Feist opens up about exiting Arcade Fire’s 2022 tour: “I can’t avoid my responsibility here”
Feist briefly toured with Arcade Fire in 2022 but left when frontman Win Butler faced allegations of sexual misconduct
Aux News Feist
After exiting Arcade Fire’s 2022 tour in the wake of several sexual assault allegations against frontman Win Butler, opening act Leslie Feist is publicly opening up about the difficulty of the decision for the first time.
“I was having an out-of-body experience,” Feist tells The Irish Times. “Not to mention, I had brought all of these new songs. I thought, ‘Okay, maybe I’ll go do this tour and workshop how to play these songs in a bigger context.’”
Shortly after Arcade Fire kicked off their tour promoting the album WE, Pitchfork detailed several allegations of sexual assault from young women, who allege Butler continuously crossed boundaries and used his celebrity status to assert power over them. Feist opened for two shows in Dublin, donating all merch profits to Women’s Aid Dublin, before departing the tour altogether.
“It took me until the second show where all of the practical discomfort of having to dismantle this crazy machine and fold it back up and lose what I had invested in being there [on tour].… The whole thing was made so clear to me. I couldn’t continue,” Feist continues. “It was like, actually, no… ‘I can’t avoid my responsibility here.’ Not to mention every word that came out of my mouth, I was hearing through an ear that wasn’t my own. I was hearing how twisted and skewed… In the context they were in, the songs weren’t safe. And neither was I. It was deeply difficult.”
Feist is set to release her newest record, Multitudes, on April 14. Soon after, she’ll set out on a headlining tour through the States and Canada. Ahead of the album’s release—her first since 2017's Pleasure—Feist has shared singles “Borrow Trouble,” “In Lightning,” “Love Who We Are Meant To,” and “Hiding Out In The Open.”
104 Comments
I don’t know who Arcade Fire or Feist are, and at this point (decade later) I’m afraid to ask.
You’ve likely heard both their music in the last 20 years. Arcade Fire’s debut album came out in 2004 to critical acclaim, and won the Grammy for Album of the Year for their 2010 album. Their popularity has waned with their last 3 records met with mixed reviews. Feist is a Canadian singer/songwriter who is also associated with Broken Social Scene. Her song “1, 2, 3, 4″ was used heavily to promote the iPod Nano in 2007.
TV commercials: The only place middle aged people hear pop music anymore.
Can confirm.
This is true, though I was young when the nano came out!
If I click really fast I can give you two stars! Wish I had more!
I do remember the nano commercial song!
I checked out 1234. I’ve never heard it. I hadn’t even heard of Feist until this article.
Early on someone described Arcade Fire as U2 crossed with David Bowie and The Polyphonic Spree, which is sort of accurate but I don’t think they’re anything that unique either.
They occasionally make dance music for people in sweaters.
“ described Arcade Fire as U2 crossed with David Bowie and The Polyphonic Spree”But to complete that formula, subtract about ninety-five percent of the talent.
A big dollop of Talking Heads mixed in there, too.
Well, if you can describe them as sounding like three other bands, they’re by definition not unique.
If you don’t know Feist, then I’m assuming you didn’t watch TV in the 2000s. She had (if i remember) two songs repurposed for massive, ubiquitous advertising campaigns, including “1-2-3-4″ for Apple, that catapulted her to stardom.If you don’t know Arcade Fire, that’s fine. They were a cornerstone of a whole genre’s worth of 2000’s indie rock. It was hard to be a fan of bands like LCD Soundsystem or Bloc Party without running into them at a show or festival.
It was hard to be a fan of bands like LCD Soundsystem or Bloc Party without running into them at a show or festival.Weird, I’m a huge fan of both of these bands, especially Bloc Party, and yet I don’t think I can name a single Arcade Fire song or album.
I can’t, either, ironically. I just remember seeing them at an LCD concert on Randall’s island but i stayed far away from the stage, and then at some random festival they were on the same stage as bloc party. So i went with those examples.
That’s fine. I can’t either and I have one of their songs on an old gym playlist from ten years ago. It’s called ? But I can kind of hum it.
2 whole songs? Wow, who knew..
That’s one more hit than Vanilla Ice
Oh they know. And if they don’t, don’t do the work for them. Mock them.
i’m so sorry that you live in a nation where all search engines are banned but AV club is mandatory
Arcade Fire is…fine. They’re fine. Definitely semi-twee “indie” stuff.It’s not quite “Wes Anderson Movie: The Band” (that’d be Vampire Weekend), but it ain’t far off.
