THE VAMPIRE LESTAT COVER ALBUM - the legendary Vampire Lestat is back and bigger and badder than ever, this time bringing a whole album of song covers ranging from classic bangers to newer fresh takes on chart hits! get your copy now, complete with a transcript of the artist's commentary on each song!
(songs I think Lestat would cover and release as an album in an attempt to re-kickstart his career and/or make some sort of dramatic statement to Louis. tracklist and "artist commentary" under the cut)
Survival - Muse
“And I’ll reveal my strength, to the whole human race, yes I am prepared, to stay alive, and I won’t forgive, and vengeance is mine, and I won’t give in, because I choose to thrive! Yeah I’m gonna win!”
Oh, I wish this song had been around back on that opening night at the Cow Palace - how apt that would have been! What a fucking anthem! They would have been rioting all night. I mean, they already were, but, like, because of the music. Not because vampires were being immolated in the middle of the crowd. Different kind of riot.
The Bitch Is Back - Elton John
“I’m a bitch, I’m a bitch, oh the bitch is back, stone cold sober as a matter of fact, I can bitch, I can bitch, ‘cause I’m better than you, it’s the way that I move, the things that I do!”
One day I want to have this play as I walk into Night Island. I’ll time it perfectly so that I throw off my coat - my denim jacket, or- oh, no, a fur! Maximum drama! - just as the chorus starts. Armand will know that I’m coming of course, but I think that’ll just make it even better. And I have good memories to this song... [muffled question] Sorry, gentlemen don’t kiss and tell, bébé. [laughter]
Everybody Loves Me - OneRepublic
"Oh my, feels just like I don’t try, look so good I might die, all I know is everybody loves me, head down, swaying to my own sound, flashes in my face now, all I know is everybody loves me”
Look, do I even need to explain this one? Didn’t think so.
Bad Reputation - Joan Jett
"I don't give a damn ‘bout my reputation, I've never been afraid of any deviation, and I don't really care if you think I'm strange, I ain't gonna change - and I'm never gonna care bout my bad reputation"
This one's fairly self-explanatory again. It could have been my personal anthem when I was mortal quite honestly. And it's an awful lot of fun to jump about and headbang to, don't you think? That's a new thing I've found out about, headbanging. People have been hopping about to music looking like fools for centuries but now there's a name for it. Fantastic.
bad guy - Billie Eilish
"I’m that bad type, make your mama sad time, make your girlfriend mad type, might seduce your dad time… I’m the bad guy. Duh.”
Creepy? Check. Sexy? Check. Tongue-in-cheek? Check check. This song was great and a lot of fun to cover.
Lover to Lover - Florence + the Machine
“I believe there’s no salvation for me now, no space among the clouds, and I feel I’m heading down, but that’s alright, that’s alright, that’s alright”
I don’t know, this one just felt very relevant. Also the piano was great to do. You might have noticed that I’ve picked a lot of songs with piano, and that’s because I bullied the studio into getting me a goooooorgeous grand piano for the recording space and I wanted to use it as much as possible!
Feeling Good - Muse
“Stars when you shine, you know how I feel, scent of the pine, you know how I feel, oh freedom is mine, and I know how I feel”
I just really like this song - I’ve done a cover of an excellent cover! Can- can you put emojis in this? Do people still use emojis? Well imagine I’ve put the shrug one. Wait, isn’t there- Daniel, Daniel, come here, isn’t there a shrug emoji made up of keyboard- [muffled words] yes! The shrug one! Yes, put that in the transcription. [ ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ ] I just like this song.
The Man - The Killers
“I got gas in the tank, I got money in the bank, I got news for you baby, you're looking at the man, I got skin in the game, I got a household name, I got news for you baby, you're looking at the man”
I feel like this one speaks for itself too. Can you put that shrug emoji thing in here again? [ ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ ] Yes!
