News
New Singles Out Now via Merge
May 31, 2022
By Joey Arnone
Will Butler (formerly of Arcade Fire) has shared two new singles: “A Stranger’s House” and “Nearer To Thee.” Butler has also shared a self-directed video for “A Stranger’s House,” and has announced a set of upcoming tour dates for August. Tickets go on sale this Friday at 10 a.m. local time. More
“The band are still my friends and family,” Butler States
Mar 21, 2022
By Joey Arnone
Will Butler, co-founder of Arcade Fire and younger brother of frontman Win Butler, has announced his departure from the band. In a series of tweets, Butler explains: “There was no acute reason beyond that I’ve changed—and the band has changed—over the last almost 20 years. Time for new things.” More
Generations Due Out September 25 via Merge
Sep 16, 2020
By Christopher Roberts
Will Butler from Arcade Fire is releasing a new solo album, Generations, on September 25 via Merge. Now he has shared another song from it, “Bethlehem,” via a video for the track that features Butler preparing a feast. More
Generations Due Out September 25 via Merge
Aug 19, 2020
By Christopher Roberts
Will Butler from Arcade Fire is releasing a new solo album, Generations, on September 25 via Merge. Now he has shared another song from it, “Close My Eyes,” via a video for the track that features Butler in a rowboat built by his grandfather. More
Plus Oceanator, The Go! Team, IDLES, Moses Sumney, and a Wrap-up of the Week’s Other Notable New Tracks
Jul 17, 2020
By Christopher Roberts (with Samantha Small, Stephen Axeman, and Julian Roberts-Grmela)
Welcome to the 28th Songs of the Week of 2020. It’s another week where the pandemic continues to spread all around America, with the Trump administration doing little to stop it. As a consequence, parents across the land (including this one) are wrestling with whether or not to send their kids to school this fall. More
Generations Due Out September 25 via Merge
Jul 14, 2020
By Christopher Roberts
Will Butler from Arcade Fire has announced a new solo album, Generations, and shared its first single, “Surrender,” via a self-directed video for the new song. More
Original Version Appeared on Live Album Friday Night
Oct 19, 2018
By Christopher Roberts
Will Butler from Arcade Fire released his debut solo album, Policy, in 2015, and put out a live album, Friday Night, in 2016, both via Merge. Now he has teamed up with the electronic duo The Knocks for a new version of “Sun Comes Up,” which was originally featured on the Friday Night live album. More
Plus Trump at G20, North Korea, Morrissey, Young Thug, and Will Butler
Jul 07, 2017
By Stephen Mayne
It’s not been long since the President in all his wisdom announced his decision to withdraw America from the Paris Agreement on climate change. That will likely come up again during the G20 meeting (more below) but first we have duo Marian Hill demonstrating not everyone has to give up on the environment. More
Butler's American History Lesson Kind of Timed to July 4
Jul 05, 2017
By Christopher Roberts
Will Butler from Arcade Fire shared a brand new song yesterday, partly timed to July 4th. The song is something of a history lesson, as it includes lyrics about George Washington. More
Friday Night Out Now via Merge
Aug 16, 2016
By Christopher Roberts
Will Butler from Arcade Fire released his debut solo album, Policy, last March, and put out a live album, Friday Night, back in June, both via Merge. Friday Night contains five songs from Policy, two songs he wrote for The Guardian newspaper last year, and five new songs. Now he has shared a video for one of the new songs, title track “Friday Night.” In it Butler and his wife and young son jump forward to the future, to when the parents are gray-haired and the son is an angry teenager. More
Friday Night Due Out June 17 via Merge
May 10, 2016
By Christopher Roberts
Will Butler from Arcade Fire released his debut solo album, Policy, last March via Merge. Now he’s announced a new live album, Friday Night. It’s due out June 17 via Merge and contains five songs from Policy, two songs he wrote for The Guardiannewspaper last year, and five new songs. More
Some Covers, Some Originals (+LCD Soundsystem and Will Butler)
Dec 31, 2015
By Christopher Roberts
We here at Under the Radar are taking most of Christmas and New Year’s off. Still, over the holiday a few notable artists have posted some Christmas songs (some covers, some originals) that we didn’t have a chance to post and they are collected here. Included are Future Islands, Mac DeMarco, Lauryn Hill, Miley Cyrus (with a little help from The Flaming Lips), Sadie Dupuis of Speedy Ortiz, LCD Soundsystem, and Will Butler. More
Dec 24, 2015
By Christopher Roberts
Will Butler has shared a new Christmas song, “City on a Hill” (last year he also put out a Christmas song, “Christmas 2014”). More
Oct 30, 2015
By Christopher Roberts
Will Butler has shared a new video for “What I Want.” In it Butler and actress Jennifer Morrison (House, How I Met Your Mother, Once Upon a Time) go into a club filled with snotty and unruly young punk kids. They then use strange laser guns to turn the kids into boring, responsible adults (such as those who frequent coffee shops or are parents). More
Oct 08, 2015
By Christopher Roberts
Will Butler has shared a new video for “Anna.” It features actress Emma Stone dancing around the iconic ship Queen Mary, a boat that had its maiden voyage in 1936 and has been permanently docked in Long Beach, California as a hotel since 1967. More
June 5, 2015 at Lincoln Hall
