One of the hottest acts of 2008, Vampire Weekend have not only been touted as a band to watch by our good selves, but also fine establishments as the BBC, Drowned In Sound and Rolling Stone. What great company we keep! Anyway, we caught up with bassist Chris Baio to create one of the highlights of their short career to date. Ladies and gentlemen, we give you the ramshackle, twisted rural pop of Vampire Weekend…

1. Describe your sound in 3 words.
Vibe-y classic pops.
2. What was the first record you ever bought? And where did you buy it?
Queen’s “Classic Queen” at the Tower Records in Yonkers, New York.
3. What’s the best cure for a hangover?
Orange Vitamin Water and sleep.
4. What’s on your rider?
We usually get a couple oranges, a box of raisins, and some trail mix. We’ve made it a goal to work on our rider in the new year.
5. How do you get ready for a live show?
I stretch my ankles out.
6. What’s your favourite song to play live?
A-Punk.
7. What’s your guilty pleasure?
Sex and the City episodes. Although nowadays it’s pretty much just a pleasure. Rostam and I are totally psyched for the movie.
8. Who would win in a fight, a stoat or a goat and why?
The stoat. Stoats seem like survivors.
9. What was the last album you bought?
Underground Kingz by UGK
10. If you could rid the world of one song - what would it be?
“Jessica” by The Allman Brothers is my least favorite song in the history of music. But I know a lot of people love it, so I’d feel guilty ridding the world of it.
11. Who would play you in a film based upon your life?
Present-day Jack Nicholson because we have the same hair.
12. Dead or alive. What 5 acts would you have play with you at a festival?
T.I., Jay-Z, Nas, Kanye and early-90s era Public Enemy. And we’d all do a song together at the end.
13. If push comes to shove, what is your all-time favourite album?
If you held a gun to my head and made me choose right now I’d say Ege Bamyasi, but I might say something different if you did it tomorrow. Never really had a favorite!
14. What’s your most memorable on the road story?
It involves the state of Wyoming, an oil boom, a sleepless night and one hero.
15. If your life flashed before your eyes, what would be the highlights?
Being born, doing “20 Questions with…” for TLOBF.
16. What’s the best piece of advice someone has ever given you and did you take notice?
Don’t drink the water in St. Petersburg, Russia. I wouldn’t be doing this interview if I hadn’t followed that one.
17. If you had to leave a body part to science, what would it be?
My right knee.
18. What’s the best book you’ve read and film you’ve seen in the last 6 months?
Underworld by Don Delillo and The Deer Hunter.
19. What three things could you not live without?
Sight, sound, and taste.
20. Tell us a fact about yourself we probably don’t already know.
When I’m home from tour I sleep around twelve hours a day.

Links
Vampire Weekend [official site] [myspace] [tlobf picks for 2008]