Earlier this week we pointed your attention to Justin Cronin, the author of epic vampire novel The Passage, and the most recent individual — following in the footsteps of The Vampire Diaries’ Kevin Williamson, True Blood’s Anna Paquin, and Vamps’ Krysten Ritter — to claim his vampire-centric project was in no way shape or form inspired by the massive worldwide success of Twilight. Well, “most recent†until last night, when Vampire Weekend went on The Colbert Report and adamantly denied cashing in on the “vampire craze.†Sounding just a touch defensive, front man Ezra Koenig declares his band was called Vampire Weekend “way before†the Twihards showed up, and keyboardist Rostam Batmanglij points out they’ve “never used vampire imagery in anything we’ve done.†(Also, drummer Chris Thomson kind of looks eerily like Robert Pattinson.) Seems a bit unnecessary, since Vampire Weekend — who almost never sing about classic monster mythology — are not generally lumped in with the rest of the contemporary vampire-focused art. But with the third Twilight movie only weeks away (eeehh!!!), we guess the guys really wanted to make the distinction clear.
Last Night: Stephen Colbert Insults Vampire Weekend’s Personal Hygiene [Sound of the City/VV]