“I often write,” Élise Jetté laughs. “It is exhausting to discuss a really emotional topic like this one.”

The freelance music journalist had at all times been a fan of Arcade Hearth. Extra than simply considered one of her favourite bands, Arcade Hearth outlined her profession. The band that made her a music journalist. As a younger pupil at Université de Sherbrooke, she had gone to 3 exhibits, back-to-back, earlier than the discharge of The Suburbs, the band’s Grammy-winning report.

“Being at their present on the time had the identical vitality as being at church in entrance of a priest,” Jetté says. “We have been all there, in entrance of them, glorifying them. They have been… I do not need to say gods… however they have been so extremely revered and beloved!”

Since forming in 2001, Arcade Hearth had been one of many brightest gems in Montréal’s musical crown. Led by Win Butler, an American who grew up in Texas, and Régine Chassagne, a Francophone Québécoise with Haitian roots, the band symbolizes the fact for a lot of Montréalais and Montréalaises: Residing in a metropolis that mixes French and English in each side of its being. A metropolis the place individuals come to search out themselves by way of chilly winters and sizzling summers, by way of language boundaries which are erased in gatherings. Residing in a metropolis that prides itself on its cultural scene and principally its music, whether or not it’s produced in French or English. For the final 20 years, Arcade Hearth has been probably the most seen export of that scene.

However because the finish of August, the Montréal music scene has needed to reckon with sexual abuse allegations towards Butler. To cite Pitchfork‘s surprising investigative piece, three ladies alleged “sexual interactions with Butler that they got here to really feel have been inappropriate given the gaps in age, energy dynamics, and context by which they occurred.” The story additionally alleged that Butler sexually assaulted a fourth individual, who’s gender-fluid, “twice in 2015, after they have been 21 and he was 34.”

In a response, communicated by way of New York-based disaster public relations professional Risa Heller, Butler acknowledged the sexual interactions, however claimed they have been consensual:

“Whereas these relationships have been all consensual, I’m very sorry to anybody who I’ve damage with my habits,” Butler wrote. “As I look to the longer term, I’m persevering with to study from my errors and dealing exhausting to develop into a greater individual, somebody my son may be happy with. […] I am sorry I wasn’t extra conscious and tuned in to the impact I’ve on individuals — I f***** up, and whereas not an excuse, I’ll proceed to look ahead and heal what may be healed, and study from previous experiences.”

In November, a fifth lady got here ahead to allege an “ongoing abusive relationship.”

Whereas many retailers reported the information immediately and had in depth protection within the days following, the response in Canada appeared delayed. This wasn’t the primary time somebody from the Canadian music scene had been accused of sexual harassment and possibly would not be the final. Nevertheless, this case felt particularly dire. Butler is a star who each enabled and troubled the expansion of a scene that has been acknowledged globally for its inventive expertise. He represented one thing greater than only a beloved hometown artist — he is a world star who helped earn the Montréal scene a worldwide status.

Jetté’s story may very well be the story of many different individuals dwelling in Montréal. Everyone who lives within the metropolis has a narrative concerning the band. However because the allegations got here to gentle, Arcade Hearth has develop into a synonym for one thing darker, one thing even the individuals evolving round them could not see coming. This time round, the query lingered: How and why did this occur?

In Québec, ‘we glorify them.’

Olivier Lalande isn’t any stranger to the Montréal music scene. Earlier than working as an internet content material editor, he was a music journalist and one of many first to interview Arcade Hearth earlier than its massive break.

“Round this time, in 2003, there was already a cult round them within the underground scene,” Lalande says. “I used to be a contract music journalist accountable for the music part of Nightlife and I used to spend time on a discussion board known as Montréal Reveals. This discussion board is the place it began. Each time Arcade Hearth would carry out, individuals would go nuts. I used to be curious.”

