Arcade Loaf: Montreal's most operatic indie band is constantly being compared to Springsteen, but they're much closer to The Boss' more theatrical contemporary
Mike Doherty
National Post
Tuesday, March 06, 2007
The Arcade Fire's Win Bulter is finding the epic drama of his band's new album being likened to Bruce Springsteen at his most anthemic, but could the quasi-religious fervour of much of the disc be directed at a Paradise closer to …
Judging by the number of times he has been name checked in the music press in recent months, you would think Bruce Springsteen was the most important rocker on the planet. From mega-sellers (The Killers) to critical darlings (The Hold Steady), a raft of young artists is said to have been inspired by The Boss. They've either named albums after his (like Badly Drawn Boy's Born in the U.K.), used elements of his aesthetic or both.
But for all the Jersey rocker's influence, these bands and many more reach beyond Springsteen's marriage of blue-collar grit with fist-pumping anthems. Between Brooce and today's indie rockers, a large and unexpected presence looms: that of Meat Loaf.
Starting with 1977's Bat Out of Hell, the stage veteran, along with composer Jim Steinman, popularized a brand of apocalyptic, theatrical rock that is making a comeback, from Muse's universe- spanning epics to The Flaming Lips' cosmic existentialism to the dark, cinematic glam of Kasabian. Startling as it may seem, a striking comparison can be made between Meat Loaf's critically reviled debut and The Arcade Fire's brand-new Neon Bible, now receiving hosannas from congregations of zealous music writers. The similarities begin, fittingly, with The Boss.
"When I saw Springsteen at the Bottom Line in New York," recalls Steinman, "I was blown away. I remember saying to Meat Loaf, 'God, he's doing what I?m doing!' "
On 1975's Born to Run, which ends with the 10-minute Jungleland, Springsteen showcased a theatrical presentation of Americana, which he then more or less abandoned. Springsteen's label boss, Clive Davis, rejected Steinman's songs as being too bizarre, but he and Meat Loaf soldiered on. With help from producer Todd Rundgren and Springsteen's own pianist and drummer, they took operatic rock to absurd heights with Bat Out of Hell (which has since sold around 40 million copies) only to outdo themselves with1993's immensely overblown Bat Out of Hell 2.
Steinman, reached at his Connecticut home yesterday at 2:15 a.m. (like bats, he's nocturnal), may have written hits for the likes of Bonnie Tyler and Air Supply, but he's also a Wagnerian at heart who likes to challenge his audience. His modus operandi is not just to throw the kitchen sink into his work, but also to chuck the pipes in after it, set it on fire and then add strings.
You can hear elements of Bat's orchestral grandeur on Neon Bible. The New York Times' claim that "the Arcade Fire has managed to avoid any gestures toward the operatic" is belied by the album's opening song: Black Mirror sounds like the Rolling Stones' Brown Sugar as re-imagined by the Phantom of the Opera, underpinned by a menacing low rumble. You can't get much more Sturm und Drang than this.
Steinman cites "extreme passion, or fever" as a necessary element in good rock music, and the Arcade Fire's lead singer, Win Butler sings with a dramatic fervour that recalls Meat Loaf's desperate romanticism. Butler's lyrics are shot through with end-of-the-world apocalyptic imagery: "World War III, when are you coming for me?", he warbles on the eerie Windowsill.
Steinman's oeuvre looks ahead to a quasi-Biblical rock 'n' roll apocalypse: "I find heaven and hell, light and dark, to be eternally exciting conflicts," he says. "From the time I was a little kid, I loved religion for its accessories. I used to go to St. Patrick's cathedral [in New York] just to hear the music and liturgies."
Most of Neon Bible was recorded in churches outside of Montreal; what with its shivering strings, big reverb and 500-pipe church organ, the album is as gothic as the lettering on Bat Out of Hell's cover. All the same, the Arcade Fire are hardly reverent: On Saturday Night Live last month, Butler shattered an acoustic guitar.
