By Josiah HughesFrench director Vincent Moon is the mastermind behind La Blogotheque's Take Away Shows series, where he documents performances from indie bands in a unique location. One group he worked with on the Take Away Shows, and later on the film Mirror Noir, were the Arcade Fire. However, it appears their relationship has soured, as Moon spread some less than kind gossip about Arcade Fire in a recent interview with Eye Weekly.
Here's the full, uncut quote peeled straight from Eye Weekly:
They're not good people, that's it. And I don't mean the whole band -- I mean the leaders of the band and their management. What I hate about the band now is that people call them an indie band and they're not an indie band, they are a mainstream band. Maybe they're on an indie label but that doesn't mean anything. Those guys are just making things on a very big level, a very mainstream way of thinking. The way they deal with their business is really disgusting, for me. The way they deal with things is awful. Their management are awful, awful people, and I know what I'm talking about. I have some really terrible stories with them.
Because Moon is being so vague, it's hard to know what turned the director off from the beloved Montreal indie rockers. Maybe he's just bummed that the band would rather work with Terry Gilliam and Spike Jonze now. Either way, we would love to hear some of these "really terrible stories." Here's hoping Moon starts video blogging.
UPDATE: Arcade Fire manager Scott Rodgers has responded to Moon's comments. You can read the response here.
Posted by Nameless Poseur On 2011-01-31 15:09:58Moon has a beef with Win in particular because he rejected the original cut of Miroir Noir, and then edited it himself to the form in which it appears. That's reasonably well documented on French language media. I understand Moon's frustration, but I think his reaction to it has been a bit petty, there's an increasingly hysterical tone to his comments about the incident.
Their "management", as I'm sure some of the folks reading this are aware, is indeed a complete douchebag. If Arcade Fire's ethos has changed, if they've started making unsavoury compromises for the sake of getting bigger and bigger, I have absolutely no hesitation in pointing the finger in his direction. He's aggressively obnoxious to everybody he works with regardless of how necessary it is, and he doesn't mind throwing his clients' name around to suit himself.
Arcade Fire themselves have always been faultlessly kind and sweet in my experiences of them, but it seems to me they've been increasingly willing to let that guy take the wheel, and it's costing them something special.
Posted by Nameless Poseur On 2011-01-31 15:43:53Arcade Fire sucks. their music and lyrical themes are artistically and politically unchallenging, mainstream and predictable. the bigger they get the worse they suck. but 'bigness' is what they are gunning for. they have crafted a style that's meant to offend no one and get the biggest possible audience. who cares what they think. they are irrelevant.
Posted by Nameless Poseur On 2011-01-31 15:59:19finally some well-deserved backlash. I have never heard anything other than instantly forgettable elevator music from these guys. Then at the end of the year The Suburbs not only appeared on, but TOPPED every year end top ten I've read. I just don't get it. Someone please explain to me what is so great about it??
Posted by Nameless Poseur On 2011-01-31 16:10:43Funeral remains a masterpiece. No elevator music there. I think 98% of the hype around them is still off the back of that, and deservedly so. Although I don't think their subsequent releases can ever really match it, both Neon Bible and Suburbs do have their moments.
Where Arcade Fire undeniably shine is their live show. They are immense, I don't think there's a live band working today that can compete with them in that regard and I think anybody wondering why people slaver over them the way they do ought to see them play to understand.
Posted by Nameless Poseur On 2011-02-01 12:43:06fuck everything anyone says. good music will always be good music. i don't need anyone to tell me who is good or not, regardless of whether i support the director or the band in question. i know what is good and if anyone doesn't agree with what i think, they're wrong via their own opinions which are as radically subjective as my own. useless article and equally useless reader comments.
Posted by Nameless Poseur On 2011-02-01 22:16:23The whole band is constructed to make their singer look like a genius by having him be in charge of some garbage orchestra of xylophones and violins. When you take away all the tubular bells and the other noise it becomes obvious that the lyrics are lame and the songs are boring as hell.
Posted by Nameless Poseur On 2011-02-04 00:38:03some pretty large talk flying around here. The beauty of art is that everyone can have an opinion. I am just surprised at the amount of venom, and apparent 'hate' that some people use in their criticism. Really? lame and boring as hell? forgettable elevator music? come on, at least criticize with credible statements guys. I could not imagine what elevator you would hear Wake Up blaring out of. Just be creative in your criticism is all I ask.
Posted by Nameless Poseur On 2011-02-04 10:45:55yes! More Arcade Fire coverage! There is not enough on here.
Jan 31 2011
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Posted by Nameless Poseur On 2011-01-31 15:09:58Moon has a beef with Win in particular because he rejected the original cut of Miroir Noir, and then edited it himself to the form in which it appears. That's reasonably well documented on French language media. I understand Moon's frustration, but I think his reaction to it has been a bit petty, there's an increasingly hysterical tone to his comments about the incident.
