‘The Vampire Lestat’ Soundtrack Inspiration Playlist

Sam, Rolin and I have all spoken at length in interviews about how David Bowie was one of our first and biggest touchstones for Lestat. His incomparable musicianship, revolutionary performing and perpetual examination and reinvention of self via alter egos all felt like the Lestat we knew, and the kind of rock star we wanted our Lestat to be.

I was lucky enough to be in a band (The Polyphonic Spree) that opened for David Bowie in 2002 on his Reality Tour. I watched the show every night. He still performed songs from Hunky Dory on that tour, especially during encores. His ability to use esoteric subject matter as a foundation for writing hit songs always blew me away. And he was clever and ultra sexual, snarky, and somehow both self-aggrandizing and self-ridiculing at the same time — i.e., pure Lestat.

The historical and literary references throughout his lyrics always felt like earnest exploration to me, rather than showing off how smart and well-read he was. And, of course, he put on a better live performance than just about anyone I’ve ever seen — completely unafraid, raw, vulnerable, prancing, preening, thrusting, screaming… absolutely meant for the stage. Again, everything we envisioned for our vampire rock star.

I think this song usually gets lumped in with other glam rock because it’s early ’70s T. Rex. But it feels much more universal to me. The blues are in there; it’s anthemic; it’s more primal than “Get It On” or “Jeepster.” Those guitars! I wanted guitar tones like that for several of the Lestat songs this season. Both “Long Face” and our title track, “All Fall Down,” are perfect examples of me and co-producer Danny Reisch looking for that Marc Bolan sound.

I’ve spoken in other interviews about my adolescent music tastes. I listened almost exclusively to 92.5 KZPS, the main classic rock station at the time in Dallas, Texas. And KZPS played a lot of Heart. The pure and unrelenting intensity of this song is what I wanted to carry over into at least some of my writing for Lestat. And the harmonies between the Wilson sisters? Untouchable. I wish I could sing like that.

That’s right, this makes three back-to-back songs in E! The E chord is the bottom of the guitar. It’s the most rock ‘n’ roll you can get. It’s one of the first chords I learned to play. I remember listening to “Fell On Black Days” on the radio, right before making out with my junior high girlfriend, sitting on the floor in her room, with the lights off, surrounded by all of my friends sitting on the floor, making out with their junior high girlfriends. Afterwards, we probably all watched Stone Temple Pilots on MTV Unplugged.

Kurt Cobain was one of the other biggest influences that we talked about for our Lestat. I know Sam Reid watched Montage of Heck as research while we were in the writer’s room working on scripts. Kurt’s rejection of stardom and his desire to unlearn in order to get to a more honest creative place are aspects of his identity that we tried to inject into our anti-hero this season.

Weezer’s second album Pinkerton was considered a flop at the time. Middling chart success, compared to their debut album. It got mixed reviews from critics. Rivers Cuomo disavowed it for years after its release. But the unpolished approach to recording (trying to capture their live sound), self-producing, and lyrics exploring disillusionment with fame and success in an open and vulnerable way have made these Weezer songs the most influential of their career, and the ones I still listen to the most.

We wanted the same darkness and rawness for Lestat, and the guitar feedback you hear on our song “Big Bad Wolf” was an homage to the guitar feedback on “Tired Of Sex.” It all feels dangerous and reckless to me, like the song could fall apart at any moment. When the drums go into half-time at the end for a few seconds? Ugh, it’s just. So. Damn. Good.

Loose Lips Sink Ships is one of my favorite albums of all time. Most of you won’t have ever heard Des Ark’s music before now. I got to see the original guitar/drums duo version of Des Ark (heard on this song) perform at a tiny, tiny bookstore and nightclub in Chapel Hill, N.C. in 2005, not long before they split up, and Des Ark became a mostly solo project of Aimee Argote. It is still one of the best shows I’ve ever seen. It had an immediacy and a sadness to it that loosely reminds me of Pinkerton. I wish Des Ark was still around, but I’m so grateful for the music Aimee put out into the world. 

