Will Batler from Arcade Fire: "Yes, we are lucky!"

Last week in Russia and all over the world, the first full -length film about the most famous Canadian group Arcade Fire “ The Reflektor Tapes ". Denis Boyarinov discussed this movie with the bassist of the group and the brother of vocalist Win Batler Wilmu Butler in the summer, when he came to Moscow to present the solo album “ Policy ” . The conversation came not only about the film, but also about the smell of David Bowie and the dark side of nationalism.

-Have you watched the movie?

- Yes. Good movie (laughs) . It is about the recording of the album " Reflektor " , and about the tour that followed. We gave Khalil Joseph all the videos that we made during the recording. During the tour, he shot himself with the team himself. Therefore, most of the film is about the tour. But something came from our filming-from Jamaica and from Montreal.

- Do you have a favorite scene in the film?

- There is a lot of funny things that I have not seen before. But I more remembered not a picture, but a sound. Joseph wrote the sound from the concert, but he processed it interestingly - he brought the synthesizers and violin to the fore, muffled the drums and guitars. This gives a very unusual sensation: you see how the whole group plays, and you hear first of all the synthesizers and violin, and what is happening on the stage is revealed differently. I have not experienced this before.

-What documentary about a group or a film concert, in your opinion, is perfect?

- “ Stop MAKING Sense » About Talking Heads is absolutely amazing. He very much influenced me in due time. See the eternal classics - about the festival in Montera ( " Montery Pop " D.A. Pennebaker. - Ed. ), about the incident with Rolling Stones in Altamont ( "Gimme Shelter" of the Maisles brothers. - Ed. ) ... This is a real movie!

David Bowie Tymno said: “Oh, the last time I was here when we wrote“ Fame ”with John Lennon.”

- Arcade Fire now in the same league with Talking Heads and Rolling Stones , you are a group about which you shot a large documentary movie. What do you feel about this?

- Everything is fine. For now (laughs) . All the time of work on Reflektor , we felt how lucky we were because we can cooperate with those with whom we want. We started with a special television show, which shot Roman Koppol. We shot a clip with Anton Corbane - this is a dream and an orgasm. We made a movie with Spike Jones. Yes, we are lucky!

- And you also signed up with David Bowie. In another interview, you said that he is "the most well -smelling person on earth." What is he groin?

- (Laughs.) It was when we first met Bowie. He went to our dressing room after the concert. He was enveloped in the smell that only David Bowie could smell of - attractive and mysterious, at the same time courageous and feminine. You go into the room, feel the aroma and immediately understand that Bowie was here. And the second time, when we met David Bowie, there was such a story. He came to an entry in the New York Studio, which we shot. He looked around her and languidly said: “Oh, the last time I was here when we wrote “ Fame ” with John Lennon.”

- You arrived in Moscow with a concert of your own project - you can compare this exit with the ARCADE round Fire ?

- Certainly. My group is much easier. It has four people and a tour manager. All we need is five plane tickets. We agree to the economy class and we all carry on our own back. Arcade Fire in the tour is 12 people in a group and another 50-60 in the accompanying team. Total - 70-75 people to make the show take place. Of course, the infrastructure is more complicated and queries are higher. But there is something very cute to go on tour with a backpack and tools. I really like it.

I am a hundred percent American, a patriot to the depths of the heart.

- What is your role in Arcade Fire ? What are you doing in the group?

-I am a bass player, and I also play bass parties on keyboards and on Glockspile. But the main thing is that in our group every musician is a producer. We all think about music very differently. My task is to think about the songs that we compose in our own way and insist on our vision so that our songs are realized as much as possible.

There are still business lucers, but this is not a pure business. Everything that Arcade does Fire , primarily connected with music. I am engaged in the organizational activity of the group - I participate in the filming of the film and create a show. For example, I communicate a lot with our scene designer - scenery for the Arcade show Fire we come up with together. I do not only music, but also other content. In our group, everyone is engaged in all content, and sometimes it becomes a problem. For example, we have lunch with the director of our show. We discuss what it will be. He says: “Redin says one thing, Richard is the opposite, and you are generally something third. What are we going to do? " I explain to him that our ideas must be looked wider. Richie meant this and let's do it like this - this option will suit everyone. So half the time my work is to look for compromises, and the second half is to be absolutely uncompromising in the music we do.

- You recorded the solo album “ Policy ” , consisting of songs based on articles from the Guardian newspaper. Why not New York Times ?

- This is a coincidence. The record was supposed to go out in Britain, and I was familiar with people from Guardian . We worked with them before. And so it happened. I wanted to do something immediate, tied to today. Not about eternal, but about instant - about what people read today at breakfast.

- On Policy there is a song associated with the plot about East Ukrainian rebels.

- Yes, it is called " Waving Flag " . There are actually two plots that I have contacted each other. The first is the history of Moses Cotan, a South African fighter with an apartheid. He was to Nelson Mandela - he is from a generation older. He was a communist - he died in the Soviet Union. The note was that his body was transported from Russia in order to reburied in South Africa with honors. When I read about this, the American first spoke in me, who is suspicious of everything Soviet and communist. I thought whether this person was such a cool public leader. Then I was ashamed that 25 years after the fall of the USSR, the American nationalist still says in me.

And in the next lane there was an article on the demonstrations of the prose of the opposed residents of the eastern part of Ukraine. Very gloomy. Their love for their own nation was expressed in the fact that they welcomed the war that was in Ukraine - applauded Russian tanks and that a stronger country invades the weaker. Then I decided that I had to write a song about the bright and dark sides of nationalism. The fact that dedication to their people can lead to both excellent acts and terrible crimes.

- By the way, about nationalism: it's funny that you and your brother are Americans and at the same time play in the most famous Canadian group. How do Canadian nationalists react to this and are there any?

- (Laughs.) I did not encounter. It's funny that many people think that I am a Canadian. But I am a hundred percent American - a patriot to the depths of the heart. I am not as aggressively patriotic as right -wing Americans, but I really love America. Understand correctly: I love Canada and Canadians. I have been living in Canada for more than 10 years. But this country is definitely not my homeland.

- I know little about Canada and Canar, but I assume that a little jealousy can always arise between the two neighbors. This is in human nature.

- (Laughs.) Perhaps a little jealousy is present. Because it often happens that the decisions that the United States make are more reflected in the lives of Canadians than the decisions of their own government.