Funeral was revelatory for its time but everything since has been exponentially diminished returns. I last saw them on the tour for whatever album was before WE (when they were doing shows in the round) and it was actually kind of stunning to hear Funeral/Neon Bible tracks put directly up against the new stuff. They basically became a completely different band with The Suburbs and never returned to the hunger and urgency of their early days.
Saw them on their last tour (I sometimes work in music venues) and I gotta say, whatever else is going on with Arcade Fire, hearing the first notes of “Wake Up” live and then the crowd singing along is still one of the best moments you can have at a live music event. Funeral really does hold up.
Nothing they did ever topped those first 30 seconds of Wake Up
You just described [insert state of existence here]. Very few [insert practitioner of thing here] ever return to the hunger and urgency of their early days. Fewer still if the [practitioner] is successful…
I always thought Belle and Sebastian were way more “Wes Anderson Movie: The Band” than Vampire Weekend. And I’m a pretty big Belle and Sebastian fan.
Fair point!
You mean 2 decades later. Arcade Fire AND Feist’s first album both turn 20 next year. Not to mention Feist was well known as a member of Broken Social Scene back in the late 90s.
Bro, Feist was on Sesame Street!
I first encountered her playing an angel on A Colbert Christmas: The Greatest Gift of All.
I remember that!
I have a hard time believing someone who regularly comments on multiple pop culture websites has never heard of any of these people.
I have heard of them, but know nothing beyond hearing their names.
Idk, I’m here daily and there’s usually one article a day about someone I’ve never heard of.
That cannot possibly be true. AF is one of the biggest bands of the last 20 years.
Like The Decemberists, but somehow worse
The Decemberists are definitely worse.
What the fuck is the internet right?
Makes sense. Also, she should not be blamed for Win Butler deciding to run around and dip his wick like a hipster Svengali.
“Also, she should not be blamed for Win Butler”
Thank goodness someone isn’t blaming Feist…
Or a hipster Svengoolie (who, I assume, fucks)
Chickens, mostly.
Svengoolie, no! That is not what I imagined when I ran into him in a bar in Berwyn, IL and he bragged about still getting tail.
Allegedly
“I was fucking chickens way back before all you posers were!”
Hey, Gonzo the Great doesn’t fuck chickens. He makes love to them.
my bad.
Who was blaming her
Feist contains Multitudes?
So now – unequal power dynamics are being described as “sexual assault? I’m interested in how much dumber this rhetoric can get. Some weird, blue haired, “they/them” decided years after the fact that her consensual relationship with a rock star constituted “sexual assault” – and everyone is pretending like that’s ok?
I like how “blue haired” used to apply to crazy elderly women. Now it aptly describes crazy 30 somethings.
You are a very stupid person. I’m sure I’m not the first to tell you, but I want you to know that everyone else was right on the money.
So you are the authority on ”stupidity” and everyone else’s opinions, eh?
People who play Warhammer don’t get to have opinions on things.
PeOpLe WhO pLaY wArHaMmErLMAO you’re such a fucking loser.
No one’s attracted to you.
It is the night
My body’s weak
I’m on the run
No time to sleep
I’ve got to ride
Ride like the wind
To be free againAnd I’ve got such a long way to go
(Such a long way to go)
To make it to the border of Mexico
So I ride like the wind
Ride like the windI was born the son of a lawless man
Always spoke my mind with a gun in my hand
Lived nine lives
Gunned down ten
Gonna ride like the windAnd I’ve got such a long way to go
(Such a long way to go)
To make it to the border of Mexico
So I ride like the wind
Ride like the wind
Gonna ride like the windAccused and tried and told to hang
I was nowhere in sight when the church bells rang
Never was the kind to do as I was told
Gonna ride like the wind before I get oldIt is the night
My body’s weak
I’m on the run
No time to sleep
I’ve got to ride
Ride like the wind
To be free againAnd I’ve got such a long way to go
(Such a long way to go)
To make it to the border of Mexico
So I ride like the wind
Ride like the windAnd I’ve got a long way to go
(Such a long way to go)
To make it to the border of Mexico
So I ride like the wind
Ride like the wind
Gonna ride like the windRideGonna ride like the windRide
Alright, here’s my running list of things I can’t do if I want to be treated with dignity:-Be weird (at least no more weird than someone who would look through my comment history because they got triggered)-Dye my hair (blue? or any color?)-Have they/them pronouns (can I be referred to in the third-person?)-Report a rape years after it happened (what if the perpetrator was a weird blue-haired they/them?)-Play Warhammer (does this include Total War: Warhammer?)I’d appreciate clarification on the above points in parentheses. Thanks!
