Arcade Fire

9,095,418 plays (291,158 listeners)

indie, indie rock, alternative, canadian, rock… see all

Montreal, Canada (2003 – present)

Arcade Fire, also known as The Arcade Fire, is an orchestral rock band which formed in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Its members are Win Butler, Régine Chassagne, Richard Reed Parry, William Butler, Tim Kingsbury, Sarah Neufeld, and Jeremy Gara. Howard Bilerman, who played drums on the album Funeral, has since moved on to other projects. Montreal percussionist Dane Mills performed on the EP and in early live shows. As of May 2005, the touring band includes horn player Pietro Amato (who is in Bell Orchestre and torngat) and violinist Owen Pallett. Pallett has also opened for their shows, appearing as the one-man band Final Fantasy.

The band’s trademark fashion is the waistcoat, giving them an air of “frumpiness”. When asked about the rumour that the band’s name refers to a fire in an arcade, Win Butler replied: “It’s not a rumour, it’s based on a story that someone told me. It’s not an actual event, but one that I took to be real. I would say that it’s probably something that the kid made up, but at the time I believed him.” Win Butler and his brother Will grew up in Texas.

Band formation

Arcade Fire formed around the husband and wife duo of Win Butler and Régine Chassagne. Joining together as recently as mid-2003, the current line-up solidified in late 2003/early 2004, when their first full-length album Funeral was recorded. Before this an eponymous EP (often referred to by fans as the Us Kids Know EP) had been sold at early shows.

Neon Bible
Arcade Fire
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Funeral
Arcade Fire
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Arcade Fire
Arcade Fire
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Arcade Fire EP
Arcade Fire
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he-war wrote:
2 hours ago

finally gave them a chance and they are good. :)

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Polyraclure wrote:
5 hours ago

"In the Backseat" has to be one of the greatest album closers of all-time. And their best song of course.

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Indexcard wrote:
5 hours ago

i like that girl violinist more then that owen pallet gaywad

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LukeM2 wrote:
yesterday evening

i don't really see how neon bible is more consistent than funeral i love neon bible but for me every song on funeral is absolutely amazing

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Polytechnic wrote:
yesterday morning

There's now an Arcade Fire google theme! http://awesomestart.com/arcadefire It's just like google.com, but it's got the arcade fire on it and you can customize all the links and stuff.

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EricMatzke wrote:
Saturday evening

Rebellion for anthem of the decade.

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R4z3 wrote:
Saturday morning

@higginst - fair enough :)

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switchpoppa wrote:
Friday evening

Alright! Montreal bands kicking it on the big stage! These guys really helped explode Montreal. Now it's such a great place to be. I'm curious what AF fans would think of this new Montreal offering.. http://www.last.fm/music/the+navajo+project

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higginst wrote:
Friday evening

because gracenotes tags Funeral as "The Arcade Fire" on iTunes, but Neon Bible as just "Arcade Fire". And it shows up here, Funeral is only there at all because people bothered to change their tags.

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R4z3 wrote:
Friday afternoon

How is Neon Bible above Funeral?!?!

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kr0xx wrote:
Thursday evening

Very good music!

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PADOCTb wrote:
Thursday afternoon

Mda........ starnge music)

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rewy18 wrote:
Thursday afternoon

Why has it taken me this long to get into Arcade Fire? Why? Oh dear god why??? *runs off to the stereo to attempt to make up for lost time*

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theansweris42x wrote:
Wednesday evening

lulz, I lost about half of my AF plays after deleting "The Arcade Fire." One album would show up in WMP with "the" and the other without. wtf.

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higginst wrote:
last month

"I think last.fm are refusing to merge The Arcade Fire with Arcade Fire purely for their lulz." - yeh of course

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BoringArcade wrote:
last month

So, do we just wait? Or do we change it to "The"?

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XylophonePotato wrote:
last month

I think last.fm are refusing to merge The Arcade Fire with Arcade Fire purely for their lulz.

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jakeandlola wrote:
last month

Christ, I love coming back to this page because it's the same damn argument all the time: Funeral vs. Neon Bible, Arcade Fire vs. The Arcade Fire. Can't we talk about something different? Win Butler's sweat glands, perhaps?

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JBiiJB wrote:
last month

Agreed. I am much more partial to Neon Bible, but Funeral is just as good really. Both phenomenal albums, through and through.

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thoraxeimpales wrote:
last month

tunnels. that song all by itself makes funeral the better of the two albums. i agree neon bible is more consistent though.

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Recent Activity

crystal_smile tagged Arcade Fire with ‘canadian’ and ‘indie’. 46 minutes ago
altmann81 and stanbowles1970 added Arcade Fire to their libraries. 1 hour ago
bluelightnign tagged Arcade Fire with ‘indie rock’. 2 hours ago
themutz added Arcade Fire to themutz’s library. 3 hours ago
Byron369 tagged Arcade Fire with ‘alternative rock’ and ‘weekly top’. 4 hours ago
Achisa tagged Arcade Fire with ‘indie’. 5 hours ago
dietrisha, mountainanorak, nvec and 5 other people added Arcade Fire to their libraries. 5 hours ago
FM-MoMO tagged Arcade Fire with ‘alternative’. 10 hours ago
cna_vela, silkenbluerose, redhooker and 5 other people added Arcade Fire to their libraries. 11 hours ago
lyshia tagged Arcade Fire with ‘indie rock’. yesterday morning