Arcade Fire’s Richard Reed Parry to miss ‘Pink Elephant’ tour on paternity leave

Arcade Fire have confirmed that Richard Reed Parry will miss their upcoming ‘Pink Elephant’ tour due to paternity leave.

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The Canadian indie rockers are preparing to release their seventh album, also titled ‘Pink Elephant’, on May 9, and so far they have previewed the record with the single ‘Year Of The Snake’.

A range of international cities will be getting live previews of the album with a string of shows that kick off in Mexico City on Tuesday (April 22). New Orleans, Charleston, Montreal, Toronto, Brooklyn and Philadelphia will follow, after which they will play a one-off show at London’s Royal Albert Hall on May 14. Find tickets for the North American shows here and the London show here from April 24.

However, on Monday (April 21), the band revealed that multi-instrumentalist Richard Reed Parry will miss the dates while he is on paternity leave.

Posting on Instagram, the band wrote: “Congratulations to our bandmate Richard Reed Parry and his wife Laurel as they prepare for the birth of their first child.”

“We’ll miss Richy this tour (as Canadians we’re all for radical ideas like paternity leave!) but we couldn’t be happier for him and his family.”

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‘Pink Elephant’ is said to explore a “cinematic mystical punk” approach. When it was first announced, it was confirmed that it would span 42 minutes and include 10 new songs – all of which were recorded at Win Butler and Régine Chassagne’s own Good News Recording Studio in New Orleans.

The lead single sees Chassagne deliver soothing vocals and make her Arcade Fire debut on the bass, while frontman Win Butler sits behind the drum kit for the first time with the band. Check it out above and visit here to pre-order ‘Pink Elephant’.

News of new material follows on from allegations of sexual misconduct that arose against Butler. Four people came forward to accuse the singer of inappropriate behaviour, and the accusations also led to Feist leaving her tour early. Butler replied to the allegations in a lengthy statement of his own, claiming he was “very sorry to anyone who I have hurt with my behaviour” but maintaining that “these relationships were all consensual”.

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