The guitar-smashing Pete Townshend was himself an influence on Steinman: "I had never seen violence so beautifully portrayed," he says of seeing The Who for the first time. "There's a great fun in destroying things and tearing them down, and it's also politically the essence of rock 'n' roll."
Significantly, the Arcade Fire, together with bands like The Hold Steady and even The Killers, are apt to write in character, or about events outside themselves. "If I was teaching songwriting," says Steinman, "I would say: 'Stop looking inward.' I can't imagine Wagner sat down and said, 'Let me start a four-part epic cycle about my personal life buying female underwear.' He had a much different mission."
Wagner wrote about the twilight of the gods; Meat Loaf sings about "killers on the bloodshot streets," and Win Butler sings about falling bombs –it's all very dire, but it works only if you can enjoy the music viscerally. Hence the exhilarating rhythms and sweeping arrangements that accompany both Meat Loaf's finding paradise by the dashboard light and Win Butler's ode to going where No Cars Go.
Canadian musicians (aside from Celine Dion and Rush) have mostly shied away from the grandiose. Nonetheless, Bat Out of Hell first reached platinum status here, and Meat Loaf has claimed, "More people in Canada owned Bat Out of Hell than owned snowshoes" (which is not really that many, but you get the idea).
If Neon Bible's hugely uplifting closer, My Body is a Cage, with vocals by a choir of fallen angels, crashing drums that could set a whole army marching and, of course, the pipe organ to end all pipe organs, is any indication, the Arcade Fire could give Steinman a run for his money.
As for the songwriter, he played little part in this year's Bat Out of Hell "threequel," The Monster is Loose, but fear not: He's writing new songs for a musical version of the first two albums, to premiere in London in 2008, complete with 3-D animation. Steinman likens it to a musical version of last year's apocalyptic film Children of Men.
"The first review of Bat Out of Hell said I'm way over the top," he recalls. "But how are you going to see the other side if you don't go over the top?"
http://www.canada.com/nationalpost/news/artslife/story.html?id=d26b477d-3528-4d94-bcc6-dfb0a25ca7cd&k=63823&p=2
Mike Doherty
National Post
Tuesday, March 06, 2007
The Arcade Fire's Win Bulter is finding the epic drama of his band's new album being likened to Bruce Springsteen at his most anthemic, but could the quasi-religious fervour of much of the disc be directed at a Paradise closer to …
Judging by the number of times he has been name checked in the music press in recent months, you would think Bruce Springsteen was the most important rocker on the planet. From mega-sellers (The Killers) to critical darlings (The Hold Steady), a raft of young artists is said to have been inspired by The Boss. They've either named albums after his (like Badly Drawn Boy's Born in the U.K.), used elements of his aesthetic or both.
But for all the Jersey rocker's influence, these bands and many more reach beyond Springsteen's marriage of blue-collar grit with fist-pumping anthems. Between Brooce and today's indie rockers, a large and unexpected presence looms: that of Meat Loaf.
Starting with 1977's Bat Out of Hell, the stage veteran, along with composer Jim Steinman, popularized a brand of apocalyptic, theatrical rock that is making a comeback, from Muse's universe- spanning epics to The Flaming Lips' cosmic existentialism to the dark, cinematic glam of Kasabian. Startling as it may seem, a striking comparison can be made between Meat Loaf's critically reviled debut and The Arcade Fire's brand-new Neon Bible, now receiving hosannas from congregations of zealous music writers. The similarities begin, fittingly, with The Boss.
"When I saw Springsteen at the Bottom Line in New York," recalls Steinman, "I was blown away. I remember saying to Meat Loaf, 'God, he's doing what I?m doing!' "
On 1975's Born to Run, which ends with the 10-minute Jungleland, Springsteen showcased a theatrical presentation of Americana, which he then more or less abandoned. Springsteen's label boss, Clive Davis, rejected Steinman's songs as being too bizarre, but he and Meat Loaf soldiered on. With help from producer Todd Rundgren and Springsteen's own pianist and drummer, they took operatic rock to absurd heights with Bat Out of Hell (which has since sold around 40 million copies) only to outdo themselves with1993's immensely overblown Bat Out of Hell 2.
