Your Favorite Enemies

Your Favorite Enemies is offering Canadian Musician readers an exclusive sneak peak of a previously unreleased song, “Underneath (As Strangers Falling in Love)”, which can be found on their latest project A Journey Beyond Ourselves. The song, performed live during a SFCC fan-club gala broadcasted via YouTube on December 5, 2015, was played only once, and has been made available for the first time through this new project by the band.

“A Journey Beyond Ourselves is more of an intimate, personal and insightful project emerging from the heart of our last five years as a band and as six lost struggling individuals trying to find their way back home than a simple recollection of moments and ephemerids about an album. It’s about how we managed to evolve through the chaotic, noisy, and confusing nature of what our collective and distinctive voyage has been for us, for everyone of us,” says vocalist Alex Foster. “It could have been called several other names, could have been displayed in so many different ways, could have been exposed in so many lights and angles… But after such a long pilgrimage through the bafflement of our own soul disarray, we realized that what’s truly sacred and pure didn’t have anything to do with perfection or the right perspective of it all; it’s about the honesty with which we decided to expose, open up and invite you to share our defying and extraordinary journey beyond ourselves.”

In addition to the video clip for “Underneath (As Strangers Falling in Love),” Your Favorite Enemies has also shared with Canadian Musician an exclusive look at three pages taken for the book found in the A Journey Beyond Ourselves box set. Click on the images to enlarge. - Canadian Musician

Despite the spelling of their band name, Your Favorite Enemies hail from Canada, and the Montreal-based unit have just unveiled a brand new video.

The clip accompanies the song "Underneath a Blooming Skylight," which appeared on the band's latest LP, Between Illness and Migration.

"It's the vertigo of a big city, the exhilaration of walking within a crowd all talking on their speaker phones, the suffocation of finding yourself isolated underneath a sky that keeps getting lower and lower as the buildings get higher and higher," frontman Alex Foster explained in a statement. "It's two strangers falling in love at the same time without crossing each other's paths, but they only exist in someone else's anonymous and elusive dreams. It's a desire for freedom, voiced in illusionary lovers, that would become real enough to either leave forever or to forever stay."

The visuals, meanwhile, take their cues from psychedelic works of the '60s, New York City's "imaginary subculture" and Andy Warhol's avant-garde movies and muses — particularly Edie Sedgwick.

Take it all in by watching the video premiere of "Underneath a Blooming Skylight" below. - Exclaim!

Canadian alt-rockers Your Favorite Enemies have dropped a video for their track 1-2-3 (One Step Away), and you can watch it exclusively on Kerrang.com!

“It’s a song I wrote reflecting the let go of the personal elements that hold us back in our present state of saddened hearts and keep our soul captive in the despairs of the past,” explains frontman Alex Foster. “It’s truly a personal song by nature, but a collective state. We may mourn the impermanence of life, but we can all elevate ourselves with the euphoria of rebirth.” - Kerrang!

Quebec-based rockers Your Favorite Enemies continue to expand their already impressive catalogue with a new massive project entitled A Journey Beyond Ourselves. Crafted entirely in-house by the members of the fiercely DIY band, it includes a box set containing the double vinyl album Tokyo Sessions, as well as a 10-inch vinyl of the unreleased track "Underneath (As Strangers Falling in Love)", recorded live in their studio, a converted church outside Montreal.

On top of that is a lavish book filled with personal notes from lead vocalist Alex Foster, comprised of excerpts from his tour journals and never-released poetry, along with photos taken on their world tours, accompanied by commentary from each band member.

A Journey Beyond Ourselves is indeed a journey through the past five years of Your Favorite Enemies, telling the intimate story of the six individuals behind the group, and what went into making the multiple versions of their previous album Between Illness and Migration.

It also marks Foster’s return to full-time activity after several months recharging his batteries after the previous creative period that he describes as draining, both physically and emotionally. For more info on A Journey Beyond Ourselves, go to yourfavoriteenemies.com.

A Journey Beyond Ourselves is an impressive project. How long did it take to put together, and what were the challenges?

It took us a little more than a year to complete the project.

In fact, the idea first emerged around the time we came back from Japan where we did a show that was a complete reinterpretation of our album Between Illness and Migration. The concert led to the creation of the album Tokyo Sessions shortly after, and as we were getting ready to transition to our upcoming album, A Journey Beyond Ourselves briefly resurfaced. We were all too busy at the time to honestly consider working on such a colossal project, which was reconsidered while I was living in Tangier a year ago.

I think the dilemma of how transparent we wanted to be was more challenging than our collective willingness to truly be honest. This is what became the real cornerstone of the project as it slowly took shape, as it went from being the story covering the album concept for Between Illness and Migration, all the way to the five years of worldwide touring that followed. But somehow, as we re-opened personal notebooks and revisited personal travel journals, the project became more intimate and personal. It was now a deeper look into our relationships, the challenges associated with depression and isolation, the dazzling reality that comes with discovering the world through the eyes of six completely different individuals all coming from very humble backgrounds.

The album’s story suddenly revealed itself in a different angle, and instead of trying to rewrite it and shape some look-good type of myth, we decided to fully dwell in it and use it as a way to reconnect with each other.

Facing where we came from, who we were, what we've been through, and how incredibly difficult it's been to get out of it alive has been more challenging than the incredible amount of time we spent in our archives or all the technical problems we faced crafting every single element of the project ourselves.

I guess that’s the long answer… Well, a part of it anyhow!

Why was it important to you to open up about yourselves so much?

I think it became necessary the moment I admitted that I somehow became the shadow of somebody else’s story, a witness to my own life, that I grew apart from everybody else and that I was completely isolated emotionally. I could have talked about it to some professionals or just opened up to the others, but writing has always been my way of expressing myself. So I faced it. And honestly, more than truth, allowed me to let go in a positive way rather than a drama-like public self-flagellation. I was pretty reluctant at first, but I somehow knew it was alright to do it.

Even if we’re a little more sensitive to those issues, I realized that depression and mental illness are highly difficult to admit to yourself. It became a taboo of sorts, as being “strong” has always been the answer to questions that might require being fragile. Well, at least that’s how I see it and how I now allow myself to address those issues. Matthew Good’s personal story raised a flag for me a few years ago… It broke the cycle of isolation in a way.

How would you describe what has made the band such a tight-knit unit, both as friends and musicians?

I would say that we learned to accept our differences – and God knows how different we are! So rather than feeding the necessary band compromises, we try to keep defining and redefining the nature of our shared language. We’ve acknowledged the fact that we’re all fighting our demons and shadows, and we’ve learned to receive each other for who we are rather than trying to fit others into our self-preservation views.

It’s difficult to define why, but we found each other, and we kinda found our purpose. The rest is a choice. We’ve learned over the years that projects, as fresh and uplifting as they might be, aren’t substitutes for the time we invest in each other, nor can they truly cover any problems forever. All good mottos and philosophical views we need to remember, sometimes more than others!

What can you say about any new music you're working on now?

We’ve been working on different musical projects. Sef, Ben and I are presently completing a soundtrack project to be released sometime next year. I’ve got a French spoken word/noise/experimental album coming up as well. And I’m bringing the whole YFE circus to Tangier at the end of the month to start working on our next album in a recording studio I established in the heart of the city… Let’s just say there’s currently a lot of noise in our lives!

What are your fondest musical memories as you were growing up?

I think it would be the passionate debates and fights over real rock ’n’ roll legitimacy. Between my mother’s love for Elvis and my father’s allegiance to Creedence Clearwater Revival, the fierce conversations led to my first understanding of a man having to sleep on a couch for whatever reason! Anyway, they would later find common ground by being on the same page for their total despise towards my passion for Ministry, Skinny Puppy and The Cure. I know, I never understood why either. Maybe it has something to do with the hair… I don’t know. Go figure! - FYI Music News

Pour tous ceux qui avaient loupé l’émergence de cette excellente formation montréalaise en 2014, une session de rattrapage s’impose ! Ces Tokyo sessions (disponibles en exclusivité sur le site internet du groupe) ne sont autres que la version deluxe (16 titres) du premier album Between illness and migration sorti en 2015. Et c’est le genre de disque dont il est difficile de sortir indemne. Menée sur un rythme infernal, l’affaire place l’auditeur dans l’œil du cyclone au cœur d’un tourbillon de guitares saturées où les chants et les langues, le français faisant parfois une apparition surprise au détour d’un couplet, se répondent et se télescopent. L’écriture est à l’avenant, multipliant les pistes, les compositions rebondissent dans des recoins insoupçonnés. Rageuse et intense, la chose atteint des hauteurs rarement fréquentées depuis la dissolution d’At the drive-in, c’est dire ! Un album dense, mû par une impressionnante tension sous-jacente.

À écouter en priorité : “1-2-3”, “Empire of sorrows”, “Anyone”. - Longueur d'Ondes

As you can see in some of the pictures, we have the crazy privilege of living in a former catholic church that we turned into our own professional studio a couple of years ago. It’s pretty much the band’s headquarters, as we also have our own record label offices, a video production department and full merch facilities in the church. Most of us live there as well… let’s just say it’s noisy for all sorts of reasons! But it’s an incredible kind of trippy experience in all possible ways.

How long have you been a musician? How did you get into it in the first place?

I started playing music in the early ‘90s, almost by accident. I was the typical loner who wasn’t really into sports and didn’t quite fit with the cool kids – portray the ultimate hipster look in a world where hipsters didn’t exist! Music was pretty much my thing. I was an avid listener of everything that music channels could feed me with. I never really envisioned playing any instrument, even if I was coming from a highly musical family. Since home wasn’t a very empowering environment, it was like I was another furniture… until one of my brothers lent me a cheap tape of what was a Metallica mix of live bootleg songs and what is now considered their old school stuff. That moment has been a game changer for me. It just hit me, really.

