Columbia University’s Indie Rockstars
When you think of the graduates that come out of Columbia University, you think filmmakers, journalists or lawyers.
You definitely don’t think rock-stars.
Well, think again.
The up and coming indie-rock band, Vampire Weekend all met and formed their band at Columbia University in February 2006.
From their humble beginnings of playing on campus to now filling out big stadiums and touring overseas with the Shins, Vampire Weekend shows you that college can make you successful—and not only in the way that you predicted.
The singer and guitarist, Ezra Koenig actually majored in English and met Rostam Batmanglij who plays keyboard in their freshmen year. Batmanglij met Chris Tomson in harmony and composition classes and a year later the trio met their drummer Baio and Vampire Weekend was born.
The band’s name comes from a film that Koening made in the summer of his freshman year. It was about a guy named Walcott whose dad gets killed by vampires because vampires take over his country. His Dad’s dying words were, “you have to go to Cape Cod to tell the mayor that vampires are taking over your country and you have to kill ‘em all.” His first song, Walcott, is based on the film.
Their sound incorporates African rhythms with early Elvis Costello and the Class and has been compared to Paul Simon’s Graceland album with the poppiness of The Strokes.
Vampire Weekend’s first gig was a battle of the bands thrown by some engineering students in February 2006. They also played at a frat house turned literary society on Riverside Drive, a photo of which graces the cover of their album.
The band recorded a friend’s violin captured in a friend’s dorm room and drums in a campus studio—which all wound up on the record.
According to an article in Spin Magazine, “Being a New York band but living where they did meant they were free to come into their own,” says Kris Chen, the A&R rep who signed the band to XL Recordings in the U.S. “That’s why I fell for them immediately: They didn’t give a sh*t about being cool. We all know that’s the ultimate in being cool.”
Don’t expect these college graduates turned rock stars to show up on stage in dirty t-shirts and leather jackets. They prefer polos, cable knit sweaters and boat shoes. After all, they are still Columbia boys.
This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 4th, 2008 at 3:56 pm and is filed under What's Hot. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
