#The Bizarre Voodoo World Of New Orleans

[burningexeter]

[PITCH]

The Nightmare Chronicles

What is it —

An animated horror anthology series that is as incredibly dark, twisted, macabre, sinister and horrific as can be. Top it off, it will actually be scary, disturbing and straight-up horror whenever it wants to be which will be all the time.

EPISODE IDEAS:

The Girl With Nine Lives — a shy, timid and socially awkward teen girl is tricked into having the nine lives of a cat by a mad witch and becomes a carnival sideshow sensation as the 'Girl Who Can't Die'. As her success becomes more and more grand however, her life falls apart as she becomes an egotistical, vain, self-centered, spoiled rich princess who alienates and pushes away all of her friends and family. It's then until her last act where her closest friend finally walks away wanting nothing to do with her and her mother, heartbroken, leaves her daughter to be by herself, that she realizes all too late that she may have miscounted how many lives she actually has.

Fleshhouse — a struggling blue collar married couple own a just as struggling restaurant that's about to be closed down by their landlord and want what's nothing but the best for their kids (one of whom is disabled). It's then that a longtime and close but strange partner/friend of theirs offers the answer to their solutions that could save their restaurant - a secret recipe and a special supply of steak with such a delectable taste to it and one that harbors a horrifying and dark secret.

The Fogs Of War — Set in 1916 during WWII, several lost squads of soldiers converge and must hide out in a mysterious and abandoned maze-like series of trenches and tunnels that they discover far too late and rather horrifyingly so that the entire place is a gateway to hell that has opened by accident due to the war on earth. Now the soldiers all must fight for their lives and through the night from demons - each of whom represents their deepest, darkest and most personal fears - from dragging them into hell itself for their sins.

Something Wicked On The Runway Shoot — The mother of an aspiring model takes her daughter to a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity in Los Angeles for a potential membership and mentor under the hugely successful and gorgeous but mysterious and camera-shy Ruth Rose. Therefore, it's revealed that the mother was once an up-and-coming model on her way to fame until she turned it down to start a family with her child.... and it's also revealed the true, dark, grotesque, siamese secret of Ruth Rose.

Fat Tuesday — a man still-in grieving from the tragic death of his wife, moves himself and his three kids to New Orleans as a chance to start over and begin a new life after her death affected every one of them. However in trying to start anew, they all find themselves entangled in a bizarre voodoo ritual that includes their own family history with the man's own father and deceased wife stuck between two worlds as horrifying zombies emerge from the deep and thick swamp with cravings for flesh.

NOTES/TRIVIA/DETAILS:

• With the animation style, I picture it being a good, strong cross between Laura Hollingsworth's art for Keeper Of The Lost Cities, Tony Moore's art for the first six issues of The Walking Dead and Charlie Adlard's art for the entirety of The Walking Dead. It would fit in perfectly with the stories I'm trying to tell with this here.

• All of the stories will have plenty of things in common with each other despite being very different one from the other. Not only are they all just as dark, twisted, mean, cynical, horrific and surprisingly genuinely heartfelt at times but they're also very character driven. All of the events that happen happen because of the character or characters' actions, it's not something weird or fucked up happening to someone randomly. It's always that the characters did something that caused this event to happen to them and of course, there are repercussions so they have absolutely no one to blame but themselves since they caused this to happen to them and them only.

• Another things is that with some definite exceptions here and there, basically sprinkled in every now and then, almost all of the stories or episodes will have bad endings but in unconventional ways. What I mean by that is that there's always a real, true, genuine moment of victory where the character or characters defeat the wendigo or break the demented curse or seal the sandman whose been harvesting childrens' souls away so he can never harm anyone ever again....

But then there's always that extra thing that immediately happens after that goes "Nope!" which ends with an equally effective, memorable and haunting final image to end on.

• The sprinkled in happy endings however are the ones that feel the most earned where the character or characters realize the errors of their ways and come out as better people so the happy ending feels both warranted and deserving.

However, all of that somehow has got nothing on this right here —

• When an episode or "story" ends, it dissolves into a campfire to be revealed that the episode was in fact a campfire tale all along told by either a cynically dry yet charismatic at the same time magician named Nicolas Channing (voiced by and directly modeled after Ryan Beil) or a character from a piece of media such as Demona, Zhalia Moon, Mikasa Ackerman, M.O.M., Badger, Ratboy etc.

#horror #animation #anthology #semi-crossover

[ghostpunkrock]

the bizarre voodoo world of new orleans is a bfu thesis episode. to me

[mobilefbblog]

Louisiana - Recreation, Tourist Destinations, Farming in Louisiana, Timber Industry, Land Sales

Louisiana - The Perfect Blend of Industry and Fun

The state of Louisiana is probably best known for one of the biggest party cities in the world, New Orleans. But what most people seem to forget is that Louisiana is more than just their most famous city much in the way California is more than just San Francisco. The Cajun culture mixes in with Southern hospitality to make the state one of the most unique and vibrant places to live or visit. This is reflected in the fact that not only does Louisiana have many tourist destinations and recreation spots, but the state also boasts a thriving farming and timber industry. It's no wonder that land sales in Louisiana are in such demand.

