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Vampire Weekend's moniker is derived from lead singer Ezra Koenig's amateur film of the same name. 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", performing such songs as "Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa", and "Oxford Comma", which references Congolese soukous music. An alternative description of their sound—"trust fund frat rock"—was given by fellow musician Nicholas Thorburn.
The members of the band met while attending Columbia University; they then self-produced their first album after graduation while concurrently working full-time jobs. Lead vocalist Ezra Koenig and drummer Chris Tomson first collaborated as members of the comedy-rap band "L'Homme Run".
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 United Kingdom 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.
In 2008, Vampire Weekend were dubbed the "whitest band" by Christian Lander, the creator of the site Stuff White People Like, in an interview with Salon.com.
On October 12, 2008, Vampire Weekend played a fundraiser concert in New York City for Music for Democracy, where they shared the stage with David Crosby and Graham Nash.
Ezra Koenig (lead vocals, guitar)
Rostam Batmanglij (keyboard, guitar, vocals)
Chris Tomson (drums)
Chris Baio (bass guitar)
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