a fun version of Shout :) We want to make sure everyones having fun, able to clap and singalong, and most importantly rock out on the dance floor all night long. Our collective experiences allow us to be the ultimate room readers and our setlist choices are mostly made live and in the moment so we can make sure everyone gets their chance to rock the dance floor.

SPOTIFY: OAS WEDDING PLAYLIST *these are all songs we performed live at a wedding in July 2023 with our brass band at cocktail hour / 9 piece wedding band*

*A note on requests - we love when fans of the band pick a song or 2 that they know would fit well for us and might already be familiar. We’re happy to take 1-2 tunes like that on if we both agree its a good fit and it’s with enough notice. In other cases, some songs can just be difficult to get arranged and together to the standard we like to perform at.

- Please have look at our Add-ons section for rates to request a special song arrangement.

Top-rated, versatile DJ

Up to three hour dance set feat. live drums and live horns featured throughout the set

Up to eight hour event time frame

Sound for ONE area (up to 150 guests)

MC Services

Wireless mic for toasts

Customized music selection

Cocktail & dinner playlist
With the DJ + Stompers Horns / Drums, we’re able to play your dream playlist.

You provide playlists within our questionnaire for every segment imaginable in your evening and we’ll make sure we’re there spinning what you’d like to hear. You can rate your preference from 0 to 5 of how closely you’d like us to stick to those playlists or we can take your must plays and build your perfect playlist for you. We spend hours upon hours putting together crates and medleys for the players to bring the heat on the dancefloor. We can play up to a 3 hour continuous dancefloor set where our DJ reads the room and keeps the beat steady so our drummer can lock in the groove all night long. Horns and other instruments will have moments in the set to bust out high-energy solos on the dancefloor and while playing along to the tunes you want to hear. We’re able to play whatever music you dream up! When left to do our thing, you can expect a good mix for everyone leaning heavier on classic funk, soul, disco, and r&b, hiphop remixes. Throwbacks to the music of today.
Yes, we’re comfortable MCing and making announcements as needed. We usually designate our DJ to be the MC for the day unless an additional MC is requested. We do like to keep our announcements to the essentials– and not hyped over every song at the crowd while jumping on a subwoofer ;) We keep it professional by asking the right questions - including phonetics so everyones name is pronounced right.

We are a collective of full-time, touring musicians local to the Jersey Shore, Philadelphia and NYC music scenes brought together by band leader and trombonist Ian Gray.

Our network meets for regular weekly gigs in Asbury Park and has 50+ musicians who share their talent when the Stompers perform live, if they’re not our touring the world! When you hire the Stompers, you know you’re hiring the highest level of musicianship our bandleader can bring together to make your event one no one will ever forget.

Ian Gray is the owner of Ocean Avenue Stompers LLC - a registered business in the state of New Jersey.

By (our) definition

Ocean Avenue Stomper noun - an authentic creative. A music fan. A studied performer with confident improvisational skills. A producer of positive, meaningful experiences that create memories that last more than a lifetime.

Our members are all top professionals, which means they can (and DO) get the big call often to tour and play big festivals. When you book us, your booking our network and not individual artists. This allows our artists the ability to schedule their creative endearvours and still get the call from us. We book lineups typically 2-3 months before an event so that their is plenty of time for everyone to be best prepared to play what you want to rock to at your event.

Members of our band have performed with the likes of:

Cory Wong, Start Making Sense: a Talking Heads Tribute, Dogs in a Pile, Jon Batiste, Vulfpeck, Southside Johnny & the Asbury Jukes, LaBamba & the Hubcaps, Little Steven and the Disciples of Soul, the Everyone Orchestra, High and Mighty Brass Band, Brassaholics, Octave Cat, Melody Gardot, Thank You Scientist, Ripe, Gloria Gaynor, Dirty Dozen Brass Band, Remember Jones, David Lee Roth, Darlene Love, Ronnie Spektor

Venues like:

Red Rocks, Carnegie Hall, Stone Pony Summer Stage, the Sea.Hear.Now Festival, PNC Arts Center, NYC Summerstage, the Beacon Theater, New Orleans Jazz Fest, Newport Jazz Festival, the Super Bowl.
We want say we do it all - but let’s stick to what we’re really good at here:

Ocean Avenue Stompers - 5-8 of us doing our thing. PLAYLIST

Stompers Brass Band - 6+ of us totally mobile. PLAYLIST

Custom Wedding Band (view our wedding services here)

Ocean Avenue Stompers Horns - Check us out with Start Making Sense

DJ + Live Band Hybrid feat. Drums / Horns What is this?

This is the ideal choice for anyone struggling to decide between a live band or DJ. Picking this package gives you full control on hearing the songs you want to hear while having live drums and horns breath that energy into the room that only live music can bring! This group is anchored by our DJ who works to keep the drummer grooving to the beat all night long and features horns in moments that will bring the dancefloor energy up past where any standalone DJ can bring the party.

(view our wedding services here)

DJ

Ocean Avenue Swingers - post modern jukebox meets 20/30s hot jazz for your 20’s party

House Band - need a band to back a touring artist up?

We have a huge network of musicians and friends beyond the immediate Stompers network we would be happy to connect you with including:

DJs

Duos

Strings

Wedding Entertainment

Private Event Entertainment

Live sound

Lighting
Yes, we do travel! We consider our home radius to be most places within a 90 minute drive from either Philadelphia, Asbury Park, and/or NYC.

Outside that area, we start to equate the expenses: airbnb, flight (we're great at flying), hotel rooms, uber, shuttle, etc.

While we have to be somewhat selective when we travel out of our home area, it REALLY helps light our fire to get the Stompers out there beyond Asbury Park! Most Stompers have travelled touring the country for years, making connections to venues, local musicians and more along the way. We can make a gig happen in most of the major cities in the US and even Europe.

It's a big world, but thanks to social media / the internet, the musicians world we live in is small, supportive and connected. Most of us love to travel so no matter how far, please do reach out with questions to oceanavenuestompers@gmail.com with any date & location in the subject line!
We're just finalizing our 2024 rates. Send us an email with date / location / venue in Subject Line as well as what service you're interested in to oceanavenuestompers@gmail.com and we can get you a quote. We might want to set up a call or ask some follow up questions in order to fully understand what service best fits your occasion in order to send you an exact quote. Additional services can always be added after a quote is agreed upon or contract is signed.

About

House Band

Brass Band

Full Band

Themed Shows

DJ Hybrid

Frequently Asked Questions

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