The sounds… the intensity… it was like a hurricane screaming to my face “GET YOUR SHIT OUT… BE!” So, not only was I amazed to realize that music can give you such a profound way to express yourself, but that it could be done without any filters, without having to be nice and clean. With music, I found a place where I could exist without the limitation of the reality I felt being a total stranger to. And for the very first time, the introverted kid teachers used to say would become an honorary member of a loser town found something to live for.
I asked for an electric guitar but ended up with my father’s old acoustic Gretsch. I had lessons from a guy who was into Kenny Rogers, Toto, and some other irrelevant crap compared to the heavy stuff I was into. It didn’t take long that I started begging again for an electric guitar, an amp, and the holy grail: a distortion pedal… the BOSS Metal Zone MT-2! This was the first pedal I’ve ever had.

Who have been some of your major musical influences, past or present?

I grew up with heavy bands, but at one point, I needed that force to have some nuances as well. I found The Edge having a huge influence on me. It wasn’t his band as much as him, the guitar player… The way he created landscapes and the melodies out of nothing, the way he was expressing himself in a very simple way sometimes sounded heavier than most of the bands I was devoted to. He’s a really soulful and heartfelt musician and artist!

Alex, singer in Your Favorite Enemies and a good friend of mine, later introduced me to post-punk, noise rock, experimental rock and shoegaze music. I hated it all at first! To me, it felt like they couldn’t play their instruments! And then he challenged me to give it a try! The heavy metal mullet that still secretly lived deep inside my soul was totally blown away! Well, after being completely humiliated by the fact that I was not only incapable to play what first sounded like shit, but I wasn’t able to freaking understand any of it! It became a little obsession of my own to discover even more about it (but I didn’t tell Alex about it at first!)

Now, I can say that Lee Ranaldo (Sonic Youth), Nels Cline (Wilco), Warren Ellis (Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds), Ed O’Brien and Jonny Greenwood (Radiohead) are the guys I’m really into. I’m not denying my roots, and I’m not one to say that one guy or genre is better than another. But all those guys inspired me to think “outside the box” in a very liberating way, pretty much like John Frusciante had an impact on me in the “just feel it” type of way music should be played. At least, that’s how I see it now!

What drew you to using pedals initially? Have you been using them throughout your playing career? How have pedals helped to shape your sound, or influence the style that you’ve created?

Before going completely crazy (and I mean getting all my friends and bandmates go nuts with me constantly talking about pedals), I was more “minimalist”. It wasn’t about being a purist or playing a game. For me, a statement ain’t about what you see, it’s about the guts you have to express yourself as you feel it. I didn’t have the courage to say much at the time… it was more about being loud! I still am today, but with more gear!

My brother Ben (the band’s bass player) and Jeff (the band’s other guitar player) are always into sounds. They’re at the service of the vibe and feel. They came back one day with a few pedals they found at a very cool store called Moog Audio in Montreal. They had a few pedals from companies I had never heard of. I couldn’t understand why those would be needed, what could be made out of them. Until I plugged them. What I heard was like a lightning strike made of nuclear protons and a zombie apocalypse. The morning after, in secret, I was in front of the Moog Audio store with a coffee in hand. I came back almost 2 days later with Catalinbread, Carl Martin, Bad Cat, Mad Professor, Homebrew Electronics, Mid-Fi Electronics, ZVEX. I wanted to try everything. And once I tried everything, I wanted everything! It was excessive and totally immature, but it was like walking in Disneyland holding Mickey’s hand!

What I discovered was way beyond pedal companies and wasting serious cash on all those little wonderful boxes of wonders! It was all the possibilities I had in front of me to craft the sounds I could hear in my head, the tools I needed to express the emotions I had inside and never could before. It was a personal experience, something as defining as when I first played an electric guitar and almost blew my amps once I hit the Metal Zone pedal! It was WOW.

If you were to ask my friends and bandmates, I admit it, I’m still overly obsessed with pedals! And I’m probably responsible for a lot of the prescriptions they take and ear plugs they use, especially when they’re stuck in a van or a bus right beside me! But hey, blame Alex, Ben and Jeff! It’s their fault if I’m always looking to find different ways of expressing myself now!

What’s your current setup look like? Take us through your pedal rig (feel free to include amps and instruments as well if you’d like):

Alright, the serious stuff now! The ES-8 from BOSS is really my management system for all my pedals. All my pedals are connected to it! I can change the pedal orders with it, do parallel routing, control my TimeLine and BigSky from Strymon and my DD-500 from BOSS via MIDI (Sending MIDI Clock, Program Change, #CC). I have an internal expression pedal in it and so much more! Working with this switcher pushed back my limits!

This is my setup:

Tuner BOSS TU-2

Ernie Ball Volume Pedal

Loop 1: Mad Pro Compressor

Loop 2: ZVEX Fuzz Factory and Catalinbread Ottava Magus

Loop 3: Mad Pro Sky Blue Overdrive

Loop 4: Homebrew Electronics Big D and Mid-Fi Clari(not)

Loop 5: Homebrew Wah, Whammy, Tech 21 Roto Choir

Loop 6: Homebrew Frost Bite, ZVEX Ring Tone, Mid-Fi Pitch Pirate

Loop 7: Boss DD-500 and Boss Slicer

Loop 8: TimeLine and BigSky from Strymon

Vol. Loop: Durham Electronics Sex Drive

I also have the Thunderverb 200 and Custom Shop 50 from Orange, Fender Silverface Twin Reverb 1969, Savage Glas 30 and Schatten 19 head, Vox AC30CC2X and AC15HWhead, Skyraider from Mack Amps. We usually run the different heads in the Orange PPC412HP8. I like running two amps at the same time, one stack head/cabinet 4×12″ and one combo 2×12″.

We have a ridiculous number of guitars… This is Alex’s obsession (what’s the problem with singers always wanting to be guitar players?!) We have more Fender guitars than I can truly remember, quite a few Duesenberg models, one of which is a signature for Your Favorite Enemies, several Gibson, a couple of Gretsch, Rickenbacker, Scott Walker, and probably a few more! Alex will be disappointed that I didn’t remember them all! My drug of choice is Fender. I’m a Jazzmaster and Jaguar devotee! And in all the completely ridiculous choices I have, my main guitars are the Fender Jazzmaster Thurston Moore Signature and a Jaguar ’62 re-issue. That’s what I play with every day.

Favorite type of pedal (drive, delay, fuzz, etc. – more than one answer is always acceptable!):

I can’t name them all? You should know that pedals are like kids; you have to tell them that you love them all the same, that you don’t have any favorite. But I’ll try and respect the rules this time!

Every effect pedal has its own sonic personality and its own special textures or features, and since you can mix them together, it is often the combination of pedals that gives something special and creates a totally new realm of possibilities… But because I have to choose, I’m a huge fan of delay and reverb! Those effects have the ability to create dreamy landscapes, to add some insane noises, special rhythmic and to turn a simple note into something so unique that it’s on a full scale of emotions in itself.

You’re stranded on a desert island – which three (3) of the following do you want to have?

Instruments: Fender Jazzmaster Thurston Moore

Amps: You allow me to bring only one pedal, so I would bring the Thunderverb 200 to be able to have overdrive and distortion!

Pedals: BigSky from Strymon

*Note: I hate those one-item-only-each type of cruel desert island questions!*

What’s up next for you/your band(s)?

I’m flying with Alex and Jeff to the NAMM show! We have been invited by Roland and BOSS to be part of the event! I will be doing a clinic at the BOSS booth. We’ll be back in studio to work on Your Favorite Enemies’ upcoming album after that, and I’m overly excited about it!

The Klon hype: Love it or Hate it?

Some friends asked me about it, so I was curious to try it. But whatever the debate, the trend or the buzz about it, at the end of the day, it’s not about being interested in investing $1,500 or more for an overdrive pedal. No offense to anyone, but we’re in an era where there are so many amazing pedals coming from really ingenious, smart and passionate people. And if a $5 pedal allows me to express myself, than that’s the pedal I need. I guess it’s not the best way to get myself a free Klon… so let’s see if receiving one might change my mind!

Any last comments, promos or anything you’d like to talk about?
First of all, I want to thank you for offering me the opportunity to share my passion for music and gear. That pure kind of passion is really what matters to me. It’s not about the brands or the logos, it’s what makes you want to take the chance to share emotions or whatever might be important to you. It’s not about streaming and download, it’s about life in its simplest expressions… so thanks for that!

Please feel free to drop me a line on my personal Facebook, Your Favorite Enemies’ band page or whatever platform you are into. I love discovering other people’s rig and knowing the reasons that make them do it. It’s always a real pleasure to share this passion with you guys.

If you want to see my stuff, I also did a tutorial video series concerning the ES-8 Switching System and DD-500 from BOSS. You can see my whole footboard set up in the series on YouTube. - Pedal of the Day

Your Favorite Enemies fut la bonne surprise de la fin d’année 2014. Avec un album enfin disponible dans l’Hexagone, « Illness And Migration », le groupe canadien, basé à quelques encablures de Montréal, a de sérieux atouts rock et noise en main pour ne plus être le secret le mieux gardé du Canada.
Propos recueillis par Olivier Ducruix – Photo : © Olivier Ducruix

La basse, c’est un choix par défaut ou un coup de cœur ?
J’ai toujours été autodidacte… En fait, au début, je voulais être batteur, mais l’idée de faire entrer une batterie dans le salon n’était pas quelque chose de bien considérée chez moi (rires) ! Mon frère, qui est aussi le lead guitariste du groupe, m’a demandé si je ne voulais pas me mettre à la basse. Jusqu’à ce jour, je ne m’étais jamais intéressé à cet instrument. À cette époque, j’écoutais beaucoup de heavy metal : Metallica, Iron Maiden. Et quand je me suis penché sur le sujet, j’ai réalisé que la basse était le lien parfait entre la puissance de la rythmique et la mélodie. Je suis très vite tombé amoureux de la basse et je n’ai plus décroché depuis !

