William Pierce Butler (born October 6, 1982) is a band member of the band Arcade Fire. He is the brother of Arcade Fire frontman Win Butler. William plays synthesiser, bass, guitar and percussion. He is known for his spontaneity and antics during performances.
Raised in The Woodlands, Texas, Will is the grandson of guitarist Alvino Rey. He graduated from Phillips Exeter Academy in 2001, and subsequently attended Northwestern University, majoring in Poetry in Creative Writing. While at Northwestern he worked as a DJ for the WNUR Rock Show, where he also hired Nathan Amundson of Rivulets to be a substitute DJ at WNUR. He also served as the poetry editor of Northwestern's literary magazine, Helicon. An excerpt of a poem from his senior thesis is quoted in Brian Bouldrey's book, "Honorable Bandit: A Walk Across Corsica."
