What I Play My Kids: Vampire Weekend’s Ezra Koenig

Ezra Koenig didn’t set out to make cross-generational anthems. Yet, since Vampire Weekend emerged as the discerning millennial’s band of choice over a decade ago, the 36-year-old says fans have regularly let him know how much they enjoy listening to his music alongside their parent or child.

“We've often been [referred to as] a kids band,” he points out in a tone that’s somewhere between self-effacing and boastful. “There's one side of you that's like,‘That's great. I'm glad my music has a broad appeal.' And then there's the other side of you that gets nervous like, 'Uh, don't tell anybody that we make baby music.'

In August of 2018, that term took on a new meaning for Koenig, who welcomed a son, Isaiah, with his partner Rashida Jones. Koenig recently spoke with First Verses about how becoming a father has affected his relationship to music and discovering his son’s favourite Vampire Weekend jam.

You’ve always taken pride in discussing your musical and literary references. Has there been a particular children’s artist you’ve discovered recently?

I went down a Raffi rabbit hole to see which songs I related to and found myself on a riff looking at his fashion [choices]. He had some cool outfits in the 80s.

Has becoming a parent influenced the kind of music you put on around the house?

I've been all over the place with what I like to play, but I've been finding myself often playing [The Beach Boys’] ‘Sloop John B’ from Pet Sounds. That's a nice song just to have blasting while the family's hanging out.

Have you made a kids playlist yet?

Our son isn't at the age yet where he's requesting music, so so far we've played him whatever we want. It's been interesting to see what pops into my head when I'm interacting with him and just want to sing him something. It takes me back to really simple folk songs and stuff. If I have a guitar I'll play Vampire Weekend songs to him and see which ones he reacts to a little bit.

What’s his favourite Vampire Weekend song?

He heard a bunch in the womb that his mom played him and that was kind of sweet. But in terms of the new ones, he loves “Sunflower.” It’s a really fun song to play on guitar; it may be my favourite Vampire Weekend song ever just to play. It's like an exercise: going up and down a scale and changing modes. It's just kind of fun.

Has that experience changed the way you view the band’s music?

Not really because it's always been important to me that [our] songs be catchy. And I would hope that every album has music that people of any age can appreciate.