J'ai Pas Envie - MIKA
J'ai pas envie, de faire comme si, comme les maris, qui disent oui, j'ai pas envie, j'ai pas envie, j'ai pas envie d'te faire plaisir, j'ai pas envie, j'ai pas envie, si tu m'aimes viens me le dire"
Look, I'm not going to translate the whole song for you, because it has all this clever wordplay you just totally lose in english… but the gist of it is that these two lovers are… at odds a lot. It's… it's maybe a little spiteful [laughter] but in a fun way! It's a fun song! Louis won't even be mad about it, it's MIKA.
Good Old-Fashioned Lover Boy - Queen
"When I'm not with you, think of you always (I miss those long hot summer nights), when I'm not with you, think of me always, always"
[Long pause] God, I miss Freddie.
Let 'Em Talk - Kesha
Ah, full disclosure - I put this song in purely because of the expression Louis made when I played it in the car and it got to the line “can suck my dick” and she did that popping noise… it was incredible, and I just knew I had to cover it so I could see his expression when I said that. I can’t wait to play it to him. [laughter]
So What - P!nk
"So so what, I'm still a rockstar, I got my rock moves, and I don't need you, and guess what? I'm having more fun, and now that we're done, I'm gonna show you tonight, I'm alright, I'm just fine, (and you're a tool, so)"
I'm actually a big fan of nineties and noughties female stars - all that grrrrrrrl power, it's great fun, you know? I'd say this one is fairly self-explanatory, because I am still a rockstar! This is my new album! Fuck you EMP and your sniffy little article calling me "washed up"!
Little Lion Man - Mumford & Sons
"But it was not your fault but mine, and it was your heart on the line, I really fucked it up this time, didn't I my dear?"
This one could be self-deprecating, but it's also very vindictively angry at the same time, and that's a combination I definitely get. Like, oh, it's my fault, isn't it? It's my fucking fault again, what a surprise. Perhaps "learn from your mother or you'll spend your days biting your own neck" is a little on the nose… [muffled words] you've read my books, right? [muffled words] Good, good.
Missy - The Airbourne Toxic Event
"But I swear there's still some good in me, I think if you'd stuck around you'd see, all the botched attempts at integrity I once had"
Oh, I was feeling philosophical when I picked this one. No, philosophical isn't the right word… melancholy? Do people still use that word? "I swear I swear I swear I'll never get sad" is both furiously defiant and yet so self-defeatingly ironic. [Exasperated noise] Enough of that. Next!
Please Don't Leave Me - P!nk
"I don't know if I can yell any louder, how many times have I kicked you out of here, or said something insulting? I can be so mean when I wanna be, I am capable of nearly anything, when my heart is broken… (please, please don't leave me)"
Oh, we’re… we’re getting to this section now. [clearing throat] Well, I have to make up for that sucking dick line, don’t I? Get a bit vulnerable. Oh God, why did I decide to do this bit? [muffled words] [bad chicago accent] But why buy the cow? Because you love him, you really do. [sigh, laughter]
Next To Me - Imagine Dragons
"Oh, I always let you down, shattered on the ground, still I find you there, next to me, and oh, the stupid things I do, I'm far from good it's true, still I find you, next to me"
Why did I- I don’t remember putting so many of these ones in.
Run To You - Pentatonix
"I've been settling scores, I've been fighting so long, but I've lost your war, and our kingdom is gone... how shall I win back your heart which was mine? I have broken bones and tattered clothes, I've run out of time"
[Sigh] [clears throat] Yeah. I think we can move onto the next one.
Love of My Life - Queen
“Love of my life, don't leave me, you've stolen my love, you now desert me, love of my life, can't you see? Bring it back, bring it back, don't take it away from me, because you don't know, what it means to me”
I play this one sometimes on my baby grand when we've had a fight, and it's impossible for him to stay angry. He's a sucker for this sort of… formality in romance. God, I wish I'd realised that earlier. If I'd written him a letter in fancy copperplate script with scented paper and enclosed rose petals politely requesting him to bend me over his desk back in the day, it might not have taken two centuries of mutual blue balls for us to figure our shit out. Ah well, live and learn… as it were. [muffled words] Look, I did a whole bunch of vulnerable songs! Now I get to make sex jokes! [laughter] oh fuck off.
