Vampire Weekend has stopped The Daily Showto perform their latest song, “Mary Boone,” and chat with host Michael Kosta. During the performance, frontman Ezra Koenig sat on a stool in front of the other musicians, who were accompanied by a choir as footage of New York played behind them.
“Mary Boone” comes off the rock band's new LP, Only God was above us, which is out now. During the interview, the musicians discussed the album, as well as the newly released podcast Vampire Campfirewhich finds Koenig talking with bandmates Chris Baio and Chris Tomson around a campfire.
The band was inspired Only God was above us from 20th century New York and recorded it in Manhattan, Los Angeles, London and Tokyo. The group's Ezra Koenig, who wrote the lyrics in 2019 and 2020, produced the album with longtime collaborator Ariel Rechtshaid.
“We were lucky to find the cover early in the process, and it's this amazing photo taken by a guy named Steven Siegel, who took all these amazing photos in 1988,” Koenig explained of the album. “The pictures were taken in what he described as a subway graveyard, so all the cars were overturned… It was such a good picture [that] I kept thinking, 'Where is Vampire Weekend going?' and then realized “Why destroy this beautiful picture?” The only text on the screen is a newspaper, which is a headline “Daily News: Only God Was Above Us”.
Koenig also explained that “Mary Boone” is about an “important figure” in the downtown New York art world in the 1980s. “This song is about people coming to town trying to make it,” he said. “I imagine the person singing the song is addressing her. Like an artist or something that wants to take it to the next level.”
Earlier this week, Vampire Weekend joined the Coachella lineup as a last-minute addition. The band will play the Outdoor Theater stage on Saturday at 5pm, marking the group's return to the festival after more than a decade. The band previously performed at Coachella in 2008, 2010 and 2013.
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