Mark of The Vampire

Father of the Bride is the upcoming fourth studio album by American indie rock band Vampire Weekend. It will be released on May 3, 2019 by Columbia Records, and is their first release on a major label. The album was preceded by three double singles: "Harmony Hall" / "2021", "Sunflower" / "Big Blue" and "This Life" / "Unbearably White". The album's release will mark the band's first project in nearly six years, following Modern Vampires of the City (2013), and the group's first album since multi-instrumentalist and producer Rostam Batmanglij's departure from the group. The album was primarily produced by Modern Vampires of the City collaborator Ariel Rechtshaid and lead singer Ezra Koenig, and features numerous external collaborators, including Danielle Haim, Steve Lacy, Dave Macklovitch of Chromeo. DJ Dahi, David Longstreth, BloodPop, Mark Ronson, and Batmanglij. The album is musically diverse, and heavily referential, contrasting dark and direct lyrics over a bright spring-time musical mood, with a stronger American influence than on the group's previous work.

The Mint Tattoo was born as an offshoot of the legendary 60's proto punk acid band Blue Cheer. Bruce Stevens and Ralph (Burns) Kellogg had played together in Blue Cheer on band's self titled album in 1969, but after that one album, Stevens left the band to pursue other interests. Kellogg stayed on with Blue Cheer until the demise of the band in 1971, but during his tenure with Blue Cheer he reunited with Stevens along with drummer Gregg Thomas to form the band Mint Tattoo. Produced by James William Guercio (Chicago) and engineered by Phil Ramone in New York, the Mint Tattoo is a mixture of blues styled original songs, a cover of classic a blues numbers and some rather uninspired, typical for the era hard rock tunes…