Recreation in Louisiana

Like most big states in the South, Louisiana boasts a bevy of sports teams that drives a recreation culture of its own. From LSU Tiger football to the Pelicans of the NBA to the New Orleans Saints, Louisiana has all of the drive and fanaticism that you'd expect from the South. But much more than just watching sports, some of the most interesting things to do in Louisiana involve you getting out there and experiencing the unique land and culture of the state. From fishing in the Gulf to zipping around through gator-infested marshes and swamps to hitting the links on the Audubon Golf Trail, there's more recreation in one square mile of Louisiana than most states have altogether. This can be best witnessed by visiting some of the state's hundreds of parks and wildlife preserves. Be sure to check out Louisiana's vibrant theater scene as well.

Tourist Destinations in Louisiana

If you're looking to visit Louisiana, most people will probably think New Orleans. And while visiting during Mardi Gras is one of the most unique and thrilling things you'll ever do in your life, the state offers so much more than that in the means of Louisiana tourist destinations. From the standard tourist destinations you'll find in most states such as the New Orleans Museum of Art and the Aquarium of the Americas, to the more unique and bizarre such as the Bonnie and Clyde Ambush Museum in Gibsland, Zam's Swamp Tours in Thibodaux and the Voodoo Museum in New Orleans, Louisiana has it all. The unique culture of people makes Louisiana one of the most eclectic and tourist destination-rich states in all of America click here.

Farming in Louisiana

Something else that most people don't realize is that Louisiana is one of the nation's biggest farming states. With a billion dollar a year agricultural industry, the state is also home to one of the most foremost agricultural research centers at LSU. The farming industry is driven by a unique mix of generational farmers who have held land for centuries to first time and newer farmers who are attracted to the low prices and wide availability of farms and land for sale. The truth is, even with all of the farming coming out of the state, the land available is so expansive that there is significant room for growth in farming. Further, unique methods of re-purposing the land has led to some creative farming innovations in Louisiana, such as turning a rice field into a crayfish farm during the off-season.

For more information: https://mobile.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=113703801369595&id=108911141848861&locale2=ms_MY&_rdc=1&_rdr

[ostensiblynone]

Are we hol– It’s connection

The Bizarre Voodoo World Of New Orleans • BuzzFeed Unsolved Supernatural Season 2 Episode 10 Jun 9, 2017

Shane & Ryan Go Birdwatching • Weird Wonderful World Season 2 Episode 2 Jul 17, 2020

Ghost Files is Coming • Making Watcher Episode 3 Dec 31, 2021

#ostensiblygif #ryan bergara #shane madej #buzzfeed unsolved #watcher #watcher entertainment #the bizarre voodoo world of new orleans #weird and/or wonderful world #watcheredit #bfuedit

[aestheticsyoutubers]

ryan bergara & shane madej, buzzfeed unsolved ↳ the bizarre voodoo world of new orleans

#ryan bergara #shane madej #buzzfeed unsolved #the bizarre voodoo world of new orleans #buzzfeed #buzzfeed unsolved network #buzzfeedunsolvednetwork #aestheticsyoutubers #youtuber aesthetics #aesthetics #youtube #subscribbled #why have i never seen the moon's boner? #'cause you just have to believe in it ryan!

[navree]

10 Buzzfeed Unsolved Caps Per Episode

Episode Twenty Nine - “The Bizarre Voodoo World Of New Orleans”

#bfuedit #buzzfeedunsolvededit #bfu #buzzfeed unsolved #buzzfeed unsolved supernatural #10 bfu caps #the bizarre voodoo world of new orleans #my stuff #and with that the first full spn season is over!!!

[spooky-chapscher]

Shyan and “Not While I’m Around”

#shyan #skeptic believer #shane x ryan #demons #3 horrifying cases of ghosts and demons #The Bizarre Voodoo World Of New Orleans #the demonic goatman's bridge #the shadowy spirits of rolling hills asylum #the demonic curse of annabelle the doll #the demonic bellaire house #the haunted halls of waverly hills hospital #the ghosts and demons of bobby mackey's #the demon priest of mission solano #sweeney todd #delightful mothman cookie

[eve-unsolved]

i took an improv comedy class once, 'cause i'm a white guy

Shane Madej, 2017

#the bizarre voodoo world of new orleans #shane madej #ryan bergara #buzzfeed unsolved

[bethorz]

So, the takeaway here is... every little sound is a ghost?

No, the takeaway here is that sounds that don’t belong in that environment may or may not be ghosts

#buzzfeed unsolved #the bizarre voodoo world of new orleans #shane madej #ryan bergara #ghoul boys motivating me to learn how to make gifs #even if these suck and have probably been done better before #but i'm pretty new to the show and love their faces here #my shitty gifs

[nohshinwoos]

“the dark side of the moon just has a giant, dusty boner”

#buzzfeedunsolvededit #buzzfeed unsolved #shane madej #ryan bergara #the bizarre voodoo world of new orleans #edits: buzzfeed unsolved #shanem #ryan #*

[marksandrec]

Marks and Rec: Misc #1561

(This is not the time, Ryan.) (Dialogue from tumblr.)

