Introduction
Christopher William "Chris" Tomson (born March 6, 1984) is an American drummer, singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, best known for being the drummer for New York based indie rock band Vampire Weekend. He is also the lead vocalist and guitarist for side project Dams of the West, for which he writes and records the majority of its music.
Background
Tomson grew up on a farm in the Imlaystown section of Upper Freehold Township, New Jersey, and later recorded parts of the group's first album there. His father is an engineer whose family is of Irish and Ukrainian heritage (he studied abroad in Ireland in college). His mother is an administrator whose family is of English and German heritage. His full name is Christopher William Tomson. He graduated from the Peddie School as salutatorian and then Columbia University where he studied economics and music. He is an avid football fan and enjoys photography as well. His favorite football club is Tottenham Hotspur. He is also a huge fan of Phish, The Band, and the Grateful Dead. He now lives in the Greenpoint neighborhood of Brooklyn. In 2008 Tomson was involved in a hit-and-run incident in London after the Shockwaves NME awards. He was taken to hospital to be treated for neck injuries but was released on February 29 with no notable injuries.
Musical career
Prior to forming Vampire Weekend, Tomson played with Ezra Koenig in the "serious" rap group called L’Homme Run.
Tomson met the members of Vampire Weekend while attending Columbia University—he took music classes with Rostam Batmanglij and started the group in their senior year. The name of the group comes from the movie of the same name that Ezra Koenig and his friends made over summer vacation.They self-produced their first album after graduation while concurrently working full-time jobs (Tomson worked as an archivist for a record label). Their second album, Contra, which came out in January 2010 topped the charts in the UK, US, Australia and Canada, and was also self-produced.