Why We Think Rostam Rocks – Part 1 |
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| (09/26/2010) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
Vampire Weekend is just one of those bands that people like. The music is upbeat and fun and (if you don’t pay too much attention) just all-around terrific party music. Upon closer inspection, however, the songs smartly interweave complex African pop-rhythms with erudite lyrics that – more than the Lacoste shirts and Sperry Top-Siders for which they are known – give away their Ivy League bona fides (the quartet came together while attending Columbia University).
Looking ahead to Wednesday night’s performance at Pearl Concert Theater at Palms Casino Resort, I chatted-up Vampire Weekend’s producer/co-songwriter/mutli-instrumentalist Rostam Batmanglij, who was not only funny (always important in a good interviewee) but open, upbeat, and well-spoken. Basically, the ideal interview subject/victim. Read on! ShulmanSays: Hey, how’s it goin'?
Rostam Batmanglij: Good. How’re you? SS: Oh. Great. Thanks! So this is your second time performing in Las Vegas. Is it only your second time being here? RB: Actually, it’s my third. I had this crazy weekend in August, when I came in to see Lady Gaga. I have a great friend in LA who called me up and said “You have to come.” So, I had this 24 hours where I literally got on a plane, saw Lady Gaga's concert at the MGM Grand, hung-out in Vegas for the night, and flew home.
SS: That’s actually not an uncommon story. Actually, that sort of thing happens all the time! So, how sick are you guys at this point of having Paul Simon’s Graceland be everyone’s knee-jerk reference point for your music? RB: Not as much anymore. But in the beginning, it was pretty annoying, not because we didn’t like Graceland (which is a great album), but because people would say our music sounded just like Graceland, and we were like “Are you kidding me? Are you listening to ten songs or just listening to one song?”
SS: There really is only one song on the album that’s really Graceland-y, it just so happened to be one of your break-out singles [“Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa” which, ironically gives a shout-out to another man acknowledged with introducing “world music” to the West – Peter Gabriel]. RB: (laughs) Well, in that case, you could say that there’s one song on every Vampire Weekend album that will be Graceland-y. In some ways though, it’s such a compliment, because most of the traditional African progressions and grooves on Graceland are so great, and so many people think “Paul Simon” and they think one thing; but they don’t realize that on Graceland, so much of the instrumental music was performed by African musicians –
SS: Like the collaborations with African artists like Ladysmith Black Mambazo and Youssou N’Dour…
RB: Yeah. SS: I listen to your music, and sure, I hear the influences of Kanda Bongo Man, Hugh Masekela, Sam Mangwana, and even Miriam Makeba. But personally, I hear more of The Clash and Tom Tom Club. RB: People don’t talk about The Clash that much, but yeah. Actually, I think that sometimes, without even trying, we sound like The Clash.
SS: Nothing wrong with that! And didn’t you guys even cover Fleetwood Mac, at one point? RB: Yes! “Everywhere” (a great jam)!
SS: Gotta love The Mac! RB: But, I think pretty much every musician I know and respect is also crazy about Fleetwood Mac. SS: Probably because there were so many sounds coming out of one band – rock, country, blues, psychadelia, Stevie’s mystical witchy thing… RB: And there’s this really great minimalism in Fleetwood Mac. There’s kind of a skeletal quality to my favorites of their songs – like “Dreams” for example, which is just so simple and great.
SS: Well, Lindsey [Buckingham] is one of the great rock producers… RB: He is. SS: And you’re a producer, too, and a songwriter; not just for Vampire Weekend, but for your other band, Discovery. So, what’s playing on your i-Pod? RB: Oh! You know what? I’ve actually got my i-Tunes, right in front of me – so I can see… I’m listening to this band called Steeleye Span – they’re kind of a British folk band.
SS: Steel-eyed Spam? RB: Steeleye Span, and their album, Please to See the King. I’m also listening to Prince’s Batman soundtrack. SS: With “Batdance” on it? RB: Yeah… And the new Walkmen album.
SS: As the son of a famous cook [Persian cookbook author, Najmieh Batmanglij], do you enjoy cooking? RB: I love cooking. I don’t do it very often, but I love it - especially cooking with my mom. SS: Was it a bonding thing that the two of you shared, when you were growing-up?
RB: Oh, definitely. SS: What was your favorite Halloween costume, growing up? RB: Batman. I was eleven. [Author’s note: it wasn’t until transcribing these notes that I would notice that Batman was not only Rostam’s favorite childhood costume and what’s currently playing on his i-Pod; but also the first six letters of his last name. Coincidence? As executive producer William Dozier would intone at the end of cliffhanger episodes of his popular Batman TV series, “Tune-in, tomorrow – same Bat-time, same Bat-channel!”]
Get into it! |
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