#buzzfeed unsolved #shane madej #ryan bergara #antisepticeye #darkiplier #jacksepticeye #markiplier #incorrect quotes #marks and rec misc #source: tumblr #vid: darkiplier vs antisepticeye #vid: the bizarre voodoo world of new orleans #it's dangerous to go alone

[psychicbergara]

shane pov: on light

1. jandy nelson i'll give you the sun \\ 2. shane & ryan visit a secret breakfast club • weird wonderful world \\ 3. yiwei chai "violets" \\ 4. the demonic goatman's bridge • unsolved \\ 5. juniper cruz the breakbeat poets vol. 3: halal if you hear me \\ 6. the making of the final investigation • unsolved \\ 7. ocean vuong \\ 8. the bizarre voodoo world of new orleans • unsolved \\ 9. richard siken scheherazade \\ 10. the treacherous treasure hunt of forrest fenn • unsolved \\ 11. bram stoker dracula \\ 12. 3 horrifying cases of ghosts and demons • unsolved \\ 13. mary oliver "that sweet flute john clare"

#shyan #skeptic believer #credit to parispixiegirl for the first shyan pic queerunsolved for the hand kiss #cdaemons for the car pic and slashsleuth for the www fire pic #this was the reason for the pics LSKDJFFJ #I HOPE YALL LIKE THIS LFKJGFJG i hope it isnt too bad or cheesy :') #sophie edits

[cockcompendium]

Welcome to the 21st Century

By @cinaedefuri

Deangelo wasn’t sure how he had scored the house in New Orleans. It was pretty big, and he thought it was outside of his budget, but he put in an offer just above the asking price, and it was accepted! Deangelo did get some strange looks when moving into the house, but they weren’t because of his tattoos or the fact that he was Latino. His neighbors were just shocked that someone as young as him was moving into a house that big all by himself. There were quite a few rooms in the house, and a spacious attic as well.

Deangelo was cleaning out the attic a couple weeks after moving in when he slipped on some fabric on the ground. He was fine, and he soon learned it had been covering a portrait. The portrait was of some incredibly attractive man with ruddy skin and the perfect amount of facial hair. The hair on his head was perfectly coiffed as well, and he had one cross earring in. Deangelo was a bit turned on by the portrait, but he didn’t recognize the guy. He snapped a picture of the portrait with his phone to see who it was.

He cleaned some more and then searched the picture with Google while he was eating lunch. This guy was apparently Percival “Percy” Pendelworth, and he had a reputation in New Orleans as a notorious playboy. Most biographies noted that while a different woman could be seen leaving his house every morning, she was usually a front. Percy was gay, but since it needed to be somewhat of a secret in the 1900’s, having a woman wait in the guest bedroom wasn’t too bizarre. Unfortunately, he was killed by a homophobe who also thought Percy had been sleeping with his wife too, infecting her with his homosexuality.

What only a couple biographies noted, and not the ones that Deangelo read, was that Percy was also into voodoo magic. In some circles, he was called the Voodoo King, and like most voodoo practitioners, he could do some real magic. Percy had been expecting to be killed any day now at the time of his death, so every morning, he cast the same spell. That fateful day, it finally worked, unfortunately, as his spirit possessed the portrait he had made of himself, a la the Picture of Dorian Grey. Percy was smart enough to have a will even at his young age, and his brother gained possession of the house.

However, he never actually moved in, and it exchanged hands a few times before finally ending up on the market again and Deangelo buying it. Now all Percy needed to do was wait for Deangelo to walk back into the attic and he would be able to possess the unsuspecting stud and get to live again! It was later that day when Deangelo went back to the attic, and Percy thought of the phrase he needed when Deangelo was close enough. The Latino stud didn’t feel a thing as he lost control of his body, as Percy gained complete control over his mind and his body.

While the take over itself was practically seamless, Percy’s spirit adjusted to Deangelo’s body for a little bit. The poor man got stretched out a little bit as he and Percy merged together in a way. One dramatic difference was in his height, Deangelo’s body stretched a few inches so that Percy was now the same height he had been when he was alive. His hands and feet also grew a little bit in size to match his new frame, but none of Deangelo’s muscles, not even his cock and balls, changed either. Right now, it would be quite difficult for anyone to realize that Deangelo had even been taken over in the first place.

“Fuck, it feels so good to be back in a body again!” Percy said to himself, as he went down to the bathroom to check himself out in the mirror. “Hmm, not too shabby, but not my ideal body. If I can’t go back to my old body, I’ll just make this one perfect!” Percy quickly adapted to using a cell phone, but he really only used it for calling and “written communication” right now, as in texting. He wanted to explore the world again, and looked inside of Deangelo’s closet. He was shocked when the man only had one suit, up against the wall in his closet.

Percy picked out a button-down and some chinos, along with boat shoes before making his way outside and walking around. He noticed that most people had those phones in their pockets or in their hands, and also that society seemed to have changed a fair bit since he had last stepped foot on this Earth. Before, it would have been scandalous for a man to walk around in his undershirt. Now, most men did that, and their pants were made out of entirely different fabrics as well, and no one seemed to care!

No one really seemed to care what he was wearing either as he made his way to the center of the city. There were many buildings he still remembered, but they had new shops in them now or were converted into housing. Percy wanted to check out one old bar, the Phoenix. He wasn’t sure if it still existed. It had been a budding gay bar around the time of his death, although it was hidden from the general public. He walked inside the Phoenix and was surprised to see it full of men in various states of undress.

Quite a few were wearing leather on their bodies, and the room reeked of a strange combination of cum, piss, weed, and musk. Percy found his cock twitching, getting turned on for the first time in his new vessel. He had considered himself a libertine in his day, but now there was a whole group of libertines right out in the open. It wasn’t long before a drunk couple sauntered their way over to him. “Hey, bro, you look so *hic* hot!”

“Yeah, man! Wanna *hic* come back to our place?”

