Vampire Weekend biography
Vampire Weekend is an American indie rock band from New York City, formed in 2006 and signed to XL Recordings. 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.
History
Early days and debut album (2006-2008)
Ezra Koenig, Chris Baio, Rostam Batmanglij, and Chris Tomson formed the band early in 2006, when they were finishing up their studies at Columbia University. Vampire Weekend's name is derived from lead singer Ezra Koenig's amateur film of the same name. Koenig and drummer Chris Tomson first collaborated as members of the comedy-rap band "L'Homme Run". They were 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." They are managed by Ian Montone, who also manages The White Stripes.
The band gained attention via a variety of blogs, such as Stereogum. 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" referencing Congolese soukous music.
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'. In November 2007, they toured the Netherlands with The Shins.
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. Four songs from the band's first album also made the Triple J Hottest 100, 2008.
The band's debut album Vampire Weekend was released January 29, 2008. It was a success in the US and UK, peaking 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 and LEGO Rock Band. In 2008, Vampire Weekend was dubbed the "whitest band" by Christian Lander, the creator of the site Stuff White People Like, in an interview with Salon.com. During the summer of 2008, Vampire Weekend performed at the Central Park SummerStage.
Contra (2009-present)
The band's second album,
Contra, was released on January 11, 2010 in the UK and the following day in the US. On October 5, 2009, "Horchata" was released as a free download on the band's website. 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 #1 on the
Billboard 200.
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