Étant autodidacte, tu as dû jouer dans pas mal de groupes avant de commencer l’aventure avec Your Favorite Enemies, non ?
Oui, Je me suis intéressé à pas mal de styles de musique, j’ai surtout joué avec des amis, mais toujours plus ou moins dans l’univers du rock. Ensuite, j’ai découvert le slap et le funk, je me suis acheté également une 6-cordes. Ce n’était jamais très sérieux. Quand j’ai rencontré les autres membres de Your Favorite Enemies, c’est devenu beaucoup plus sérieux et nous avons décidé de faire de ce groupe un véritable projet de vie.

On peut voir quelques photos trainer sur le Net où tu joues avec une 6-cordes alors que le groupe débutait. Aujourd’hui tu as définitivement opté pour une 4-cordes. Pourquoi ce changement ?
Avec la 6-cordes, je me compliquais beaucoup la vie. Cela peut te paraître étrange, mais je suis quelqu’un qui manque de confiance et j’ai toujours un peu peur de ce que les gens peuvent penser de moi. J’avais l’impression que ma 6-cordes me donnait un certain standing… Sans me vanter, je pense avoir assez de technique pour me débrouiller et j’ai réalisé que ce type d’instrument, à cause de la lourdeur, m’empêchait de totalement vibrer sur scène. J’ai commencé à me poser des questions… Pourquoi 90% des bassistes jouent-ils sur des Fender Precision ou Jazz Bass ? Il y a sans doute une raison à cela ! Alors je suis allé essayer une Fender et j’ai vraiment beaucoup aimé. Mais je ne l’ai dit à personne (rires) ! Cela a été une grosse réflexion sur moi-même, sur mon rôle de bassiste, pour finalement me dire que, même si je jouais sur deux cordes, personne d’autre ne pourrait jouer comme moi. Chacun a son propre style. Et au final, je suis tombé amoureux d’une Fender Jazz Bass American Deluxe. J’ai enfin pu bouger et m’exprimer véritablement sur scène.

C’est un peu compliqué de comprendre la sortie de votre dernier album, « Illness And Migration ». Il a d’abord été commercialisé au Japon en mars 2013, puis ensuite au Canada, puis en Australie et maintenant en France…

Je vais te dire une chose : c’est compliqué pour moi aussi (rires) ! Nous aimons donner un petit quelque chose de spécial à nos fans, selon leur pays d’origine. Chaque territoire est différent. Par exemple, pour le Japon, il y avait des titres en plus que tu ne retrouves pas sur les autres éditions. Nous avons grandi aussi avec l’album, alors à chaque nouvelle sortie, nous essayons de le faire évoluer. Tu sais, c’est un peu pareil en concert : nous sommes incapables de jouer un titre deux fois de la même façon. Nous aimons improviser, laisser vivre la musique. Mais bon, le grand manitou de tout cela, c’est Alex, le chanteur. Il a une vision globale et internationale pour ce qui est de la carrière du groupe ! Moi je me contente de la partie composition. C’est ça qui est génial dans ce groupe, c’est que chacun de nous a ses forces et ses faiblesses et que tout le monde en est conscient.

De l’extérieur, et en regardant d’un peu plus près votre site internet, Your Favorite semble fonctionner comme une petite entreprise ou une communauté. Est-ce un aspect que vous avez développé dès le début du groupe ?

Cela s’est fait naturellement et cette notion a beaucoup évolué au fil des années. Nous avons découvert Myspace en 2006. Nous n’avions aucune idée de comment cela fonctionnait. Cela n’avait rien de sérieux, juste une blague entre nous. Et, un jour, nous avons reçu un message d’un gars aux États-Unis où il nous disait qu’il aimait notre musique. Quoi ? Quelqu’un dans le monde aime notre musique (rires) ? Nous avons commencé à faire un profile plus professionnel… Nous avons tout construit de nos propres mains, sans un guide ou sans un plan pour aller conquérir le monde en 5 ans. Ce qui a toujours compté le plus pour nous, c’est le contact avec les gens, vivre une expérience avec le public qui nous suit que cela soit avec un album ou en live. Et c’est cette envie qui nous a poussé à nous organiser de cette façon.

Finalement, vous prouvez d’une certaine manière qu’en prenant les choses en main, avec certes beaucoup de motivation, il est encore possible pour un groupe indépendant de nourrir des espoirs de carrière internationale tout en restant fidèle à sa musique…

Mais tout à fait ! L’industrie du disque a énormément changé ces dernières années, ce qui ne veut pas dire que les gens n’écoutent plus de musique. Oui, le business a ses torts, mais je trouve que certains artistes ont aussi les leurs, en particulier ceux qui proposent une musique préfabriquée. Je ne juge pas les groupes par rapport à leur style musical, chacun son truc. Quand Your Favorite Enemies a commencé, nous avions tous envie d’être sincères dans notre démarche et dans notre musique et surtout de ne pas nous prostituer pour espérer avoir du succès. C’est pour ça que dans l’album, il y a des titres qui sont super longs, des passages parlés à la voix, ou je ne sais quoi d’autres. Nous avons d’abord fait ce que bon nous semblait sans se demander s’il manquait un hit single ou pas. C’est aussi pour cela que nous avons produit nous-mêmes l’album. On ne se voyait pas avec quelqu’un d’extérieur qui pouvait nous dire comment faire pour que ce disque sonne comme nous le voulions.

Pour finir, quel pourrait être ton Top 3 de tes bassistes préférés ?

Mes choix vont peut-être te surprendre, mais je dirai en premier Adam Clayton. Je me suis souvent demandé comment un groupe comme U2 pouvait avoir un son aussi fourni juste avec une guitare. Je suis persuadé que la réponse se trouve dans le son et les lignes de basse d’Adam Clayton. Je suis également un grand fan de Simon Gallup, le bassiste de The Cure. Il joue de la basse presque comme une guitare, dans les aigus, avec son Flanger. Si tu écoutes bien mes parties de basse, je pense que tu peux y trouver un peu de Simon Gallup (rires) ! Pour mon troisième choix, même si je ne suis pas forcément fan de ce style musical, je dirai Marcus Miller. J’ai rarement entendu un bassiste avec autant de groove. C’est grâce à lui que j’ai découvert la technique du slap ou celle du double pouce. Trois bassistes, c’est bien peu… Je ne peux ne pas citer aussi Peter Hook de Joy Division !

ZOOM MATOS

« J’ai la chance d’être endorsé par Tech 21 et Orange. J’utilise une AD200B et, pour la première fois sur cette tournée, je l’ai branchée à un baffle 8×10’’ de la marque. Ça sonne vraiment gros ! Avant, j’avais un pédalier énorme. Aujourd’hui, je n’utilise presque plus ma 6-cordes, mais j’aime toujours jouer avec les textures de son. Je ne peux plus me passer de la VT Bass de Tech21. Cette pédale m’a vraiment aidé à façonner mon son. J’aime quand celui-ci claque, qu’on entend bien les aigus… En fait, j’aime avoir un son moderne, mais avec un côté Vintage. Ce n’est pas facile… Et pourtant, j’y arrive avec la VT Bass. J’utilise également un Delay et un Chorus TC Electronic et un Octaver de chez T-Rex. Pour ce qui est des basses, j’ai une Fender Precision Reissue 1962 et aussi une Jazz Bass American Deluxe. Ça, c’est le matériel que j’emmène en tournée. Mais chez moi, j’en ai beaucoup plus. J’aime expérimenter avec différents filtres, des distorsions ou saturations. Mais si je devais choisir une pédale pour partir sur une île déserte, je choisirais la VT Bass (rires) ! » - Guitar Part

Your Favorite Enemies n'est pas qu'un groupe rock québécois mieux connu en Europe et en Asie que dans son pays. C'est une véritable commune doublée d'une petite entreprise qui ne compte que sur elle-même. Rencontre.

Devant l'ancienne église de Drummondville qui sert de repaire à Your Favorite Enemies, Charles ramasse les feuilles d'automne avec son râteau. Marie-Danièle sort aussitôt du presbytère pour accueillir La Presse. Ni l'un ni l'autre ne font partie du groupe de noise-rock, mais ils ne sont pas moins membres à part entière de la famille élargie qui habite et travaille en ces lieux.

Jeff, Alex, Sef, Ben et Miss Isabel ne sont pas originaires de Drummondville, pas plus que Charles, qui avait déjà quitté Alma pour s'installer à Montréal quand il a entendu dire qu'ils cherchaient un batteur. La majorité des 16 amis qui entourent les six musiciens au quotidien sont de la Rive-Sud de Montréal, à quelques exceptions spectaculaires près:

> Momoka, qui a tellement envié le mode de vie du groupe - «ils avaient l'air tellement vivants!» - qu'elle a quitté le stress de Tokyo pour la quiétude de Drummondville, où elle est à la fois traductrice et agente de promotion au Japon pour le groupe.

> Juliette, sa collègue française passionnée de musique qui a découvert le groupe sur MySpace avant un concert à Paris: «Je suis venue pour un an et je suis encore là trois ans plus tard.»

> Kosho, l'artiste visuel et vidéaste qui a vu YFE en première partie de Simple Plan au Japon, puis est venu s'installer dans la ville des Trois Accords avec la bénédiction de son père, un moine bouddhiste qui a aidé le groupe à donner un concert dans un temple millénaire de Kyoto.

Chacun a sa spécialité et tous sont rétribués également selon le mode coopératif. Myriam et Kanu, des amis d'enfance du groupe, dessinent et produisent sur place affiches, pochettes de disques, t-shirts et autres produits dérivés.

Ajoutez à cela un contrat à gauche et à droite - une bande sonore pour le jeu vidéo Final Fantasy, des t-shirts pour d'autres compagnies de disques, etc. - et les recettes des concerts qui ont mené YFE jusqu'en Chine et en Indonésie, et vous avez là de quoi permettre au collectif de vivre et de prendre de l'expansion.

«Au début, on avait tous d'autres emplois. Miss Isabel est à temps plein dans le groupe depuis un an; avant ça, elle travaillait le matin comme hygiéniste dentaire et nous retrouvait le soir», raconte Jeff Beaulieu, guitariste et imprésario du groupe.

