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Vampire Weekend

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This article is about the band. For the band's eponymous album, see Vampire Weekend (album).
Vampire Weekend
Vampire Weekend at Lollapalooza in Grant Park, Chicago, Illinois, United States, on August 9, 2009.
Vampire Weekend at Lollapalooza in Grant Park, Chicago, Illinois, United States, on August 9, 2009.
Background information
OriginNew York City, New York
GenresIndie rock, indie pop, worldbeat, synthpop, baroque pop
Years active2006–present
LabelsXL, DGC
MembersEzra Koenig
Rostam Batmanglij
Chris Tomson
Chris Baio
Websitewww.vampireweekend.com

Vampire Weekend is an American indie rock band formed in 2006 in New York City. They are currently signed to XL Recordings. The band consists of four members: lead vocalist and guitarist Ezra Koenig, guitarist/keyboardist and backing vocalist Rostam Batmanglij, drummer and percussionist Chris Tomson, and bassist and backing vocalist Chris Baio. The band released its first album Vampire Weekend in 2008, which produced the singles "Mansard Roof", "A-Punk", "Oxford Comma", "Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa" and "The Kids Don't Stand A Chance". The band's second album, Contra, was released in 2010. Their third studio album, Modern Vampires of the City, will be released on May 14, 2013.

History

Formation and rise to fame (2006–2007)

Members of the band met while matriculating at Columbia University in New York City, beginning with a rap collaboration between Koenig and Tomson.[1] They bonded over a shared love of punk rock and African music, and Koenig toured with The Dirty Projectors during a period of experimentation with African music, inspiring the band to incorporate world sounds into their earliest work.[2] They chose the name "Vampire Weekend" from the title of a short film project Koenig worked on during the summer between freshman and sophomore years in college.[3] While home for the summer, Koenig watched the 1980s American vampire film The Lost Boys and was inspired to make an East Coast version of the film in which a man named Walcot travels to Cape Cod to warn the mayor that vampires are attacking the United States.[3] Koenig abandoned the project after two days.[3] Koenig believes that the vampire imagery of their band name helped spread their work across the internet, attracting people who might otherwise never have listened to their music.[citation needed] Rumors say that that the band did considered simply using the name "Weekend" but eventually chose "Vampire Weekend."[citation needed] The band began playing shows around Columbia University, starting with a battle of the bands at Lerner Hall.[4] After graduating from college, the band self-produced their debut album while simultaneously working full-time jobs, Tomson as a music archivist and Koenig as a middle school English teacher.[5]

In 2007, Vampire Weekend's song "Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa" was ranked 4th on Rolling Stone's list of the "100 Best Songs of the Year."[6] In November 2007, they toured the UK with The Shins.[7] Success came to the band in the now common form of blog hype and internet buzz, built during the year that their album was on the internet before its official release. The internet attention led to a large pre-release following, which in fact enabled them to go on three full tours before their debut album dropped.[8] They were declared "The Year's Best New Band" by Spin magazine in the March 2008 issue, and were the first band to be shot for the cover of the magazine before releasing their debut album.[9] Four songs from the band's first album also made the Triple J Hottest 100, 2008. The internet hype had its backlash, however, as critics reacted against a perceived image of Vampire Weekend as privileged, upper-class Ivy League graduates stealing from foreign musicians. One critic went so far as to call Vampire Weekend the "whitest band in the world," to which they took exception, given their Ukrainian, Persian, Italian, and Hungarian heritages.[10][11] Koenig responded in a November 2009 interview by saying, "Nobody in our band is a WASP."[11] Furthermore, the backlash involving their social backgrounds was largely unfounded, as Koenig explained in the interview that the band members got into Columbia on scholarship and used student loans; he himself was still paying off student loans in 2009.[11] Such reactions were not repeated for later world music-inspired musicians, suggesting Vampire Weekend may have cleared the way for their style of fusion.[citation needed]

Self-titled album (2007–2008)

The band's first album Vampire Weekend was released January 29, 2008. A success in the US and UK, it peaked at number 15 on the UK Albums Chart and number 17 on the Billboard 200. Four singles were released from the album; while "A-Punk" peaked at number 25 on the Billboard Modern rock chart and number 55 on the UK Singles Chart, "Oxford Comma" peaked at number 38 in the UK. "A-Punk" was ranked the 4th on Rolling Stone's list of Best Songs in 2008. "A-Punk" was also used to open the Will Ferrell/John C. Reilly feature Step Brothers, and featured in the UK television show, The Inbetweeners, and the video games Guitar Hero 5, Just Dance 2 and Lego Rock Band.