“But aren’t you two already a couple?”

“Like, yeah, dude, but we’re both *hic* poly, bro!”

“You’re just openly admitting you’re polysexual now?” The couple didn’t respond, moving on to the next guy that they wanted to fuck, as bagging Percy was taking too long. Percy was shocked at just how brazen they were in asserting their sexuality, as well as the fact that they wanted a third. Percy had considered himself into more than one man at once back when he was alive, but very few men shared the same sentiment, especially in New Orleans. He ordered a drink and then looked around the Phoenix.

He had overheard it enough times to know that it was called a “gay bar” now, and in addition to people being open about their sexualities, many fetishes and kinks were out in the open as well. Just a few stools down from him, Percy watched as a young man was hungrily licking an older man’s hairy foot. He then recalled that people were calling them twinks and bears in today’s slang. Across the room, he watched some sweaty dude get worshipped by a small cadre of guys, which included sniffing his ripe pits.

There were men in different types of leather, rubber, and a number of different costumes, many of which Percy didn’t recognize. He did want to go home with a guy tonight, so he looked around for a man that would suit his fancy. He stumbled across a shirtless muscular man wearing tight leather pants, tall shining boots, and rings that pierced his nipples and a rainbow-colored mohawk. He also reeked of weed, but Percy indulged in that often when he was alive anyways.

“Hello, I’m Percy. And you are?”

“Hot!” the dude laughed, and Percy chuckled when he realized what that meant. “For real, though, the name’s Dre. Why don’t you take your fuckin’ shirt off, dude?”

“It’s unbecoming of a man to be shirtless in public.”

“What the fuck, bro? Are you from the 1910’s or something? Have some fun!” Dre ripped open Percy’s shirt, buttons flying everywhere as his toned and tatted body was exposed to everyone at the bar. Percy had to admit, seeing his dominance was a bit of a turn-on, and Dre seemed to be into him as well. The two danced for a little bit, strange dances Percy had no clue how to do, but that Dre seemed to love. It wasn’t long before Percy found himself leaving the bar with Dre and going back to his place.

Dre called some kind of taxi called an “Uber,” which wasn’t even yellow, much to Percy’s dismay. The Uber reeked of weed and musk on the way back to Percy’s place, and try as he might, he couldn’t help but chubbing up. Naturally, Dre noticed that and started making out with Percy in the back of the Uber, even feeling up his date as well. This Uber driver had seen it all, especially since he frequently drove around where the Phoenix was, but he would add an extra surcharge for the probable mess that he would have to clean up.

Thankfully, the two of them didn’t go as far as he thought, but Percy’s shirt was now completely off and neither man tried to hide their erections as they walked into Percy’s place together. Percy led the way to his bedroom, and once they were there, they wasted no time stripping and showing off their impressive cocks to one another, Dre only having to take one thing off, of course. Before they decided who was going to be bottoming tonight, they sixty-nined, although they didn’t suck on each other’s cocks. Instead, they sniffed the other dude’s pits in this position, both men leaking a fair amount of pre-cum and Dre taking a couple more hints from his blunt before finally pulling away.

“So, you’re gonna be the bottom, Percy. I want you to fuckin’ choke on my dick. But first, you need to lick my boots clean, bitch.” Percy was a bit shocked at just how straightforward Dre was in what he wanted, and it had been quite some time since he had licked another man’s boot, literally. Without hesitation, he dropped to his knees and stuck his tongue and began cleaning Dre’s boots. There was caked-on cum and other liquids dried on there that neither Dre nor Percy recognized. Dre chuckled at just how eager this dude was to clean his fuckin’ boots! He knew that some preppy guys could be quite kinky, but he wasn’t too sure Percy was the preppy guy he thought he was.

“And before you start fuckin’ choking on my cock, bitch, I wanna see you wear what I wore tonight.” Unfortunately, Dre did only have his jockstrap with him, but it was a leather one with spikes all around, and a size too small for him and Percy too. Since he was bottoming anyways, Percy slipped it on, loving the feeling of Dre’s sweat on his body and the feel of the jockstrap in general. The jockstrap was obscenely bulging but thankfully wouldn’t tear as Percy began sucking Dre off and choking on his dick, of course. Percy actually didn’t know if Deangelo was gay or not, but he didn’t have any problem swallowing most of Dre’s shaft before choking on it, and having sex came back to him just like riding a bike.

The sex was hot and steamy after that, the room reeking of a pungent yet erotic mixture of sweat, cum, musk, and weed as Percy continued to suck on Dre’s cock and also got fucked by him. Percy was also a bit shocked to realize just how open Dre was with his fetishes and kinks. He loved to verbally degrade his sub bottoms, and Deangelo did happen to have some dildos and other sex toys in his room that Dre found easily and used without a second thought. It was nice to see Dre be so open, though, and it was pretty fuckin’ hot too! Both of them eventually came on their own sweaty chests, but they ate the cum from each other’s chests. Dre did have to leave, since he worked an early shift, but both men loved the sex regardless.

From that day on, Percy adjusted to his new life in Deangelo’s body. He first wanted to find a voodoo practitioner to see if he could access some of Deangelo’s memories while still regaining some of his own. He found one, and he happened to be gay as well. Stephen helped him with the voodoo magic and was also his mentor, getting him up to speed on the queer community and any other advances in technology or changes that Deangelo’s memories didn’t cover. The two of them never dated, but Percy was still thankful for his help.

