August 14, 2011 21:28

Arcade Fire: 'Rock'n'roll is almost the most conservative form of performance art'

Win Butler also says he doesn't buy into suggestions that there's nothing left to explore in rock music

Photo Gallery: Arcade Fire
Photo: Phil Wallis

Arcade Fire have said they don't accept the idea that there is nothing left to explore within rock'n'roll music.

Speaking to The Daily Telegraph, Butler said he believed there was lots of unexplored territory within the genre and that there are still "many sounds to make".

He said:

A lot of people get really stuck in this idea that everything's been done, and there’s nowhere left to go. Rock 'n' roll is almost the most conservative form of performance art: you play your guitar, these are the moves, this is what the songs are about, and this is the energy. I always felt like there's so many sounds to make and things to talk about in songs. There's more to life than 'I love you baby, la, la, la'

He continued:

I approach it more like film-making: you would never say every film has been made. You just tell another story. I thought I would try and talk directly about common experiences that aren’t that cool to talk about, which is the starting place for a lot of the art we do.

Butler also revealed that the band, who have been working on their fourth studio album over the past few months, don't try and write music with the audience in mind.

He added:

We don’t think about our audience when we’re making music, it's a selfish impulse. But when we’re putting it out in the world, I want it to be of service. People can do a lot of great things when they're exposed to the right stuff. We’ve been on the other side, going to concerts since we were kids, buying records, and the bands that made it through the suburbs are part of the reason we ended up being artists.

Arcade Fire play shows in Manchester and Edinburgh at the end of this month.

Video: Arcade Fire Backstage At Hyde Park 2011

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