A group that is now gaining critical accolades and success in the indie rock market was only a budding thought four years ago.
Before they were Vampire Weekend, now lead-singer Ezra Koenig started the comedy rock group, L’Homme Run, with Chris Tomson. The two, who were students at Columbia University in New York City, decided to get together and play rock music their senior year of college. Two others joined the mix, Rostam Batmanglij and Chris Baio, meeting in dorm rooms with an acoustic guitar.
“It came about very organically and without very much fanfare,” Tomson said.
When three of the members graduated in 2006, (bassist Baio graduated in 2007), they got jobs in New York City, all while continuing to play their music. Tomson, the drummer for Vampire Weekend, was a archive coordinator for Sony BMG; Koenig was a school teacher.
The group didn’t expect the meteoric rise to fame they would soon experience.
“I was really proud and really excited by the things we were writing and creating,” Tomson said.
A show in Syracuse was their first gig outside of New York City. Now the group is touring across the country and will appear in Rochester next Friday (see sidebar to right).
They have two albums out — the first, self-titled, was released in 2008; “Contra” was released in January. Tomson attributes part of the band’s success to the Internet, which help spread their music via blogs and free downloads.
“The main difference (now) is once we toured in a van, and now we tour in a bus; the venues are bigger,” Tomson said. “We toured the U.S. fully twice before our record came out,” he said.
Vampire Weekend’s success could also be attributed to their self-editing. Tomson said that even very early on, the band has been critical of themselves. “If something’s not working, we’re not going to pursue it,” he said.
The sound of Vampire Weekend can be hard to classify. They’re on the indie pop circuit but also fall into the soukous genre, a sort of dance music that originated in the Belgian and French Congo during the 1930s and ’40s.
“We definitely trade in pop music. For some people, it’s a dirty word. For us, it’s never been the case,” Tomson said. “We have short songs with hooks that are catchy on a first listen; hopefully, that’s not all. Once you listen to it again, you hear different instrumental pieces. It’s pop that you can listen to in the background and generally it’s ... up-tempo and has a good sense of humor.”
