"Arcade Fire"

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Subject to change.

Hey, Sean.

Sean.

Yeah, go ahead.

You know that what's been really, I think, catching people off guard is some of our intros.

No, well, no, some of our intros because they've've been... Welcome to Smartless.
Smart. Less.
Smart. Less.
Smart. Less.
Hi, everybody. Hi, gents.
I'm feeling particularly lucky this morning and fortunate. Just, you know, walking to this room with my laptop knowing that— Me too.
Which just—we're so— Me too. It's embarrassingly light-lifting what we do here.
We get to just open up our laptops and talk to people we want to talk to that you'd otherwise have to wait in a long line, a long autograph line to speak to. I also feel very fortunate today.
I was having, I'm going to be real with you guys. Uh-oh.
I was having a tough morning. Music cue.
Uh-oh. Tell me about the tough morning.
I was just having, just everything that's going on, and I was just having a very tough morning. And I know that we always start jokey, and people don't want to listen to it, but I was...
About the world, you mean? I'm going to be completely honest. I was having a very tough morning today.
Did you stumble across a newspaper? I made that mistake a few times recently. Yeah.
He loves Cartoon Network, Sean. I know.
And every once in a while, someone will leave the TV on CNN. I feel...
Yeah, I can't. I don't know.
It was that and just life and everything. Well, what's the main, what's the headline? I got a lot to choose from.
Jason and I had a long conversation yesterday about it. And I was just like, I woke up today and I, again, I think I mentioned it the other day.
I'm a naturally optimistic person. And I've been, it's been tough.
And Amy said to me, my ex-wife Amy said, should you been, how are you feeling? you seem and I've been, it's been tough. And Amy said to me, my ex-wife Amy said, she said, you've been, how are you feeling? And I said, I was over there yesterday.
I said, I feel really irritable. And she said, you know, for guys your age, depression often manifests itself as irritability.
And I was like, it really struck with me. And I'm like, maybe I'm depressed.
You're not depressed. Am I? Well, I've been depressed and you would know it.
It's an all-encompassing weight that you just, you're constantly taking inventory and you're like, boy, there's just, it's sort of like, it's usually unsubstantiated. It's usually just kind of brought on by some sort of I don't know I'm not a scientist but I think that there's there's chemical shit and all that stuff if you're not a scientist this fucking show is over I will say that Will and then we can get light but I will say Will you do an incredible job of navigating all the things that could trip you into self-loathing um

you do a very good job without burying your head in the sand of you know you you look at those

things honestly you don't hide from them you you take them at face value you assess them um you try

to uh um uh fix them and um you you're you stay very positive also also well you you know you've

gone through these before i know like i i've seen you go through the door and it doesn't last very

I'm going you go through these before and it doesn't last very long. And everybody has these.
So you can't be up, happy, positive, all the way, all the time. I think it's normal to have these little moments and then you come out of them.
But when you're in them, you have to remember that you come out of them, that you can. Yeah, that's the tougher.
Well, thank you. Thank you both.
I love both you guys very much. And also just because things aren't perfect doesn't mean things are wrong.
Doesn't mean things are bad. It just means that's just life and we're all normal in that there's, you know, plenty of things that are pear-shaped and then there's other things that are perfectly round.
And the ratio is what you need to look at. You just described both my body parts.
Body types, body parts I keep I'll leave I'll leave you with this because our guests are probably like Jesus Christ what have we stepped into um but I was thinking like I've been really trying to do that thing of there are certain people as you guys both know in my life who have made it there's some difficulties and I'm like I've got to try to make them my guru. I have to.
I have to make them. It's the only way out.
What does that mean? That I have to, that I have to make them, that I learn a lot, that they are teaching me something. You know, Dawa, who's in our life.
Dawa said years ago, I said, I know it's really tough for you to work with this other person. She said, yeah, I was going to quit a long time ago.
And I called my dad and I said, dad, I don't know if I can work with this person. They're too tough to work with.
And her dad said to her, Adawa, how will you ever learn patience if you don't have someone to teach you? Yeah. And I thought, fuck.
And she told me that. I love that.
I couldn't stop. I was like, thank you, Adawa.
And I went to the other room and just immediately started started crying. Yeah, also you have to meet people where they are, right? So like if someone's a type A and you're not, but you just have to kind of meet them halfway, right? So about the last, as you guys know, and you guys have been on this thing with me.
Again, it's not like now for a very heavy Smartless, very special Smartless. This Thursday, Smartless.

On a very...

Takes it down.

But I've been going through a lot of stuff,

and I was in Atlanta, and I was thinking,

a lot of this stuff really kind of came to the surface,

and I was thinking about all this stuff.

And I listened to a record that really touched me,

kind of talking about Meet You Where You Are, really hit me where I was... Is it the soundtrack to willy wonka it was yeah have you heard it yeah um it was love that you were spinning vinyl down in i wish it was vinyl but i i was i was sent this record and i started listening to it from the first track all the way through it like a like you listen we used to to albums in that way.
And that's what I did with this record. And I had a, and I listened to this.
And every step of the way, every song was hitting me in this place. And I don't know if it's because where I was at.
But it really spoke to me in this way. That I've never experienced before in a first time listen to a record.
Or a song. Oh, wow.
Song by song. I was like, holy shit.

At one point, I thought I was going to have to pull over because I was so emotional. It's making me emotional thinking about it.
Wow. And I ended up reaching out to the people in this band because I was like, I have to talk to them and let them know what an impact it's had.
and this is a band that I've really admired

and listened to since the day. From the moment I first heard one note of their music, I was completely engrossed with what they were doing.
This is a band that has a lot of members in it and has had various people from time to time. But at the core are two people who, I think who met at a time in their life where they just, it seems to me, and we'll find out that they just creatively, they came together and they, it's like this combustion, like this thing happened and they just started creating incredible stuff.
Simon and Irving. They're Canadian, partially Canadian.
Garfunkel. Mostly Canadian, but...
Is this Ace of A's? They are incredible writers, incredible songwriters. They're poets.
I guess they're philosophers. Yes, I know exactly.
And they're rockers and they hit me in a way that also is, like strikes every indie rock bone in my body and I hate even putting that classification, just music bone in my body. They're the incredible, they represent one of the greatest bands today.
Keep it together, Will. It's Wynn Butler and Regine Chassain of Arcade Fire.
Of Simon and Garfunkel. There they are.
Gosh. Yeah.
Hello there, Simon. Oh my gosh, hello guys.
Yeah. Wow.
Yeah. Hi there.
Garfunkel. Art, you look amazing.
This day has been... Art looks amazing.
I didn't like... Seriously, art...
Wait, wait a minute. That new wig art is just stunning.
I have to tell you, Will... I have to tell you, of course I know who you are.
Will's like, you've got to buy this album. I bought the album.
What is that, iTunes? Yeah, exactly. It's not a buy.
You bought it? I did the same thing. Yeah, I bought it.
That's so cute. That's adorable.
But you can't buy them, right? I didn't know people did that still. That's amazing.
Well, how would I get it? I don't know. Because if you just have like Apple Music subscription.
I don't. I have to buy it.
Okay, hang on. Okay, hang on.
Go into settings. No, right.
But isn't that the way it is now? Because I was surprised. I was like, boom, there's the album.
And does this add to your library? Yes. Boom.
It was done. I didn't get charged anything.
I know. It's all the music of all recorded history for like $10 a month.
It's awesome. Oh, really? Is that why?

