When Will put away his snare drum for the potential hit single "No Cars Go", my brother pointed out how he was drumming on the stage. He was striking his drumsticks on the keyboard stand, on the wall, on the monitor speaker at the front of the stage, keeping time, as the rest of the AF were piloting our ship into starlight. "No Cars Go" features chanting at certain intervals and several powerful hooks that stay in your mind for weeks, on the subway or in your car, until you finally give in and accept it's greatness.
My enthusiam has already been echoed by the underground press in North America. The Arcade Fire has been mentioned in publications such as Chart Attack and The Montreal Mirror and had reviews in Stylus Magazine and Pop Matters.com. Being a member of the acclaimed Secret Society of Critics myself, I feel that the Arcade Fire sound something like a revamped Flaming Lips lineup with a slightly sober Neil Young on vocals, or even a Causey Way/Violent Femmes supergroup with a penchant for blending touching melodies with New Wavish guitar fuzz. Still, I believe that they are the type of band that generates followers, not one that imitates others. They are writing their own history book and I look forward to their greatest hits CD in a decade or so.
On January 21st, I saw the Arcade Fire perform live @ La Sala Rossa and was promised an interview with Win and his wife Régine, who have reportedly written over 100 songs in the past year and are anxious to begin recording a full length LP this spring. Win hails from Texas and met Régine while hunting for a drummer within the halls of McGill. They are a class act and were kind enough to respond to eleven or so of my questions. The interview was conducted via email and appears unedited for your reading pleasure.
(Above: A helmet-clad Win Butler with brother Will and wife Régine Chassagne in the background)
Jeremy Brendan:
What do you think of Montreal? What about our music scene? What interplanetary force is keeping the Arcade Fire here on the island of Montreal?
Arcade Fire (Win):
Montreal is a strange and fantastic place. We have never really been part of a music scene per say, but there are more and more fucked up pop bands poking up their heads which is kind of exciting. As long as the government accepts my application of Residency, we will be here for a while.
Régine:
I have always lived in Montreal (though I grew up on the south shore). Even when I am traveling to other great cities in the world, I still miss it. It is kind of unique in North America.
JB:
Do you see the AF going to a major label any time soon? Would you be open to signing with a smaller label (like Sub Pop, etc.)?
Win:
There is a sort of lottery mentality imbedded in the major label system. Since many of us in the band are committed to writing and performing music for our life’s work, it doesn’t necessarily make sense to take such a short sided approach. Most of my favorite bands of all time have been on major labels at least at some point, some more successfully than others, but I wouldn’t change lives with any of them, so we will have to find our own path. Sub Pop as I understand it is half owned by Warner which is the second biggest record company in the world… We just wanna take a healthy path, we are open to anything, but we are wary.
JB:
Your band has a sound that is difficult for music reviewers to pin down into a neat little package. If you could invent a name for your sound, what would it be? Do you think that classifying bands into genres take away from the music itself?
Win:
There are a few music categories I find useful in describing a particular sound (rock and roll, soul music, the Motown sound, gospel, psychedelic) Where it starts getting weak for me is hybrid stuff like folk-rock, or rap-metal, or simply meaningless invented categories like alternative or electroclash. I couldn’t necessarily mind a category to describe what we do, but I bet you 50 dollars it will end up sounding pretty lame.
JB:
With file trading being so popular and global record sales in a tailspin for the past couple of years, what is your opinion on MP3's? Will Kazaa et al. mean the end of the music industry as we know it?
Win:
Howard said to me that MP3’s have simply made it so that he has bought less shitty records, and I sort of agree. So much crap comes down the pike with some hype behind it (see Arcade Fire), or people saying this is the most amazing thing of all time, and MP3s let me hear the stuff without giving the person my money. I guess its sort of the function the radio used to play, but a lot more problematic for artists trying to make a living. I guess if you just make really good stuff, I believe people will still buy records (at least that is still true for me.)
JB:
Have you or any of your band members ever hung out in an arcade feeding tokens into a Tekken II machine until closing time?
Win:
No, but Howard owns a pinball machine, and two unnamed members of our band
own fancy video game systems, and have spent years honing their skills.
JB:
What have you been listening to lately? Which CD's or tapes are on constant rotation when the Arcade Fire bus is on the road from Maine?
Win:
I have been listening to a lot of Bob Dylan (who I tricked Richard into getting really into after years of fighting it) New Order, Echo and the Bunnymen, the first Violent Femmes record, the Smiths, Smokey Robinson. In terms of new stuff at least some of us really like Cass McCombs, the Barmitzvah Brothers, Wolf Parade, the Constantines, the Unicorns, Xiu Xiu, the last Silver Mount Zion record…
JB:
On your website, it says that you and your brother Will are both from Texas. How did living in the south influence your musical taste? Do you ever listen to country music (ie. Johnny Cash, Willy Nelson, etc.)?
Win:
I love both of those guys, but I’m not sure if its from living in the south (possibly). I don’t think becoming obsessed with the Cure in high school had anything to do with the living in Houston, it is universal to sad kids everywhere.
JB:
Are you still an American citizen? If so, do you think you're going to vote for George W. Bush in 2004? If you had to play at an inauguration ceremony, who would you like to see up at the podium as American President?
Win:
Yea, these colors don’t run. I am not voting for Bush, but I can’t say much more than that at this point. Lets exhume the body of Abraham Lincoln (it’s hard to believe that used to be the Republican Party).
JB:
How do the Arcade Fire relax and unwind after a long day of writing or performing? Do you support the Canadian Liberal government in their decision to decriminalize cannabis?
Win:
I think “decriminalizing cannabis” is just a way for cops to be able to give tickets easier, it’s a money grab. I personally am OK with it being illegal, though the situation in a place like California with their 3 strikes and you’re out policy, puts far too many drug users in prison. I’m not sure as a band how we feel about this, I’m sure some disagree.
JB:
When can we expect a new album [Ed Note: ie. LP or single] from the Arcade Fire?
Win:
You can expect a single in the next couple months. A lot of the big distributors want 3 months from the completion of the record until they release it. That means it will probably finish in early April, and it will officially be out in the states in August, but we may release it sooner in Canada.
JB:
If you had to summarize your outlook on life in eleven words or less, what would it be?
Win:
Death is real.
February will prove to be a busy month for Win & Régine. On Friday, Febuary 6th, the Arcade Fire will be appearing @ Casa Del Popolo (4873 boul. St-Laurent) with the Wrens. The week after, Friday, February 13th, they will be performing @ PAVILION (1206 boul. St-Laurent) with the Hidden Cameras. Thankfully, both of these shows are on the island of Montreal! You can pick up their self titled EP online @ Cheap Thrills. Visit the Arcade Fire official site for lyrics, MP3s, and the latest news.