Au moins trois des membres du collectif sont encore travailleurs sociaux.

Simplicité volontaire

Leur mot d'ordre: simplicité volontaire. «Au début, au lieu de prendre une bière après un concert, on réinvestissait l'argent dans l'achat d'une guitare ou d'un ampli, se souvient Alex Foster, chanteur et parolier de YFE. On n'avait pas l'ambition de devenir un groupe international; ça nous a pris par surprise.

- Aujourd'hui, vous en vivez correctement?

- Oui, mais en tournée, il faut être très disciplinés: ça se peut qu'on mange le même genre de sandwich tous les jours. On peut se payer une bonne bouteille de rouge de temps en temps, mais on fait attention.»

Your Favorite Enemies a tout ce dont il a besoin sous la main. L'ancienne église Saint-Simon de Drummondville abrite deux studios d'enregistrement et un studio de télé à partir duquel le groupe diffuse sur le web, une fois par mois, le talk-show musical Bla Bla Bla: The Live Show, en anglais puis en français, avec traduction simultanée dans une dizaine de langues.

Les six musiciens et leurs amis ont transformé eux-mêmes l'église et le presbytère acquis en 2009 pendant une année et demie au cours de laquelle ils n'ont pas eu beaucoup de temps à consacrer à leur musique. La seule exception à leur philosophie DIY: ils ont embauché des experts acousticiens d'Angleterre pour que leur production musicale soit à la hauteur de leurs attentes.

Tous ont appris leur métier sur le tas. Myriam et Kanu ont suivi des cours et posé des questions à gauche et à droite et ils peuvent aujourd'hui produire un t-shirt à l'effigie du groupe en un rien de temps. Kanu s'occupe également du design et du codage du site web de YFE.

Le groupe a son réseau de boutiques en ligne spécifique à chaque pays. Plus encore, YFE peut produire sur son propre label des versions différentes de ses albums en fonction des marchés. Les collectionneurs parmi les membres de leur fan-club - le Secret Family Cult Club - tissent donc des liens qui leur permettront de s'échanger un album français pour un album australien, par exemple.

La musique des extrêmes

Your Favorite Enemies donne dans «le noise-rock, le bruit, les ambiances et les extrêmes, du très doux à l'extrêmement intense», explique Ben Lemelin, le bassiste. On les a déjà vus à Heavy MTL, mais, en Angleterre, une radio de niche prog diffuse leur dernier album.

«On peut également faire du spoken word en français et des pièces plus douces, plus acoustiques, plus ambiantes, un peu à la Nick Cave avant que Warren Ellis débarque avec un peu de noise-rock», explique Alex Foster, chanteur et parolier du groupe.

Nick Cave, que le groupe a déjà croisé dans un studio de préproduction de Londres, est l'idole d'Alex, qui a profité d'un récent passage à Austin, Texas, pour compléter sa collection de bootlegs de l'artiste australien. Mais il y a aussi dans le salon de YFE des livres, des disques et des DVD de U2, Pearl Jam, Mono et Mogwai. «Notre son à nous, c'est l'assemblage de tout ça», reconnaît Alex.

On est loin de l'époque où Alex et Sef, jeunes travailleurs sociaux d'un organisme d'aide aux familles défavorisées, avaient monté un groupe de musiciens en prévision d'un concert gratuit pour les jeunes de Longueuil.

En 2014, Your Favorite Enemies a été remarqué au MIDEM, ce qui lui a valu la tournée européenne qu'il fera en novembre avec le groupe américain ... And You Will Know Us By the Trail of Dead. Il y a eu aussi ce festival à Taiwan où le groupe québécois s'est produit en tête d'affiche devant 90 000 spectateurs. Et le showcase au CMJ de New York dans deux semaines, qui pourrait leur faciliter une percée aux États-Unis.

Sans oublier l'album Illness and Migration, qui s'est maintenu dans le top 10 du palmarès anglo d'iTunes au Québec après sa sortie en mai dernier, préparant le terrain pour le concert de ce soir au Club Soda.

«Chaque année, on se fait une petite vidéo bilan qu'on montre dans l'émission en ligne. En regardant ça, on comprend pourquoi on est fatigués», dit Miss Isabel en riant. - La Presse

Le groupe québécois Your Favorite Enemies a installé sa machine à rêves dans une ancienne église de Drummondville.

À Nankin sur la côte orientale de la Chine, Alex Foster a vu une jeune fille pleurer au fond de la salle où il se produisait avec son groupe.

Sans hésiter, le chanteur de Your Favorite Enemies (YFE) a traversé le parterre pour aller la serrer contre lui. Il l’a ensuite confiée à la foule pour une séance de crowdsurfing.

« Les gens l’ont portée à bout de bras pendant qu’on continuait à jouer. C’était fantastique. »

Parcourir le monde, franchir la barrière des langues, sentir de près ce que les gens vivent, transformer la compassion en gestes concrets : ces objectifs font partie de l’agenda de YFE, le groupe rock québécois dont Alex Foster est le parolier et le ­leader. « Je m’intéresse d’abord aux gens, précise-t-il, les victimes tout comme les survivants. Si ces derniers me fascinent particulièrement, je demeure compatissant à l’égard de ceux qui tentent de survivre aux affres de leur implacable condition. »

Fondé en 2006 par Alex (voix), Jeff (guitare), Sef (guitare), Ben (basse), Miss Isabel (claviers) et Charles (batterie), le groupe a vendu plus de 150 000 disques à travers le monde. Sorti au Canada en mai dernier, son dernier album, Between Illness and Migration (rebaptisé Entre marées et autres ressacs pour le public francophone) est packagé de manière différente selon le marché auquel il s’adresse (Japon, France, Angleterre, etc.). Abordant des sujets sensibles comme la détresse et la schizophrénie, le disque est le résultat d’une promesse faite par le groupe à une Japonaise dont le fils s’est suicidé.

L’histoire de YFE est étonnante. Au milieu de la première décennie du millénaire, en pleine crise de l’industrie du disque, six jeunes francophones chantant principalement en anglais parviennent à attirer l’attention d’un public international en diffusant des vidéos amateurs dans internet. « On s’échangeait nos t-shirts pour faire croire qu’on avait une garde-robe variée », rappelle Alex Foster.

Leur premier concert a lieu en Angleterre. En 2007, leur premier mini-album s’écoule à plus de 30 000 copies. Partisans du « Fais-le toi-même » (Do it yourself), les ­Enemies voient dès le début à chaque aspect de leur fulgurante carrière. Ils apprennent à produire leurs clips et à gérer leurs finances, planifient leurs concerts et font connaître leur musique un peu partout par simple contagion médiatique. YFE a également créé son propre label maison, Hopeful Tragedy Records.

Pour faire fonctionner cette machine à rêves, la troupe a conclu en 2009 l’achat d’une ancienne église catholique, à Drummondville. Sous les hauts plafonds du temple, là où le curé de la paroisse Saint-Jean-de-Brébeuf célébrait la messe autrefois, les musiciens ont aménagé un studio d’enregistrement professionnel ceinturé d’un rail pour les captations vidéo. Le groupe a également mis en place des installations nécessaires à la diffusion de ses propres émissions via une chaîne de télévision, YFE-TV, qu’il qualifie de l’un des plus populaires fichiers balados à avoir vu le jour sur le web. - Readers Digest

What did you feel and think when you looked at the city (Minami-Sanriku-cho area) today?

It was very difficult to think or to feel… I was paralyzed and had a hard time to breathe. It felt like time stopped for a few seconds. Tears were quietly falling down my cheeks, and I was hardly able to move. Even if I had already seen the images on the news, even if the scenery was strangely familiar, becoming a part of those images and becoming a live figure of the scenery was really humbling to me. I can’t understand the nature of such profound pain associated with the recent tragedy. But somehow, as I was walking through the remains of the city, looking at the peaceful sky and feeling the kindness of the wind, I had a deep sensation of hope blooming in my heart, and those feelings were even stronger when I met the volunteers and the survivors. I knew, deep in my heart, that the loss of loved ones would be honored by a redefined celebration of life…


What’s your thought for the hope project since you started?

I started the Hope Project as a way to give an opportunity for people all over the word to add a personal spark to the uplifting spirit needed for life to be a firing element in the people arising… But I soon realized that the survivrors and the Japanese people’s courage became an empowering wind for everyone. We all became part of the movement. And everyone involved in the Hope Project (survivors, volunteers, initiators, supporters) has seen their courage reconstructed and redifined…


What kind of impact do you want to make for the people ( who had earthquake) with this project ?

I humbly want the victims to know they are not alone, and that millions of people are inspired by their courage…


Can you introduce yourself?

To be truly honest, who I am ain’t really important. With everything I’ve witnessed today, I feel like my heart has been born again, enlightened by so much courage and dignity… It’s like the first day of a new life for me. Hope is the true nature of the people I met today. They are the incarnation of the values I want for my own life. Their hopeful spirits gave the bright colors to the magnificent sky and the healing wind I’ve witnessed today. And every time I will see such magnificence, I will pray for the people of Minami-Sanriku-cho, thankful for the man I became after meeting them. I can’t wait to visit again. As for today, I will tell everyone that they are the embodiment of hope and that I am empowered. The rest of it is a potential overshadow on the true important people - the people who decided to believe in life - the volunteers, the people from all over the world who had their heart moved enough to write a message, draw a hopeful symbol or simply write their name to let people know they are not alone.
- Yomiuri Shinbum

[...]
Your Favorite Enemies comes in at No. 11, climbing five places from last week. The Montreal-based sextet has been doing their part in organizing efforts for victims of the March 11 earthquake in Japan by launching, in partnership with the Red Cross, an initiative called the Hope Project, which will deliver fans' postcards of empathy and encouragement to survivors of the catastrophe and will culminate with a benefit concert in Tokyo on May 25. The band also has a China tour lined up for the month leading up to the benefit.
[...]



