Group

Arcade Fire

From: Montréal, Canada
Since: 2001–present
Rating: ★ 4.55 (19 votes)
Releases: 103

indie rock
chamber pop
indie pop
alternative dance
alternative rock
synth-pop
baroque pop
post-punk revival

About

Arcade Fire is a Canadian indie rock band from Montreal, Quebec. The band consists of multi-instrumentalists Win Butler, Régine Chassagne, Richard Reed Parry, Tim Kingsbury, and Jeremy Gara. The band's touring line-up includes former core member Sarah Neufeld and multi-instrumentalists Paul Beaubrun and Dan Boeckner. Most of the band's studio albums feature contributions from composer and violinist Owen Pallett, who has also served as a touring member.

Founded in 2001 by friends and classmates Win Butler and Josh Deu, the band came to prominence in 2004 with the release of their critically acclaimed debut album, Funeral. Their second studio album, Neon Bible, won them the 2008 Meteor Music Award for Best International Album and the 2008 Juno Award for Alternative Album of the Year. Their third studio album, The Suburbs, was released in 2010 to critical acclaim and commercial success. It received many accolades, including the 2011 Grammy for Album of the Year, the 2011 Juno Award for Album of the Year and the 2011 Brit Award for Best International Album. In 2013, Arcade Fire released their fourth album, Reflektor, and scored the feature film Her, for which Pallett and then-member Will Butler were nominated in the Best Original Score category at the 86th Academy Awards. In 2017, the band released their fifth studio album, Everything Now. Their sixth studio album, We, was released in 2022, followed by their latest and seventh studio album, Pink Elephant, in 2025.
All the band's studio albums from Funeral to We have received nominations for Best Alternative Music Album at the Grammys. Funeral is widely considered by music critics to be one of the greatest albums of the 2000s. The band's work has also been named three times as a shortlist nominee for the Polaris Music Prize: in 2007 for Neon Bible, in 2011 for The Suburbs and in 2014 for Reflektor.
The band has been described as indie rock, art rock, dance-rock, and baroque pop. They play guitar, drums, bass guitar, piano, violin, viola, cello, double bass, xylophone, glockenspiel, keyboard, synthesizer, French horn, accordion, harp, mandolin and hurdy-gurdy, and take most of these instruments on tour; the multi-instrumentalist band members switch duties throughout shows.

From Arcade Fire on Wikipedia, under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Members

Win Butler 2001–now · original member bass guitar, guitar, keyboard, lead vocals, mandolin
Régine Chassagne 2001–now · original member accordion, hurdy gurdy, keyboard, lead vocals, membranophone, piano, recorder, xylophone
Richard Reed Parry 2002–now accordion, background vocals, bass guitar, celesta, double bass, guitar, keyboard, membranophone, organ, percussion, piano, synthesizer
Timothy Kingsbury 2003–now background vocals, bass guitar, double bass, guitar, keyboard
Jeremy Gara 2007–now drums (drum set), guitar, keyboard
Tim Kyle now electric guitar
Pietro Amato · former French horn
Mike Olsen · former cello
Kelly Pratt · former brass
Colin Stetson · former additional, bass clarinet, clarinet, cornet, flute, French horn, saxophone
Myles Broscoe 2001–2002 · former bass guitar
Josh Deu 2001–2003 · original member · former guitar
Dane Mills 2001–2003 · former bass guitar, drums (drum set), other instruments
Brendan Reed 2001–2003 · former drums (drum set), lead vocals, percussion, tap dance
Will Butler 2003–2021 · former background vocals, bass guitar, clarinet, concertina, double bass, gadulka, glockenspiel, guitar, musical saw, omnichord, pan flute, percussion, sitar, synthesizer, trombone
Howard Bilerman 2004–2004 · former drums (drum set), guitar
Sarah Neufeld 2004–2005, 2006–2013, 2013–2014 · former additional, background vocals, keyboard, violin
Owen Pallett 2004–2005, 2011–2011, 2013–2014 · former additional, background vocals, keyboard, violin
Marika Anthony-Shaw 2007–2008, 2010–2011, 2013–2013 · former additional, background vocals, violin