After the discharge of its first album, Funeral, in 2004, the band rapidly gained consideration from mainstream media internationally. The next 12 months, David Carr, some of the distinguished popular culture columnists in the USA, profiled Montréal for his New York Occasions column. Carr described town because the breeding floor for a inventive, out-of-the-ordinary music scene: “Being the most important vacation spot [for music] in a area virtually ensures an inflow of musically inclined, disaffected younger individuals to each play in and take heed to bands. Unhealthy climate helps, as a result of it retains songwriters inside and bands rehearsing. And maybe most significantly, a nascent musical scene requires a lot of low cost actual property for musicians and their followers to hang around and play in.”

Carr’s article, for probably the most half, existed due to Arcade Hearth’s newfound glory on the worldwide scene. Within the practically 20 years since, the band’s launched six albums complete, carried out on Saturday Evening Dwell 5 occasions and toured internationally. In 2011, The Suburbs received the Polaris Music Prize in addition to album of the 12 months for each the Juno Awards and the 53rd Grammy Awards.

“Whenever you’d stroll round Montréal and noticed members of Arcade Hearth on the road, you’ll really feel extraordinarily particular,” Jetté says. “You recognize, we [Québécois and Québécoise people] have this reference to our artists. There’s cultural belonging. As quickly as somebody who comes from our house shines overseas, we go loopy. We have achieved it with Céline Dion, and we have achieved it with Xavier Dolan. We have achieved it with many artists. Our Québec TV collection are translated into many languages. Numerous Québec tradition is discovered elsewhere as a result of it’s distinct from Canada. It has a colour; it has a selected taste. Once we succeed globally, it makes us exponentially proud, right here in Québec.”

Jetté’s phrases are echoed by Lalande, who confirms the godlike state of artists within the French-speaking province. Lalande mentions how albums are introduced within the province: As a substitute of a sortir (“launch”), artists offrir (“providing”), as in the event that they have been gifting us their expertise fairly than releasing their work.

“Have a look at any selection present in Québec,” Lalande explains. “Each time there is a fashionable artist who’s a visitor, it appears like … Christ has come again to ship us from our sins. I do know I am exaggerating, however there’s plenty of this. We glorify them.”

The heavy, non secular lingo isn’t any mistake: French-Canadian Catholic historical past looms giant in Québec, however that language has, over time, come to explain cultural merchandise, too. This underlines a much bigger situation: the systematic glorification of artists and their perceived infallible habits by way of the eyes of followers, making it simpler for them to be abusive towards those that love them unconditionally.

A tradition of silence lets abusers run free.

Maryse Bernard, referred to as Maryze, a younger up-and-coming artist from the Montréal scene, explains how disappointing the allegations have been when she learn the information: “It is disheartening, particularly for individuals who noticed Arcade Hearth as a really fun-loving, constructive group. As a result of then it is, like, ‘Oh, even the nice ones right here have tales that come out.’ So that you marvel form of like, who within the scene are you able to belief?”

In Montréal, artists assist and mentor one another so as to export their abilities outdoors of town.

“Montréal was at all times this type of cultural mecca of Canada,” Bernard says. “I feel there was this type of fable of Montréal, particularly within the heyday of Arcade Hearth, of that scene that was very artsy and free and welcoming and, you already know, open to all individuals. A metropolis the place you would be your self irrespective of how freaky your artwork was. It was a spot to discover creativity.”

To most people who spoke for this text, the accusations towards Win Butler got here as a shock. The band was recognized for taking a stand on social points, most notably by supporting initiatives in Haiti. Régine Chassagne, the band’s lead singer and Butler’s spouse, co-founded KANPE, a corporation that brings assist to underserved rural communities in Haiti.

“They have been very a lot concerned within the Montréal group,” provides Bernard. “They have been the form of artists that, you already know, smaller artists would hang around with. And in some methods, that is nice if they might provide types of mentorship, as a result of many younger artists need assistance and be reassured that they need not bounce by way of all these hoops to be on this trade. You are able to do what feels good for you. However it’s when massive artists [like Arcade Fire] take that [relationship] to their benefit that this stuff [like abuse] are taking place.”

