Vampire Weekend apologizes for torching of vintage Saab
Indie band admits they would have liked to destroy a classic Bugatti for video, but record label wouldn’t pay for one
“You torched a Saab like a pile of leaves.”
That was the line from new single Diane Young that inspired Ezra Koenig and New York indie rockers Vampire Weekend to set a vintage Saab 900 on fire for the song’s video, something that has drawn the ire of vintage car lovers across the Internet, but mainly at automotive blog Jalopnik ( a partner of Gawker).
Jalopnik writer Patrick George pointed out in a series of blog posts ( including one delightfully entitled “Vampire Weekend Are A Bunch of D----”) that he had found out the two Saabs set on fire in the video were not destined to go to the scrap yard but rather had been generously donated by their owners for the video, unaware of the fiery fate that awaited them.
In an interview with The Vancouver Sun, Koenig admitted he wasn’t sure if anything had gone wrong, but that he was certainly concerned by the
We hired the production company and gave them the basic idea and let them do their thing. We told them, ‘ Find some old Saabs and light ‘ em up.’ But I hope everybody understands we were trying to find the oldest, cheapest ones possible.
EZRA KOENIG
VAMPIRE WEEKEND
backlash.
“I hate the idea of upsetting anybody,” Koenig said. “It’s a good thing we didn’t torch a vintage Bugatti. I wanted to buy a $ 600,000 vintage Bugatti and destroy it with baseball bats. But the label just wouldn’t pony up the money. Given the reaction ( to the burning of the Saabs), I’m really glad we didn’t do that.
“( The video) came together very quickly. We were at South By Southwest when they were filming. We hired the production company and gave them the basic idea and let them do their thing. We told them, ‘ Find some old Saabs and light ‘ em up.’ But I hope everybody understands we were trying to find the oldest, cheapest ones possible.
“From what I’ve heard, people are upset because maybe the production company misled the persons that were selling them. I hate the idea that somebody would not know the actual fate ( of the cars). Unfortunately, it was nothing we were actually involved in.”
Vampire Weekend’s new album Modern Vampires of the City comes out May 14 via XL Recordings.
The band plays the Squamish Valley Music Festival in August.