Steinman, reached at his Connecticut home yesterday at 2:15 a.m. (like bats, he's nocturnal), may have written hits for the likes of Bonnie Tyler and Air Supply, but he's also a Wagnerian at heart who likes to challenge his audience. His modus operandi is not just to throw the kitchen sink into his work, but also to chuck the pipes in after it, set it on fire and then add strings.
You can hear elements of Bat's orchestral grandeur on Neon Bible. The New York Times' claim that "the Arcade Fire has managed to avoid any gestures toward the operatic" is belied by the album's opening song: Black Mirror sounds like the Rolling Stones' Brown Sugar as re-imagined by the Phantom of the Opera, underpinned by a menacing low rumble. You can't get much more Sturm und Drang than this.
Steinman cites "extreme passion, or fever" as a necessary element in good rock music, and the Arcade Fire's lead singer, Win Butler sings with a dramatic fervour that recalls Meat Loaf's desperate romanticism. Butler's lyrics are shot through with end-of-the-world apocalyptic imagery: "World War III, when are you coming for me?", he warbles on the eerie Windowsill.
Steinman's oeuvre looks ahead to a quasi-Biblical rock 'n' roll apocalypse: "I find heaven and hell, light and dark, to be eternally exciting conflicts," he says. "From the time I was a little kid, I loved religion for its accessories. I used to go to St. Patrick's cathedral [in New York] just to hear the music and liturgies."
Most of Neon Bible was recorded in churches outside of Montreal; what with its shivering strings, big reverb and 500-pipe church organ, the album is as gothic as the lettering on Bat Out of Hell's cover. All the same, the Arcade Fire are hardly reverent: On Saturday Night Live last month, Butler shattered an acoustic guitar.
The guitar-smashing Pete Townshend was himself an influence on Steinman: "I had never seen violence so beautifully portrayed," he says of seeing The Who for the first time. "There's a great fun in destroying things and tearing them down, and it's also politically the essence of rock 'n' roll."
Significantly, the Arcade Fire, together with bands like The Hold Steady and even The Killers, are apt to write in character, or about events outside themselves. "If I was teaching songwriting," says Steinman, "I would say: 'Stop looking inward.' I can't imagine Wagner sat down and said, 'Let me start a four-part epic cycle about my personal life buying female underwear.' He had a much different mission."
Wagner wrote about the twilight of the gods; Meat Loaf sings about "killers on the bloodshot streets," and Win Butler sings about falling bombs –it's all very dire, but it works only if you can enjoy the music viscerally. Hence the exhilarating rhythms and sweeping arrangements that accompany both Meat Loaf's finding paradise by the dashboard light and Win Butler's ode to going where No Cars Go.
Canadian musicians (aside from Celine Dion and Rush) have mostly shied away from the grandiose. Nonetheless, Bat Out of Hell first reached platinum status here, and Meat Loaf has claimed, "More people in Canada owned Bat Out of Hell than owned snowshoes" (which is not really that many, but you get the idea).
If Neon Bible's hugely uplifting closer, My Body is a Cage, with vocals by a choir of fallen angels, crashing drums that could set a whole army marching and, of course, the pipe organ to end all pipe organs, is any indication, the Arcade Fire could give Steinman a run for his money.
As for the songwriter, he played little part in this year's Bat Out of Hell "threequel," The Monster is Loose, but fear not: He's writing new songs for a musical version of the first two albums, to premiere in London in 2008, complete with 3-D animation. Steinman likens it to a musical version of last year's apocalyptic film Children of Men.
"The first review of Bat Out of Hell said I'm way over the top," he recalls. "But how are you going to see the other side if you don't go over the top?"
http://www.canada.com/nationalpost/news/artslife/story.html?id=d26b477d-3528-4d94-bcc6-dfb0a25ca7cd&k=63823&p=2