During the early stages of their career, substantial media attention surrounded Vampire Weekend's incorporation of African pop sounds into American music,[12] but despite an admitted love of African music, and Koenig's explicit mentioning of 1980's Madagascar pop music as a source of inspiration for the band, Vampire Weekend has always maintained that they are not "an African band". Koenig went so far as to say in interviews that Vampire Weekend feared being perceived as part of what he saw as a western trend of "fetishizing" world music, and would be hesitant to follow so directly in the footsteps of former greats such as Paul Simon in collaborating with and making too great a deal of foreign musicianship in American pop.[13]

Contra (2009–2011)

The band's second album, Contra, was released on January 11, 2010 in the UK and the following day in the US. On January 12, 2010, "Horchata" was released as a free download on the band's website.[14] The album's first single, "Cousins", was released on November 17, 2009. Initial copies of the CD and LP sold at independent records stores in the US include a 3-track bonus CD containing two "melts", which featured bits of album tracks and a remix. Contra was the band's first album to debut at No. 1 on the Billboard 200.[15]

On January 9, 2010 the band did an acoustic show for MTV Unplugged. The following month, the band toured Europe and Canada with Canadian electro duo Fan Death as their support. The video for their next single "Giving Up the Gun" was also released on February 18, 2010 which included cameos from Joe Jonas, Lil Jon, RZA and Jake Gyllenhaal.

They also played festivals across the USA such as Coachella, Bonnaroo, Austin City Limits Music Festival, and All Points West, as well as the Groovin' The Moo festival in Australia. Their third single, "Holiday", was released on June 7, 2010.

On June 25, 2010, the band played the Pyramid Stage at Glastonbury Festival, in Pilton, Somerset, UK. The band were also on the main stage at T in the Park 2010 at Balado Kinross, Scotland, on June 8, and played the Oxegen Festival in Kildare, Ireland on July 9. They also headlined the Latitude Festival in Suffolk, UK on July 18. On 16 July the band headlined the Main Stage at the Festival Internacional de Benicàssim. In the summer of 2010 the band played at the Utopia stage on Peace and Love, Sweden's biggest Festival. On July 30, 2010, the band played at Jisan Valley Rock Festival in South Korea along with Muse, Massive Attack, Pet Shop Boys, Corinne http://blogs.wsj.com/law/2010/07/20/the-vampire-weekend-suit-much-ado-about-an-old-photo/</ref>

In 2010, Vampire Weekend embarked on a North American tour with Beach House and Dum Dum Girls. The tour started off on August 27, 2010, in Vancouver, British Columbia at the Malkin Bowl. Koenig mentioned to the audience that before this concert, the band had the longest "vacation period" that they have had in a while.

Contra was nominated for a Grammy for Best Alternative Music Album, but lost to The Black Keys's Brothers.

Modern Vampires of the City (2011–present)

On November 11, 2011, it was revealed that Vampire Weekend had been in Excello Studios, located in Brooklyn, writing and recording material for their third album, tentatively called LP3.[16] On April 26, 2012, Rolling Stone reported that the new album could be released by the end of the year. Koenig said, "We do have a ton of stuff. It would be cool if it was [released] this year...We just never want to be in a position [where] when we put out something, we feel could've benefited from more time."[17] Until its release, members have been decidedly discreet about the details of the next album, stating that a band "can give a bunch of interviews when they're working on stuff" but they "don't want something [they] said six months ago to influence how people hear it when it's done."[18]

In an interview for the February 2013 edition of Q magazine (released in mid-january), Koenig described the upcoming album as "darker and more organic" and "very much the last of a trilogy". The album was recorded and co-produced by Ariel Rechtshaid in his New York studio (alongside Batmanglij).[19] The album is called Modern Vampires of the City and will be released and in the UK on May 6, 2013 and on May 7, 2013 in the US.[20] The band discussed Modern Vampires of the City with The FADER and appeared on the cover of the magazine's 84th issue.[21]

On March 16, 2013 the band played the closing show at Stubbs on the last day of the SXSW festival in Austin,TX. In the show they played 2 new songs from the upcoming album: "Diane Young" and "Ya Hey".

On March 18, 2013, Vampire Weekend released a double-sided hit, "Diane Young"/"Step".

Members

Image

The band, along with their record company XL Recordings and photographer Tod Scott Brody, were sued by Kirsten Kennis, the model on the cover of Contra, over the use of her image.[22]

The ABC network comedy-drama series Castle titled episode 6 of season 2, an episode set around Halloween and vampire imitators, "Vampire Weekend".