Finally, Uncharted sends off progressive metal band Obscura in style, as the German quartet makes its debut on this week's Heatseekers chart at No. 11. Released March 29, Obscura's new album Omnivium is their third full-length release. Obscura kicks off their European tour April 29 in Wurzburg, Germany.



To discover new music and get a head start on following the careers of these emerging artists, find the rest of this week's chart on Billboard.com or in Billboard Magazine, and check in with Uncharted Territory every week for more. - Billboard Magazine

TOKYO (majirox news) – While many foreign musicians cancelled their shows in Japan, Canadian rock band Your Favorite Enemies (YFE) is performing “Arisen from Despairs – A Morning of All Hope” this weekend in Osaka, Tokyo and Kyoto.

“I asked a lot of people if it was appropriate for us to do the shows since we wanted to honor the Japanese people,” said 30-year-old bandleader (vocals) Alex Foster. “Since we have a strong relationship with Japan, we were thinking of canceling our previously planned tour after Japan’s earthquake and tsunami on March 11.”

The group received so many emails urging them to empower the people with their music that they decided to tour.

“It’s not like we came to Japan to have a party,” he said. “We came to be with people. There is not much we can do. But if people need someone to talk, cry, and scream with, I wanted to say, ‘Hey, we’re here with you.’”

The group, which started in 2006, is known for its close relationship with Amnesty International and creating fan communities across the globe through social networking sites (SNS). More than 36,000 Japanese connect with them via MySpace, Facebook, email and Twitter.

“I spend almost every day connecting with people through SNS sites to be a part of what people are living,” Foster said. “SNS sites made us accessible to each other.”

Additionally, the group’s “Hope Project” for Japanese victims has received worldwide attention. It collected 50,000 post cards, including drawings from children and messages that were written in various languages and translated into Japanese. The band also made a large Japanese flag with “HOPE” printed on the sun that included many signatures.

“I was blown away by the huge response from all over the world,” Foster said. “People wanted to let the Japanese people know that they were not alone.”

The group went to a shelter Wednesday at Minami Sanriku in Miyagi prefecture, which was totally destroyed, delivering encouraging messages sent from across the globe.

Foster reflected on his experience. “I have been inspired by the courage and dignity of people and volunteers. I saw people rebuilding their lives and supporting each other although some of them lost their families and friends.”

The band, which manages all aspects of its activities through its own label, Hopeful Tragedy Records, and has its own recording studio with streaming audio, is especially impressed with the group’s Japanese fans.

“I was amazed how real and full of life they were,” Foster told Majirox News. “They are very different from what I was seeing in the entertainment industry at the time where everything was so plastic.”

Since Japanese fans spent a lot of time translating the band’s English site, YFE decided to set up a Japanese social networking page.

“We wanted to craft a community,” said Foster. “We learned there was a lot of loneliness and depression among young Japanese. We are not saving people, but we wanted to reach out and revitalize the sense of community Japan used to have so that people can find a reason to hold on.”

In fact, among all of the band’s SNS communities across the globe, Japan’s was the first to emerge.

The band first toured Japan in 2008, before even recording an album, and it gained more popularity by contributing theme songs to the best-selling Japanese video game series “Final Fantasy.” Some of the members visited Japan to meet with fans and to shoot an independent movie with no live show and no record PR involved.

The band aims to establish Hopeful Tragedy Records Japan by the end of 2011.

“It will be our official record company in Japan, and in a way, it is the result of the friendship we built over the years,” Foster said. “We will support artists we love in Japan as well.”

Song PV: http://youtu.be/4AVCjcc_WnM

About HOPE project: http://youtu.be/FFjGftlqrRU

Your Favorite Enemies will have shows in Tokyo May 28, and Kyoto May 29. Ticket information: http://www.yourfavoriteenemies.com/japan/tickets.html

- Majirox News (Tomonori Saito)

[...]
The festival's most controversial act might be Your Favorite Enemies, an indie-rock sextet from Canada whose frontman is involved with "Write For Rights" and other human-rights movements. He is not only a notorious spokesperson for Amnesty International, but the band is also regularly invited to play at AI's anniversary celebrations. While highly acclaimed in the West (1st place in the U.K.'s "Battle of the Bands" and word of approval by Beach Boy drummer Nelson Brag), the band's strongest fan base commercially seems to be in Japan, thanks to Your Favorite Enemies' involvement on the chart-topping soundtrack of video game Dissidia: Final Fantasy.
[...] - Go Chengdoo

Canadian band Your Favorite Enemies take time out of their busy tour schedule to have a quick chat with S24/7. Check them out at MIDI Shanghai on Sunday!

Right from the outset you guys have done every aspect of the what you do yourselves, right? Did you always have a clear idea of what you were doing?

Not at all, everything started so fast. We had to get organized pretty quick and I guess that has been the key to what came next. We didn't have the time to double guess our decisions, to think twice about the nature of our choices, and just didn't have time to be self-conscious about it all. Insecurities, doubts and fears being out of the way, I guess it's been a blessing to be able to build by instinct, according to who we are instead of aligned to what we should be and do.


Not many truly independent bands achieve the success you have - what's your secret?

"Success" could be a dirty and tricky word. For us, the notion of success is to be true to ourselves and loyal to each other. And to be honest, the secret is in the beards. Everyone loves men with beards. You should grow one yourself; you'll see, we're changing the world, one facial hair at a time ;)


How has your support for various causes driven the music you make?

Music is intrinsically linked with who we are and what we believe in. That's why it's been so important for us to stay true to ourselves and to remember the reasons we still jump on stage. Life creates life. Every night, whatever number of people in the crowd, we've got the fabulous privilege to create a little spark of life together. And when it's enough of a spark, dream and hope will bloom into a real fire. That's what we've been experiencing from the very beginning of our Chinese tour; life!!!


So is the music the main concern, or the message you're trying to get across through that medium?

The moment we live with the people is the main concern.


You have your own label, Hopeful Tragedy Records - are you now bringing other bands/artists through as well?

Quite surprisingly, every time we fell in love with a band, we managed helping them start their own label and to get in charge of their own story. If we would have signed some of them, we would be pretty rich by now!

But you know, the true fulfilment for us is to know that everywhere we play, bands are being formed right after by people who attended one of our show. They became their own voices. And that's fantastic!


You describe your new album as "a fantastic imaginary voyage" - can you tell us about it?

We've been living this journey like in a bullet train so far. We decided to take the time to creatively recall all those faces, all those places, all those sceneries and colors. As we were laying down the foundation of the record, we realized how much transformations occurred in every single one of us. We're not only able to feel that voyage, but we're actually able to be that sonic migration, and that natural motion leads us to places we never thought were possibly reachable within the realm of our own understanding. Well, that's a lot of words to say we really let go of everything that may have been a possible hold back... and for us, that album is truly worth dying for...


What do you think is it about your music - or the kids who like it - that makes you so popular in Japan?

Again, it's truly about our commitment to live the moment, to be with them, to touch them, and to be touched as well. That's why when we play festivals, we always do everything we can to play in smaller clubs as well, in cities no other bands have any interest in performing at. Our Chinese tour is a great example. It's a crazy tour we embarked on, but so far it's been a true awakening of life. Japan for me, as for China now, has been a love affair, a place I now call home. Love is lived in different ways in every place we visit; it's all about the people!!!


"REAL music is based on the emergency to create, and from that creation, life is created and transformation is emerging"… that's what you strive for - which other bands right now are doing the same?

I don't know... I still listen to the bands that got me into music in the first place. I'm not in the usual cool band name dropping. Have you been strived by a band recently? I mean, really? Not a little buzz love, but a real mind-blowing experience that lead you to redefine your life? if you had, I'm happy for you. I wish I had. But I'm still awaiting my next musical knock down...


You've also been involved in various other projects, film etc?

Yes. We've been very fortunate to have the opportunity to work on different projects we were truly fans of and really keen to be involved with. The Final Fantasy project is a good example. We grew up being Final Fantasy fanatics, so to be a part of the legacy has been a true blessing for every single one of us. Being involved in movie soundtracks of directors we admire, writing with artists we are fans o - Shanghai 24/7

Canadian band Your Favorite Enemies take time out of their busy tour schedule to have a quick chat with S24/7. Check them out at MIDI Shanghai on Sunday!

Right from the outset you guys have done every aspect of the what you do yourselves, right? Did you always have a clear idea of what you were doing?

Not at all, everything started so fast. We had to get organized pretty quick and I guess that has been the key to what came next. We didn't have the time to double guess our decisions, to think twice about the nature of our choices, and just didn't have time to be self-conscious about it all. Insecurities, doubts and fears being out of the way, I guess it's been a blessing to be able to build by instinct, according to who we are instead of aligned to what we should be and do.


Not many truly independent bands achieve the success you have - what's your secret?

"Success" could be a dirty and tricky word. For us, the notion of success is to be true to ourselves and loyal to each other. And to be honest, the secret is in the beards. Everyone loves men with beards. You should grow one yourself; you'll see, we're changing the world, one facial hair at a time ;)


How has your support for various causes driven the music you make?

Music is intrinsically linked with who we are and what we believe in. That's why it's been so important for us to stay true to ourselves and to remember the reasons we still jump on stage. Life creates life. Every night, whatever number of people in the crowd, we've got the fabulous privilege to create a little spark of life together. And when it's enough of a spark, dream and hope will bloom into a real fire. That's what we've been experiencing from the very beginning of our Chinese tour; life!!!


So is the music the main concern, or the message you're trying to get across through that medium?

The moment we live with the people is the main concern.


You have your own label, Hopeful Tragedy Records - are you now bringing other bands/artists through as well?

Quite surprisingly, every time we fell in love with a band, we managed helping them start their own label and to get in charge of their own story. If we would have signed some of them, we would be pretty rich by now!

But you know, the true fulfilment for us is to know that everywhere we play, bands are being formed right after by people who attended one of our show. They became their own voices. And that's fantastic!


You describe your new album as "a fantastic imaginary voyage" - can you tell us about it?