Bernard says a tradition of silence exists within the Canadian scene, the place abused individuals resolve to remain silent to protect their careers. As if there’s a normal understanding that this stuff will occur in somebody’s profession.

“It is simply this bizarre unwritten rule that [abuse] is simply gonna occur, that you will have to take care of this if you wish to get in,” Bernard says. “You are going to need to take care of a specific amount of it. Some individuals will deal with you badly, particularly for those who’re beginning out and you do not need to rock the boat.”

Bernard mentions that artists have been speaking extra and denouncing sexual abuse within the music scene extra, however there’s nonetheless a stage of worry that careers will likely be tarnished or that they will not be taken severely. This silence lets abusers roam free within the scene with out obvious penalties.

“We see them at a panel or a competition, they usually’re similar to hanging round. I am like, ‘How many individuals is that this making uncomfortable? How many individuals know that it is a unhealthy person who we needs to be cautious round? And that should not actually have entry to the group anymore? They usually’re nonetheless simply right here, like nothing?’ ” Bernard notes.

Brave and resilient, Bernard is not a stranger to all of this. She herself has suffered abuse within the trade by somebody she’s not but prepared to call. “I am nonetheless afraid to name out my abusers throughout the music trade, you already know, and for what? I do really feel that I am able the place I might be believed and that I might be taken severely, however I am nonetheless afraid of the repercussions. I even hear myself, you already know, like metering my phrases and calculating some responses as a result of I do not need to, like, I do not need to put myself in an unsafe place.”

‘With Arcade Hearth, it was like questioning one thing that was greater than us.’

When the Pitchfork story was revealed on Saturday, Aug. 27, 2022 — coincidentally, at the beginning of election season in Québec — Canadian media took the weekend to report the information. La Presse, a significant Québécois information supply, launched a brief report on the allegations that night and the CBC ran a narrative the subsequent day on TV. After Pitchfork‘s follow-up that includes a fifth allegation, just one main Canadian media outlet (TVA and Journal de Montréal by way of QMI Press Company, all three entities owned by Québécor, a media conglomerate) featured the story in French. With scant protection on the allegations, penalties have been virtually nonexistent, which solely provides to the tradition of silence within the music trade.

“We noticed the CBC fail to have an online-accessible story about Butler till, like, a day or two after the investigation broke,” explains Toronto-based popular culture critic Jill Krajewski. “Our nationwide broadcaster did not run a TV story [until Sunday night], and the truth that the [La Presse] story broke at 9 p.m. on a Saturday night within the Québec market makes it not accessible for everybody.”

Québécois persons are protecting of their distinctive cultural exports. Lalande explains how this cultural delight has an affect on journalism, totally on reporting cultural affairs.

“A tradition journalist, reporter or columnist can’t convey up a public determine’s darkish aspect in simply any circumstance,” says Lalande. “First, most media would not even think about that to be their job. Second, fact-checking takes a sure editorial construction that I do not suppose most retailers have. It is exhausting information, it’s the job of an investigative journalist, not an arts one. It’s not seen as their position.”

Whereas this assertion brings up the issue of reporting on allegations of abuse within the music trade, it additionally exhibits the dearth of weight these tales pull in main media. However for Élise Jetté, the explanation for the dearth of protection may need stemmed from one thing else — a type of mourning course of.

“Sure, it took time for everybody to react,” Jetté says. “All of us wanted to soak up the surprising information. As a lot for the true followers because the native media. We needed to take a minute, sit down and digest it to have the ability to touch upon it.”

Jetté remembers one other second in Québec’s music historical past: the #MeToo allegations of summer time 2020. A distinguished Québécois label, Dare to Care Information, was thrown into disarray after sexual abuse allegations towards considered one of its artists, Bernard Adamus, have been delivered to gentle. The pinnacle of the label, Eli Bissonnette, resigned after being accused of defending Adamus for the previous 10 years, realizing that the artist had behaved in problematic methods towards his followers. However they weren’t the one ones. Greater than a dozen individuals from the music trade have been outed, together with David Desrosiers, who left Easy Plan in consequence.