Is that real?

It's awesome.

And that's why touring is so huge now, right?

Because it's the only way that bands can monetize their music anymore, correct?

Aside from the piece you get from the subscription services?

Yeah, you don't really get paid for streaming unless you're Drake.

Right.

I think they pay him.

Oh, really? They worked out a deal where all the money just, yeah, we tried. The lawsuit was...
So it's merchandise and touring, right? Mostly touring, yeah. So, Wynn and Regine, I'm not allowed to tell these guys, we never tell each other who our guests are, but I needed them, a few weeks ago, I needed them to listen to your music.
Luckily, you guys got COVID. Yeah.
Because you were supposed to be on the show. I'm sorry.
I say luckily for us, not for you. Just me.
Or just you, Wynn. Yeah.
And then you guys, and so these guys had a chance to listen. And I said, somewhere down the road, this is going to come in handy.
Please listen to this record because I hope it touches you the way that it touched me. Yeah, only Stacey Abrams and Kamala Harris were the other two that we were giving a heads up.
Her record's amazing, by the way. Her voice is smooth.
It's melodic. It'll sneak up on you.
And then Stacey Abrams, this is a true story, actually writes romance novels. That one bangs.

No, but did you know that?

Stacey Abrams writes romance novels.

That's cool.

She does, on the side.

It's actually very prolific.

Yeah.

Interesting.

Now, sorry,

just so I can be clear,

Regine, I'm saying your name correct,

Regine Chassain?

Oh, yeah, Chassain.

Chassain, maybe,

Sissa?

Oh, look at you guys.

Well, she's already corrected my French is terrible. No, It was pretty good.
How do you pronounce your first name? Regine. Say it again.
Regine. Regine.
Regine. Regine.
Yeah. Say it right? All right.
Regine. Now, listen.
You try. This isn't weird at all.
This is super normal. Everyone together.
Régine.

Régine.

Régine.

Eh bien, Régine, on...

Ah!

Tu parles français?

Oui, bien sûr.

On peut parler français un petit peu.

Non, mais...

OK.

Tu parles un peu français.

Ah, ben oui.

On peut le faire en français

ou en québécois.

Oui, je suis choisi.

Je suis choisi, oui.

En bon québécois.

Oui. On va faire ça en bon...
J'ai parqué mon char, donc. Mon char.
By the way, so guys, first of all, after 10 minutes of pronouncing Regine's name and figure out Stacey Abrams and the money we don't make from streaming, welcome to SmartList. I'm so excited you guys are here.
Talk to me a little bit about, was I right? You guys came together at a time in your lives. Regine, you were already in Montreal and when you were going to McGill, is that right? I went to Sarah Lawrence College for a year.
Oh, you did? And as one does, dropped out after a year because that's sort of the move. Dude, of course.
I dropped out of Concordia in Montreal. Yeah.
I went to Concordia. Yeah, we both went to Concordia.
Did you guys drop out too? I transferred. Oh.
I dropped out of McGill. Regine dropped out of McGill.
I have a good reason. I did one better, dropped out of high school.
That's cool. What grade? Ninth, right? Just two weeks short of finishing 12th.
Yeah. Did you ever go back, GED? I went back.
I talked to the headmaster, tried to get a diploma out of him, and he asked me for a donation to the school instead. It was a shakedown.
Did they do honorary degrees for high school? Oh, that's, yeah. That's what I was lobbying for, a doctorate for high school.
That would be great. Wouldn't that be great? I want it.
Da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da. Now, where are you guys in your musical life right now? Are you in the studio recording or are you touring? Nothing.
Neither. Excellent.
You're golfing. No, no golfing.
The record just came out and we're going on tour in the fall, but we're actually kind of not working, which is for the summer. A miracle.
It's really strange. Are you guys a couple or just parts of the band together? We're a couple, yeah.

Okay, nice.

Couple of goofy kids who are just making music.

Couple of crazy kids who love music.

That's cute.

And you guys have a son.

How old is your son?

He's nine.

He's nine.

His favorite part of Lego Batman is the nine-pack joke.

No. And he was like, tell him about that.
I was like, do you have any messages? He's like, his favorite part of Lego Batman is the nine pack joke. No.

And he was like, tell him about the, I was like, do you have any messages?

He's like, the nine pack, that's really funny.

Walk us through that, Willie.

I remember because, you know, these kids watch so many like Marvel movies and he was like,

Dad, why doesn't your stomach look like the people in the movies?

And I was like, well, son.

You have to be a cartoon.

Sean's been getting in shape for a Marvel movie. Show him, Sean.
Let's see. Let's see.
Who likes cookies? Who likes cookies? How do you do that? What's the secret? Well, you start with some ice cream. Yeah.
Jason calls it my cookie pouch. Although, you know, we always say there's nothing less funny than a six-pack.
Yeah, exactly. You know what I mean be a mark of uh wealth back in the old days uh right the king arthur days like that was you didn't you didn't look uh like you were in charge or powerful or well my god you didn't go to high school i was working i was working out a lot during will and grace and jimmy bur, the director, said, you got to stop because big isn't funny.

It's true.

I've always lived by that creed.

Yeah.

Unless it's big around the waist.

Yeah.

Wait, so you guys, various colleges and transferring and quitting and whatever,

but when you find your way to Montreal.

Yeah.

I think it's Montreal.

Montreal.

Montreal.

And so you find your way to Montreal and then what?

How does it come together that you start making music

with all these Canadians?

Well, I... I...
Don't you start making music with all these Canadians? Well, I...

Don't you start going, a one and a two?

Yeah, usually someone counts it in.

Yeah, and then you just start making...

There's a lot of writing.

