The result of a badly received media campaign and album is not usually an arena tour but Arcade Fire have been known to defy expectation.

The Montreal-based band are now onto their fifth studio album Everything Now and are set to return to Glasgow where they say they played one of their ‘most legendary shows’ ever at the Barrowlands.

Even though the album debuted at number one on the US and UK charts, the third time the band have achieved this, the critical response was less enthusiastic.

Their promotional campaign was in keeping with the fake news media surrounding the US and Europe and saw them post a series of fake news stories about themselves online, from fictitious album reviews to a list of diva demands.

One of which ordered no one to speak to Richard Reed Parry for any reason (even if he spoke to them first).

Luckily, the rule has been broken ahead of my interview with the multi-instrumentalist redhead.

In the end, the social media storm, which was created by people behind the New Yorker and spoof news site the Onion, was as enjoyable to him as it was the public.

 “The media stuff was more of a joke than its strategy, we thought that it would be a funny tone to take right now and it also seemed like it was relevant.

“You quickly learn that not everybody shares your sense of humour.

“I got tired of it pretty early on, once my mom’s friends started complaining to me about what they’d read which was fake news and jokes that we made, I was just like ‘oh god this is an echo chamber’ and I don’t really care to be in it at this time.

 “I’m far more interested in making music and performing.

“It’s definitely in the job description of popular artists to make people notice. It does seem to be the way, this generation are being brought up and expect people to be self-promoting on social media. That’s not the culture that any of us grew up in but it’s the norm now so we have to engage with it to various degrees.”

Some fans and critics were unconvinced by the songs, others didn’t take too well to the promotional campaign, but overall to the band it didn’t matter.

“Some people think for themselves and if like something they hear then they like what they hear”, Parry explains.

“I don’t think it mattered to the core fans. I don’t think bad reviews matter. I can definitely see how it turned some people off. It was fun - it was a little bit of song and dance to restore the fact that you’ve made an album with actual songs and are going on tour and performing.”

The backlash has done little to dent their popularity as their packed arena tours prove.

In Glasgow, they will be playing the SSE Hydro, a jump up from their previous slots after a lot of work over in the UK.

Parry adds: “We’ve always had incredible, incredible audiences here in Glasgow. The first time we played Barrowlands was one of our most legendary shows and one of our favourite venues.

 “It was a special room and a special vibe and a special crowd and a special couple of nights.

“That room but also the city and spirit of the city. Everyone’s so musical and they love to sing.

“In Glasgow you give the crowds a chance to sing with you and we’ve always loved playing there. We’ve chronically underplayed it, especially on the last record but we made sure to come back.”

But the big crowds and stages aren’t in the future for Parry who much prefers more intimate shows.

“The shows will always get bigger. If more people keep coming out it makes sense for the venues to get bigger but on the other hand, we’re going to play in Latvia for the first time ever and there will be less people - we haven’t developed the audience in the same way.

“It’s a different feeling inside of every room. We don’t just want to play massive arena shows.

“I think U2 are a great band and they’ve achieved in their career is amazing, but I also don’t envy only playing these gargantuan shows all the time which is all they do. Just on a personal level, I don’t aspire to that, but I respect them.

"It’s possible that this band as a whole could do things like that. We don’t play to the biggest crowds everywhere but if the band wanted to only operate on that level, I would have to rethink my options.

"The shows we’re doing right now is great and really special but it’s a particular gear that you can’t run in for a long time, I get really exhausted.”

Arcade Fire will play the SSE Hydro on April 16.