Merge invited us to be part of their [30th anniversary] subscription series. They granted us a budget and said we could cover the entirety of any album we want, since the beginning of time. We debated which album to cover; we were full of ideas. Sheer Heart Attack, Tapestry, Captain Fantastic, Off the Wall, Purple Rain, such classics.
Andrew insisted we take on Neon Bible because he believed we could do something cool and unique with it. Throughout the process, we learned that Neon Bible is a great album, that Arcade Fire made it with thematic focus and a cohesive sound. These discoveries will certainly influence our next AGD record.
We found our own groove on each song during two five-hour rehearsals in my living room, then went to studio with Stuart Sikes.
The themes in the album, of outrage at U.S. leadership in the early 2000s, and a need to escape our social climate, sadly, remain pertinent today.
Recording a cover album, we felt like actors in a movie. Taking someone else’s lines and embodying those emotions, and expressing those ideas through our own selves, made us portals of human expression… and that’s why the album artwork is an open butthole.*
* The awesome butthole artwork was conceived by our drummer Danny and made possible by our friend Jennine Turow.
