MONTREAL – Want to buy a piece of Canadian indie rock history?
Arcade Fire is putting the red-brick church where they recorded the Grammy-winning The Suburbs up for sale.
The Suburbs won the Grammy Album of the Year in 2011 although the band’s hit Neon Bible was the first album recorded in the building after they bought it in 2006.
“Anybody want to buy a church?” the band, which has also won prestigious Polaris and Juno music awards, tweeted on Friday.
The studio, called the “Petite eglise” is located in Farnham, about 70 kilometres southeast of Montreal and has been described as everything from hallowed ground for musicians to ground zero for emerging indie artists.
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The band rented it out to other bands for a reasonable price when they weren’t using it. Musicians who recorded there included Timber Timbre and Colin Stetson.
“It’s important to have a place in a music scene that’s kind of a world-class studio where people can record, because if you don’t document it then nobody will ever hear it,” said Arcade Fire lead singer Win Butler at a Polaris news conference after they won that award in 2011, also for The Suburbs.
The real estate listing puts the price of the building at $325,000 and sets the date of occupancy as 65 days after the sale.
It notes the “very private church” is located on the quiet side of the village and the nave is intact. There is also a kitchen and dining room adjoining the nave.
The building also comes with a large lot, a full-height basement that was renovated in 2006 and a mezzanine.
There’s lots of trees and it’s within walking distance of shops and schools.
But it does need a new roof and there’s some slight water infiltration in the basement during heavy rains.
Accessories include an alarm system and air conditioning. The building has a wood frame and brick exterior.
The church, which was built in 1850, also has three bedrooms, a common room, two bathrooms, a storage room, a laundry room and a mechanical room.
The band is throwing in rods and curtains in the nave, pews, a refrigerator, a stove, a dishwasher, an alarm system and a wall-mounted air conditioner.
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