While seemingly officially formed and signed to XL in 2006, the New York City-based band's roots slightly pre-date said hallmark...
Article #1: A group of friends first, the guys filmed a lo-fi trailer for a 2005* film - "Vampire Weekend." The full-length film's existence is unsure... But it features campy [backyard] scenes, coupled with future track references ( "Walcott" character), team-up appearing friends ( Wes Miles, Ra Ra Riot/ Discovery), and a "Universal Monsters" resurgence prediction. The amateur film trailer was uploaded to adrien3131's YouTube channel in Nov. of 2007*. Definitely something cool for diehard fans to look back on and enjoy!

Article #2: For all intensive purposes, the leaked "Blue CD-R" (2007* demo) was indeed a slyly used promotional tool. Without a doubt, using the "leak" in their utmost favor, the burned and then quickly P2P uploaded 10-track set gained Vampire Weekend the all important early fan following many early fans and "blog buzz." The CD-R featured alternate un-mastered takes, and even similar album art, of what would eventually end up being their self-titled debut album. Nixed/new tracklist additions included "Boston" and "M-79"/"I Stand Corrected," respectively. Over time, 4 music video-singles would be pulled from the critically acclaimed Vampire Weekend (1) album.
Check out an early Stereogum Band to Watch featurette (CD-R review) - dated April 13th '07*.


[*] = Dates are slighlty guess-timated... As details on these widely unknown early Vampire Weekend artifacts are "slim pickins." Thus, artistic freedom was employed in such areas.