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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 is an American indie rock band from New York, formed in 2006 and signed to XL Recordings.

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 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], it has also been announced that the song will be included in Guitar Hero 5.[13] 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. The song "M79" has been used by the BBC to promote its series Belonging.

A new album is rumored to be released sometime in late 2009 and will apparently feature the song "White Sky."[14]

Band members

  • Ezra Koenig (lead vocals, guitar, piano, hand drum) - Majored in English
  • Rostam Batmanglij (organ, chamberlain, piano, harpsichord, guitar, vocal harmonies, drum and synth program, shaker) - Majored in Music
  • Chris Tomson (drums, guitar) -Majored in Music
  • Chris Baio (bass guitar) - Majored in Russian

Previous bands

The most notable previous project of the band is L'Homme Run, a rap group that Ezra Koenig, originally from Glen Ridge, New Jersey, 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 also played saxophone in the free jazz improvisation collective Total War and experimental art-rock band Dirty Projectors, both based in NYC.

Ezra 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. [15]

More recently, Batmanglij has teamed up with Ra Ra Riot frontman Wes Miles to form the electronic/R&B group Discovery. Their first album is set to be released in Summer 2009.

Discography

Albums

EPs

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 - - -

Compilation tracks

References

  1. ^ Abebe, Nitsuh (2008-01-28). "Record Review: Vampire Weekend: Vampire Weekend". Pitchfork Media. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |work= (help)
  2. ^ Stewart, Alison (2008-01-29). "Vampire Weekend's African Transfusion". The Washington Post. p. C05.
  3. ^ a b "Preppie Afro-Pop and Other Odd Blends". The New York Times. 2007-06-18.
  4. ^ "Trailer: Vampire Weekend". LimeWire Music Blog. 2008-01-29.
  5. ^ "Band to Watch: Vampire Weekend". Stereogum. 2006-04-13.
  6. ^ a b Greenwald, Andy (2007-02-25). "Vampire Weekend: The Graduates". Spin.
  7. ^ http://www.thedelimagazine.com/FeatureView.php?artist=vampireweekend
  8. ^ "The 100 best Songs of 2007". Rolling Stone. 2007-12-27.
  9. ^ "Vampire Weekend To Tour With The Shins". Angryape. 2007-10-11.
  10. ^ "Vampire Weekend: The Graduates". Spin. 2008-02-25.
  11. ^ "The Unbearable Whiteness of Being". Salon.com. 2008-7-5. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  12. ^ "BBC 6 Music launches 'cutting edge' animated ad campaign". The Guardian. 2009-01-09.
  13. ^ "Guitar Hero 5 details announced!!!". Guitar Hero Comunity. 2009-05-15. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |1= (help)
  14. ^ http://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2009/03/2009-release-for-vampire-weekend.html Paste Magazine
  15. ^ http://www.serendipitycafe.org/
  16. ^ http://www.bpi.co.uk British Phonographic Industry
  17. ^ http://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2009/03/2009-release-for-vampire-weekend.html Paste Magazine

Interviews

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