As the festival season winds down, Vampire Weekend has emerged as one of the stars of the Class of 2008, having performed at many of this summer's best fests. Not bad considering their first festival ever was just five months ago at Coachella. Backstage at this past weekend's Treasure Island music festival in San Francisco, drummer Chris Tomson told Spinner that he had done his research. "I went to the first Bonnaroo, and the last two Phish festivals," he says.

Despite being "the main-slash-only Phish fan in this band," Tomson says that Phish has not only informed Vampire Weekend about the festival scene, but the album making process as well. "As a band that's only put out one album, with them putting out so many, it's interesting the way they kind of shift and glide and change styles," he says. "That's interesting for us to think about as we're about to start our next one soon. Do we approach it differently? Do we want to approach it the same? I don't know."

What's that mean for fans who like Vampire Weekend? Well, if it's any indication, their set at Treasure Island included most of the songs from the album. But, alas, did not feature any trampolines, 40-minute guitar jams, or, um, vacuum cleaner solos.