I dropped out of art school and started a band, as one does, and my bandmate had gone

to Concordia in Montreal because it was so cheap. It was like ridiculous.
you know,

it was like,

yeah,

yeah,

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yeah,

yeah,

yeah,

yeah,

yeah,

yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah a year to go to college, which is pretty amazing. So he was going back to school there and I sort of followed him.
I didn't know anything about Montreal or Quebec or anything. But I got there, and it was sort of like what I thought New York was going to be like.
It was like kind of the same. It's kind of the same soup as Brooklyn or something.
It's like tons of African, North African, French Caribbean. I love it.
But it was also also cheap and there was crazy art

every you know

like contemporary dance

and

cool electronic music

and everything was

at an illegal loft

and it was like

just like shit was just happening

in a really cool way

for Jason and Sean

I don't know if you guys

have ever been in

Montreal is such an incredibly

vibrant city

in a way

it's like this jewel

of North America

that doesn't

it's kind of good

that it doesn't get talked about

because it doesn't get overrun

I've got a half brother there. Hello, Derek.
Oh, you do? And sorry, where did you come from before you got to Montreal? I was born in Northern California. But my dad's from Maine and my mom's from L.A.
So I have like in New England, I've got a bunch of Maine people. So I ended up going to boarding school for the end of high school in New Hampshire.
So did Will. Yeah.
Not in New Hampshire. Where did you? North of Toronto.
Okay. I don't want to give them any credit because, you know what I mean? Yeah, fuck them, honestly.
They claim kick out. I say they asked me not to come back.
Honorary degree. Anyway, so you're from Maine in Northern California, but you find your way to Montreal, and then, Regine, you're from Montreal.
You're of Haitian descent. Your parents are Haitian immigrants.
Yes. Moved to Montreal.
Wow. From Haiti, you moved to Montreal? Were you born in Montreal or Haiti?

I was born in Montreal. Okay.
And you started making music in your head when you were really young. Is that right? That's what I read once.
Regina's by far the most accomplished musical member. I mean, she's just like one of those savant types who taught herself classical music in the basement when she was five.

Wow.

And she, like on our first record,

the first song tunnels like she started playing drums like a week before we cut that it's like no way because we didn't have a drummer at the time she's like i can play drums like you can it's like well i've never done it but let me just figure it out really quick which is like insane just insane and And like, yeah, so she's like that type of woman. I love that.
That is so. And Rajin, were you making music? I also read once that you were like making music in like shopping centers and that's how you guys met.
Is that a true story or am I mixing it up? That's kind of a mix up. But I did do a million gigs, a million different jobs, too many to remember.
I was with a person driving around in Montreal one time for like a month, and she says, you know, Regine, every time we go somewhere, you say, oh, I used to work here. Oh, I used to work there.
Oh, I worked here. Oh, yeah, I worked there too.
I was like, wait, you work everywhere. Now, were you quitting a lot or getting fired a lot? The stuff that I would quit was like telemarketing and things where I could be replaced very easily.
Yeah. Were you ever fired for anything? No.
Yeah. Yeah.
I don't quit on people. I just quit on things where I knew that it wouldn't matter.
I love that I don't quit on people. I just quit on them.
I love that. Regine, I like when I, like it just rolled off my tongue.
Regine, it was my dream my whole life to play the piano at malls. I thought you made it if you played at Nordstrom or like some kind of department store.
And so my whole life I'd be like, if I can just get a job, how great would that be? I'd just go to the mall, I'd play, I'd get a check, I'd go home. I thought you had it made.
Anyways, I ended up working. Plus you get to work at the mall.
I did that stuff. I did.
I was dressed like an elf and I played in the Hallmarks. And I also was dressed with a wedding dress that I got at the thrift store.
That's Sean's dream. You worked in the fish department.
Yeah, I sang Jazz Bossa Nova in the fish department at the grocery store opening. That's hysterical.
We got that sea bass. We got that fresh sea bass.
You know the ice scraping sort of when they move the ice around? That's hysterical. The fresh sea bass.
Go ahead, Sean. Regine, I played an elf on the Kenny Rogers Christmas tour.
Ooh. How good is that? That's the end of the story.
And it was not playing a piano. It was a keytar, right, Sean? It was a keytar.
Oh, yeah. Yeah, I was playing a keytar.
Sean, you always had that elf bod then. Yeah.
Yeah. He was coming after you now, Sean.
Go get him. They brought all the boys to the yard.
Sean is classically trained pianist. And he was a piano major in college.
Yes. And he's very musical.
We keep telling him he needs to have a keyboard while we do the show to just kind of take us. And he won't do it.
I don't know why. I know, because I got to move all this equipment over to the thing.
What do you mean all the equipment? You've got a bookshelf behind you. Can you be the fucking Paul Schaefer of podcasting? Yes.
You know what? I'm going to start doing that well. I'm going to start.
I got to move all this stuff in the living room next time. By the way, you're not moving anything.
Your husband, Scotty, does everything, so you don't even do it. Oh, my God, because we could have had like some like back and forth because, you know, there's a piano right there.
I know, that would have been great. And we will be right back.
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Hey guys, everybody should have a support system, right? Who's your support system? My support system, as you well know, talk about all the time, is Scotty. And of course, my two besties, Will and Jason.
Whenever I have a problem, an issue, I talk to them about it. And if they're not available, I will talk to a therapist.
And I've been going to therapy for a long time. And it's always great.
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That's betterhelp.com slash smartless. And now back to the show.

Now, what about your son? Is your nine-year-old musically inclined at all?

Yes. Yeah.
It's kind of scary.

Oh, really? Yeah.

Yeah, he's got all of it.

He came out gifted?

I don't know. He's just around it so much.
He lives in the studio with us

Thank you. at all? Yes.
Yeah. It's kind of scary.
Scary. Oh, really? Yeah.
Yeah, he's got it. He came out gifted? I don't know.
He's just around it so much. He lives in the studio with us, basically.
And what would his specialty be at this point? If you had to make a guess where he's going to really excel, is it going to be on a particular instrument or singing or writing? Well, he lives in New Orleans, so he's around, like people are playing drums in the street all the time. Like he's just, you know.
I'd love if you were like, we live in Montreal, But he lives in New Orleans, so he's around, like, people are playing drums in the street all the time. Like, he's just, you know.
I'd love if you were like, we live in Montreal. But he lives in New Orleans.
He moved out. He got his own apartment.
He likes to drink. Living in Montreal was really, like, messing up his drinking schedule.
Are we not in Montreal right now? No. No, we're in New Orleans.
Oh, gotcha. Okay, so you guys met,

started in Montreal.

The band started there.

Yeah. You have now

journeyed down to New Orleans.

That's where bass is.

Yeah, but we're kind of

back and forth.

We sort of do the opposite

Canadian thing

where we go north

in the summertime.

Do you take the kid with you

when you go north?

Yeah.

Yeah, yeah.

Of course.

Well, listen,

if the guy likes to drink,

he's got probably

a favorite bar he doesn't want to be away from. They're not on Ozark and leaving their kids for five years like some assholes.
You know what I mean? Listen, if the price is right, huh? I love hearing Americans say Montreal, too. It's always so amazing.
Well, it's spelled with an O, not a U. It must be hard if you're directing an episode of something to have your kid there be like,

Dad, hey, Dad, Dad, Dad.

No, exactly.

Dad, what are you doing, Dad?

Why are you killing that person?

What did that person do to you?

Although, Jason, you've had the girls there before.

When you were directing episodes, did you have?

Yeah.

You had Maple there when you were directing, right?

Yeah, but they could not care less.

