great because there’s so many people that we would inspire to become from there.
We’re all getting excited about the festival season coming up here in the UK. What bands are you looking forward to seeing on the circuit this year? Well, I guess it’s a mix. Some festivals it’s cool to see these big bands that maybe you would never pay money to see, and then other ones it’s bands that you have never heard of. I was psyched to see U2, I’d never seen them before, but I think Gorrilaz are a great replacement. We saw them at Coachella, so I know that they have a great set. We’re playing before Pearl Jam in the Netherlands, which is going to be cool. We’re playing before Arcade Fire in Norway. Actually in Norway I’m very psyched to see a new rapper called Drake; I think he’s doing well in the UK. He’s someone who we’ve been listening to on the tour bus. And then some friends like MGMT, or The National - it’s always fun to see bands like that around Europe.
Are these friends that you have with other bands formed around tours that you do, or are you mainly friends with bands from back home? It depends… I think everyone has their friends, we all have a lot of mutual friends from college, and everyone has friends from high school in New York. But when you spend so much time touring, and especially as there’s a certain route of festivals where if you’re touring at the same time, then you’re inevitably gonna meet and end up hanging out with a band. Like we ended up becoming friends with MGMT at festivals, not really from New York. But you tend to make friends at festivals backstage, and hopefully we can meet some old ones and make some new ones this year.
Do you think the New York scene V
is as good as it has been at the minute, and are there any underground bands that you are really excited about? Yeah, I think that New York, much like London is always a place to draw people that want to be creative, want to make music and want to make art. I think that there are a lot of great bands, and there will always continue to be. Much like London or Berlin. One band - they’re not super underground, but I’m not sure if they have played in the UK, are a band called Sleigh Bells. They’re really good and I think their record came out about a month ago and I think they’re touring and stuff. Hopefully we’ll see them along the way.
It could be said that the hardcore music fans, the bloggers, the artsy crowd, and perhaps the people most like you were the catalyst for your initial popularity. Were you pleased that those regular music lovers were pushing your own music? Yeah, from the beginning, because we were fans of pop music, whether it’s African pop or Asian pop, or UK or American pop, the most interesting stuff that we have found
has worked on the level where you can put it on and just cook an omelette, or whatever, or you can put your headphones on and dig in and get excited about either the lyrics or certain instrumental parts. It’s been exciting that a certain mass, we’re not Coldplay or anything, but a certain mass, or a lot of people know who we are and some of them are psyched about our album. And I think that’s ultimately our goal: to have things appealing, but interesting if you want to dig in.
Finally, what can we in the UK expect from your live shows this summer? We’re very committed to playing the songs. We’re not a band that really stretches out I guess in terms of arrangements. We’ll do some things a little bit differently certainly, because it’s just the four of us as opposed to however many people there are on our recordings. Ultimately, because of our first shows, which were just at parties, the goal has been just to have a fun atmosphere and have people move around. I think that’s our goal to have people move around for 45 minutes or an hour, and I think sometimes it works.
Maxie Gedge
ampire Weekend are one of Latitude Festival’s headlining bands when the festival takes place from 16th – 18th July. Tickets are sold out, but for more info, go to
www.latitudefestival.co.uk
18 / JULY 2010 /
outlineonline.co.uk
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