- published: 18 Mar 2013
- views: 11224396
Vampire Weekend is an American indie rock band from New York City, that formed in 2006 and signed to XL Recordings. The band has four members: Ezra Koenig, Rostam Batmanglij, Chris Tomson, and Chris Baio. The band released its first album Vampire Weekend in 2008, which produced the singles "Mansard Roof", "A-Punk", "Oxford Comma" and "Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa". The band's most recent album, Contra, was released in 2010.
Members of the band met while in Columbia University, beginning with a "serious" rap collaboration between Koenig and Tomson. They bonded over a shared love of punk and African music, and in fact Koenig had gone on tour with The Dirty Projectors during a period of experimentation with African music, inspiring the band to incorporate world sounds into their earliest work. They chose the name Vampire Weekend from the title of a short film project by Koenig. 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. The band began playing shows around Columbia, starting with a battle of the bands at Lerner Hall. 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.
It’s not right but it’s now or never
And if I wait could I ever forgive myself?
On a night when the moon glows yellow in the riptide
With the light from the TVs buzzing in the house
Cuz I’m gonna cut it where I can
And then I’m gonna duck out behind them
If I ever had a chance it’s now then
But I never had the feeling I could offer that to you
To offer it to you would be cruel
When all I want to do is use, use you
He was a diplomat’s son
It was ‘81
Dressed in white with my car keys hidden in the kitchen
I could sleep wherever I lay my head
And the sight of your two shoes sitting in the bathtub
Let me know that I shouldn’t give up just yet
Cuz I’m gonna take it from Simon
And then I’m gonna duck out behind them
If I ever had a chance it’s now then
But I never had the feeling I could offer that to you
To offer it to you would be cruel
When all I want to do is use, use you
He was a diplomat’s son
It was ‘81
I know, you’ll say
I’m not doing it right
But this is how I want it
I can’t go back
To how I felt before—
That night I smoked a joint
With my best friend
We found ourselves in bed
When I woke up he was gone
He was the diplomat’s son
It was ‘81
Looking out at the ice-cold water all around me
I can’t feel any traces of that other place
In the dark when the wind comes racing off the river