Vampire Weekend: 'They're Attacking A Version Of Us That Doesn't Exist'

VAMPIRE WEEKEND are being mobbed in California. By teenage girls. In a skate park normally frequented by crystal meth addicts. What makes this so unexpected is that Vampire Weekend are not a band you would associate with California, teenage girls, skate parks or crystal meth. In fact, they stand for a completely opposite set of values: as cerebral New Yorkers, as rejecters of rock cliché, as combiners of bright pop melodies and African rhythms, as writers of songs exploring ideas about architecture and grammar, class difference and social status.