Arcade Fire's Butler says band not planning long break before starting on new CD
By Nick Patch, The Canadian Press – 3 days ago
TORONTO — Arcade Fire is facing a busy season of headlining sizzling summer festivals and globe-trotting gigs, but multi-instrumentalist Will Butler says the band isn't planning on taking a lengthy break before beginning work on a follow-up to "The Suburbs."
There was a three-year gap between each of the beloved band's first three records, and while Butler makes no promises about when another record will surface, he says the Grammy-winning Montreal rockers aren't planning a long vacation after wrapping their trek in September.
"Normally we'd take a pretty big break after touring — I mean, after the 'Neon Bible' tour, we took a substantial break — but this, we paced ourselves a little better on this tour," he said in a telephone interview on Thursday.
"So I don't think we're going to be quite so burned out. I mean, there's still months left to go on the road, but I think we'll be more fit to hop back into work quicker."
Butler says he has "no idea" what shape the band's next project might take, but expectations will certainly be high after the group's celebrated third record.
"The Suburbs" opened at No. 1 on the charts in Canada, the U.S., the U.K. and elsewhere and was granted a rapturous reception from rock critics around the world.
The record will be re-released as a CD/DVD on August 2 with two new tracks as well as the Spike Jonze-directed short film, "Scenes from the Suburbs," which is being featured at this week's CFC Worldwide Short Films Festival in Toronto.
Of course, "The Suburbs" also went on to win the top prize at February's Grammy Awards: album of the year.
The band was obviously happy, and the Texas-raised Butler — whose brother, Win, fronts the group — said his parents were just as elated.
"They were really thrilled," said Butler, who noted that his folks were in attendance at the L.A. gala.
The honour somehow seemed even more surprising given the fact that the band had lost out earlier that day in a somewhat lesser category, surrendering alternative music album of the year to the garage-blues duo the Black Keys.
But Butler said he wasn't discouraged at the time.
"I actually thought it made our chances go up. 'Cause I mean — no offence to the Black Keys, because I really like them, and they had a really good album — but we probably should have won the alternative category," he said, laughing.
"And so when that happened, I was like: 'Oh, well, we'll probably win a Grammy.'
"But yeah, it was kind of the best of both worlds."
By Nick Patch, The Canadian Press – 3 days ago
TORONTO — Arcade Fire is facing a busy season of headlining sizzling summer festivals and globe-trotting gigs, but multi-instrumentalist Will Butler says the band isn't planning on taking a lengthy break before beginning work on a follow-up to "The Suburbs."
There was a three-year gap between each of the beloved band's first three records, and while Butler makes no promises about when another record will surface, he says the Grammy-winning Montreal rockers aren't planning a long vacation after wrapping their trek in September.
"Normally we'd take a pretty big break after touring — I mean, after the 'Neon Bible' tour, we took a substantial break — but this, we paced ourselves a little better on this tour," he said in a telephone interview on Thursday.
"So I don't think we're going to be quite so burned out. I mean, there's still months left to go on the road, but I think we'll be more fit to hop back into work quicker."
Butler says he has "no idea" what shape the band's next project might take, but expectations will certainly be high after the group's celebrated third record.
"The Suburbs" opened at No. 1 on the charts in Canada, the U.S., the U.K. and elsewhere and was granted a rapturous reception from rock critics around the world.
The record will be re-released as a CD/DVD on August 2 with two new tracks as well as the Spike Jonze-directed short film, "Scenes from the Suburbs," which is being featured at this week's CFC Worldwide Short Films Festival in Toronto.
Of course, "The Suburbs" also went on to win the top prize at February's Grammy Awards: album of the year.
The band was obviously happy, and the Texas-raised Butler — whose brother, Win, fronts the group — said his parents were just as elated.
"They were really thrilled," said Butler, who noted that his folks were in attendance at the L.A. gala.
The honour somehow seemed even more surprising given the fact that the band had lost out earlier that day in a somewhat lesser category, surrendering alternative music album of the year to the garage-blues duo the Black Keys.
But Butler said he wasn't discouraged at the time.
"I actually thought it made our chances go up. 'Cause I mean — no offence to the Black Keys, because I really like them, and they had a really good album — but we probably should have won the alternative category," he said, laughing.
"And so when that happened, I was like: 'Oh, well, we'll probably win a Grammy.'
"But yeah, it was kind of the best of both worlds."