We've been living this journey like in a bullet train so far. We decided to take the time to creatively recall all those faces, all those places, all those sceneries and colors. As we were laying down the foundation of the record, we realized how much transformations occurred in every single one of us. We're not only able to feel that voyage, but we're actually able to be that sonic migration, and that natural motion leads us to places we never thought were possibly reachable within the realm of our own understanding. Well, that's a lot of words to say we really let go of everything that may have been a possible hold back... and for us, that album is truly worth dying for...


What do you think is it about your music - or the kids who like it - that makes you so popular in Japan?

Again, it's truly about our commitment to live the moment, to be with them, to touch them, and to be touched as well. That's why when we play festivals, we always do everything we can to play in smaller clubs as well, in cities no other bands have any interest in performing at. Our Chinese tour is a great example. It's a crazy tour we embarked on, but so far it's been a true awakening of life. Japan for me, as for China now, has been a love affair, a place I now call home. Love is lived in different ways in every place we visit; it's all about the people!!!


"REAL music is based on the emergency to create, and from that creation, life is created and transformation is emerging"… that's what you strive for - which other bands right now are doing the same?

I don't know... I still listen to the bands that got me into music in the first place. I'm not in the usual cool band name dropping. Have you been strived by a band recently? I mean, really? Not a little buzz love, but a real mind-blowing experience that lead you to redefine your life? if you had, I'm happy for you. I wish I had. But I'm still awaiting my next musical knock down...


You've also been involved in various other projects, film etc?

Yes. We've been very fortunate to have the opportunity to work on different projects we were truly fans of and really keen to be involved with. The Final Fantasy project is a good example. We grew up being Final Fantasy fanatics, so to be a part of the legacy has been a true blessing for every single one of us. Being involved in movie soundtracks of directors we admire, writing with artists we are fans o - Shanghai 24/7

Is it possible to tour the world while actively fighting for human rights, gaining critical praise and staying independent? Apparently it is if you are in a group which is as close as a family, that keeps producing good music and insists on doing it themselves. The proof is Canadian alternative rock band Your Favorite Enemies. Here, the sextet shares some of their thoughts.

Who are not to be trusted?
Don't trust a big bearded guy trying to get you into a conversation about Space Gorillas, about the inner electric circuits of an Orange guitar amplifier, about the importance of giving your bearded heart a shampoo of love or trying to explain why he's touring with all his 35 guitars (because he doesn't want to create jealousy amongst them... true story)! Because it means you're talking with Sef, Your Favorite Enemies' crazy lead guitar player, which means he missed the train to the next festival, which ultimately means you'll have to take him back to your home, to look at him eat the whole contents of your refrigerator, to let him lay down on your favorite couch, to watch the whole collection of Steven Seagal movies with him and to let him listen to every single Kiss album all night. So don't trust him, even if he looks like a good guy to hang out with. He's bad news for your sanity, trust me! He decided to turn me into his best friend a few years ago... nothing has been the same for me ever since! Help me!

Who are your heroes?
For us, a true hero is a person seeding hope in the midst of despair. We're millions of people whispering for change, but a hero is a person ready to be transformed in order to become the change agent for others who are hoping to witness bloom out of desperation. Everyone can be an "heroic" spark for anyone looking for light in the darkness of their lives.

Who are your favorite enemies?
Our favorite enemies are the illusions every one keeps feeding their soul with. When we feel lost in the dusk of our faithlessness, when the fog of our make-believe is turning the light of deepest dreams into shadows of fake neon lights. These favorite enemies are any emotions blooming from hopelessness, faithless and desperation. Those emotions are our favorite enemies. Favorite because they are self-indulgent lies we are turning into false sense of emotive security. Favorite because we know those lies are the enemies of our souls. We hate them, but somehow we convinced ourselves that we need those illusions in order to stay away from pain and suffering. Freedom is not the lies we turned into comforting truth; freedom is the hope we have in the invisible essence of life. We don't need illusions. We need faith to believe in the dreams we used to have for our own life!!!

... and if the question was about a rock band named Your Favorite Enemies... well, the band is infamously worse than any infamous rumors you may have heard about them... way worse... lol...

If you can go back in time to save or kill one person in history, what would you do?
We don't really live in the past, but Sef insisted to say that if he had one wish, involving going back in time and the ability to use all the science fiction crazy tools coming with it, he would go back in time to tell Bella and Edward that the vampire Victoria has created an army of "newborn" vampires to battle the Cullen family and murder Bella for revenge... Maybe should we have told Sef that this movie wasn't a "based on a true story" type of movie the night we rented Twilight for him to watch, in order for the others to have a proper band meeting! Sef keeps talking about wolves hating vampires and how Bella and Ed have the right to live their love without the the pressure of the Volturi clan ever since! Yes, it can be complicated being in a band sometimes!

What have you put in Love Is a Promise Whispering Goodbye?
We pretty much recorded "moments" on Love Is a Promise Whispering Goodbye. At the time we recorded the album, it was a recollection of pieces of where we were at, both emotionally and artistically. The heaviest songs are not the ones with loudest sounds. They are the ones crafted from a true sense of abandonment and we did craft those songs in total abandonment, for many personal reasons. The album, intended to be a special limited edition album for the fans only, became a platinum record to be re-issued next June! Sometimes what feels too painful to be publicly exposed can be turned into the freedom that others are no longer believing for their own lives. When art is real, life will bloom. And we are experiencing that freedom ourselves every time we are performing those "moments" others are calling songs.

What benefit do you get from being in a rock band except money and traveling the world?
Is being with bearded freaks 24 hours a day, seven days a week is considered a positive benefit? Because if it's not, I truly don't recall any other type of benefits! Seriously, I think that being able to be with your best friends, to - The Beijinger (Michelle Dai)

This week's Billboard Pro Featured Artist is Your Favorite Enemies, the Montreal-based rock band whose humanitarian efforts and willingness to respond to an international audience have helped them develop a fan base whose MySpace activity has kept them ranking high on Billboard's Uncharted chart for 14 weeks running. (This week, they come in at No. 8.)

Formed in 2006, Your Favorite Enemies' online success was a "happy accident," according to frontman Alex Foster. Within a year, their online buzz led them to tour Europe.

"We had to get organized pretty [quickly]," he explains of the sudden response from the online listeners. "Suddenly, people wanted more music, so we said, 'Let's do an EP,' and then we needed all our friends to help with shipping, and then we had to [actually] build a website. It was crazy."

Foster says that the addition of multilingual translations of the band's home site (done by willing friends and supporters) was one move that helped them reach a wider audience.

Your Favorite Enemies have been touring in China since April, which Foster says has been a long time coming. The band had had plans to tour China in 2008, but when a 8.0-magnitude earthquake hit Sichuan, they had to postpone until this spring. Turning down invitations to play the country's major music festivals, Foster says that YFE chose instead to tour relatively smaller Chinese cities, some of whom had never seen a foreign band play live.

"It's very humbling, to see people waiting like that, just for a little spark," he says.

Next week, Your Favorite Enemies will head to Japan, where they will play three shows in Tokyo, as part of the Hope Project, the band's own outreach initiative to benefit survivors of the March 11 earthquake.

Foster says that YFE's members, who are well-known to fans as outspoken supporters of Amnesty International, wanted to do something meaningful in the wake of the catastrophe, but weren't sure that raising money was enough. So they did some research and, as Foster tells it, found that what was lacking from relief efforts was simple: “They needed hope.”

Under the Hope Project banner, Your Favorite Enemies asked fans to write postcards and other messages of empathy and encouragement from fans. In a combined effort with the Red Cross, Foster says that the response was overwhelming--so many fans replied to the call that the band's website crashed repeatedly in the days following the project's inauguration.

Rather than chasing the highest-paid gig, Foster explains that the choices Your Favorite Enemies has made as a band have been guided by a combination of the band's personal convictions and what their fans ask of them.

"Instead of being that new toy, that people will throw away overnight, we really want to give the people what they want," he says.

To contribute to the Hope Project, click here: www.yourfavoriteenemies.com/hope - Billboard Magazine

Adding to a chipped tooth and bruised jaw, a visit to the birthplace of Chinese punk last week earned Alex Foster a "Wuhan kiss," or a couple of fractured ribs to the Chinese rock layman, after he "learned to fly" from the balcony of the city's VOX Livehouse.

"It's been a passionate tour so far," laughed Foster, lead singer of Your Favorite Enemies (YFE), on a train to Suzhou. "I've been beaten up with passion."

The heavy-hitting, socially conscious Canadian rock sextet will tie off a hefty 16-date tour at Mao Livehouse Saturday with Australian punk upstarts The On Fires and China's own scream team, Subs.

Originally booked to play the May festival circuit, YFE turned down some major European festivals and put off their long awaited third release until this Autumn. Their decision was not only to make room for The Hope Project, a benefit concert series in Japan later this month for Earthquake victims, but also their expanded China club tour, despite advice otherwise about turning a profit.

"A lot of other musicians told us not to come, saying there's no future there, like a body without a soul," he said. But Foster couldn't be more impressed with the unbridled passion of crowds, some of which he describes as "beautiful chaos."

"We've never experienced this degree of intensity before as artists," he said. "It's like being part of an amazing awakening."

In line with the DIY ethic that is attributed to their success following their 2007 self-backed debut EP, YFE is following the same spirit in China, with cheap hotels, train travel and street food.

"People know what's real and what's packaged. It's the difference between fire and neon lights," Foster said when asked for DIY advice for the many young Beijing bands. "Stay true, because it's always better to follow your own values and not succeed than realize years later you failed by following someone else's."

A former social worker with immigrant youth in Montreal, Foster was eager to communicate with the kids coming to see YFE performances.

"I was told, 'I'm stuck between the culture of my father and the insecurity of the future.'" Foster recalled one conversation after a show, "They're excited, but they know there's a struggle ahead."

Known for their active support for such organizations as AIDS charity (RED) and long-time spokesman for Amnesty International, Foster had been accused of "playing it safe" while in China.

