Arcade Fire <arcademen>

Oxegen '072/22/07
 
The Arcade Fire have requested to play at this years festival and it will be the only Irish festival they play this year
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Funeral10/8/06
 
Their first full-length album, Funeral, debuted in September 2004 in the USA and in February 2005 in the UK, and was very highly acclaimed by critics [2]. The title of the debut album was chosen because of the deaths of several relatives of band members during recording. These events created a somber atmosphere which influenced songs such as "Une ann�e sans lumi�re" ("A Year without Light"), "In the Backseat", and "Haiti", Chassagne's elegy to her lost homeland.

Without a major label backing, the success of the band and the album Funeral has been acclaimed as an Internet phenomenon. After a 9.7 rating from Pitchfork, Merge Records sold out their inventory of Funeral and it became the label's first album in the Billboard 200 chart.[3] An early tip from David Bowie was also influential. The band booked small clubs for their 2004 tour but growing interest forced many venue changes, far beyond the band's expectations, and continued internationally into mid-2005 throughout the United States, Canada, Europe, and the SummerSonic Festival in Japan. Taking much of the summer of 2005 off, the band made three key festival appearances at the Coachella Music Festival, the Sasquatch! Music Festival, and Lollapalooza. Funeral made many top ten album lists for 2004, with Pitchfork, Filter and No Ripcord crowning it the album of the year. With the release of Funeral in 2005 in the UK, Japan and Australia, the Arcade Fire also made many top lists for 2005. The MTV2 2005 Review hosted by Zane Lowe named Funeral Album of the Year, and NME named Funeral Number 2[1] in their list of 2005's best albums and "Rebellion (Lies)" the best track. By November 2005, Funeral had gone gold in both Canada and the UK and sold in excess of half a million copies worldwide [4], a phenomenal number for an independent release with minimal television or radio exposure. It has also surpassed Neutral Milk Hotel's In the Aeroplane Over the Sea as the biggest selling Merge Records album to date.


The Arcade Fire on the cover of the Canadian edition of Time Magazine, April 4, 2005.The Arcade Fire was featured on the April 4, 2005 cover of Time Magazine's Canadian edition, and hailed as a band who "helped put Canadian music on the world map". On May 1, 2005, the band performed to approximately 15,000 fans at the Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival; their performance is often viewed as the highlight of Coachella 2005. In May 2005, the band signed a short-term publishing contract with EMI for Funeral and in June, the band released a new single, "Cold Wind", on Six Feet Under, Vol. 2: Everything Ends, the second soundtrack album to the popular HBO series Six Feet Under. The BBC used the track "Wake Up" on an advertisement for their autumn 2005 season and the tracks "Rebellion (Lies)" and "Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels)" on adverts in January 2006. On September 9, 2005, the band appeared on the UK/US TV special Fashion Rocks, where David Bowie joined them for "Wake Up". This recording, as well as recordings by the collaboration of Bowie's "Life on Mars" and "Five Years", were made available on the iTunes Music Store in a virtual live EP. The same trip to New York City took them to the Late Show with David Letterman and a concert in Central Park. The Central Park Show had a surprise appearance by Bowie, and capped a great touring season for the band. On September 11, 2005, The Arcade Fire appeared on the long-running BBC music series Top of the Pops, performing "Rebellion (Lies)" - on what was one of the band's first mainstream UK television appearances. The band also performed to a TV audience in Paris for Canal +, and the show was later screened on UK television channel, Channel 4. The band has scored two Number One songs on MTV2(UK)NME CHART SHOW, with "Neighborhood #3 (Power Out)" and a three week run with "Wake Up". However this followed Rough Trade Records (the label who distributes Arcade Fire's music in the UK) deciding at the last minute not to release "Wake Up
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Band Formation9/11/06
 
The Arcade Fire formed around the husband and wife duo of Win Butler and R�gine Chassagne. Starting in mid-2003, the current lineup 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. The EP was subsequently remastered and given a full release once the band started becoming more prominent. The Arcade Fire is known for its enthralling live performances, as well as its use of a large number of musical instruments. In addition to mainstays guitar, drums, and bass guitar, members play piano, violin, viola, double bass, xylophone, keyboard, French horn, accordion, and harp. With several able musicians, The Arcade Fire takes most of its instrumental diversity on tour and band members switch instrumental duties throughout their shows. The number of instruments, along with a wide set of musical influences has provided a substantial number of resources on which to draw from during the recording process. The promise showed by the band in its live shows allowed it to land a record contract with the independent record label Merge Records.

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