Pitchfork

It's not often Win Butler-- or indeed any member of the Arcade Fire-- takes to his cutely-animated "Scrapbook" section on the band's website to wax thoughtful. The last time he did so was after the Fire wrapped up a rigorous season of touring with that dream bill blowout at NYC's Randall's Island in early October.

Yet something drew Butler out of blogging semi-retirement here in mid-January, just as his Neon Bible-mongers are about to descend on Australia and New Zealand. And that something, my friends, was politics.

It seems Win has a few reservations about the upcoming political contest in the U.S. (and being a native of Texas, he has every right to vent them). We'll let Butler explain in his own words:

I am watching Hillary Clinton in her victory speech in new Hampshire...they just threw a bunch of college kids behind her, and had her talk about student loans, and had her daughter come out for a long awkward hug...does anyone actually buy it? Surely young people are too media savvy to be fooled by this kind of shit.
do we live in a democracy so we can just keep electing the same families?
Barack is the first candidate in my lifetime to strip some of this bullshit away, and I just hope we don't blow this chance.
man if we miss this opportunity we don't deserve it...how bad does it have to get?

fuck!!!!!!!!!

Fuck, indeed. With this proclamation I think we can safely file Butler alongside fellow Obama-backers Jeff Tweedy, Conor Oberst, and the Cool Kids. (Not to mention Herbie Hancock, Will Smith, at least one Dixie Chick, and the guy who created craigslist, according to this.)

The Arcade Fire arrive in Auckland (without incident, let's hope) January 18, but it's those three post-Super Tuesday gigs in Japan fans may have to worry about if Win's pick doesn't pull through. Although when a guy named Win's backing you, well, perhaps that's just what you'll do.

Canvassing:

01-18 Auckland, New Zealand - Mt. Smart Stadium (Big Day Out) *
01-20 Gold Coast, Australia - Parklands (Big Day Out) *
01-22 Sydney, Australia - Enmore Theatre
01-23 Sydney, Australia - Enmore Theatre
01-25 Sydney, Australia - Sydney Showgrounds (Big Day Out) *
01-28 Melbourne, Australia - Flemington Racecourse (Big Day Out) *
01-29 Melbourne, Australia - Forum Theatre (two shows)
02-01 Adelaide, Australia - Adelaide Showground (Big Day Out) *
02-03 Perth, Australia - Claremont Showgrounds (Big Day Out) *
02-07 Osaka, Japan - Namba-Hatch
02-08 Nagoya, Japan - Diamond Hall
02-11 Tokyo, Japan - Studio Coast

* with LCD Soundsystem