"It's not about my politics, it's about filling the gap and distance between people," he said. "You don't make an impact by taking to the streets and invoking an incident. It would have been very selfish of me to get on stage and talk about my world views. That would just let people down."

"It's better just to share in moments with the people, going crazy, being alive. This way, you're just adding to the wave of transformation already in place."

"I'm already seeing that liberty in the crowd, I don't have to yell at it." - Global Times (James Tiscione)

Petite exception cette semaine, parlons vedettes internationales! Il sera en fait question du groupe Your Favorite Enemies, qui, après avoir fait courir les foules aux quatre coins de la planète, s’apprête à provoquer le même engouement dans sa propre cour: le Québec!

Plusieurs Montréalais ont découvert le groupe basé à Varennes lors du tout récent Festival Heavy MTL (il faut cependant avouer que leur rockalternatif cadrait plus ou moins avec le métal lourd à l’honneur).

D’autres l’ont entendu l’année dernière lors du Vans Warped Tour.

Mais tout ça, ce n’est rien en regard du succès international que connaît le sextette. Alex Foster (voix),Miss Isabel (voix et claviers), Jeff Beaulieu (guitare),Sef (guitare), Ben Lemelin (basse) et Charles Allicy (batterie) reviennent d’ailleurs tout juste d’une fructueuse tournée asiatique et indonésienne. Ils ont même donné une performance à l’une des émissions les plus écoutées en Indonésie.

On parle de 25 millions de téléspectateurs! Cela s’ajoute à une tournée européenne comme tête d’affiche il y a quelques mois, ce qu’ils répéteront sous peu.

Des communautés de fans se sont également formées dans une dizaine de pays et des visiteurs de partout dans le monde n’hésitent pas à se déplacer à Varennes dans le seul but de les rencontrer.

Ah! oui, j’oubliais, ils ne possèdent pas encore d’album distribué. En fait, ils ont lancé l’année dernière un mini-album de cinq chansons, And If I Was to Die in the Morning… Would I Still Be Sleeping With You, en vente uniquement dans leur site Internet.

Près de 40 000 exemplaires se sont envolés!

POUR FAIRE PATIENTER

Devant l’engouement grandissant pour les compositions du groupe, qui s’est tout d’abord fait un nom en remportant un important concours d’une radio britannique en 2007, YFE vient de lancer son second EP, Love is a Promise Whispering Goodbye, une fois de plus disponible en exclusivité au www.yourfavoriteenemies.com.

Une façon de faire patienter les fans en attendant la première véritable sortie, attendue à l’automne.

Les grandes maisons de disques sont à leurs pieds, tandis que le renommé réalisateur Steve Thompson (Metallica, Madonna, Red Hot Chili Peppers, David Bowie, Rolling Stones, Korn) se déplace régulièrement des États- Unis pour travailler avec la jeune formation.

Le rock plutôt propre ne révolutionne rien, mais les compos sont solides et feront certainement beaucoup de bruit au cours des prochains mois et années. Un avis partagé par le magazine Billboard, qui a nommé YFE parmi les cinq groupes à surveiller en 2008. - Journal de Montréal

Petite exception cette semaine, parlons vedettes internationales! Il sera en fait question du groupe Your Favorite Enemies, qui, après avoir fait courir les foules aux quatre coins de la planète, s’apprête à provoquer le même engouement dans sa propre cour: le Québec!

Plusieurs Montréalais ont découvert le groupe basé à Varennes lors du tout récent Festival Heavy MTL (il faut cependant avouer que leur rockalternatif cadrait plus ou moins avec le métal lourd à l’honneur).

D’autres l’ont entendu l’année dernière lors du Vans Warped Tour.

Mais tout ça, ce n’est rien en regard du succès international que connaît le sextette. Alex Foster (voix),Miss Isabel (voix et claviers), Jeff Beaulieu (guitare),Sef (guitare), Ben Lemelin (basse) et Charles Allicy (batterie) reviennent d’ailleurs tout juste d’une fructueuse tournée asiatique et indonésienne. Ils ont même donné une performance à l’une des émissions les plus écoutées en Indonésie.

On parle de 25 millions de téléspectateurs! Cela s’ajoute à une tournée européenne comme tête d’affiche il y a quelques mois, ce qu’ils répéteront sous peu.

Des communautés de fans se sont également formées dans une dizaine de pays et des visiteurs de partout dans le monde n’hésitent pas à se déplacer à Varennes dans le seul but de les rencontrer.

Ah! oui, j’oubliais, ils ne possèdent pas encore d’album distribué. En fait, ils ont lancé l’année dernière un mini-album de cinq chansons, And If I Was to Die in the Morning… Would I Still Be Sleeping With You, en vente uniquement dans leur site Internet.

Près de 40 000 exemplaires se sont envolés!

POUR FAIRE PATIENTER

Devant l’engouement grandissant pour les compositions du groupe, qui s’est tout d’abord fait un nom en remportant un important concours d’une radio britannique en 2007, YFE vient de lancer son second EP, Love is a Promise Whispering Goodbye, une fois de plus disponible en exclusivité au www.yourfavoriteenemies.com.

Une façon de faire patienter les fans en attendant la première véritable sortie, attendue à l’automne.

Les grandes maisons de disques sont à leurs pieds, tandis que le renommé réalisateur Steve Thompson (Metallica, Madonna, Red Hot Chili Peppers, David Bowie, Rolling Stones, Korn) se déplace régulièrement des États- Unis pour travailler avec la jeune formation.

Le rock plutôt propre ne révolutionne rien, mais les compos sont solides et feront certainement beaucoup de bruit au cours des prochains mois et années. Un avis partagé par le magazine Billboard, qui a nommé YFE parmi les cinq groupes à surveiller en 2008. - Journal de Montréal

February 26, 2008 - Global
By Robert Thompson, Toronto

Your Favourite Enemies
Hometown: Montreal
Latest Release: "And If I Was to Die in the Morning . . . Would I Still Be Sleeping With You," June 1, 2007
Label: unsigned
Management: none

A true underground success story, Your Favourite Enemies have eschewed the traditions of the music industry. Instead of signing with a label or employing a manager, the band has used the Internet, its explosive live show and its bond with its fans to sell thousands of records without utilizing standard distribution channels. With a sound that combines elements of metal and gothic rock, and a focus on charismatic vocalists Alex Foster and Miss Isabel, Your Favourite Enemies sold nearly 40,000 copies of their EP, "And If I Was to Die in the Morning . . . Would I Still Be Sleeping With You," without the help of an independent label. Instead, the band has embraced the street team promotional concept and extensively utilized online video blogs and message boards to bring its songs to potential fans. An album, tentatively titled "Love Is a Promise," produced by Steve Thompson (Korn, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Metallica, Jet) is expected in coming months.

http://www.billboard.biz/bbbiz/content_display/industry/e3i0055cabe5256398adeed682cfbd70432
- Billboard Magazine

The Canadian rock band Your Favorite Enemies asks for attention for human rights and Amnesty International everywhere they go. On October 3rd the band plays in Den Haag. Your Favorite Enemies has been working with Amnesty in Canada for years.


During his troubled youth the singer and songwriter Alex Foster comes in touch with a Neo-Nazi organisation. In search for love and unity he joins and eventually becomes a leader in the organisation. After five years Foster quits: the price he has to pay for unity is too high. Now he talks about his past in schools. “For years I had to keep my past a secret. About eight years ago I did some charity work for Amnesty and that’s when I told one of the Amnesty-workers about it. He asked me if I wanted to do something with it, because he thought it was a special story. Because of Amnesty International I have the chance to share my experiences with the kids, and to make Amnesty known. Lots of kids have positive reactions, and some even started their own Amnesty-group.”

Not only the kids, but also the parents react positive on his story. “I probably tell the same thing as the parents of many of those kids, but only I have an electric guitar in my hand, and that works.” Your Favorite Enemies tries to ask for attention for human rights as much as possible, not only in schools but also during concerts, through their website and in interviews.

“Amnesty is very important to me. In every interview I find a way to talk about Amnesty, because it really is a part of me. Our music isn’t that much about human rights. Our songs are personal. We aren’t a band that takes action on the streets. We don’t make songs about human rights itself, but about our personal feelings against racism for example.”

At the time this interview was held the band was working on their first European tour. October 3rd it’s time for their first Dutch performance in Den Haag. “I am very excited about it” says Foster. “Through our website we have a lot of personal contact with our members. There is a big group of Dutch fans, and it is fantastic to be able to meet them and to make them conscience of all the good work that Amnesty does.”


Anita Wijnands
- Amnesty In Acti (Netherlands)

February 26, 2008 - Global
By Robert Thompson, Toronto

Your Favourite Enemies
Hometown: Montreal
Latest Release: "And If I Was to Die in the Morning . . . Would I Still Be Sleeping With You," June 1, 2007
Label: unsigned
Management: none

A true underground success story, Your Favourite Enemies have eschewed the traditions of the music industry. Instead of signing with a label or employing a manager, the band has used the Internet, its explosive live show and its bond with its fans to sell thousands of records without utilizing standard distribution channels. With a sound that combines elements of metal and gothic rock, and a focus on charismatic vocalists Alex Foster and Miss Isabel, Your Favourite Enemies sold nearly 40,000 copies of their EP, "And If I Was to Die in the Morning . . . Would I Still Be Sleeping With You," without the help of an independent label. Instead, the band has embraced the street team promotional concept and extensively utilized online video blogs and message boards to bring its songs to potential fans. An album, tentatively titled "Love Is a Promise," produced by Steve Thompson (Korn, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Metallica, Jet) is expected in coming months.

http://www.billboard.biz/bbbiz/content_display/industry/e3i0055cabe5256398adeed682cfbd70432
- Billboard Magazine

BILLBOARD.BIZ BULLETIN - April 4 2008

Montreal’s Your Favourite Enemies, one of the country’s most hotly tipped unsigned bands, say they are in negotiations with a large American indie label following shows last month at South by Southwest in Austin. The band is also heading to Japan to support fellow Montrealers Simple Plan at five shows, says Jeff Beaulieu, guitarist and currently manager of the group.