Right. Everything that makes you *you* is weird and off-putting.
Even my large, beautiful penis?
Also, to be clear – there was no rape reported or involved in the Wynn Butler allegations.
There was! He has been accused of rape. Also, his name is spelled Win, but I know you’re not exactly a scion of accuracy.
“He has been accused of rape.”I just checked again and you’re incorrect. “but I know you’re not exactly a scion of accuracy.”Your opinion means very little.
“A fourth person, who is gender-fluid and uses they/them pronouns, claims that Butler sexually assaulted them twice in 2015″ -PitchforkDo you know what rape is?
Do you? Rape and sexual assault are two separate things. Also, the “sexual assault” that this person is referring to seems to be getting pinned against a wall and kissed.It bothers me that I have to live in a world with people like you.
Considering that you’ve chosen to spend your time immersing yourself in a community of “people like me” to the point of naming yourself after one that’s way, way worse, forgive me if I have a hard time believing you’re that pressed about it. You need us — or the strawman versions you dream up in your head — to feel good about yourself. Probably to ignore the guilt for whatever shit you’ve pulled that gives you such sympathy for folks like Win. I mean, I’m flattered that you think the validation I give you is worth the effort it takes to reply, but I hope you know that it means nothing and everything you’ve ever done is your responsibility and yours alone.
Congrats on successfully pivoting from our conversation about how you don’t know what the word rape means to a weird fever dream that i’m sure you wish is true. Oh – and implying that anyone defending someone must be guilty of the crime the person they’re defending is accused of. Top shelf logic. Congrats. Very brave.
Nothing says emotionally mature and intellectually honest like making up a strawman based on overwrought partisan stereotypes and then getting angry about them.
It’s fucking stupid, we’re supposed to resent him because he got some pussy
Man it must suck getting boners for blue hairs and having them laugh at you. And then having to confront the fact you’ll die deservedly alone? Rough stuff bro.I guess that’s why you’re always rage posting about them.
No one is attracted to you lol.
So no one told you life was gonna be this way
Your job’s a joke, you’re broke
Your love life’s DOA
It’s like you’re always stuck in second gear
When it hasn’t been your day, your week, your month
Or even your year, butI’ll be there for you
(When the rain starts to pour)
I’ll be there for you
(Like I’ve been there before)
I’ll be there for you
(‘Cause you’re there for me too)You’re still in bed at ten
And work began at eight
You’ve burned your breakfast
So far, things are going great
Your mother warned you there’d be days like these
But she didn’t tell you when the world has brought
You down to your knees thatI’ll be there for you
(When the rain starts to pour)
I’ll be there for you
(Like I’ve been there before)
I’ll be there for you
(‘Cause you’re there for me too)No one could ever know me
No one could ever see me
Seems you’re the only one who knows
What it’s like to be me
Someone to face the day with
Make it through all the rest with
Someone I’ll always laugh with
Even at my worst, I’m best with you, yeahIt’s like you’re always stuck in second gear
When it hasn’t been your day, your week, your month
Or even your yearI’ll be there for you
(When the rain starts to pour)
I’ll be there for you
(Like I’ve been there before)
I’ll be there for you
(‘Cause you’re there for me too)I’ll be there for you
I’ll be there for you
I’ll be there for you
(‘Cause you’re there for me too)
I’m a movie producer in LA. Before this I worked as a staffer in Congress for 7 years. My life is objectively going pretty well.
LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLLLLLLLLLLLLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOLLLLLLLLLLLL
Enjoy being a nobody (and fat)!
Streaks on the china,
never mattered before,
who cares.
When you dropped kicked your jacket
As you came through the door,
No one glared.
But sometimes things get turned around
And no one’s spared.
All hands look out below
There’s a change in the status quo.
Gonna need all the help that we can get.
According to our new arrival
Life is more than mere survival
We just might live the good life yet.
This definitely makes up for the fact that you’re fat and can’t find anyone to love you.