Whereas public response to those allegations was swift, these towards Butler raised an existential query.

“With Arcade Hearth, it was like questioning one thing that was greater than us,” Jetté, who writes for a number of Montréal-based retailers, says. “It was as for those who have been asking everybody to kill their darlings. We began questioning: How did this occur? Why did we not see something? It makes me query my skilled roots and my private attachment to music.”

When information broke, the younger journalist took a step again to judge what was taking place and the way she felt concerning the story. She mentions at all times believing victims, whether or not they appear reliable or not; believing them and providing them assist, fairly than questioning them. Her feminist beliefs are better than her love for Arcade Hearth. As a lot as she beloved the music, she got here to a painful realization.

“Lastly, I made a decision that Arcade Hearth wasn’t worthy of my admiration anymore.”

The one technique to change the trade is thru training and protected areas.

“What upset me a lot is once I learn the article, I used to be like ‘Oh, [Win Butler] used the Pop vs. Jocks occasion to prey on this younger lady who was barely 18 or no matter. You recognize, that was form of f***** up!”

Daniel Seligman’s voice is thick with anger and disappointment. The Artistic Director of POP Montréal, an enormous annual not-for-profit cultural occasion that showcases rising and impartial expertise from Montréal and internationally, felt betrayed. Not solely was 2016 the final 12 months of POP Montréal working with Arcade Hearth for Pop vs. Jocks, a pleasant charity basketball recreation between indie artists from main bands, however the entire expertise left a nasty style in his mouth. In keeping with the Pitchfork investigation, Stella (a pseudonym), considered one of Butler’s alleged victims, was contacted by the singer after taking photos on the occasion.

“[Butler] had a sample,” says Seligman. “He took benefit of them and the competition! For me, that was s*****, as a result of we have been attempting to boost cash for a neighborhood charity. That was really the final time we labored with the band. That entire expertise was really form of exhausting. We have been working actually exhausting and we form of felt barely taken benefit of. He wasn’t very good to work with; he was barely abusive. After which after studying that article, I used to be shocked.”

For Seligman, the one technique to change the trade is thru training and creating protected areas by which individuals is not going to be subjected to inappropriate behaviors.

“I feel it is essential simply to have an outward show of insurance policies which are barely symbolic. It exhibits the individuals taking part [in your events] that the group is attempting to do one thing that retains us safer. I feel that it is very important have your insurance policies up in your web site, ensuring you might be listening to individuals, followers and different artists who’ve points.”

Jill Krajewski and Maryse Bernard additionally point out that whisper networks — that’s, networks of individuals sharing details about sexual abusers — have emerged throughout the nation. Olivier Lalande remembers a a lot totally different local weather within the aughts. Rumors of questionable habits have been frequent, however did not elevate eyebrows. Some artists have been even upfront about it.

“With out being conscious of the abuse,” Lalande says, “I bear in mind being at events, listening to artists making nasty jokes concerning the women they slept with on tour, whereas they have been really in relationships with individuals I knew. […] You’d need to query their habits, however the reply was at all times the identical: ‘He’s an artist. We will not actually perceive what he’s going by way of…’ I seen this quite a bit.”

However for Bernard, one other side of the Pitchfork article that acquired her consideration was the younger age of the victims. One thing she will be able to relate to from her personal expertise in her late teenagers and early 20s with older individuals within the Canadian scene.

“Numerous these experiences occur to youthful individuals who have not had sufficient life experiences,” says Bernard. “It isn’t like they do not know that sure issues aren’t okay, however they have not discovered, but, some behaviors are literally unhealthy and have to be known as out. If persons are telling you that is simply how it’s, you are extra inclined to imagine them. Whenever you’re youthful, it is simpler to reap the benefits of youthful, bright-eyed artists [or fans].”

