ARCADE FIRE ///
TEXT CATONIA WHALEN ///
DATE AUGUST 7, 2004 ///

It may seem a tad morbid to title a debut full-length album Funeral. But after learning that among them, the band lost nine family members during the recording of their album, the inspiration for the title doesn't seem so far-fetched. The complexity in the emotionally spooky roots-pop anthems on this electrifying album from the Montreal sextet, in fact, makes the title appear slightly ironic. The energy evoked on their album and during their live show feels more like attending a baptism - the complete opposite of a funeral. It's this contrast of finality and rebirth that gives the band and their music an intense sound that seeps through every single note.

The current incarnation of the Arcade Fire came together in 2003 made up of the-now-married-couple Win Butler (vocals, guitar) and Regine Chassagne (vocals, synth, xylophone). Win had moved north from his native Texas to the laidback metropolis of Montreal in hope of putting together a band. Upon meeting the 24-year-old, 6-foot-5 frontman, you can tell that music is in his blood and is his passion. He set out to find like-minded Canadian musicians to fill out the band, which includes red-haired guitarist/accordionist Richard Reed Perry, the steady-rumbling-bass-player Tim Kingsbury and the-recording engineer-turned-beatkeeper Howard Bilerman. After putting out their own seven-track EP, the band signed to stalwart indie label Merge Records, which released Funeral in September 2004.

Like fellow whimsical and off-kilter bands such as Sparklehorse, 16 Horsepower and Mercury Rev, the Arcade Fire have learned to bind together a greater-than-life sound in their lo-fi five-minute pop symphonies. The songs are filled with roaring crescendos, rural backwoods kitsch and gothic grandeur, all delivered with simultaneous cathartic aggression and delicate tenderness. Listening to their album of emotionally-wrenching epic songs conjures thoughts of life, death, love, sorrow and other compelling emotions.

Win, where in Montreal did you meet Regine?
Win: I met Regine at McGill University. She was skipping a music program jazz class. My brother and I were listening outside the drummer rehearsal room trying to find a drummer. We didn't have any luck, so we went down to the cafeteria and saw Regine and just started talking to her. She said she didn't know any drummers, but she played some instruments and stuff. She tried to blow me off a little bit, but then I saw her singing at an art exhibition a few weeks later and I said to myself, 'I have to work with this girl.' So I kind of made her play with me.

Do you feel that the band is more like a collective, sort of like Broken Social Scene, because you have so many people playing on the album?
Win: I think that has specific connotations that I don't think
necessarily apply to us. We are all really close friends and more like a family. Calling us a collective isn't quite accurate.

Who put out your previous EP?
Win: We actually put it out ourselves and to this day, we're still folding the packaging and putting the CDs together ourselves to sell at shows.
Tim: It 's not even really officially distributed. But you can buy it from the Merge website - that's about it.
Regine: It was supposed to be a demo.
Win: Yeah, it's a demo really, but people like it and kept asking for copies of it. We've been a bit hesitant about getting distribution because we've never quite known what to do with it since it's not a real album, but it definitely documents something to a degree. It's worth being out there, but we decided to concentrate on our official album being released first and then deal with it later. It's kind of nice having it belong to us at this point - even if it is a pain in the ass to put together.

That's when you need interns.
Win: You're right. You know, Merge Records has so many interns. They even have people who fly across the country to work in their offices for free to fold things and stuff envelopes for four months.

How did you hook up with Merge?
Win: We just sent them recordings. Howard had known Mac McCaughan and Laura Ballance from their days in Superchunk when they played up in Montreal. We sent them some rough music from the new record, and they were really into it.

Did you send to other labels?
Win: We were talking to a few labels, but Merge was the one we felt most comfortable with once we actually met the people. There was a lot of anxiety built up when we were doing everything ourselves. And once you line yourself up with another group of people you want to make sure it's the right fit.

The album is little subtler than your rambunctious live show. Did you intentionally make the recording a little more somber?
Howard: I think your concerns in the studio are slightly different then your concerns onstage.
Regine: Some things that look really good onstage and seem great at the time are not the same when just listening to it. It
doesn't quite match up. They are two totally different things. Sometimes you go see a show and the band plays exactly like the album and it's kind of boring.
Tim: At this point, we're not really equipped to play it how it sounds on the record, either.
Win: There's a different energy when we are playing live.
Regine: And we have a bit of a weird sound to recreate live. And sometimes you show up at a venue and the sound guy will say, 'What's that? Violins, accordion, xylophone...what do I do with all that?'

Do you find songwriting cathartic?
Win: For me it's an ingrained part of my lifestyle. It wasn't even really a choice. It's part of my life and it's instinctual. It's just something that happens and has happened consistently since I was about 15 years old, when I didn't want to do my homework or I was trying to find some way to forget about being unhappy about stuff.
Regine: For me it's kind of the opposite. I never want to write things that are personal, but I'm always writing things that are super-personal. I'm always fighting myself with that and then a song comes out of that.

Why did you choose to self-produce the album?
Win: Howard is a recording engineer. And if you hear the EP compared to the album, you hear a real difference in the sound.
Regine: The EP was basically recorded in a barn by ourselves.
Win: And we could say, 'Oh, let's put this microphone in a barrel and see how it sounds.' Certain things about that are cool. But sometimes things can suffer from that too.
Howard: And then I came in and said, 'You can't put a microphone in a barrel!'
All: (laughter)
Win: But we end up creating some unconventional recording sounds on the album.
Howard: Yeah, I went away for a week and gave them the keys to the studio.
Win: On the song "Haiti", the guitar sound came about because Richard accidentally had the mic behind the piano that was on instead -
Regine: And we said, 'Wow, the guitar sounds so good! What's going on? Just record it!'
Win: There was a lot of that stuff.
Howard: When I was recording the drum take for "Rebellion (Lies)", Richard was engineering. We'd worked for about two hours and said, 'That's the take.' And then we came back in to listen to it and thought something was horribly wrong. And Richard didn't record the overheads, so it was just the closed mic of the snare. But it forced a drum sound that we would have never tried to get if we were trying to do things the right way.

Can you tell me some of the influences that inspired you to create music?
Win: In high school I listened to almost exclusively the Cure - early Cure stuff. Also Neil Young and Bob Dylan.
Tim: When we tour, the only two things that can be put in the CD player that everyone can agree on is New Order and Bob Dylan.
Regine: In high school I was listening to classical, jazz, Jimi Hendrix and the Beatles, as well as a Genesis phase - the Peter Gabriel-era Genesis.

Once the album comes out, you're going to tour. What bands would you like to tour with?
Win: We're probably going to do a tour with the Hidden Cameras in November.
Regine: We did a tour with the Unicorns and it was so great!
Win: That was not necessarily an obvious musical match, but it was fun and we looked out for each other. It's hard to tell who to tour with until you meet the people. There are certain bands that you like their music but it might not be the right fit. We have friends in a band called Wolf Parade from Montreal who just signed with Sub Pop. We'd like to tour with them. They just finished opening for Modest Mouse on their last North American tour. ///