Canadian rock septet Arcade Fire has just recently announced more dates to be added for their upcoming fall tour to further promote their sophomore album “Neon Bible”.

Among the latest additions to the US city slate are appearances in the Austin City Limits Festival in Texas on September 15 which will also serve as the starting point of their US trip and a performance in Mountain View, CA on September 21 and in Seattle three days after. Succeeding their US trek is a series of shows in Europe, details of which and also the complete itinerary for the US tour are posted on the band’s website.

Techno-electro group LCD Soundsystem will be joining Arcade Fire in the US trek to perform as opening act.

Arcade Fire is still riding on the success of “Neon Bible” which hit stores this spring. It debuted at the 2nd spot of the Billboard Hot 200 Albums chart upon its release. The album is the band’s follow-up to their 2004 debut album “Funeral”, which proved to be a critical success as it bagged a Grammy nod for the band for Best Alternative Rock Album.

The independently produced “Neon Bible”, was recorded in a church outside of Montreal. The group did not see the need to “rely on someone else to guide the good ship [of] Arcade Fire”, says lead vocalist Win Butler, as they seemed very confident and determined to take the creative direction they have chosen for their second studio effort.

With front man Win Butler still battling off a sinus infection that he contracted early this year, Arcade Fire is left with no choice but to cancel the remaining nine outings scheduled for their European Tour.

In a statement released by the band on their website, they said that Butler is now fully recuperating to regain his strength and ticket holders should contact their respective local event promoters for ticket refunds or reschedules, since the band has mentioned that they have plans of rescheduling the axed shows towards the end of the year.

Meanwhile, the septet rockers have added a show in its upcoming North American tour – a Vancouver show on May 24. The tour will be launched in San Diego, CA on April 26 and will conclude on June 1 in Berkeley, CA. They will be having a three-night stopover in New York, May 7 and 8 at the United Palace and May 9 at the Radio City Music Hall, also as part of the said tour.

Tickets for the series of shows in New York will be available to the public on March 30 while tickets for the Vancouver show will be on sale on April 7.

The tour still supports Arcade Fire’s latest release “Neon Bible” which surfaced last March and landed on the 2nd spot of the Billboard 200, moving about 92,000 copies during its first week in the market.

Win Butler and the rest of Arcade Fire will be embarking on a North American tour this spring to promote their upcoming sophomore album “Neon Bible” which is scheduled to be released on March 6.

The spring tour will be launched in San Diego on April 26 and will entail 12 more city stops with a three-night performance in New York City in May, with venues to be announced later, and an appearance in the Coachella Valley Music Festival on April 28, before it concludes with a show in Berkeley, CA for two nights, on June 1 and 2.

The group will be performing tonight in New York City still to prepare for the release of “Neon Bible”. They are also prepping for a European album tour scheduled next month. Log on to Arcade Fire’s website to view their complete tour schedule for the coming months.

“Neon Bible” is the band’s follow-up to “Funeral”, their first studio effort. “Bible” is self-produced by Arcade Fire, and did not feel the need of creative guidance from someone outside the band. They were confident on how they want the album to look and sound, and only needed the help of sound engineers Marcus Dravs and Scott Colburn for the technical aspect of the recording.

Since they broke into the mainstream music market in 2004 with their debut studio album “Funeral”, Canadian punk rock band Arcade Fire had a very busy 2004 and 2005.

Those two years were basically spent touring, not just across the US and in their native Canada but all over the world. Thanks to the critical and commercial success of “Funeral”, they have somewhat graduated from playing in small-scale venues and audiences and moved up to larger areas – amphitheatres, open fields and parks, halls, and stages with crowds of thousands. And the larger the audience and the venue, the more success they had – both with the box office and with the audiences’ approval. It was fun, exhilarating, and a bit weird since all the hype and the fame was new to them.

Not only were they able to play for larger crowds this time, but they also got to play with some of music’s greatest and classic hit makers like David Bowie and David Byrne. They also got to play in front of an international audience in Europe, South America and Asia, and they were widely accepted even in those foreign territories. Indeed, 2004 and 2005 was a successful jet setting year for the rock punk septet.

With all the tours and the performances, they were able to garner a lot of ideas for perhaps a new album or simply a new song. At this point they were already feeling the tolls of extensive touring and they were feeling tired and just wanted to head back home to do what they do best – make music, good music, from anything they can find, and so that’s what they did when they came back home to Montreal after touring the entire globe for close to two years promoting their very own brand of music.

Somewhere between late 2005 and early 2006, they found themselves in an old church outside of Montreal, turned it into a studio, brought all the stuff they needed like sound systems, months-supply of food and beverages, traditional and non-traditional instruments and people who can play them well like Martin Wenk and Jacob Valenzuela (horns), Wolf Parade’s Hadjii Bakara for sound effects, and their “maestro” for “Funeral” Owen Pallett, to once again take over the orchestration for the new compilation. Sound specialists Markus Dravs and Scott Calburn were also brought in.

The creative juices started to flow once everything was set. The group themselves were calling the shots which just shows how confident these guys are with the creative direction they want to take for whatever it is that they are doing because so far, nothing’s concrete yet – were they recording a new album? Just doing some test records or demos? Just recording an EP or a single? Experimenting on new stuff? They themselves have not figured that out yet.

It wasn’t until late 2006 when everything just fell into place, into its proper perspective. After more than a year of writing, composing, arranging, experimenting and working thoroughly on originals and some covers, they have come up with so many tracks but only chose eleven that would best fit within the scope of “Neon Bible” – their sophomore album which is a gospel of sorts for the inquiring mind. “Neon Bible” would be the standard to which all other experimental punk records would be measured against, with the combined sounds of the mandolin, huge percussions and rumbles, strings, horns, pipes and a military choir and orchestra recorded all the way from Budapest, coupled with lyrics that constantly question the status quo and words that attack pop culture but with a personal touch.

“Neon Bible” is exactly what Arcade Fire is – meticulous with their music but brave and eloquent with their words.

Montreal-based indie rockers Arcade Fire have expanded their fall tour schedule with more city stopovers for their North American tour.

The tour will still kick off in New York in September 15 and will run through October 5 after a string of additional shows across the US and in their native Canada. They are currently capping off a couple of their shows in Ontario and in Chicago’s Lollapalooza on July 23 and 24, respectively. They are also gearing up for a string of shows in Europe come August.

The series of road shows are aimed to further promote “Funeral”, the band’s debut studio album which was released in fall of last year. The album has been widely accepted commercially and critically that it transformed Arcade Fire from being an indie starter (they have once opened for Talking Head lead vocalist David Byrne when he performed in L.A.’s Hollywood Bowl) playing in smaller venues to a mainstream pop-rock act performing in larger arenas and stages.

They have recently performed in the Coachella Valley Music Festival last April and this month, they have re-released their self-titled EP, re-mastered and repackaged, under Merge Records.