In the insular world of indie rock, sometimes all press is bad press. Hype, a traditional friend to artists of all stripes, can turn dangerous, and "it" bands of the moment are often resigned to a certain fate. But for all the Jets, Razorlights or Killers, there is at least one Walkmen ñ a band that perseveres under the overwhelming glow of faint critical praise.

In the case of the Arcade Fire, accolades for their 2004 debut Funeral continue to mount up, but they are a good ways off from their own iPod commercial and the excitement surrounding the band seems to be unusually genuine. That may be because, as the Arcade Fire's Win Butler explained to Junkmedia recently, "I don't think there's ever a time where people writing music from their hearts is considered passÈ."

I heard that you guys were resting in Maine.

Yeah my family has a kind of an old farmhouse here. We're just practicing in the living room now. There's an old piano. And we're filming a music video.

What's it like? Ever think about recording there?

It's not winterized. So we're chopping a lot of wood. It hasn't been fixed up too much. It's been in my family since the 1840s or something like that. There are four rooms. We actually recorded an EP here a few years ago - set up the barn for it. But now we're just writing songs, not really thinking about recording.

It was a lot of fun - but I could probably only do something like that once in a while.

I saw you got a great write-up in the New York Times.

Yeah they wanted to hang out with us one day [during CMJ], so they took us to the Russian baths. And they paid for it, which was pretty amazing. Around here, I don't think anyone could care less.

When you were coming up in Montreal, what was it that really helped break you? I mean, was there a show that really helped gain momentum for you?

I think a lot of times when a band breaks, when people start to hear about them, it seems like it's really overnight. But it's usually not the case. For us, part of it was we put out this demo - that wasn't the greatest recording in the world - but it just spread. I was really surprised. I mean, just having a recording, people pass it around and it's amazing how many people hear it. That opens up a lot of opportunities to play shows. We had a couple really great shows early on too; we played with some of the Three Gut bands like The Constantines and Jim Guthrie in Toronto. That exposed us to a really good group of people. And in Montreal we just play shows all the time. I guess it's word of mouth and playing live a lot. Now with this record with Merge, our first proper release, we get the college radio stations and some radio play, so the word can spread a lot faster.

Now that the word is spreading faster, and you're heating up in the States, do you think you might have to move there full time at some point? New York? Hollywood? Something like that?

Not really. There wouldn't be much reason. Two of us are dual citizens, two of us are U.S. citizens, and the rest are Canadians. So I guess we could really go wherever we want. But I kind of imagine keeping Montreal as sort of a home base. That's where I've been the last four years and that's where my wife, Regine, is from. But we won't be back there for at least the next six months.

So how did you end up in Montreal?

I had been in New York and wanted to get out of there. Concordia was a school that let me apply late, because they don't have the most stringent policies ñ they took my late application. And I also got to transfer some credits over.

What's your degree in?

Religious studies.

Do you think that comes through in your music? The religious aspect?

I was exposed to a lot of religious music growing up, and Regine used to have to play the organ in Catholic Church. I think, musically, it must rub off a little bit.

Back to Montreal. The scene is really growing there now, with you guys and the Unicorns, all the bands on ConstellationÖ Wolf Parade is getting a lot of attention...

The way it works in my experience, wherever there aren't those music industry hawks, wherever people aren't just walking around trying to "make it," the quality of music is generally ten times higher. Then something interesting happens, and everyone gathers around, and then this crap comes out, and then it's the new Seattle.

Wherever people are left alone to make music, that's where the best music is coming from. It's just if there are a few good bands coming out then it's like... you know, Daytona Beach is the new Seattle, or whatever. And then the scene just churns out bands of a lower caliber. But Les Georges Leningrad, The Unicorns and Wolf Parade... there are a lot of good bands in Montreal. We played with Wolf Parade on the first shows they ever played, and I was totally excited about that. Actually Dan from that band used to actually play bass with us. And the Unicorns are terrific; we've toured with them. There are definitely some good bands in Montreal.

Funeral has a pretty unique sound. It's almost instantly recognizable as an Arcade Fire sound. Is that something that you tried for intentionally?

We get compared to a lot of stuff actually. People will always try to simplify things with comparisons like that. Our sound just comes from us playing together a lot. It really works for some people to set up these limitations, and say, "we're going to sound like this, we just need synthesizers, and we'll sound this way." For better or worse, this band functions with whatever sounds we can come up with, and then we try to make them sound good. That is instead of starting with an aesthetic and working outwards.

I'm not of the opinion that you can choose your influences. For authentic music, you can't pick and choose what you're influenced by. You know, if you accidentally listen to too much Blues Traveler, that's probably what will come out in your music. I don't necessarily think you can just say, "I'm influenced by New Order and that's it."

I mean I don't think the Beatles said, "We're just going to sound like Buddy Holly." I think they just liked Buddy Holly a lot, and when they were learning their instruments they tried to play Buddy Holly songs. And very quickly, they no longer sounded like Buddy Holly, because they weren't going for that - it just crept into their music. You can't deny their early stuff sounds a lot like Buddy Holly, but you can tell they never came out with the idea that "we want to sound like Buddy Holly..."

What you're saying is that it's an honesty thing... They weren't trying to be something they weren't.

Yeah, definitely.

Tell me about "Neighborhoods #1," "2," "3," and "4." Is it conceptual? Or are they different stories?

The word "Neighborhood" is in each of the songs because they are thematically similar. The songs are talking about the relationships that you don't choose, and the complexities of those relationships. We didn't start with that theme, but we wrote them and saw they had that in common.

A lot of the songs get back to families. In the band, you are married to the other lead singer and your brother plays percussion. What is that like?

The romance between Regine and I was kind of founded on us playing together, it's interlinked. We both care a lot about music and our romantic relationship blossomed with our creative partnership. It's like running a business with your wife. It's difficult, but I don't think we could do it any other way. And with my little brother, Will, we have the exact same influences. I don't mean only musically, but everything. It's just natural and easy to play together.

Who writes the songs? Does Regine write the songs she sings, and you write the ones you sing?

It's more complicated than that. "Laika" is maybe half me and half Regine. But musically it isn't as simple. Because we surround ourselves with music and each other, so it gets to a point where you don't know where anything came from.

There is something about your music that has really caught on with critics and audiences. It's like there is this genuine emotion missing from most music today, and your music seems to convey that emotion.

I don't think there's ever a time where people writing music from their hearts is considered passÈ. Whenever people care about what they do, and make music like that, I think people will care.

With all the media hype, do you think the Arcade Fire will ever become passÈ? Like, say, a backlash?

I'd be glad if someone hated our music. It would be really bizarre if everyone loved us. There isn't some machine, you know, creating buzz about the band. That's the troubling thing about hearing about bands through the media. For sure it's really easy to be jaded about it. If you hear for so long a band is this great, and that great - eventually you're going to be suspicious. I mean there are only 30,000 people in the world that have heard our music. Maybe 50,000. So there's no real danger that the Arcade Fire is going to be shoved down people's throats or anything.

Joshua Errett
November 8, 2004