Jun 06, 2015
By Laura Studarus
On June 5, Will Butler performed at Lincoln Hall in Chicago, Illinois. More
Performs "Anna" and "Witness"
May 14, 2015
By Mike Hilleary
Currently on the road in support of his debut solo album Policy, Arcade Fire‘s Will Butler made a special stop yesterday for an appearance on Late Night with Seth Meyers. More
Issue 53 Also Includes Interviews with Death Cab for Cutie, Mew, My Morning Jacket, The Jesus and Mary Chain on Psychocandy, Father John Misty, Charlie Cox of Marvel's: Daredevil, Domhnall Gleeson, Courtney Barnett, and More
Apr 10, 2015
By Christopher Roberts
Under the Radar is excited to announce the full details of the April/May 2015 issue, which is about to hit newsstands. It features Tame Impala on the cover. Actor Charlie Cox talks about his starring role in the new Netflix series, Marvel’s Daredevil. We interview The Jesus and Mary Chain‘s Jim Reid and Creation Records’ founder Alan McGee about the 30th anniversary of the Scottish band’s iconic debut album, 1985’s Psychocandy. The issue also includes interviews with Death Cab For Cutie, Mew, My Morning Jacket, Father John Misty, Domhnall Gleeson of Ex Machina, Courtney Barnett, Unknown Mortal Orchestra, Laura Marling, Django Django, Will Butler, Purity Ring, San Fermin, TORRES, Twin Shadow, Matthew E. White, Amason, Jacco Gardner, Tobias Jesso Jr., Petite Noir, Natalie Prass, SOAK, and more. More
Apr 09, 2015
By Mike Hilleary
Will Butler has premiered a brand new music video for “Something’s Coming,” the latest single off the Arcade Fire member’s solo debut Policy. More
Also Shares Last News Story Song, "By the Waters of Babylon"
Mar 02, 2015
By Mike Hilleary
Next week, Arcade Fire‘s Will Butler will deliver his debut solo album Policy. More
"Madonna Can't Save Me Now"
Feb 27, 2015
By Mike Hilleary
Continuing his quest of writing and recording a song each day this week based on the news stories of The Guardian newspaper, Arcade Fire‘s Will Butler has premiered a brand new track titled “Madonna Can’t Save Me Now.” More
Shares "You Must Be Kidding"
Feb 26, 2015
By Mike Hilleary
Following his tracks “Waving Flag” and “Clean Monday,” Arcade Fire‘s Will Butler has premiered a brand new track in his week-long effort to write a song a day utilizing the news stories of The Guardian for inspiration. More
Feb 25, 2015
By Mike Hilleary
Continuing his goal of writing and recording a brand new song each day this week using the news stories printed in The Guardian newspaper for inspiration, Arcade Fire‘s Will Butler has premiered a brand new track titled “Waving Flag.” More
"Clean Monday" First Entry in Guardian News Story Series
Feb 24, 2015
By Mike Hilleary
As promised, Arcade Fire‘s Will Butler has begun his effort to write and record a brand new song each day this week using the news stories printed in The Guardian newspaper as his inspiration. More
Debut Solo Album Out March 10
Jan 29, 2015
By Mike Hilleary
Poised to release his debut solo album Policy on March 10, Arcade Fire‘s Will Butler has premiered a brand new music video featuring his single “Anna.” More
Dec 09, 2014
By Mike Hilleary
Due to release his debut solo album this March, Arcade Fire‘s Will Butler has announced plans for a North American tour. More
Nov 24, 2014
By Mike Hilleary
Last week Arcade Fire multi-instrumentalist Will Butler announced the release of his debut solo album Policy. More
Policy Out March 10 on Merge
Nov 20, 2014
By Cody Ray Shafer
Arcade Fire‘s multi-instrumentalist Will Butler has announced a new solo album for March 2015. More
Interviews
Butler on 2015's Best Albums, Music Streaming, the Election, Disastrous Dates, and Early Childhood Memories
Feb 23, 2016
By Mark Redfern
For Under the Radar’s 13th annual Artist Survey we emailed some of our favorite artists a few questions relating to 2015. We asked them about their favorite albums of the year and their thoughts on various notable 2015 news stories involving either the music industry or world events, as well as some quirkier personal questions. Here are some answers from Will Butler of Arcade Fire. Butler also released a solo album, Policy, in 2015 on Merge. A shorter version of this interview ran in the Best of 2015 print issue, which is still on newsstands now. More
Aug 25, 2015
By Matt Fink
Will Butler must be crazy. One assumes that was the first thought that flashed through the minds of songwriters everywhere when they heard that the Arcade Fire multi-instrumentalist had decided to write, record, and release a new song every day during the last week of February. More
Reviews
Jul 07, 2016
By Charles Steinberg
The members of Arcade Fire have fed off of one another’s ambitions to spread their wings and try flying solo. Will Butler, brother of Win, took his opportunity to assert his own musical independence with last year’s solo debut, Policy, and has now released a live album of that record, plus a couple of new songs, recorded mainly at a Chicago show last year. More
Apr 02, 2015
By Mark Redfern
Even though she is only just over two years old, this was the third SXSW for my daughter Rose (she first attended as a two-and-a-half-month-old, spending most of the time in the hotel room with my wife Wendy’s mother). More
Mar 06, 2015
By Billy Hamilton
As the lesser-known sibling of indie rock royalty, Will Butler has it made. Away from his brother Win’s every-day obligations of leading one of the globe’s most revered bands, the Arcade Fire multi-instrumentalist can focus on his own whims without too much pressure. More