It's all about what's at the craft service table. It's all about snacks.
Snacks can hold their attention. They're happy.
Otherwise— You don't have to pay for the snacks even in Hollywood. Snacks are free.
Oh, snacks are free. Well, you're paying for it.
Don't worry. But I always say—the joke I always say to my kids when I come to work is like, when they come in and they're getting ready, I'm like, do you guys love watching your dad get his makeup put on? Yeah.
In that voice. You know, we talk about this a lot, though, when it's like, you know, I'm always fascinated.
Because I knew as a kid I loved the arts and theater and acting and movies and all those kinds of things. I knew from a very young age.
And I was always like, I'm always blown away. Like, Jason, you just said Maple, just like she couldn't care less.
Like, when she gets older, is she going to be, is Maple or your son, is he going to be like, shit, I wish I would have tuned in a little bit sooner because that's really cool. They'll appreciate it later.
I doubt it. Really? I doubt it.
Yeah, it'll be, no, they don't care. They don't care.
No, they do care. These are, it's hard hard how can they possibly put it in context at this age did you care what your parents were doing when you were growing up imagine hanging out with my I'm trying to imagine hanging out with my dad at his office his office like all the time just like dad dad is your son impressed with what you guys do does he get what you guys are doing he totally gets it yeah and is he impressed does he give it up does he does he get what you guys are doing he totally

gets it yeah yeah and and is he impressed does he give it up does he does he it's kind of his too oh good yeah yeah he helps out luckily we're good it'd be really awkward if we sucked and he's like dad oh my god i want to be just like them no if he was like i have to like my parents and it's terrible would be a really messed up.

But he, what kind of music

other than arcade fire what kind of music do you think he would listen to if you were like hey put something on the record player what would he uh beastie boys he really knows no no he really understands uh music that's like really um genuine and original versus stuff that's just like crap you know crapped out to go on the radio yeah yeah yeah and he'll listen to something and he'll know this comes from here and this comes from this band and this this sound yeah he knows jamaican music he knows haitian music he knows but I think about that sometimes too because it's like

I Yeah, he knows Jamaican music. He knows Haitian music.
He knows jazz. But I think about that sometimes too because it's like, there's this stuff that you're exposed to when you're a kid that's not at all of your generation.
I was obsessed with 50s music because I heard Stand By Me when I was a little kid. I remember the first time I heard Stand By Me and I was just like, what? Like it just, cause it conjures, it's so emotionally deep in the soundscape of it.
Like the first second I heard it, like the lyrics are about the mountains crumbling to the sea. And I would imagine, you know, like your imagination is so fresh when you're then I would imagine the mountains crumbling and it just was this epic, you know, like almost like visual landscape and then so i just was really imprinted with this stuff that was not you know i was in suburban houston in like the 80s and like listening to this music from the 50s and they really like stirring my soul that 50s music is like one four or five chords every single song every song Every song, yeah.
Louie Louie, the opening of Louie Louie is the easiest way to say bump, bump, bump, bump, bump. Every song is those three chords over and over five billion songs.
I could have written that. But it ain't what you do is the way that you do it.
Regine, what kind of music, so with your background, what kind of music were you listening to when you were, like, you guys were a teenager teenagers growing up in separate places, you were in Montreal, what were you listening to? What was informing or feeding your musical appetite? What did I listen to? It's very... Roche-Voisine? Roche-Voisine? Ah, man, Roche-Voisine was on the radio, of course.
You can really escape it. I listened to classical music billy hall the first tape the first cassette i bought i had to like i i didn't have a lot of money to buy i didn't have like a collection of records i only had my grandma's records and and then when i had money i was like okay i'm gonna go buy something and i have to buy something quality because it has to last forever.
And I just, so I bought a double tape, double cassette of Billie Holiday. I was like, can't go wrong with this.
Can't go. It's like a double cassette of Billie Holiday.
I will always love this. And then the second cassette I got was Bob Marley and then Legend.
And then, but besides that, I listened to my grandmother's records.

What was the classical music that you loved the most?

Well, when I was really young,

the first piece I ever heard was a Mozart symphony number 40, I think.

The Jupiter.

The Jupiter?

It's called the Jupiter symphony, yeah. How does it go, Sean? That's the overture to Marriage of Figaro.
No, that is not. Oh, no, that's sorry.
That's the Rondo a la Turca. That's an A minor.
Yes. Oh, wait.
Thank you so you so much for... Fight.
Fight. Fight.
Fight. Fight.
Fight. I'm sorry.
The Stephanie No. 40 is like...
This is the one. So that's the one...
Oh, right. That's what the one I heard in...
When I was four years old and I got obsessed with it. Sean, apologize.
Sorry. I'm so sorry.
I started playing it that. After that, I discovered Chopin, and I was obsessed with Chopin.
Oh, wow. And after that, well, I listened to my grandmother's records, so they had, like, Beethoven.
And after that, the Smiths. Beethoven.
No, Beethoven, Bach. It was the Pixies, actually.
The Pixies. And the Pixies.
I love that. Hey, will you guys, when you're on tour and you've got your set list and you're out there and you're playing the music and you've rehearsed it a certain way, talk to us about what the process is when you guys kind of absorb the energy of the audience, the kind of mood and tone and pace of each other, and the combination of that to inform how differently you play a particular song on one night versus the next night.
And the reason I ask is because there's a similarity between actors when they do theater. You do the same material every night, but it changes every night per the audience's energy, the other actor's energy and so it'd be a completely different performance is that a signal that you guys send each other or is it something that you just kind of mutually feel can you explain that process a little bit i like this yeah sign language yeah i mean it's no it's um obviously probably not something said it's just something felt yeah No, 100%.
I mean, I always like to,

because a room always starts with a vibe

and a lot of it depends on what's happening in the news

and what people ate that day

and what country you're in.

So the audience comes in with their vibe

and you can tell a lot.

Sean's vibe is he ate everything.

Yeah. Sorry, go ahead.
Right. So he's uncomfortable.
So I'm shifty. I'm a little shifty, but I'm open.
Stuff's unbuttoned. He's uncomfortable.
Yeah. Just elfin' out, you know, on a Friday night.
What an elfie. By the way, you got that elf, bud.
We're never going to stop. Also, like poetry is like a little bit like holographic.

So like it does have

all different colors.

So like a word or a sentence can come out

so many different ways.

And so it's just, it's the same thing.

It's just like today, it shines like this

and tomorrow will shine perfect.

And I'd imagine that's the exciting part of it, right?

Is waiting to sort of mutually feel those cues. I thought you were going to say waiting for the lightning that that's the exciting part of it, right? Is waiting to sort of mutually feel those cues and...

I thought you were going to say waiting for the lightning,

that that's the exciting part.

No, I mean, we're all there for the song, you know what I mean?

So it's like the song, I sort of visualize it as the songs

in between us and the audience and you sort of meet in the middle.

Do you ever get an audience that just blows and you like get pissed

and you're like, you know what, we're going to end early tonight

because you guys are terrible.

