Sneak Peek: A conversation with Will Butler
- Text by Tom Fenwick
- Photography by Will Butler

#21 – Will Butler
As the multi-instrumentalist powerhouse behind Arcade Fire, Will Butler is usually mentioned alongside lead vocalist and brother Win. Alone, Butler is a thoughtful and funny conversationalist who’s willingness to embrace spontaneity translates as memorable performances – earning him his reputation as the catalyst to Arcade Fire’s frenetic live shows – and a unique approach to his work.
His solo debut, Policy, is a punchy sub-thirty-minute LP that holds up a mirror to Butler’s personality and is by turns eclectic, heartfelt and peppered with intrinsic humour (as a sample lyric from the track ‘What I Want’ demonstrates: ‘I will buy you a pony / We could cook it for supper / I know a great recipe for pony macaroni’). It’s this quirky wit that he sees as vital, not only to his output but to art as a whole:
“As a creative society we’re kind of built on the back of comedy, it’s fundamental to American culture. And there’s something about the mix of slapstick and deadpan humour that resonates with me. The ability to do something that might seem stupid but then to be totally serious about it. Part of the idea for this album was to not try to fight those impulses, but rather try to make it bright and lively and just go with what I’m good at.” He pauses momentarily. “I mean I take myself seriously, but I’m not afraid to be embarrassed.”
This is just a short excerpt from Huck’s Fiftieth Special, a collection of fifty personal stories from fifty inspiring lives.
Grab a copy now to read all fifty stories in full. Subscribe to make sure you don’t miss another issue.
Latest on Huck

Maryam El Gardoum is breaking new shores for Morocco’s indigenous surfers
The Amazigh Atlantic — Through her groundbreaking career and popular surf school, the five-time Moroccan champion is helping women find their places in the waves.
Written by: Sam Haddad

Youth violence’s rise is deeply concerning, but mass hysteria doesn’t help
Safe — On Knife Crime Awareness Week, writer, podcaster and youth worker Ciaran Thapar reflects on the presence of violent content online, growing awareness about the need for action, and the two decades since Saul Dibb’s Bullet Boy.
Written by: Ciaran Thapar

Volcom teams up with Bob Mollema for the latest in its Featured Artist Series
True to This — The boardsports lifestyle brand will host an art show in Biarritz to celebrate the Dutch illustrators’ second capsule collection.
Written by: Huck

A visual trip through 100 years of New York’s LGBTQ+ spaces
Queer Happened Here — A new book from historian and writer Marc Zinaman maps scores of Manhattan’s queer venues and informal meeting places, documenting the city’s long LGBTQ+ history in the process.
Written by: Isaac Muk

Nostalgic photos of everyday life in ’70s San Francisco
A Fearless Eye — Having moved to the Bay Area in 1969, Barbara Ramos spent days wandering its streets, photographing its landscape and characters. In the process she captured a city in flux, as its burgeoning countercultural youth movement crossed with longtime residents.
Written by: Miss Rosen

Tony Njoku: ‘I wanted to see Black artists living my dream’
What Made Me — In this series, we ask artists and rebels about the forces and experiences that shaped who they are. Today, it’s avant-garde electronic and classical music hybridist Tony Njoku.
Written by: Tony Njoku