It did take some time for the former libertine to come to terms with just how much life had changed since he had died, especially when it came to sex. He was pleased to find out that locker rooms in gyms, no longer called gymnasiums by the general public, were still a hotbed of gay sex. He worked out every day, with help from a personal trainer at first. He was a bit shocked when he found out that most people could easily purchase the services of a personal trainer, but Percy was soon getting bigger and bigger and having more and more sex.

Of course, much of that was in a poly relationship. There were a whole lot more men who were out as poly, and out overall as he had learned that first night, but still not as many who were gay or bi. Still, Percy started his own polycule, since he had his house back that was big enough for quite a large polycule. He loved having a pick of men that he loved to fuck, and found that he got a bit turned on by cuckolding as well! Similarly, he loved that most kinks were now things people talked about outside of the bedroom.

There were still some limits, he learned, but Percy loved hearing men just openly talk about their night as a urinal at a party or that they were double-fisted by some burly bear at the club. Percy had quite a few stories to tell as well, as edging was still quite popular, and sometimes, men even paid Percy to edge them! A few months after Percy had possessed Deangelo, he had finished turning him into his perfect vessel. He had gained all of the muscles that he wanted and added some more tattoos all over his body.

Getting tattoos was quite interesting for Percy, who was still adapting to life in the twenty-first century. There were now tattoo parlors on every corner, it seemed, and many tattoo artists showed off their work on themselves. Color in tattoos was much easier to apply now, and tattoo artists were pretty much unfazed by what their customers wanted. Percy did start off small at first, but it wasn’t long before he found a guy that he liked, and he got a skull tattoo on his left bicep done, a pretty big one done in one long session. He also had the current year tattooed across his chest, as a reminder of when he returned to this earth.

In addition to the muscle growth and tattoos, another way that Percy changed was in his fashion sense. It actually hadn't changed too much since he had first walked on Earth. However, instead of hiding the clothes he wanted to wear and only putting them on in his bedroom, Percy could now dress in leather and studs, even chaps for fucks’ sake! Of course, he did get some looks occasionally, but for most people, they barely batted an eye as another leather punk walked the streets of New Orleans.

Also, being a punk himself was something that was seen in somewhat of a better light. Percy learned to be wary of the cops still, but with all of the technology now at his fingertips, it wasn’t long before Percy had found punk groups that met up right here in New Orleans. Some of the meetings were quite a sight to behold, men dressed in leather with colorful mohawks and quite a few piercings all over their body having scintillating discussions about philosophy. Of course, they also talked about how to wash leather and what areas on your body hurt the most when they were pierced. He now talked and acted like he had been born in the late twentieth century and not the early, and he had a growing polycule that was open to all of the kinks that he loved. He knew that his life could not get any better than it was right now.

[madej]

The Bizarre Voodoo World of New Orleans

#buzzfeedunsolvededit #bfuedit #buzzfeed unsolved #usermarylan #uservega #ryanberga #tuserheather #uservickytoria #mine #*

[thekillerssluts]

We’ve Got A File On You: Win Butler

In a year when a lot of our plans have been on hold, Win Butler has been busy. In April, the Arcade Fire ringleader let us know that the band had been working on music shortly before lockdown, and then he let us hear some of it. Last week, on the night of the election, the band debuted a new song called “Generation A.” Apparently, Butler was one of the people who found quarantine more inspiring than suffocating. Just a couple weeks ago, he amended his previous hints with the update that he’s written “two or three” Arcade Fire albums thanks to having to stay still all year long.

It seems like there’ll be a whole lot of new Arcade Fire goings-on to parse sometime on the horizon, but that isn’t the reason Butler and I got on the phone one recent October afternoon. Butler’s not quite ready to talk about forthcoming music yet, aside from saying this era of writing gives him flashbacks to that which preceded The Suburbs and promising “The new shit is about some of the best shit we’ve ever done” as we say goodbye.

In the meantime, there have been some milestones this year: The Suburbs turned 10; Butler turned 40. There is, of course, a whole lot of rich Arcade Fire history between their early ’00s origins and now. There are too many high-profile collabs to dig through, too many pop culture crossovers to cover, in just one conversation. But before Arcade Fire’s next chapter begins, while we both had a moment of quiet at home in the year 2020, Butler and I took some time to dig back through highlights and surprises from across his career.

Appearing In Bill & Ted Face The Music (2020)

How did this happen?

WIN BUTLER: They were filming in New Orleans. I’m kind of the exact age where Bill & Ted really has a soft spot in my worldview. [Laughs] That was just like, yeah, of course I want to be in the Future Council. That’s the part I was born to play. No, it’s funny, it was just one of these random things that come through the email. Usually, it’s, “Nope, nope, nope, nope.” But this was, “Tell me when, tell me where, I’ll be there.” It was on soundstages. When we were filming it, Tommy Lee from Mötley Crüe was back there, and he sort of disappeared at some point. I got to bring my son, who’s six. He was hanging out and we were talking to Keanu about Canada and punk bands back in the day. It was a pretty sweet hang. It was a bright spot in 2020, let me put it that way.

You say you get these emails — is that random stuff they want Arcade Fire to do, or there’ve been other cameos you turned down?

