Vampire Weekend
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| Vampire Weekend | |
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 Vampire Weekend performing in Hamburg, November 2, 2007
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| Background information | |
| Origin | New York, NY |
| Genre(s) | Alternative rock Indie rock afro-pop[1][2][3] |
| Years active | 2006 - present |
| Label(s) | XL Recordings |
| Website | http://www.vampireweekend.com/ |
| Members | |
| Ezra Koenig Rostam Batmanglij Chris Tomson Chris Baio |
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Vampire Weekend is an American indie rock band from New York, formed in 2006 and signed to XL Recordings.
Contents |
[edit] History
Vampire Weekend's name is derived from lead singer Ezra Koenig's amateur film of the same name. [4] The band gained attention via a variety of blogs, such as Stereogum.[5] The band is influenced by both African popular music and Western classical music, describing their genre of music as "Upper West Side Soweto", with such songs as "Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa" and "Oxford Comma" referencing Congolese soukous music.[3]
The members of the band met while attending Columbia University; they then self-produced their first album after graduation while concurrently working full-time jobs. Lead vocalist Ezra Koenig and drummer Chris Tomson first collaborated as members of the comedy-rap band "L'Homme Run".[6] They are managed by Ian Montone, who also manages The White Stripes. They are signed to XL Recordings, of which the band said in an interview: "Before any labels had contacted us, we actually mentioned XL as the kind of label we'd ideally like to end up on. Just going on their roster alone, they obviously have good taste and support their artists well." [7]
In 2007, Vampire Weekend's song "Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa" was ranked 67th on Rolling Stone's list of the 100 Best Songs of the year.[8] In November 2007, they toured the United Kingdom with The Shins.[9] 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.[10]
The band's debut self-titled album was released January 29, 2008. It was a success in the US and UK, peaking at #15 on the UK Albums Chart and #17 on the Billboard 200. Four singles were released from the album, "Mansard Roof", "A-Punk", "Oxford Comma" and "Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa", but only "A-Punk" and "Oxford Comma" had any major impact on music charts. "A-Punk" peaked at #25 on the Billboard Hot Modern Rock Tracks chart in February 2008 and #55 on the UK Singles Chart in September 2008. "Oxford Comma" peaked at #38 on the UK Singles Chart in May 2008. In 2008, Vampire Weekend were dubbed the "whitest band" by Christian Lander, the creator of the site Stuff White People Like, in an interview with Salon.com.[11] During the summer of 2008, Vampire Weekend performed at the Central Park SummerStage in Manhattan and a fundraiser for Music for Democracy in October, where they shared the stage with David Crosby and Graham Nash. In December of 2008, Vampire Weekend's debut album was #2 in Under The Radar magazine's "top 50 albums of 2008" issue. In the January 2009 issue of Rolling Stone magazine, their self-titled album was dubbed the 10th best album of 2008.
Their song "A-Punk" has been featured in a holiday season commercial for HMV, at the beginning of the 2008 comedy film Step Brothers and in the 2009 Blu Muto inspired promotional TV trail for BBC 6 Music.[12] Their song "Walcott" has been used in radio advertisements for the Reduced Shakespeare Company, as well as Season 2, Episode 6 of British television show Skins. "Campus" was used in the advertisement for the movie I Love You, Man. In the same movie, "Campus" and "Oxford Comma" were used. A poster of the album cover for "Vampire Weekend" appears in the 2008 film The Wrestler.
A new album is rumored to be released sometime in late 2009 and will apparently feature the song "White Sky."[13]
[edit] Band members
- Ezra Koenig (lead vocals, guitar)
- Rostam Batmanglij (keyboard, guitar, vocals)
- Chris Tomson (drums)
- Chris Baio (bass guitar)
[edit] Previous bands
The most notable previous project of the band is L'Homme Run, a rap group that Ezra Koenig formed during his time at college. The group was meant to be funny, but not actually a joke, a distinction which Ezra says ultimately doomed the project.[6]
Ezra Koenig also played saxophone in the free jazz improvisation collective Total War and experimental art rock band Dirty Projectors, both based in NYC.