We discussed possible songs for Lestat to cover for quite a while. While we ended up going with [Billy Idol’s] “Dancing With Myself,” I was really pushing for “Wolf Like Me” at the same time. They have very similar tempos, similar backbeats, 3-chord structures… Of course, “Wolf Like Me” is darker, and lyrically more involved than “DWM,” and I guess I’d written enough darker, more lyrically involved songs by the time we needed to choose a cover.

I could never quite get Rolin Jones on board with thinking of Arctic Monkeys as another big influence for Lestat’s music. But for me, their style, especially on songs like this one, gets closest to what I was thinking of when we were initially crafting Lestat’s musical persona and looking for current artists as references. I heard an interview once with Alex Turner, where he carried on and on about the nap he had just taken. And he was lightly sardonic, and endlessly clever, and he answered the superficial questions he was being asked with the kind of caustic humor we see Lestat serving up to Daniel Molloy in our show.

A song from one of our Vampire Lestat co-stars! The way I anticipated græ in 2020 — I can’t remember the last time I was so excited about an album coming out. And the music video for this song! Moses [who plays Louis’ lawyer/partner, Lemuel, this season] is a genius. And maybe a real vampire? I don’t think he’s aged in the last 10 years. Or maybe he’s Benjamin Buttoning? What a voice…

Karen O’s live performances [were another] reference for Lestat. Absolutely fearless, totally in control of how out of control she was, great moves. The band made the kind of rock ’n’ roll that was off-kilter enough to set it apart from other bands in the 2000s in a way I wanted to emulate for several of Lestat’s songs.

Radiohead is one of my favorite bands of all time. I was lucky enough to play in another band (Other Lives) that supported Radiohead in 2012 for part of their King Of Limbs tour. [On it,] they were determined to play every song they’d ever released, at least once. The first time we ran into Thom Yorke backstage, he told us he had a notebook with an 80-song setlist he was trying to sort through.

I would watch every show, but I would also watch every soundcheck, which were like private mini-concerts in themselves. I remember [the band playing] “The National Anthem” at soundcheck, and how electrifying it was… and how I pinched myself when they followed it with “Paranoid Android,” and then “Myxomatosis,” in sound check. Radiohead is an undeniable influence on my songwriting, so while I can’t point to any specific Lestat musical moments, I’m sure you could find their DNA all over these vampire songs.

I’m realizing that a lot of the songs I put on this playlist are tied to my love for their music videos, and that includes “Papi Pacify.” The song itself is incredibly sensual, between Twigs’ breathy yearning and Arca’s shadowy, flickering production. The music video on top of that is one of the sexiest things I’ve ever seen in my life, and I wanted to try and bring that kind of extreme sensuality to as much of Lestat’s music as I could.

The first time I heard “Jasmine,” it changed what I knew to be possible in modern songwriting and production. “Wait, you can do that? And that? And that? And how did they do that? And that? AND THAT?”

I listened to the leaked 2013 Jai Paul album more than any album that year, and for years to come. It’s probably influenced my own songwriting in the last 10 years more than any other album. I think Lestat’s song “The Loneliness” owes a lot to Jai Paul. Not that they necessarily sound similar, but I wouldn’t have written “The Loneliness” if I hadn’t heard Jai Paul first.

I consider “Good Luck, Babe!” a modern pop masterpiece. I think it’s tough to balance clever lyrics and heartbreak in equal measure, but this song does it effortlessly. And in a pop music world that’s increasingly algorithm-driven, Chappell Roan feels like a breeze blowing through honeysuckle.

I used “Good Luck, Babe!” as a template for one of the Lestat songs I wrote for season 3, episode 5. While I had to completely abandon it after V1 to get the song where it needed to go, that initial Chappell-esque version was really hard to make, which gave me an even deeper appreciation for how challenging it is to write something that feels accessible and catchy, without being simplistic.

Also one of my favorite music videos of the 21st century. I love the balance of quirky synths, strong melody, and danceable backbeat in “She Wants.” It feels somehow sinister and gentle, at the same time? And Metronomy’s commitment to the sonic palette of the Roland Juno-60 is the kind of cohesive device I seek out for myself, and tried to inject into Lestat’s songs as well, even across genres.