In January 2012, President Barack Obama added Vampire Weekend to a short list of musical artists that he sought support from for his re-election campaign. Vampire Weekend made it onto this list with Jay-Z, John Legend, and Alicia Keys.[23]

Vampire Weekend's influential and signature "preppy" fashion sense was allegedly inspired by their friendship with LA fashion designer Bryn Lander, after whom their song "Bryn" was named.[24] This relationship is not unlike that between Astrid Kirchherr and the Beatles (whose famous hair cuts are rumored to be Astrid's idea). As homage to her influence in their style and the style of bands that followed them, Vampire Weekend's song "Bryn" is now being used to launch Bryn Lander's latest fashion boutique.

Other contributions

Vampire Weekend contributed a cover of "Exit Music (For a Film)" for Stereogum Presents... OKX: A Tribute to OK Computer (2007), a free tribute album celebrating 10 years of Radiohead's album OK Computer. They have also covered "Everywhere" by Fleetwood Mac, "I'm Goin' Down" by Bruce Springsteen, "Have I the Right?" by The Honeycombs and "Ruby Soho" by Rancid.

The band also contributed the song "Ottoman" to the soundtrack to the 2008 film Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist. Ottoman was then taken and sampled by rapper Kid Cudi. Two tracks from their debut record also appeared in the 2009 comedy I Love You, Man. A new song, "Jonathan Low", was released on June 8, 2010, appearing on the soundtrack to the third installment of the Twilight Saga films, Eclipse.

Rostam Batmangli has made a record with Wes Miles from Ra Ra Riot called Discovery, featuring Ezra Koenig on the track "Carby". Koenig is also featured on the song "Warm Heart of Africa" by The Very Best.

Discography

Main article: Vampire Weekend discography
Studio albums

References

  1. ^ "Video Hits Interview Vampire Weekend". YouTube. Retrieved 2012-04-09.
  2. ^ "Vampire Weekend interview (PSL)". YouTube. Retrieved 2012-04-09.
  3. ^ a b c "Interview: Vampire Weekend". Artist Direct. 2008-01-23. Retrieved 2013-04-03.
  4. ^ "A few more facts about Vampire Weekend | al.com". Blog.al.com. Retrieved 2012-04-09.
  5. ^ "Vampire Weekend with Beach House opening". Facebook. 2010-09-01. Retrieved 2012-04-09.
  6. ^ "The 100 best Songs of 2007". Rolling Stone. 2007-12-27.
  7. ^ "Vampire Weekend To Tour With The Shins". Angryape. 2007-10-11.
  8. ^ "Vampire Weekend Interview @ Rock Werchter 2008". YouTube. 2012-01-13. Retrieved 2012-04-09.
  9. ^ Greenwald, Andy. "Vampire Weekend: The Graduates". Spin. February 25, 2008. Retrieved on June 28, 2009.
  10. ^ Rock and Pop Features. "Vampire Weekend interview". Telegraph. Retrieved 2012-04-09.
  11. ^ a b c "Vampire Weekend Interview - An Interview with Ezra Koenig of Vampire Weekend". Altmusic.about.com. 2009-11-23. Retrieved 2012-04-09.
  12. ^ "Vampire Weekend And The Ridiculous Apartheid Of Indie Music". More Intelligent Life. Retrieved 2012-04-09.
  13. ^ "Vampire Weekend interview - Ezra Koenig and Chris Tomson (part 1)". YouTube. Retrieved 2012-04-09.
  14. ^ "Vampire Weekend". Vampire Weekend. Retrieved 2012-04-09.
  15. ^ Caulfield, Keith (2010-01-20). "Vampire Weekend Lands First No. 1 Album". Billboard. Retrieved 2010-01-20.
  16. ^ November 11, 2011 (2011-11-11). "Vampire Weekend, John Popper, Erik Friedlander Recording at Excello : SonicScoop – Creative, Technical & Business Connections For NYC's Music & Sound Community". Sonicscoop.com. Retrieved 2012-04-09.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  17. ^ Hyman, Dan. "Vampire Weekend Hatching 'A Ton' of Material for New LP". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 16 May 2012.
  18. ^ Vampire Weekend Bassist Goes Solo - WSJ.com
  19. ^ http://teamvampireweekend.tumblr.com/post/39657488938/vampire-weekend-in-q-magazines-2013-forecast
  20. ^ http://www.nme.com/news/vampire-weekend/68523
  21. ^ "Vampire Weekend: Upper Classmen".
  22. ^ Wall Street Journal
  23. ^ "President Obama seeks support from Arcade Fire, Vampire Weekend, Jay-Z on re-election campaign | News". Nme.Com. 2012-01-18. Retrieved 2012-04-09.
  24. ^ "Vampire Weekend's 'Bryn' Launches A Vintage Clothing Site - StyleCaster News". Stylecaster.com. 2011-11-07. Retrieved 2012-04-09.
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