Win Butler’s like the Canadian Santa: he knows when you’re being not nice, especially when you’re bad-mouthing his band, Arcade Fire, and making fun of their sex lives. You may have seen it: it’s the Washington Post‘s review of Reflektor entitled “Still Devoid Of Wit, Subtlety And Danger, Now With Bongos.” The lede:
Look, I’m sure they’re very nice people, but on their fourth album, Reflektor, Arcade Fire still sound like gigantic dorks with boring sex lives. (Via)
That’s a pretty funny opener, but Butler wasn’t amused.
“Yeah, I read it,” Butler says, frowning. “I don’t want to say it was racist – but it was mildly uneducated.” He was particularly annoyed by the three jokes about the band’s new bongos, pointing out (rightly) that a professional music critic should know they were congas. He also says, not unfairly, that there may be some sour grapes: “The guy who wrote it [Chris Richards] played in a band [Q and Not U] that we used to open for. It seems like a bit of a conflict of interest.”
But when I jokingly ask if he wants to confirm or deny that he’s a gigantic dork, Butler rolls his eyes. “Whatever,” he says, his voice dripping sarcasm. “I’m a super-dork because I play with David Bowie. Bruce Springsteen wants to cover my songs because I’m such a dork. I’m not a dork,” he says earnestly. “I’m a f*cking rock star.” (Via)
Undoubtedly, this will go over as well as Lena’s sarcastic “I’m the voice of a generation” line.
Banner via Getty Image, via Stereogum