I'm always so bewildered when people write Louis as a total babe in the woods, especially about sex, because like... he's never gone into the ground, he has lived amongst mortals for centuries - it's canon that he lived in the gay quarter of san francisco in the sixties - and you're trying to tell me he doesn't know just as much about the world as any of the others? that he doesn't have a thorough understanding, at least theoretically, of how to bone down with another dude??? please.
jess i did the greek gods uquiz and this is how I learnt that lestat is a villain. how long have u been posting vc dead disasters stuff cause all I got from that was that he's some kinda antagonistic idiot. this is what i get for engaging w media thru thumblr fandom osmosis
this is so hilarious omg because uhhh... he’s both? like both of those takes are 100% Valid and Accurate, it just depends on which books you’ve read.
IWTV is from Louis’ POV, and when he gives his interview he definitely sees Lestat as the villain of his story, if one that he can’t help but love in a very anguished and deeply embarrassing way. and then the next two books have Lestat as the narrator, and he presents himself very much as a villain, but only so far as villain means “very sexy person who does bad things, but I didn’t CHOOSE to be a monster, and actually I’m deeply sympathetic and you should love me despite it all, oh god, please love me Louis, did I mention I’m very sexy? please focus on that rather than my trauma”
basically in IWTV he’s a romantic byronic villain who gets his tragic comeuppance. and then in the two other books in the trilogy he’s a “ “ villain ” ” who’s just sort of floundering through his own story with zero control or plan, and literally everyone who encounters him thinks he’s an antagonistic idiot lmao. so he’s both, but antagonistic idiot is more fun, so that’s how most people focus on him I think?
a lot of the dissonance in how he’s presented on the sliding scale of “actual villain” to “antagonistic idiot” comes from the fact that for the OG trilogy, AR really leans into the super interesting idea of unreliable narrators exiting within their fictional world working with their own agenda - so the Louis and Lestat of IWTV (Louis’ 10 hour rant on how much both of his ex husbands fucking suck and not in the good way) are quite different to the Louis and Lestat of TVL and QOTD (Lestat’s “Here’s My Tragic Backstory Baby Please Take Me Back” and “The Trauma Conga Line Continues” books respectively) - which means we have to constantly question which author is more reliable, what were their agendas in presenting each other in this way, and even what did Daniel’s poor editor cut from the 10+ hours of tape Daniel sent him from that evening??? was Louis ever really fully in control of his story and what got published about him???? did Louis KNOW his story was going to be published and if so does that change his motivations in telling Daniel his life story??? like did he deliberately present Lestat as a villain to goad him into coming out of hiding and- and I’M GONNA STOP NOW BEFORE I WRITE A WHOLE ESSAY ON THIS BUT IT’S ACTUALLY VERY COOL AS A CONCEPT.
arguably he’s most villainous in the post-trilogy books because he become a totally unchecked power hungry egomaniac rapist monster with no weaknesses who the author refuses to accept is truly reprehensible and nothing like the Real Lestat but we don’t talk about that!!!!
you know what we don't talk about enough? the fact that Lestat rips off his shirt like two minutes into the cow palace concert. on its own it's very entertaining and #classicLestat but what's funnier is that he never mentions putting any more clothes on after that? so as far as we know he goes through most of the performance, the riot, the car chase, the car crash, and the journey back to the mansion WITH NO SHIRT. just... totally tits out.
meanwhile Louis gets dragged through the rioting crowd and squashed in the back seat and trapped in the car as it explodes and Lestat notes later back at the mansion that 'somehow' his clothes are still absolutely fucking immaculate??
Lestat sure talks a lot of shit for a guy whose only friends are his mother, his husband, and the teenager he accidentally made his nemesis two hundred years ago