BUTLER: Oh, no, it’s mostly random licensing or stuff that goes to the junk box. But every once in a while, it’s like, “Hey, that sounds like a nice way to spend the day.” I started out in film. I went to Sarah Lawrence College in New York around 2000. I had really wanted to go to film school, and I could never get in. [Laughs] Initially, the song “The Suburbs” was an idea I had for a film and it seemed easier to make a song than a film.

The Suburbs (2010)

That was a convenient segue. The Suburbs just turned 10. I was wondering if you have gone back and revisited it much amidst that anniversary.

BUTLER: The whole experience of Funeral was such a rollercoaster. We were on the road so long. We didn’t have much of a break going into the second record. For The Suburbs, Régine and I — I don’t think we saw anyone for a year straight before we even started demoing or anything for that record.

It was a time in my life… I don’t know, I was in my late twenties, and there were all these details of my childhood in Houston. You know, I moved to Canada when I was 19. [Houston] almost felt like this other life I had. I would close my eyes and imagine riding my bike through town and trying to find the edges of my memory. There was kind of all this emotion that came up through that, and I wanted to capture it. It’s funny, as a songwriter, most of the time I feel like my mind is living in the near future. You’re listening for these little signals in the air. This was almost inhabiting the emotional space of these memories but thinking about it as the future.

When you say it like that, I’m curious if the album feels different to you now that you’re a father yourself and another 10 years down the line. Like another layer to that refracted youth, sort of?

BUTLER: Totally. In a way, I feel like the last year has been a parallel to that year before The Suburbs. Then I was kind of a hermit by choice, and this has more been the world conspiring to make me a hermit, but it has been a really introspective. In a sense, the material that we’ve been working on feels the same way, this hybrid of your emotional landscape and the future.

It’s almost seasonal, like a trade wind that blows in once in a while. I remember we played with Neil Young when he was still doing the Bridge School Benefit and hearing him sing “Old Man” as an old man, almost like he wrote the song when he was 22 to sing when he was 80. I think there’s an element on that Suburbs record that’s like that as well.

Winning The Grammy For Album Of The Year (2011)

Obviously that was a huge turning point for Arcade Fire because you won the Grammy the following year. As a suburban indie fan at the time, I had no real grasp on how big certain bands were. From where I was, it was pretty trippy that you guys won that.

BUTLER: I mean, tell me about it. It was definitely pretty trippy.

There are very, very early moments of you guys getting linked up with some iconic artists. Arcade Fire got plenty of respect from the beginning. But at the same time, the Grammys is something different. That’s a moment of mainstream insurgency. Ten years on, you’re one of the big indie bands of your generation, but also one of the only rock bands to get to that level in recent times.

BUTLER: I don’t know it was the best record that year, but it was definitely the best record nominated that year. I mean, we were up against a Lady Gaga remix record and like, Katy Perry. We weren’t up against a great Eminem record, we were up against a not-that-great Eminem record. In a certain sense, I was like, “Well, I think we should win.” [Laughs] I think we had the best record.

I remember in high school Radiohead and Björk were the two [new artists I loved]. I bought The Bends the day it came out, I bought Homogenic the day it came out. And then everything else I listened to was artists that had broken up 20 years earlier. I remember watching the Grammys the year OK Computer was nominated and it didn’t win, and I was just like, “Oh, that thing must not mean anything then.” I remember Dylan won, and it’s a really great Dylan record, but objectively OK Computer was the best record. So if that didn’t win, then what the hell does that thing mean? After that, I didn’t think about the Grammys that much. It wasn’t on my list of my dreams of my career and what I could accomplish and what I wanted to do.

For me, I was looking more at a band like the Cure or New Order, these bands that were really just artistic entities but you would hear them at a pharmacy once in a while. Like, I’d hear “Bizarre Love Triangle” come on in the pharmacy in Houston and just be like, “Is this from outer space? What the fuck is this?” My dreams for our band was to do for other people what those bands did for me, which was just throw me a fucking lifeline. Because I was just like, “What is this world, and where are my people, and how can I feel OK existing?” My grandfather played in big bands and played with Louis Armstrong, and he bought me a guitar when I was 15. I held on to that thing — if I didn’t have that I don’t think I would’ve made it out of high school. It literally saved my life. I don’t think I could exist without that.

For me, the Grammy thing was strangely moving. Even up until the moment we won, I just felt like an interloper. Even when we won, people looked at us like aliens. Like, “Who? What?” You know, I’m a competitive person. It was really exciting. Cool, awesome, the universe makes sense for one second. It’s interesting, I didn’t expect it to mean anything until we won, and then it meant something.

David Bowie (2005, 2013, Throughout)

I alluded to this earlier but: The Grammys were like an industry stamp of approval. From the beginning, however, you guys were embraced by a lot of elder artists — particularly artists who were influences on the band. One I wanted to talk about was David Bowie. He was a very early supporter; you performed together in 2005, which turned into a live EP. Then he shows up on “Reflektor” in 2013. Somewhere around 2015, you talked about how you’d come to regard him as this professor-type character in your life. He came to your first New York show, right?

BUTLER: Our first headlining show, when we played at the Bowery, Bowie and David Byrne came to that show.

Wow, no pressure huh.

BUTLER: It sort of set the table. Like, “Well, I guess this is how it’s going to be right out of the gate.” [Laughs] It’s funny, I have a photo of David in my studio that I look at when I’m working sometimes. It’s just him in a dressing room with one of those kind of Hollywood mirrors behind him. He really… I don’t know, he felt some sort of spiritual connection with us. It wasn’t like he wanted anything from us. I just think he wanted to say, “Hey guys, you’re going on the right path, keep going.”

