When I think of Father of the Bride, it’s not
just that there’s a lot of songs, it’s that there
are different songs. It was really important
that there were what I would’ve called at
the time “stupid songs” — simple songs,
childish songs. “We Belong Together”
literally lists things that belong together. It’s
nursery rhyme-esque. There wouldn’t be
room for that on a 10-song album. Compare
that with a vibe-y, sad, unsettling ballad
like “Unbearably White.” When those two
things are on the same album, I do see
something bigger.
Did your songwriting experiences
outside the band change the way you
thought about the creative process?
None of that stuff truly changed it. I was very
interested to see the way that Kanye worked.
In some ways, what I saw was what I expect-
ed: a lot of very creative people talking about
songwriting, about music. The Beyoncé song
[“Hold Up”], the truth is, I didn’t go in with
Diplo and pitch her stuff. He played her 20
beats, she heard the thing with the hook that
I wrote, and that’s the one she liked. I didn’t
have to go step into that kind of painful arena
a lot of people do, desperately trying to get
your track on the album. I’m not against it. I
might more in the future.
What has changed in the industry since
you first started putting out albums?
It’s very quaint to think about it now, but
when we first came out, there was all this
talk about the internet, and “Are things
happening too fast?” That’s before Twitter.
People were just like, “Whoa! [The] band
is only around for a year before their first
album? Pump the brakes!” Whereas now
you have superstars who’ve never put out an
album. At that time, there was so much talk
about how the internet was going to change
things. “Maybe we don’t need albums
anymore. Maybe put out one song a month.”
We’d have music industry people saying to
us, “Listen, guys, this is the last Christmas
for the CD.” I remember that very clearly.
Christmas 2008.
The truth is, we’ve actually sold a decent
amount of CDs in the 10 years since. So at
the end of the day, the music industry has
changed radically and yet, our fans still want
Vampire Weekend albums. People still talk
about albums. Even when I zoom out more,
at the whole industry, I think the more things
change, the more they stay the same.
Do you conceive of your albums as full
albums or just songs that go together?
It’s always, “I have an idea for an album.”
For better or for worse, I like big ideas.
Literally, my earliest ideas for Vampire
Weekend were things that made us exciting
to some people and immediately written off
by other people. I told the rest of the dudes,
“I don’t think anybody should wear T- shirts
onstage.” That feels like an artifact, when
there was this thing about preppy clothes.
And do you regret any parts of that?
Because the combination of preppy
clothing and African influences was
polarizing.
It’s hard to say. No. Well, maybe like a few
lyrics here or there, a few phrasings. The
actual album, the majority of the songs, the
presentation, I don’t particularly regret.
When I look back at that time and think
about what we could’ve done to be less
controversial, it’s all very cowardly. There
were a lot of bands who came from upper-
middle- class backgrounds. But such a big
deal was made that we went to Columbia —
off the top of my head, there were members
of Animal Collective, The Walkmen and
The National who went to Columbia, and
the amount of ink spilled over their colle-
giate and class background is not even close.
We could’ve really downplayed the whole
college thing. Rather than wearing a $50
button-down shirt, I could’ve worn a $300
leather jacket, and weirdly, that would’ve
gone down easier for people.
When I think about referencing African
music — which, frankly, is a much more
valid conversation than the preppiness — I
think again of artists who interpreted black
music, or interpreted the music of other
cultures, I should say, in ways people were
more used to. When I picture a version of
Vampire Weekend that’s less controver-
sial: Don’t call the song “Cape Cod Kwassa
Kwassa,” take out the hand drums, then
you’ve got a song that’s going to rub people
the wrong way a bit less. But none of this
gets to the underlying issues. Honestly, it’s
better to be straightforward.
Since your last album, rock has become
less important to the mainstream. Is that
something you think about when you’re
writing and recording?
I think about that stuff all the time. Of
course, you’re aware that you’re releasing
an album in a moment when the conver-
sation is about how irrelevant rock is. But
there’s a type of power, or something inter-
esting, about unfashionable things too. You
just hit a point where you’re on your own
trip, and it’s more interesting to examine
your own feelings about what you once
found unfashionable and just find what’s
interesting about your own project.
Why do you think rock has declined in
popularity?
When I see people in rock bands with very
strong feelings about rock, often it takes
the form of either “It’s a grave injustice that
rock is less popular” or “Rock’s on the ropes,
so we’re going to fight back, baby!” They’re
both so insanely corny to me. Within rock,
there’s all sorts of great songwriters, but for
something to really smash it in 2019, you
need a few things, and one is market share.
You’ll get a cool rock album that critics like,
but it doesn’t have that same feeling as the
pop album everybody likes because every-
thing is pointed in one direction now. A new
narrative won out: That thing is big because
it’s good. Too big to fail. And everybody is a
market observer.
You see it in these fandom wars on Twit-
ter, where they talk about who outsold who.
When fans use the language of who outsold
who, they’re also telling the artist, “When
you fall off commercially, we won’t be able
to defend you anymore.” People say, “That’s
late capitalism. Everything is seen through
the lens of branding and the market.” But I
do think we live in a moment when people
want to be on the side that’s winning. Bob
Dylan sang, “You just want to be on the
side that’s winning,” in the mid-’60s, so it’s
always true. But, in music, there used to be
more people who didn’t want to be on the
side that’s winning.
“My earliest ideas for Vampire Weekend were
things that made us exciting to some people
and immediately written off by other people.”
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