WERS 88.9 fm - Artist Interview: Vampire Weekend's Chris Tomson

February 4^th, 2010

Vampire Weekend has had a whirlwind start to the decade. The January 11th release of their sophomore album, Contra, premiered at Number 1 on the Billboard Top 200, and the foursome, consisting of frontman Ezra Koenig, Rostam Batmanglij (keyboards), Chris Tomson (drums) and Chris Baio (bass), have been playing shows and making TV appearances nonstop since. While success is not strange to the band--their freshman self-titled album peaked at Number 2 on the US indie charts after its 2008 release--if the immediate popularity of Contra is any indicator, Vampire Weekend is going to have a wild 2010.

In an exclusive telephone interview, WERS' Andrew Bruss spoke to VW drummer Chris Tomson about the new album, what fans can expect from the live shows, and how the band is coping with their success…

WERS: First, I have to congratulate you on Contra released at Number 1 on the Billboard Top 100. Is that something you guys expected?

Chris Tomson: When the release date came, it was definitely something we hoped would happen. We were very proud of it and thought it would do, at least, sort of well. We toured for all of 2008 so a lot of people got excited around the country. None of us expected it to be #1. That was a vague notion at its best, so when it did happen it was really cool. But at some level it's just a number. While it's exciting, it only means so much. Whereas, when we go out and play shows with fans it really sinks in.

WERS: Do you think in raises expectations for the group?

Tomson: We won't have another first week of album sales until whenever the third album comes out. So probably not until then, but it means people are excited, and that can only be a good thing.

WERS: With the success of the freshman self-titled release under your belt, did the group do anything differently in the recording process, or did you stick to a winning plan, so to speak?

Tomson: Well, I think that since the first album did so well and we reacted well to it, we didn't want to change the process too much. We made the first one amongst ourselves and in our apartments and at our friends' basements and whatnot, so we didn't want to go hire a big producer. So while we approached it the same way, we were very much conscious of not repeating ourselves. If we relied on the same ideas or the same tricks we based [the first album on], it would've been a version of the first album. We changed the tempo, definitely added some instrumental textures and different beats we experimented with. So we wanted to make it for ourselves, but make it something different.

WERS: What is it about Vampire Weekend that elicits such a powerful response from the musical community? People were anticipating your first album before it was even released. That's almost unheard of.

Tomson: I can't say. I think that part of our vibe is that we write pop songs, and we're very conscious and not apologetic about that. At some level that's what people get excited about, a catchy song that stays with them. From day one, we've felt very confident in what we were doing and thought that we had something worthwhile [when we] play and when we toured and when we recorded. We were very dedicated in making something interesting. Hopefully people react well, but as to exactly why, I can't say.

WERS: Is there a fear that what goes up must come down, or the success that the group has had might be short-lived?

Tomson: I think that at some level, the fact that people have been so excited and Contra has gotten such a great response, for me, I think it would be the opposite. If [nobody cared about] this album, and we just kind of disappeared, then that would tell me that our first album did well and we wouldn't continue. But we were trying to say with this album that we're more than just that first album, and we're in this for a career.

WERS: Vampire Weekend is a force to be reckoned with.

Tomson: [Laughs] I'm not sure I would say it in such bold, capital letters. But we're a band that's going to stick around for awhile, and with every band you go up and down in popularity, but what we've learned so far in our experiences is that if you do something you feel confident in and you say something unique, people get excited. Hopefully that will remain true.

WERS: Right on. Now the new material, it's pretty layered and multi-faceted. How do songs like "Cousins" fit into the live setting?

Tomson: It's interesting you say that, "Cousins" was one of the least layered songs. It was one that originated the most in the sound-check, coming up with grooves and putting it together kind of way. That one was very straightforward. It's a hard song to play, definitely, but it's pretty much guitar-based, drums, and a little flourishing at the end. Some of the other songs are different. A song like "Taxicab," is something where [bassist Chris] Baio has learned to do the upright bass part, and I'm playing a drum pad, the big, dub-y drum sounds. Some songs we can still just play the four of us, and some songs we have to stretch out a bit more.

WERS: How do you translate studio-heavy stuff into the live setting?

Tomson: You kind of understand that with four people, you're not going to be able to play [some aspects of songs], but I think we get a balance and hopefully are particular enough with our instruments to get the bulk of a song across. Even if you're not hearing a specific horn part or a string part here or there, the song still translates and people are still excited to hear it.

WERS: Now, if somebody had been living under a rock for the last two years and had never heard of Vampire Weekend, what info would you give to a potential fan before they made the investment of purchasing a concert ticket or getting a copy of Contra?

Tomson: I would give them a couple songs. Especially with me being in the band, it's hard for me to say what exactly the central, salient points are. But if we gave her "M79," and "Cousins," and "Taxicab," that's kind of the breadth of our recorded output so far, so if she enjoyed that I'd hope she'd enjoy the concert and our two records.

WERS: So if someone is going as far as to buy a ticket and cheer for you guys in the front row, are you comfortable with someone illegally pirating a copy of Contra?

Tomson: I'm not savvy enough to really know the whole full-album download/leak thing, but for the most part, all four of us are from the age of the internet. We've all, and we will continue, to download songs here and there from the internet. So it would be very hypocritical for us to get upset. We put the song "Horchata" on our website for free when we announced the album to sort of say, "We have a new album coming out and this is the first song from it," and hopefully get people excited.  And that ended up being the song that most people would buy. So, it's always hard to say, and downloading from the internet is not always a harmful thing. Especially for bands like us…

WERS: Anything you want to tell WERS listeners that I haven't given you an opportunity to say?

Tomson: Just keep supporting the station that's playing us and playing independent music, and I hope you guys enjoy the release of the album, Contra

-Words by Cady Drell.