I was emailing him over all those years. I don’t know if you have anyone close to you that’s died and you go back and read those emails, it’s really these strange digital fragments of someone you care about. After he sang on “Reflektor,” Régine and I bought him a painting in Haiti as a thank you gift. We were supposed to mail it to him and we got busy and forgot about it, and in the interim he passed. I knew he wasn’t well, but I didn’t know he was dying. Maybe a couple months later I remembered the painting and I dug it out and it was a painting of a black star. A voodoo painting of a black star with rays coming out of it.

I didn’t know anything about his record being Blackstar or anything like that. Now it’s on the wall of my bedroom. Shit like that sometimes happens in my life. I take it for what it is. I don’t know exactly what that means and I just feel grateful… I don’t know man. Even just how inspiring, what he put into his art even in death. He’s someone I think about at least on a weekly basis.

Backing Up Mick Jagger On SNL (2012), Playing With The Rolling Stones (2013)

Obviously that was an ongoing relationship, and you’ve worked with David Byrne too, and you referenced playing with Neil Young. Still: Being onstage with the Rolling Stones seems particularly daunting.

BUTLER: We were Mick’s backing band on SNL. SNL is maybe one of my favorite American institutions. I don’t know if it’s the Canadian thing since Lorne [Michaels] is Canadian. The first time we did it, it was just like, “This dude is my friend.” I don’t know if Lorne’s kids like Arcade Fire or something. But I was in New York randomly and he was like, “Mick’s doing a thing,” and I said, “We do a pretty amazing cover of ‘The Last Time,’” and he said “Come on down, let’s do it.” Then we’re Mick’s backing band. I don’t know, pretty fucking cool.

What is Mick Jagger like to work with?

BUTLER: Mick is like: As soon as the light goes on, he’s a different person. When he turns it on, it’s like this muscle memory — like if you were with the greatest ballet dancer ever, and you say go and this energy comes out of him that is so practiced. It’s someone who’s an absolute master, after practicing something for decades and decades and decades. That was pretty amazing to see. You’re chatting with someone, we’re at the piano and we’re talking about an arrangement, “OK, let’s do a run,” and then, “Boom! Shit!” There he is.

It’s this other level. I feel like people at that level, music’s not something they’re fucking around with. [Laughs] Music is a spirit. You hear something, and if it strikes a chord with you, it connects something at your deepest core. People like that, when you see them do their thing, it really is this other plane. It’s not this show thing. It’s more of a possession. You can hear it in the music.

I feel like I’ve listened to more music during COVID than any time since I was like, 18. I had this moment when I was listening to these amazing records from the 1950s. You can hear the room. It’s almost like audio VR — you can hear the drummer here and the bass player over here. There’s a sense of space, particularly to that older music. It’s a snapshot. If you hear “La Bamba,” right now, that is what it is. It’s a spirit captured on vinyl, on a piece of tape. It’s alive within that.

With people like Mick, they’re a little bit closer to the spirit of rock ’n’ roll — a literal spirit, not a figurative spirit. Bowie was the same. When he played with us in Central Park, the second he hit the stage he’s illuminated. You’re like, “Oh, shit, that’s what it is.” He’s a human when you’re talking to him and as soon as he’s in it, he’s touched by another thing.

SNL (2007-Present)

I’m glad you brought SNL up, because you’ve been on it a bunch of times, but you’re also one of the musical acts they’ve brought into skits. Like, they actually wrote a game show around you. How does that work? Did they write that sketch with you guys, or you walked in and they’re like, “Hey, by the way…”

BUTLER: I can’t remember, I think we’ve been six or seven times. We’ve been there for a couple different casts at this point. The Lonely Island dudes, those are so my dudes. In another life, I would’ve been in Lonely Island, that would’ve been my dream to just fuck around with my friends; when we were first writing music we were kinda joking around because you’re too insecure to try. A lot of times [at SNL], we’ve played for the staff when we’re there, because you get so fired up to play one or two songs and you’re playing live so your endorphins are running so we just sort of keep playing afterwards. I feel like they appreciate that, it kinda feels like you’re on the same team or something.

I was backstage at SNL once last year, and it is pretty crazy to see it all from the inside like that.

BUTLER: It’s so crazy. They write it all that fucking week, and then to see the differences between the dress rehearsal and the live show. They do a little meeting in Lorne’s office. They’ve done the dress rehearsal and it’s still this tiny office and every cameraman and every cast member is crammed in this little office and Lorne’s like, “Make it a blue light instead of a green light at minute 23, and change this word to this word, I don’t think that’s funny, change that, OK, go,” and everyone’s got pencils writing this down. It’s still fucking that. And you know, it hits and misses sometimes, but they’re doing it.

How long did you have to work on your De Niro impression for that skit?

BUTLER: It’s actually more of a Billy Baldwin impersonation, but it seemed to work for De Niro as well. [Laughs] My only real impression is I can look exactly like Billy Baldwin if I want to. If there’s any casting directors reading this and you need a Billy Baldwin impersonator, I’m your man.

LCD Soundsystem’s Goodbye Show (2011)

You’re the one who ended up serendipitously coining the title of the live album.

BUTLER: [Laughs] That is true. That was genuine. He was being a little talky.

