I first saw Arcade Fire in a tiny church right before the release of Funeral, a brilliant, darkly energetic debut album. Even then, seeing them play in front of a small audience, I knew they should be massive. Over the next few years I followed this travelling Canadian community’s journey: moving from small churches to larger clubs, then to theatres, halls and finally, to arenas.

They quickly recorded their second album, 2007’s Neon Bible. They’d done it again: bigger, better, stronger, stranger. Hailed by many as the album of 2010, The Suburbs proved that they were not going to disappear. Once they only seemed to be my secret; now they’d become something I had to share with others. I wasn’t sure how I felt about that. Arcade Fire now play in superstar-sized venues like the O2 Arena. Yet their otherness, their intimate musical looseness, their hard working anti-elitist punk-ish idealism, their unashamed, unspoilt celebration of love and life didn’t seem to fit the sterile circumstances of the O2. Talking to the youngest band member Will Butler (brother of front man Win Butler), I asked him about Arcade Fire’s transformation from fresh, alienated outsiders to biggest indie band in the world.

What happens when a band that fights the system – that rejects boring rock clichés – starts playing such big, impersonal venues? "We’ve gotten used to playing immense places on this tour. Well, immense places scaled down a bit – I think our O2 shows were scaled to 16,000 capacity. They still feel like immense places." Yet, despite the larger arenas, they still play as if things were exciting and new. "We’re still mostly just eight people rock-and-rolling on stage. No hydraulics… yet." Even though the scale of their shows has grown dramatically, the band still manages to fill whatever sterile venue they find themselves in with their enterprising enthusiasm. The larger the venue, the more determined the group seems to be to demonstrate how close and uncynical they are. There are many members of Arcade Fire; they believe in the principle of ‘the more the merrier’.

"The size of the band helps keep us sane. There’s a lot of positive peer pressure. It’s hard to go off into the deep end when you’re surrounded by stable people… No drug habits, or fancy car buying habits, or any such nonsense." Arcade Fire is a fantastic example of collaborative focus. With lead singers Win and Regine married, three girls in the group, and members constantly swapping instruments, the whole ensemble dynamic is very flexible, generous and communal. "We’re practically a civilisation unto ourselves. I think a three-piece of all dudes has a much bigger chance of getting into trouble."

The band members don’t let the fame go to their heads. "We genuinely are pretty good at ignoring the outside world, but it certainly helps that the outside world is mostly supportive." What is so refreshing about Arcade Fire is that it is their music, rather than their personalities, which has become famous. As she once told me, what Regine hates most is the idea of celebrity. She angrily exclaimed that she wouldn’t have cared what her favourite jazz singer Ella Fitzgerald wore – so she doesn’t see why people should care about what she herself is wearing. The band members are not looking to be celebrities, they just want to communicate their positive attitude through intelligent pop music. "We’re not big enough to be actually famous… Well, I think 6’ 5" Richie and Win get more recognised than me, so maybe they’ve got a different take. I think actual, paparazzi-style fame would get real old fast."

Their latest album, The Suburbs, is up for a Brit Award this year. Does the fact that Will and his brother grew up together in suburban Texas have anything to do with the theme? "I think practically everyone in North America shared similar experiences growing up. And almost everyone in the UK, too, from what little experience I’ve had; just slightly different brand names." Everyone can relate to the notion of the suburbs threatening to turn everyone into the same thing. Arcade Fire symbolise resisting that kind of uniform mentality. In fact, the idea of the album came about through Win’s childhood dream of making a sci-film about two suburban towns warring against each other.

Both brothers were avid sci-fi readers. Their favourite novel – Enders Game by Orson Scott Card – tells the story of young children enlisted into a battle-training school aboard a spaceship. I tell them that J.G. Ballard is my favourite sci-fi writer and of the conceptual similarities between Ballard and Arcade Fire. Both speak of vastness and emptiness, of concrete and cities and shining lights. Perhaps my favourite Ballard quotation sums up The Suburbs: "Everything has happened… the future is just going to be a vast, conforming suburb of the soul." Will remains typically up-beat: "To be honest, I’m not that worried about the future. I think that people can’t be boring. There are, yes, some insanely boring individuals, but there’s a lot of crazy people out there. And for better or worse, crazy folks are always gonna stir it up. Heck, 20 years ago, yoga in America was for deep, deep crazy hippies and maybe the occasional health nut. And now it’s part of the vast conforming suburb of the soul. Something else nutty will rise up and ultimately be subsumed. I don’t know – it’s worked so far."

In spite of their success Arcade Fire have remained incredibly down to earth. While they might sing about cosmic things – and Win likes to play with the idea of being an adored and arrogant rock star – Arcade Fire want to involve everyone in their mission to make things better. As a band they symbolise rebellion, dreams, adventure and desire, working to ensure that new, exciting, interesting things will happen. If such a band can fill the O2 Arena for two nights, then pretty much anything seems possible. Ultimately, when a group is as uncompromising, caring and inventive as Arcade Fire, I don’t mind sharing them.