We play football. middle.
Do you ever get an audience that just blows and you get pissed? Yes, of course. We're going to end early tonight because you guys are terrible.
We played Montreux Jazz Fest and it's like Switzerland is just a bunch of extremely rich white people for the most part. And they're very used to being entertained and you're at Montreux and the vibe is like, entertain me.
And we're a rock band so we're playing and I'm just trying to get a reaction out of the audience. I'm just like being kind of combative.
And at one point I'm like, and this is the last fucking time we're ever going to play this song in Switzerland and start the next song and be like, and now this is the last time we're ever going to play this song in Switzerland. You said that or you're thinking that? I said it.
Every song. Nothing.
I got, like, I didn't even get a boo. Like, I wanted them to boo me.
Right. You just wanted any reaction.
Just give me something. Literally anything.
Spit at me. Just give me something.
I would have been like, it's so good to be here at the Mont No Snooze Festival. Yeah.
I'm going to save that for next time. So wait, how did it end? So we finished and I'm like, and this was the last song that we ever played in Switzerland and leave the stage.
And I see this guy sitting on the road case and I'm like, oh, he looks really familiar. And it was like Quincy Jones.
Like we had been watching the entire set just sitting there on side stage. And I went up to him and was like, hey, nice to meet you.
That's so cool. I'm really sorry that that's the set that you saw.
That was maybe my worst time on stage in my entire life. He's like, man, I work with Miles Davis.
That was fine. He was just like, that was like, whatever.
He was like, Miles would play with his back to the audience.

He hated those fuckers.

That's so amazing.

Boy, I fucking relate to that.

These guys know I can be so grouchy.

But if you buy a ticket to Arcade Fire,

why wouldn't you be like, this is fucking awesome.

I don't understand.

It's just cultural shit.

I mean, they were probably like,

it's like you meet people and they're like,

the second song was too slow,

but that was the best show of my life. You know, it's like people just, it's like.
They can't help it. They can't help it.
It's just how they are. I'm going to be the dork and ask you a question you probably answered a million times, but I've never heard it.
So please indulge me. Tell me where the name of the band came from.
Yeah. Don't tell him.
Don't tell him. Yeah.
I can't. I can't.
Bob Dylan. signed a blood pact with bob dylan that you're never supposed to answer a question like that it has to do with bob dylan i am not a bob dylan no i'm no i'm just kidding um oh yeah i uh for a second there i thought it was like a famous bob dylan song and i just yeah you know arcade fire she's in the basement stirring up the arcade fire um wo Guthrie, yeah.
No, I don't know. When I was like a kid in, I just remember going to an arcade when I was like four years old with like an older friend of my parents and just, it was like, I'm leaving my parents.
You know, I don't know, just like being alone as a kid in a weird place like that. And it was like super futuristic in the, at the time it was like, what is this weird place with all these weird sounds? And it was like almost like an emotional, you

know, it just sort of was like a weird touch tone and like almost like aesthetic reference

or something like that.

You guys, I, you know, I was thinking about your, first of all, to kind of to what Jason

was saying before about you guys, I've never seen you guys live. It's one of my big regrets, but it's going to happen this fall.
I'm going to come and see you guys. You call yourself Canadian.
I know, I know, but I haven't lived there in a long time. I know I am a pathetic Canadian.
But I was thinking about, especially with this new record with We, how I can almost visualize the crowds singing along with you guys to virtually every song. It felt so, you guys are just by nature a collaborative band.
There are different people and people coming in and out. And sometimes the band expands and you have lots of people.
and that collaboration kind of almost extends, kind of what these guys were saying,

it extends to when you're in concert,

feeding off the audience in so many years. And that's kind of been a hallmark since day one.
I mean, right, all those songs. I remember I watched that video of you guys playing with Bowie when you guys did Wake Up.
I don't know what theater that was in where you did that. I think it was Radio City.
Radio City, right? Radio City, yeah, it was, yeah. I'm just like, there's something about it that's so, like, engaging.
And I wonder, was it always that intention, like, to be this kind of, like, just like this big, messy, collaborative kind of engagement? And by messy, I don't mean sloppy. I mean, there's a lot of parts to it.
I mean, we came up playing like DIY venues, so we were always, we were never on a stage. Like the first 40 times we played, we were always on the floor with the audience.
And I remember just sort of like, I didn't really even need a mic for a lot of these rooms. It was like, you're playing to 50 people.
And so like, I remember at one show, I just started walking, singing the song through the crowd and like walking to the back because always at the back of a party, people are drinking beer and talking. And if you're playing a quiet song, you can't fucking hear anything.
So I went over to where they were and was just playing the song in the back of the room. You just brought it to them.
I just brought it to them because, you know, it's a quiet song. It's fine.
You know, people like to talk at shows. You guys, last thing I want to say, ask you, it reminds me of, I was thinking about your first record.
I think you guys did Conan. That record came out, what, in 2000? Funeral came out in 2004? Yeah, we did Conan and Letterman.
And you did Conan and Letterman and Jeffrey Tambor, Jason and I were on Arrested Development at the time and Jeffrey Tambor was on the show. That's right, that's right.
And so you guys won't remember this part, which is Jeffrey said, I'm going to New York to do Conan to promote this show. And I said, there's this band, they've just released a record called Arcade Fire.
And I gave him a CD and I said, will you have them sign it? And he said, okay. And so he came back and you guys, and I've got it somewhere in a box and you guys had signed it.
It was like, we were told that we needed to sign this for you. You guys wrote it out and I have it.
Oh, that's cool. Oh, that's cool.
It's signed to me that Jeffrey gave back to me after that. That's really cool.
Yeah, so that was my... I remember, yeah, our guitar player, Richie, was obsessed with...
What's the show that... What's the amazing show that he was on before on...
Larry Sanders. Oh, yeah.
Larry... Like, he was obsessed...
Brilliant. It's brilliant.
He was obsessed with Larry Sanders, and Jeffrey was getting his makeup done, and Richie was sitting next to him, and he's like, it's kind of like Larry Sanders, huh? And he was just like, just so nonplussed. He just gave him the like, just like, just like dead eye.

He just gave him the dead, just the dead eyes. And Richie was just like, his heart was like,

oh my God, like, I think Jeffrey Dunbar just like, like, I don't know what I was thinking.

Why did I say that to him? He's like, he was just so mad at himself.

Jeffrey was probably, that's Jeffrey's humor. It's so good.
The first thing I ever said

Thank you. know what I was thinking.
Why did I say that to him? He was just so mad at himself. Jeffrey was probably,

that's Jeffrey's humor.

It's so good. The first thing I ever said to him was the first day I met him on set at Arrested Development

and just met him and then as we were

separated, I said, all right, well, have a great day. He says,

don't you fucking tell me what to do.

I know.

I love that.