Ezra Koenig, originally from Glen Ridge, New Jersey, was a member of a garage band called The Sophisticuffs during high school and played many local concerts at the monthly rock show called Terry's Serendipity Cafe in Montclair, New Jersey in 2000 and 2001. He also performed with award winning writer, comedian, and film maker Andrew Chien known as Suave AC at the time. [14]
[edit] Discography
[edit] Albums
- Vampire Weekend (January 29, 2008) (BPI: Gold 100,000 +)[15]
- TBA (2009)[16]
[edit] EPs
- Vampire Weekend EP (2007)
- The Kids Don't Stand A Chance EP (2008)
- The MySpace Transmissions digital EP (2008)
[edit] Singles
| Year | Title | Chart Positions | Album | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UK Singles Chart | US Hot 100 | US Modern Rock | US Pop 100 | |||
| 2007 | "Mansard Roof" | - | - | - | - | Vampire Weekend |
| 2008 | "A-Punk" | 55 | 106 | 25 | 91 | |
| "Oxford Comma" | 38 | - | - | - | ||
| "Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa" | 178 | - | - | - | ||
| "M79" | - | - | - | - | ||
[edit] Compilation tracks
- They contributed a cover of "Exit Music (For a Film)" for OKX: A Tribute to OK Computer (2007), a digital album, compliments of stereogum.com, celebrating 10 years of Radiohead's album OK Computer.
- They contributed a track entitled "Ottoman" for the soundtrack to the 2008 film Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist.
- They also did a cover of Fleetwood Mac's song Everywhere.
[edit] References
- ^ Abebe, Nitsuh (2008-01-28). "Record Review: Vampire Weekend: Vampire Weekend". 'Pitchfork Media'. http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/record_review/48053-vampire-weekend.
- ^ Stewart, Alison (2008-01-29). "Vampire Weekend's African Transfusion". The Washington Post: p. C05. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/28/AR2008012802634.html.
- ^ a b "Preppie Afro-Pop and Other Odd Blends". The New York Times. 2007-06-18. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/18/arts/music/18vamp.htm?_r=1&oref=slogin.
- ^ "Trailer: Vampire Weekend". LimeWire Music Blog. 2008-01-29. http://blog.limewire.com/posts/1138/.
- ^ "Band to Watch: Vampire Weekend". Stereogum. 2006-04-13. http://stereogum.com/archives/band-to-watch/band-to-watch-vampire-weekend_005100.html/.
- ^ a b Greenwald, Andy (2007-02-25). "Vampire Weekend: The Graduates". Spin. http://www.spin.com/articles/vampire-weekend-graduates.
- ^ http://www.thedelimagazine.com/FeatureView.php?artist=vampireweekend
- ^ "The 100 best Songs of 2007". Rolling Stone. 2007-12-27. http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/17601363/the_100_best_songs_of_2007/17.
- ^ "Vampire Weekend To Tour With The Shins". Angryape. 2007-10-11. http://angryape.com/news/2007/10/11/vampire-weekend-to-tour-with-the-shins.
- ^ "Vampire Weekend: The Graduates". Spin. 2008-02-25. http://www.spin.com/articles/vampire-weekend-graduates.
- ^ "The Unbearable Whiteness of Being". Salon.com. 2008-7-5. http://www.salon.com/mwt/feature/2008/07/05/white_people/.
- ^ "BBC 6 Music launches 'cutting edge' animated ad campaign". The Guardian. 2009-01-09. http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2009/jan/09/bbc-radio6-animated-character.
- ^ http://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2009/03/2009-release-for-vampire-weekend.html Paste Magazine
- ^ http://www.serendipitycafe.org/
- ^ http://www.bpi.co.uk British Phonographic Industry
- ^ http://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2009/03/2009-release-for-vampire-weekend.html Paste Magazine
[edit] Interviews
- Interview with Vampire Weekend at the Bwog
- Interview with Vampire Weekend at Wireless Bollinger
- Write-up on Vampire Weekend on Fader.com
- Vampire Weekend on Plum
- Vampire Weekend on Digforfire.tv
- Vampire Weekend article February 2008
- Independent interview
- BBC interview
- Eye Weekly interview