I moved to New York before I moved to Montreal, and I would go to the city and go to shows and I didn’t see one fucking thing that was good in the whole year. I was like, “Wait, I thought New York was the shit, where is it?” All I saw was bad, very industry bands. I couldn’t find anything, I wasn’t cool enough to figure out what was going on. There’s very few bands that I really think of, like bands of my generation where I heard them and thought “These are my people.” For me it was the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, LCD, and Wolf Parade. When I heard those bands, I thought, “These are my fellow pilgrims.” It was art, DIY, no bullshit, just trying to make something great that communicates to people. It’s real and emotional.

James is really just one of us. He’s just such a great engineer and really into the way things sound and really passionate about details. It’s rare to meet people like that. James was working with us when Bowie came in, when we were in Electric Lady. James had never met Bowie before. The first 7” he ever bought was “Fame.” We’re in this studio, and the last time Bowie was there he had cut “Fame” with John Lennon, in the same studio. We were all like, “This is the right place to be.”

James is just a man after my own heart. We did a tour with them on Neon Bible. We were playing to a thousand people in Salt Like City and I was like, “Man, in a couple years a lot more people are going to wish they were at this show.” What a fucking great live band.

Scoring Her (2013)

What kind of headspace did you have to get into for this vs. making an album?

BUTLER: Spike [Jonze] came to a bunch of our early shows on Funeral. The second I met him he was just immediately one of my best friends. He thinks about the world the same way. Even though we work in different mediums he was someone I knew I’d be working with in some capacity. I was visiting LA and I was staying with Spike just randomly one time, in the early days of him working on the script for Her. I was reading the script and immediately thinking about how it could sound, and I was like, “Well, we should fucking do the score to this movie.”

When you’re working on a record, it’s so rigid, what works on a song and what doesn’t work on a song. It can be so limiting in a way. Within the band, there’s so many different talents and color palettes and things people bring to the table, so it was cool to do something where the boss is the picture. It doesn’t matter how anyone feels about a piece, if it’s working for Spike, if it’s working in harmony with the picture, that’s what the boss is — the emotionality of the picture. It’s not about you, it’s in service to this bigger thing. It was a cool opportunity for all of us to use different aspects of things we do, and to work with Owen [Pallett], who had done a lot of strings on our records. It uses a totally different part of your brain.

Do you want to do more of that kind of work, or was it this specific story from Spike that spoke to you?

BUTLER: I can say pretty confidently that I’ll work with Spike in the future. It definitely takes a lot of energy. It’s definitely something I’m interested in, but I feel like while I’ve got the juice it’s good to spend as much energy writing songs as we can. It’s pretty fucking hard to make a record, believe it or not.

Future’s “Might As Well” Sampling “Owl” From Her(2017)

Are you a big Future fan?

BUTLER: I love Future. There’s something in the rhythm of the thing he does that actually reminds me of some music from Haiti, in this really deep, subtle way I can’t put my finger on. There’s something almost mystical in the way he sounds, and I thought that was really cool that they sampled that soundtrack. His shit does sound like the future still. I think it’s pretty special.

The Reach Of ”Wake Up” (2004-Present)

This song has had this big pop-culture reach over the years. U2 used it as their walk-on music in the ‘00s. It was used in the trailer for another Spike movie, Where The Wild Things Are. Macy Gray and John Legend both covered it. Microsoft ripped it off for a commercial. It was used in a commercial for LA’s bid for the Olympics.

BUTLER: That Microsoft money went to Haiti, by the way. They did rip it off. [Laughs] Thank you Microsoft.

As far as I know that’s far from an exhaustive list, too. It’s just one of those songs that’s gone out and become a part of the atmosphere. Even a lot of big bands don’t necessarily have a song like that. What do you think it is about “Wake Up” that’s registered in so many different contexts?

BUTLER: From the time we wrote that song to now, the biggest difference in my life is I’ve traveled the world and I’ve been able to play music in all these different cultures and feel the ways different countries feel music. Not only listening to the music in other countries but seeing how they feel the music I play.

I remember around The Suburbs we played in rural Haiti. It was our first time playing in a place where nobody in the audience had any of the reference points of the music we played. We were playing in the mountains, there were people walking in barefoot to the concert. We were playing these songs we had been touring the world with, and the energy from the crowd was so different. The things they responded to, the things they felt, it actually fundamentally changed the way I heard my own music. It made me start to think about music not just from my own perspective but culturally how people hear it and feel it.

I think the one thing that kind of transcends everything across all cultures is melody. Régine was playing that melody on piano in our rehearsal room. I hear it like it was yesterday. It was like, “That’s the shit.” [Laughs] Being present and being in the room, hearing something and really giving yourself to it, just singing that shit like it really meant it and feeling the power of that melody and trying to push it until it breaks. That’s something I think about, just how great it is to have people to play music with. To say it like you mean it.

I remember singing that song in Montreal, in these lofts. Most of our early fans, the first time we played that song, they were like “Fuck this shit, I want the acoustic shit.” People were so negative. I remember a lot of early fans didn’t come to our shows after that because we were suddenly screaming at the top of our lungs and playing electric guitars. It was like, “Everyone here hates this, that means we must be going in the right direction.” [Laughs] But yeah, don’t be discouraged if people hate something. It doesn’t mean shit.

https://www.stereogum.com/2105395/win-butler-interview-spike-jonze-arcade-fire-snl-mick-jagger-david-bowie/interviews/weve-got-a-file-on-you/

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