I was entering a door at the same time

as Jeffrey, exactly at the same time

and he goes, oh no, please, by billing. in order of billing.
And he let me go first. The first time he met Amy, we were doing Arrested, and she came to a table read, my ex-wife, and she came in there, and I said, she said, I said, Jeffrey, this is Amy.
And he goes, I didn't ask. And he was so, and we both of us died.
We fell to our knees laughing. I mean, how much on Arrested Development how much is that like a I always related to that like a band when it's like a collective of because it's like you have I don't know like when I would watch like Monty Python I always thought of Monty Python as a punk band you know what I mean like because it's like you have this people are bouncing off each other you're making each other better it's like you're trying to people are bouncing off each other.
You're making each other better.

It's like you're trying to impress the other.

I don't know.

I always wondered if that was.

Somebody asked me the other, we were, maybe when we were doing the show,

we were talking and saying, who do you try to,

who do you do the performance for?

It was with Jeff Bridges.

And I was saying, and I never answered it.

And I was going to say, my answer, which I'll tell you is,

in those moments, yeah, when Jason and David Cross and Tony Hale and I are doing a scene, I would always be trying to, we're riffing off each other, feeding off each other's energy, and I'm trying to make those guys laugh in the moment at how silly it is what we're doing. That's who I'm doing it for.
Maybe the crew. Definitely not the camera.
I could give a shit. It's really these guys.
I want Jason and Cross and Tony Hale to laugh. That's the same in a band too.
I mean, it's like, because you're playing, you're trying to get a rise out of the other people on the stage and then that energy gets transmitted. Right, and it fuels, right? That's why I asked the thing about the audience, like when an audience, like in Switzerland, you just then start turning to each other and start playing for each other, you know? Because it's like, we always have.
Yeah, for sure. No, for sure.
I wanted to ask you... Sorry, so just to follow up, the last thing, Sean, about that I was getting to was, I've always wanted to know, on that first record on Funeral, that song, In Années Sans Lumière that song right near the right at the end where it goes into the guitar it's always reminded me of the guitar at the end of Love Vigilantes on New Order on Low Life.
Have you ever heard, do you know that song? Oh of course, yeah. I do.
It's a brilliant, and it's always reminded me, and I've always been like and I love New Order and, and then I love you guys. I'm like, no wonder I love these guys, because you guys remind me of a lot of bands and no bands because you're unique, but you also have pieces that, we all have influences of stuff, right? So saying that, what of those kinds of bands did you guys like? Well, I actually found a flyer that we made when we first met, like.
We were looking for musicians. And so it's like you just, and it was like I wrote the text like an apple.
I made it in a shape of an apple. Whatever.
We made a poster that was like this very, it's like so pretentious and almost it's like art school kind of. But you were just, we didn't want to just make a poster because we wanted to make something that was like, we thought was cool so that the person who read it, and it was like our influences, it was like looking for musicians and it was like New Order was one of them, Pixies, Dylan, and then it was like Motown and Debussy and Arvo Park.
That was like our, those were our influence list, you know what I mean? Wow. And then nobody, nobody responded.
Nobody responded. Not one person.
No, not one person. They're like, they're like, these guys are too, this is too broad.
This is crazy. This doesn't make sense.
These things don't go together. They're into everything.
Yeah. It's not everything, though.
It makes sense. There's a thread.
Yeah. We'll be right back.
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And back to the show. There's such a great fullness to your music, too.
It is truly like it has that ensemble sound. You're not surprised if a horn section comes through or strings.
I always love that about Pink Floyd. There was always, as you said earlier, like a soundscape as opposed to, well, it's just four instruments and it's four- four time and it's somewhat of a predictable rhythm to it we're filmmakers ultimately it's like we think of it that way yeah but you you have to like i always think like i listened to a lot of dylan too when i was a teenager and the i listened to uh the cure a lot i mentioned the smiths were like one of my all-time favorite bands and at the same time I went to...
Cure is huge for me. Cure huge.
That EP that... What was it? Japanese Whispers and then they had and then...
But I also went to 15 Dead shows but I'm not a deadhead but I appreciated Jerry Garcia but at the same time I was like I'm really into you know just all kinds of like indie and I that's important, right? Like to have like, you don't have to be like just into this genre or just into this genre. Makes you a better musician, I'm sure.
Yeah, like Sean, you don't have to just listen to Erasure. And Depeche Mode.
Sorry, and Depeche Mode. So wait, but wait.
You can also listen to Bronski. I love Depeche too.
That was one of my first big shows, Depeche, was, I love Depeche. Exactly, Depeche.
I love Depeche. I love Depeche.
I love Depeche.. So wait, but wait, I love Depeche too.
I saw, that was one of my first big shows, Depeche was, I love Depeche. Exactly the best.
I love them. I love Depeche Mode.
I love Depeche Mode. I love Depeche Mode.
I love Depeche Mode. Who said the keyboard player just died, right? Andy Fletcher, yeah.
Yeah, Andy Fletcher died, yeah. But I have a question about your voice because, you know, when I was younger and I didn't understand the technique of singing or anything, or musicianship or really anything, I would go, I'd watch bands on TV or music videos or on tour or whatever, and I didn't quite, I was like, wow, that's amazing that they can scream or sing or do whatever with their voice.
And then you get older and you learn how the instrument works and the training that needs and the warm-ups and all the stuff that you don't ever see musicians do or singers do off to the side. and then you get older and you learn how the instrument works and the training that needs and the warm-ups and all the stuff that you don't ever see musicians do or singers do off to the side.
And then today I'll watch something on TV. I'm like, how can they do that? How can they sing like that night after night after night? Aren't they ruining their vocal cords or whatever? So do you have any kind of things that you do? Was there ever a moment where you're like, wow, I really got to take care of my instrument here in my throat? Because both you guys belted out too, a lot.
Yeah. I mean, Regine had nodules when I met her from jazz school, right? Oh, yeah.
I met Regine and she had... She doesn't want to talk about it.
And the next day she got braces. Like one week later she got braces and then had vocal cord surgery and couldn't talk for like two months no way yeah you're like i'm in i am in yeah yeah but was there was there a moment that where you're like oh shit i gotta really kind of maybe go see a teacher now now that i like getting, I'm doing more work as a singer and stuff because you never learned? Or do you not even think about that and you never did it? There was a point, I mean, particularly on the first record, like I sang like the world was every single fucking time we played, I was saying like every second of it, the world was going to end the next second.
The first two tours, you were like a ghost. I was a ghost.
You were like so pale. I had really horrible sinus infections.
I think I was sick for four years, like pretty much nonstop sick the entire time. Wow.
And just singing, like we would always start with wake up. And I mean, like back in the day, there'd be seven of us and we'd be playing to six people and we would still fucking sing it.
Like it was the fucking end of the world and it was always the first song. So we would come out, set up our instruments.
And like, I remember seeing a video of us in Austin back in the day, we're playing some little club and we're loading in the equipment ourselves. We're just.
We just look white and just sweat pouring down our face. We just arrived from a 400-mile drive.
Oh, I remember that. We load in our crap in front of the audience.
The audience is already there. And then I'm just like, we just turned on the instruments.
I'm like, more fucking voice, more fucking voice, more fucking voice. That's too much.
It's feeding back. Okay, good.
And then we're like, one, two, three, four. It was like, ah! Just like, just starting there.
Like, that's where we started. That song is so like, especially when you hit that.
I guess I'll just have to adjust. And it's like insane.
Like, both of you guys are just like going for it. So I burned out.
I mean, I was sick and singing every night. And at one point on Neon Bible, the second record, we were playing in Norway, and we came out, and I was just like, there's nothing, not a fucking sound.
And I basically went and had sinus surgery. In Norway? No, I wish.
No, in Montreal. Okay.
Because it was like one one thousandth of the cost of doing New York. Yeah, of course.
It was like $200, please. And so then I had the surgery.
And then after that, I kind of realized I'd never lost my voice. I was losing my voice because I was sick.
And now I don't, because I did all the singing coach crap and I was always losing my voice. And every singing coach is like, I'm the only one who knows the secrets of singing.
And my method, which was passed down to me by the Teutonic Knights. Right.
Buy my book and my tape. Get my oils.
Did you use my oils? It's always like this tell no one of the oils I gave you I was at that show in Berlin with you two guys when Bono lost his voice after three songs, it was so scary, it was like it's scary when you lose it how do you stay healthy now when you guys are on the road I imagine it would be hard to have any sort of rhythm of proper stuff to eat or sleep. How diligent are you? He wants to know about the food.
Here we go. Yeah, the travel's crazy.
Yeah. I mean.
Jason wants to know if you have access to salads because he's trying to think about himself on tour. Would there be enough salad? We have snacks.
There's always hummus and carrots, you know, every backstage. Jason's in.
All right, I'm in. Do you have access to a handful of nuts? Would that be possible? You can get some nuts, even out the blood sugar.
And then, so your son, what happens during the school year when you guys are on tour? Do you schedule your tours so it's only during the summer? I mean, it's kind of a brave new world now. It's like, this will be our first time, and it's all, it's, you know, it's kind of happening, but it's also like a little bit terrifying.
It's like, like the health perspective of, I mean, not getting COVID cause I just had it and it was like, no big deal. It was like totally fine.
Right. Yeah.
I was boosted and everything. You were psyched.
Be honest. We were texting and you were kind of psyched.
I was psyched. Yeah, I was like, I'm about to watch Blade Runner and then Alien and then Alien 2.