You take the good
You take the bad
You take them both and there you have the facts of life
The facts of lifeThere’s a time you got to go
And show you’re growin’
Now you know about the facts of life
The facts of lifeWhen the world never seems
To be living up to your dreams
Then suddenly you’re finding out
The facts of life are all about you, youWhen there’s someone that you care about
It really isn’t fair, they’re out to slow you up
When you’re growing upWhen you let them flirt and then you hurt waiting
‘Cause your date is late in showing up
Then you’re growin’ upWhen it’s more than just the birds and the bees
You need someone telling you please
There’s only one conclusion
There will always be confusion over you, you, youIt takes a lot to get all ‘em right
When you’re learning them all facts of lifeYou’ll avoid a lot of damage
And enjoy the fun of managing the facts of life
They shed a lot of lightIf you hear ‘em from your brother
Better clear ‘em with your mother
Better get ‘em right
Call her late at nightYou got the future in the palm of your hand
Now all you gotta do to get you through is understand
You think you’d rather do without
You’ll never muddle through without the truth
The facts of life are all about you
Learn all the fact of lifeAll about you, you, you
They’re all about you
Oh, things about the facts of life
You’re never gonna learn them in just one nightOh, things about facts of life
Oh, they’re all about you
Oh, things about facts of life
You’re never gonna learn them in just one night
Oh, things about facts of life
They’re all about you, all about you
You could just write “I’m fat” over and over again to achieve the same effect.
Used his celebrity status to assert power over them? LMAO give me a fucking break. The dude and the chicks were not peers, colleagues, coworkers, subordinates, or anything else. He held no “power” over them.Also, Arcade Fire sucks anyway. Their Springsteen with a brass section gimmick is so fucking corny.
I agree with the first paragraph but still like their music.
Agreed on all counts.
One of the people over whom he supposedly had celebrity power didn’t even know who he was. In Montreal. It would be like Picasso showing up at your house party in Barcelona and someone asking “Is this your friend that paints houses?”
Your face would look so much better if it were gone.
Thanks!
I guess when you got a song called “1,2,3,4″ it’s pretty much a given you’re going to be on Sesame Street.
When the article started to talk about Leslie Feist I got confused and just assumed that there was some other Feist I didn’t know about and that’s why she was being quantified.
Quick question: where the fuck has she been since roughly 2008 and was Corinne Bailey Rae there with her?
No, but Imogen Heap was.
Unlikely. Heap didn’t vanish: she composed the music for… sigh… Harry Potter and the Cursed Child.
She’s been making great music! Metals and Pleasure both have some fantastic songs on them.
I am glad to hear it, because in terms of cultural relevance she completely vanished and I didn’t hear her name for over a decade until this Arcade Fire thing went down.
“The algorithm that tells you what music to like” is not the same as “this artist didn’t make any new music.” Jussayin’
What algorithm. I don’t stream music.
And in any case I didn’t say she didn’t make new music, but she did completely disappear from headlines and news articles across any of the cultural websites that I follow. She was headlines news for a bit and then… wasn’t.
You completed your own circle: You don’t stream music. You follow cultural websites. Those cultural websites apparently didn’t find Feist newsworthy across two album cycles. So, the obvious question is obvious: How do those cultural websites determine what is worthy of headlines and news articles? And did the answer to that question change as the streaming habits of others changed?
For what it’s worth, I don’t need answers to these questions. I don’t stream music, and I own the music Feist released while she was supposedly unworthy of headlines on cultural websites. She’s coming through loud and clear over here.
Hey, look, I’m glad. I liked Feist! Glad she’s still making music! Wish she hadn’t have to come back to headlines because Arcade Fire did something shitty.
I like Feist too. I hope her new album is full of great music. And given that the headline in question here involves her leaving a tour, seemingly at considerable expense, I hope her upcoming tour is very successful…
She said in an interview after The Reminder was a huge hit that she was going to intentionally not try to write “hits” on her next couple of albums. Slowed down touring a lot too. Sounded like she made enough money to do what she wanted and withdrew from the public eye a bit.
this quote may sound like gibberish to you but it’s actually impressive when you realize she gave it while having a stroke
Literally ZERO “sexual assault” allegations.Rock star cheats on wife with groupies, is the headline here, as if that was newsworthy. Why wouldn’t Feist support the rest of the Band, though, including the wronged wife?
Feist using these allegations to catapult her flagging popularity. Well done, Leslie!