Some fans of the show have pointed out the similarities between Sam Reid and Michael Hutchence. So it seemed fitting to turn to INXS as a reference this past year. Fun fact: I was part of the Beck Record Club session for INXS’ Kick, where we covered the whole album in a day. It was f–king awesome.

Led Zeppelin-sampled drums? Check. Darker lyrical content and feel than previous releases? Check. ’90s Industrial NIN-ish production? Check. Fantastical and iconic music video from Michel Gondry? Check.

Arcade Fire’s big anthem about growing up and the loss of innocence felt just right for Lestat’s musical journey of self-discovery this season. When I was touring as part of St. Vincent, we did a handful of dates on the Neon Bible tour. This song always got such a huge reaction from the crowd — everyone singing those big ah‘s as if they’d been hired as Arcade Fire’s backup choir. It made me want to try to add some obvious sing-along moments to Lestat’s music.

I’ve watched Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World too many times to count. I always get thrown off when films and TV shows portray music being performed, and it seems like the actor doesn’t actually know how to play their instrument. Scott Pilgrim was that diamond in the desert, where all the on-camera music had clearly been managed with great care and attention. And the songs are so good!

While we were filming in Toronto, I got to know Chris Murphy — who handled all the musical coaching for Scott Pilgrim, making sure all the bands looked and sounded right on set, much like I did for our show last year — a bit. Chris helped Alison Pill learn the drum parts for Scott Pilgrim, and his son Fran helped our T.C. (Sarah Swire) learn the drum parts for The Vampire Lestat. A dynasty!

Another one of the lesser-known artists on this playlist, The Teeth were most active in the mid-to-late 2000s, when my band at the time played several shows with them, touring up and down the East Coast. And they also put on one of the best live shows I’ve ever seen — absolutely electric, while teetering on utter destruction at any second. This particular song of theirs was one of the main references for Lestat’s “Why Do I Have To Feel?” in the second episode.

And then here’s the other main reference I used for “Why Do I Have To Feel?” At first, Sam was having trouble connecting with the opening of the song and pulling off the a cappella heartache I wanted the song’s opening to capture. I asked him to think of it as an Otis Redding song, so he went off and listened to some Otis Redding. And then he said, “Ah, yep, got it.”

I essentially took guitar lessons from Keith Richards while I was writing these songs. While I’m sure I’ve heard all of their hits a lot because of their ubiquity, I wouldn’t consider myself a fan of The Stones, and I hadn’t ever spent much intentional time with their albums. But I thought, “We’re making a show about rock ’n’ roll, and who’s more rock ’n’ roll than The Stones?” So I spent a month making my way through most of their 60s and 70s output.

The more I listened to it, the more I began to understand the brilliance of the interplay between Mick and Keith, and the importance of Keith’s guitar playing — not only as counterpoint to Mick’s vocals, but as a key messenger of melody and rhythm, often establishing vocal lines before they were sang, in a way that prepares the listener to absorb the song as a whole, better than most songs can be absorbed. And I was genuinely surprised by that revelation.

And in my mind, the only possible answer to the question, “Who’s more rock ‘n’ roll than The Stones?” is Led Zeppelin. Led Zeppelin changed my little adolescent heart the way it did and still does for so many other people coming-of-age, or at least coming-of-age musically.

I think there are multiple Zeppelin-esque moments throughout the songs I wrote for Lestat, because they also evolved quite a bit stylistically over their career. I’m sure many of my guitar solos on Lestat’s songs are indebted to what I learned from Jimmy Page solos. Our song “Nothin’ To Lose” from the fourth episode is probably the most Zeppelin-influenced song in the show. 

I found this classical guitar arrangement of Ravel’s most famous pavane (performed here by guitarist Julian Bream) incredibly moving, just as I thought Lestat would. I did try to write a Lestat pavane during the songwriting process this past year, but I didn’t get very far before I abandoned it for other similar ideas that made more sense. Nevertheless, I felt the need to include both something French and something more Western classical-leaning on the playlist, because of who Lestat is, because of his past. While they don’t sound very similar, I think of this piece when I think of Lestat’s “La Fontaine De Sang.”