With no guilt.

I love it.

Yeah.

I love that.

Jean, were you psyched?

Were you psyched also?

Uh, you know.

Not particularly, but.

She's the one.

She's one of the last ones.

She's still never had it.

I didn't get it. Oh, really?

Yeah, I didn't get it.

I don't know.

Sean and I didn't get it either. I don't know.
I haven't gotten it. i don't know i'll give it to you next time okay thanks man uh yeah but it is a great but but you are yeah i guess because of covid and stuff you're probably your son was too young and now you're gonna have to figure out what that is like going on tour and kids we talk about it a lot because we do.
Jason, I have three boys and Jason has two girls. And we're always like a, that's always the thing of like, you know, with kids and managing that and their school and work and that balance and what do you do? And it's just, it's the number one question.
I think what's cool now is that because of the pandemic and the schools, at least the school where he goes, got really organized in terms of the remote and the curriculum so that it's not like a brand new thing. If we tell him he has to come out for a few days, you know.
That's great. I feel like our job as parents is mostly to prepare him for a world which will be insane and constantly changing.

And you better be able to take a hit because shit is going to be gnarly so like you mean you mean this planet that we lit on fire and left for them the whole fucking thing is just i mean like the whole war raging in europe and climate change and the technology.

All of the companies are all just trying to

remove humans.

It's just going to be,

I think in the future, it's like you're just going to

have to be really nimble

and

able to mix it up

and adapt.

So being on tour is a good training ground. Tour is awesome.
It's a great training ground for that. You guys wrote that great tune, Lookout Kid, on your new record, Ennui.
It's sort of about that. Yeah, by the way, not Henri.
Ennui. W-E.
Not E-N-N-U-I. Oh, you really do speak French.
I know, I tell you. Oh, he speaks French fluently.
But I am also suffering from a great deal of ennui these days. You probably heard earlier before you guys got on.
It's been weird times. But yeah, you wrote about it when, in Regine, with Lookout Kid.
It's kind of exactly about that you were saying? Yeah, I mean, just like talking to my son and being like, shit's going to be pretty gnarly, but I love you a lot. And it's like kind of about unconditional love, basically, but like in the face of like just the inevitability of like, I don't know how high school was for you guys, but that shit was gnarly for me.
The best. I mean, the worst.
It was so rough. I'm trying to imagine being in high school now.
No way. No way.
I hated it. I loved it.
What got you guys down to New Orleans? What was the, aside from, United, I think it was, or Delta, probably. Yeah, Delta, American.
Was it the music influence down there? Or was it something less obvious than that? Well, Regine's family is from Haiti and the whole French-Canadian thing. And when we first, I grew up in Houston.
I was just thinking about you guys. Everybody saying like, oh, yeah, high school is so bad.
And who did you like it? I didn't like it. I hated it.
It's like, whoever liked it? Like, does anyone? Sean. Sean liked it.
High school? I lived for it. Loved it, absolutely.
Every second of it. High school? Yeah.
He peaked. He peaked.
That was his... Oh, I guess.
That was the highlight. But he was...
You have to understand, his father left... That's a whole other story.
The bar was... Once you talk to him long enough, you'll get it.
No, there was awesome shit in high school i really like i you know i there are aspects of high school that were amazing like i love i loved just i mean i i first read you know when i first read like um oh yeah just the beatniks and the first you know just literature and art but that should you same here like i read on the road when i was 17 and like, I got to leave where I'm at. But that wasn't stuff I did in high school.
That was stuff I did on my own. Wait, wait, wait.
First of all, just on the last thing on We, End of the Empire. Man, I don't know when you wrote that song.
It feels like you wrote it today. And I don't know.
Like it feels, every time I listen to it, it feels, it just puts me right in the present in this really remarkable way. Talk to me a little bit about that song because it's just, I just connect with it so much.
I mean, it's kind of, it's four parts. So it's like kind of, it's kind of the most ambitious thing we've done in a lot of ways.
I mean, it's nine and a half minutes. But it's not, it's not Prague.
You know, I never really liked Prague music, but it's like, I mean, I loved Radiohead in high school. Like, you know, Paranorded Android probably has like a little bit of a, of a

influence in there as well. But it was just sort of looking, we started it before the pandemic.
So the first couple parts lyrically were kind of the world, America was just feeling pretty heavy there for, for a while, like before the election, before the pandemic just really felt like just energetically