However at the same time as members of the trade need change, an invisible drive stays.

Tales of abuse within the music trade prompted Sarah Armiento to start out Scorching Tramp Information, a women-only label, in response to the inappropriate habits she skilled within the music trade.

“After I was in Toronto, I acquired unsolicited photos from males, individuals I labored with, and different sorts of experiences,” says Armiento. “That is what made me need to begin an organization like Scorching Tramp. After I learn issues like this taking place, it makes me bear in mind why I began my label.”

Armiento utterly understands why ladies would need to work solely with different ladies within the music trade, who can perceive and assist one another. She tries to make them really feel protected inside her label and their work. And she or he is not the one one. After Dare to Care’s turmoil, Béatrice Martin (aka Cœur de pirate), one of many label’s main successes, bought and renamed the label Bravo Musique, vowing to vary issues within the trade. In an interview for Exclaim.ca, she stated, “Numerous stuff was swept beneath the rug or no person did something about it. I would like individuals to return to me and say, ‘That is taking place,’ and I would like to have the ability to do one thing about it. It is about respect and decency. Our work extends in every single place: It extends to how we behave like artists and elsewhere. It wasn’t clear to everybody the place work began and ended, and now it is clearer. In order that’s good. Boundaries are essential.”

However, at the same time as members of the trade need to transfer ahead and alter, it looks like an invisible drive retains on bringing controversies of its personal. Arcade Hearth continued its North American tour, although Feist and Beck dropped off as openers. On Sept. 19, 2022 — simply three weeks after the primary wave of accusations towards Butler — Montréal artist Pierre Kwenders, ended his acceptance speech for the Polaris Music Prize by thanking Butler and Arcade Hearth for his or her contribution to his album. Though one radio host at Radio-Canada requested Kwenders concerning the speech and another actors within the trade talked about the incident in tweets, the second went virtually unnoticed.

“That already tells you the issue with Canada’s music trade having a tradition of silence,” Jill Krajewski says. “Folks made a deliberate alternative to not name it out. […] Why did [Pierre Kwenders] convey up somebody accused of sexual assault in a widespread investigation? Had been they genuinely grateful for his or her contribution to their album? That is one factor. However the data [about Arcade Fire and Win Butler] has modified. And it wasn’t applicable to be praising somebody accused of sexual assault, actually not on the platform of Polaris being streamed stay on CBC Music, a public-funded media. That was very distasteful.”

“If this occurred three weeks after the allegations, how can the Canadian followers count on the scene to go ahead and alter?” Élise Jetté provides. She wonders if artists aren’t in a position to study from the errors of others as a result of they really feel protected by the trade. “They don’t seem to be afraid of dropping their profession. I am vigilant about what is occurring within the trade. However they need to get afraid of dropping one thing! We have to scare them. They have to be afraid of getting caught.”

Nevertheless, acclaim has continued unabated. WE, Arcade Hearth’s most up-to-date album, was nominated for greatest various music album by the Grammys. The band completed the North American leg of its tour in Montréal to a sold-out crowd. On Jan. 31, the Juno Awards, offered by the Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, introduced Arcade Hearth’s nomination for group of the 12 months. When the CBC requested for remark concerning the nomination, CARAS responded: “We have a look at Arcade Hearth’s nomination for group of the 12 months as one for your entire band. Whereas we take the allegations very severely, on this state of affairs, we’re additionally honoring the remainder of the band for his or her success. We hope the allegations towards Butler is not going to detract from the achievements of the opposite group members.”

As awards mount and repercussions don’t, Montréal and the Canadian music scene at giant are left with one query: With none actual penalties, will these conditions maintain recurring?

“It is a query I maintain asking myself,” ends Olivier Lalande.

Yara El-Soueidi is a millennial author, tradition journalist and columnist primarily based in Montréal, Canada, the place she covers the native cultural scene for Canadian and American media.