like

in America I was like, man, this is a really dark, heavy cloud. Just like you're constantly being like barraged by all this stuff.
And so it was just sort of like that, like just sort of like a reckoning with ourselves about, you know, it's been a good ride, but this shit is, you know, not going in the best direction. So a bit of that.
And then the world kind of ended. And the fourth part is like kind of, there's a black hole in the middle of our galaxy called Sagittarius A.
Yeah. And I read an article about it.
Like a pretty name. Yeah.
And I was just sort of like, there was something about the image of this black hole in the middle of everything that just, I was just trying to write that, lyrically write that part for a long time. And Regine, like we recorded that, just the two of us.
It was Mardi Gras day during the pandemic when Mardi Gras didn't happen, which is a really eerie, really, like it's such a spiritual day and it's just like the streets are empty in New Orleans. It's like this really like deep spiritual kind of energy and like nothing, the sound of nothing, no horns playing, no one in the streets.
And yeah, we just that in our living room, the fourth part. Wow.
And the part two is from 20 years ago the second part and we know that it's time to go that is from like when I live on an apartment we didn't even live together like he lived a few blocks away and I... Did you have braces at the time? Yes, I did have braces at the time.
I played it on this little organ that I bought for like a hundred bucks or something. A few hundred bucks maybe.
I love that. What is it? I know it's time to go.
Yeah. Send the news on the radio.

One last round before we go.

Through the pale atmospheric glow.

And the oxygen's getting low.

Sing a song that we used to know. Oh, you're wrong.

Oh, there you go.

She goes. One last round before we go.

One last round before we go.

All the alcoholics, let's go.

And we know that it's time to go.

Heard the news on the radio One last round before we go

Bye, everyone.

Regine and Wynne.

You guys, you gotta go. I love that song.
That's a first for us That's awesome That's really cool You guys Thank you We've taken up so much of your time We've taken We've Thank you for indulging me And we know That it's time to go Heard the news on the radio Yo, sing, baby All the elves Thank you, thank you for giving us elfbods Thank you for giving us all your music Thank you for giving us your time Hashtag elfbod, hashtag COVID Hashtag relatable Hashtag tell your son hi from Batman. Nine pack.
And Bateman. Yeah.
And Bateman. That's good.
Honestly, just thank you guys so much. You guys should do this where you, like, talk to a whole bunch of different people all the time.
Oh, my God. We're going to write that down.
You guys have a great chemistry. It's really funny.
You should just hang out, do this thing where you shoot the shit and then surprise people. I don't think anyone would ever listen.
No, you should do it. It's great.
Who in the world? I don't think. Oh my God.
Thanks, you guys. Huge fans.
You guys are amazing. Amazing.
When I need to go to sleep, I use a sleep pill. Do you guys have to do that crap? Or do you do the, like, you know, in podcasting where you have to just do that shit? Oh, yeah.
Can you do one now? Can I hear you guys do one? Oh, yeah. Why don't you do an ad for their album right now, Will? Yeah, do an ad for our album.
Yeah, you have such a great voice. Has anyone ever told you that? No.
This summer, Arcade Fire. And who do you want to play with? Sean Hayes and the Arcade Fire this summer at the Molson or Bell Center.
I don't know what they call it now. I don't know what they call it.
Just do like a promo. Give us a wee one.
Give us like a good like. Arcade Fire would be a great name for like a sitcom if you do like.
Then, on an all new Arcade Fire, Wyn and Regine come home and their house is not exactly as they remember it. They've been super depressed about the state of the world previously on Arcade Fire.
I was just going to say, previously. I've been, previously.
Oh, you guys, we could do this forever. I can't wait to join you on stage and sing that song End of the Empire with you on stage.'s gonna be epic in Toronto and it's gonna be amazing yeah no honestly you guys thank you so much it's been amazing and thanks for giving us your time yeah thank you guys very very much merci beaucoup merci beaucoup au revoir salut salut salut salut salut guys now Willie that seemed to be a beautiful elixir for your day Right there Are you feeling Back on top Right there Didn't that Yeah It got you through it My whole chemistry Absolutely Of course It just takes A little something like that That's what music can do It was That's the power of music So impactful I can't believe We just sang that All of us I know that's cool Can you fucking we just sang End of the Empire with those guys with one in Regine? Yeah, Regine.
You know, I did want to mention, not in front of them, but I will to you guys. Whenever somebody says...
They're not listening. I wasn't listening.
They're not listening. Go ahead.
No, I wanted to tell you, whenever somebody brings up New Orleans, I think about the four-way I had there. I associate that singing with the four-way.
God damn, I wish they were still on. How many dudes? How many girls? Wait a second.
No, all dudes. Just four dudes? Yeah.
Four dudes. Yeah.
Years and years and years ago. I'm not sure that's a four-way.
I think it's just a train. You know what the great thing about a four-way? It's a train, but you know what the great thing is?

You have two lucky peers.

Yeah.

Right?

So that's the good news.

Train.

Everybody hop on.

You just don't want to be the caboose.

Or you do want to be the caboose.

Or you don't.

No.

Well, it all depends.

Or you don't want to be the caboose in the human centipede.

That you don't want to be the caboose on.

No, that you do not want that.

Because you're getting the waste of all the other people. Oh, boy.
Have you ever thought about where you want to be on a human centipede? Can I be one of the shoes? You want to be in the front, by the way. Just so you know.
You want to be the first guy. You got to sign up.
You got to sign up early. Well, somebody is so to your ass, but it doesn't.
I mean, believe me, it's the best case scenario. Now, Willie, when they say careful about meeting your heroes, I would imagine that that didn't hold true.
Over-delivered. Yeah, they seem so lovely and funny and, like, great to hang out with.
They over-delivered. And like I said, you know, because I knew we were going to have them on and they graciously and generously sent me their record a few months ago before it came out and i like i said it was so impactful and i ended up listening to it so much and i had to reach out and so michael and ben and robert somebody got me their number and i ended up texting with both on a chain with both win and uh regime for a while and i and we had a really great exchange and and then and then they had to cancel so Wynn and I started texting, uh, when he got sick and he wasn't really sick, but he was just at home.
And then we, he started talking about it when I said that he, he was happy, meaning that like, he was like, I, I'm not really doing anything for the first time in a while. It's kind of great.
I've just watched Alien and, and, and, uh, Blade Runner. And we started talking about reading and books and stuff.
And it was just was just, I don't know, I just really connected. Yeah, it's incredible.
Yeah, they've got some really great energy. Very, very sweet, those two.
Incredible musicians. I mean, just...
Yeah, they're really great. I love that song so much, End of the Empire.
Yeah. It sounds like an instant classic.
And it's off their new album, which is amazing.

Yeah, it's off their new album, We In It.

Yeah, there are moments of it that sound like Sergeant Peppers.

Yeah, for sure.

And, you know, there's just...

That's a great song, you know, when you want to end something,

you know, when you want to, like, say...

Well, you know, it's a really good, for, like, if you're going to bed,

it's a really good lullab.

Bye!

Nice, Will.

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