The six-piece group takes dueling distorted guitars and matches them with the vocals of singers Miss Isabel and Alex Foster to come up with a sound not that far removed from the commercial goth rock of Evanescence. While many may not immediately recognize the band, the group has been steadily building a sizable underground following across North America and Europe. Without a record deal, the band says it has sold upwards of 30,000 copies of its 2007 EP “And If I Was to Die in the Morning . . . Would I Still Be Sleeping With You?” (Hopeful Tragedy Records), largely at shows and through its MySpace site. The band is planning a June release for a stopgap, eight-song EP, “Thousand Lights for a Million Souls,” and plans to tour Europe in the summer, where it is booked by the Helter Skelter agency. The Agency Group handles North American bookings.

The new record will again be selfreleased, though Beaulieu says a deal with the unnamed U.S. indie is possible, as long as it can be done without compromising the band’s grass-roots leanings. “For us, this is more than just about the music,” he says. “This group is a family, and we don’t want to give that up for just any deal.”
- By Robert Thompson, Billboard

Rarely has a music group generated as much buzz before having even one album under their belt, as it is the case with Quebec band Your Favorite Enemies, who experience an international success, for the most part thanks to the magic of the Internet.

Philippe Renault
Le journal de Montreal
prenault@journalmtl.com

After turning a lot of heads, first on Myspace, then by winning an important popularity contest in a UK radio station last March, the craze does not cease to grow. Offers from major record labels pour in, fan communities have been formed in a dozen countries, on top of which the band, who starts a European tour in September, have already 30 000 friends on Myspace. Alex Foster, Miss Isabel, Sef Lemelin, Jeff Beaulieu, Ben Lemelin, Charles Allicy even succeeded in attracting in their region of Varennes, the renowned producer Steve Thompson, who has worked with Metallica, Simple Plan, Madonna, Red Hot Chili Peppers, David Bowie and the Rolling Stones, to record their first album, that should come out next September.

A FRUITFUL FIRST TRY
Moreover, the young rock alternative formation has had the chance to get the feel of the music market by launching a five songs EP on June 1st. Without any promotion or support from distributors or record labels, close to 10 000 copies were sold in only a month.“We’d never expected that it would take such proportions!” said Jeff.

“The people in the industry were saying that we’d fail. A lot of record labels put pressure on us to sign with them, saying that, if we failed, it would be the proof that we were just a buzz. Strangely, these same people now ask us what’s our marketing strategy, but we don’t have a marketing strategy!” tells Alex.

AFFORDABLE COST
As a matter of fact, this initiative to do all by themselves has only one goal: to sell at an affordable cost, no matter where the buyer is on the planet. “We had calculated with labels that, the Japanese would have had to pay $42 for each 5 songs EP. We wanted to sell it everywhere at the cost of $10 Canadian. It’s our way of saying thank you. Our goal is not to make money since we make about $1 for each EP, that we give to the organism To Write Love On Her Arms”, carries on Alex, who is also spokesperson for Amnesty International.

As for it’s full-length album, the band will rely on big players in the music industry for the marketing, but it is out of the question to sign anything before the recording is over, in order to keep their total musical independence.

SOLID BONDS
Beyond the music, the success of Your Favorite Enemies lies, for the most part, on the ability of the band in establishing solid bonds with their fans. “The fans are a part of the communities all over the world, and each member of the band takes care of them personally. Japan has been the first community to appear and it’s me who takes care of it. We developed relations and they share with us their preoccupations. It becomes a refuge to express themselves”, explains the singer, Alex Foster. This bond is so strong that Yoshimi Odaira and Ryunosuke Sudou, two fans from the land of the Rising Sun, have travelled to Varennes recently and stayed in the house of the band members for a week.

“When I listened to the band for the first time, I was impressed. And contrary to the others, they don’t do that for promotion. They care about people. I was surprised to receive long and personalized messages from them. They bring hope. I now want to make it possible for others in Japan who suffer from solitude to experience what I felt while listening to them. They can help them. What’s more, their music is good!” utters Yoshimi Odaira, who even took advantage of her stay in Quebec to have the band’s name tattooed.

To discover Your Favorite Enemies, go to www.yourfavoriteenemies.com
- Journal de Montreal (Canada)

A simple glance at the road covered by Your Favorite Enemies in the last two years is enough to think that the Montreal sextet is entirely made of marketing geniuses.

“There are record labels who want to pay us to show them what we did to get here! exclaims Alex Foster, the singer of the band. The short story of Your Favorite Enemies might have started more than 8 years ago, but it’s in 2005 – and after two name changes (The Riddlers and In This Life) – that the band took off for real.

After signing with Luthala Management, one of the most important management company in the country, Alex and his gang began working on their first album with producer Steve Thompson (Metallica, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Madonna). However, it is their activities outside of every corporative molds that caught the eye of the record industry giants.

Same time last year, the six musicians were discovering the MySpace phenomena. As we speak, the band has thousands of fans from all over the world: from Washington to Tokyo, going through Berlin and Toronto.
“We started it all a little naively, confesses Alex. The only thing that we told ourselves was that we’d answer every person who’d take the time to write us. All we wanted was to build bridges between our fans, because in our time, people tend to do their things isolated from each other.” Therefore, it is in a community spirit that the rockers threw themselves in this Internet adventure. Doing everything that had to be done to answer their fervent admirers in their native tongue, they saw their fan base grow day after day.

It’s to thank their fans for their support that the members of Your Favorite Enemies decided to produce, record and distribute themselves an EP titled And If I Was to Die in the Morning Would I Still be Sleeping With You. Since its launch in June, the album has sold more than 10,000 copies.

Montreal towards the world
With shows scheduled in England, France and Germany in the course of the next few months, Your Favorite Enemies has just added its name to the ever-growing list of Montreal bands becoming popular abroad.In the eyes of Alex Foster, the cultural wealth and diversity of Montreal, Quebec’s metropolis, would explain why the Patrick Watson, Malajube and Arcade Fire of this world distinguish themselves as much outside the country.

“The Montreal scene is so eclectic, explains Alex. In England, people are fascinated by what is happening here. They ask themselves how we succeed in living in harmony with all these different cultural differences that rub elbows with each other.”

“But the Montreal scene has always flourished, Alex carries on. The bands that have been playing here have always been in advance on the popular music genres. And since the bands that express themselves in English never really had a support as strong as the one given to those who express themselves in French, from subventions and the medias, the musicians might have focused more on the music for what it is instead of trying to fit into a more commercial mold made for the French market. Because we know that here, for years, the consecration for a Quebec artist, was to establish himself in France.”


Beyond the music
The members of Your Favorite Enemies have always been involved in humanitarian causes. Ex social worker, the singer of the band, Alex Foster, has, for that matter, given several conferences in schools everywhere in Quebec to promote open-mindedness. Today, he pursues his work with Amnesty International. “We tell ourselves that once our music will have faded, we’ll have left our trace in other ways”, indicates Alex.
- Journal Le Metro (Canada)

Before crossing the Atlantic to undertake a European Tour that will lead it to Manchester, London, Berlin, Cologne, Paris and Den Haag, the Montreal rock alternative formation Your Favorite Enemies will be on the Vans Warped Tour, the great annual meeting for hardcore, ska and punk fans scheduled on Sunday at the Parc Jean-Drapeau on Ste-Hélène Island. Launched at the beginning of June and independently produced, the YFE EP, a collage of five original songs, has already sold at 10 000 copies. An outcome more than encouraging for the members of the formation, who are preparing a tour in Japan. - Journal 24 Heures (Canada)

Quebecois sextet that emerged through MySpace, Your Favorite Enemies has known a huge buzz these last few months. So here is a band to follow really closely.

By: Felix Lejeune| Photo: DR

A real phenomenon. In three months, Your Favorite Enemies has sold twenty thousand copies of the EP, “And If I Was To Die In The Morning… Would I Still Be Sleeping With You”, sold via their online store: “It’s really hard to size up people’s reaction and the first sales day, we had so many orders that we thought it was a system error,” recalls the singer Alex Foster. Following this more than positive greeting, the band even postponed the release of their first album until spring 2008: “For us, it was a way of keeping the EP alive, but also to favour concerts and to meet with people,” explains the frontman. A growing community, Your Favorite Enemies has now more than ten street-teams throughout the world. A showcase enabling the band to get their message across with more intensity. Moreover, the singer has recently made a trip to Japan to “pay tribute to the people who started it all and give them back a little of what they gave us.” The band is now getting ready to cross the ocean for their first tour in our lands. The tour will go through England, Germany, the Netherlands and France, on October 2nd at the Point Éphémère, in Paris. A meeting we won’t miss. (www.myspace.com/yourfavoriteenemies) DISCO: HOPEFUL TRAGEDY RECORDS/SELF-PRODUCTION - Rock One Mag (France)

Your Favorite Enemies
Number One Public Friend

Last October 2nd, Y.F.E was giving its first concert in France, at the Point Ephemere in Paris. A moment the six musicians from Quebec had been waiting for a long time.

BY: FELIX LEJEUNE | PHOTO: TRIP FONTAINE

Y.F.E crossed the ocean for the first time. A symbolic act for them and for us: "To come to Europe before going to the U.S.A is a way for us to keep the bond that unites us to our fans who have been supporting us for more than a year", explains the singer Alex Foster with a visible enthusiasm. Even more that the band was almost on familiar grounds: "We had exchanged so much on the Net that arriving here, we had no apprehensions. And to see people waiting for us in front of the venue at 10 in the morning, to welcome us in your country with such simplicity really moved us. This kind of relationship transforms us as individuals and enriches us as artists." Miss Isabel confirms: "No matter where we went in Europe, we knew people. We felt a little at home everywhere." It was the case in Paris because, even if the venue was not full from wall to wall, the audience was unmistakably sold to the cause of the musicians from Quebec, who, in return, gave their all for their set. Around fifty people even stayed two hours after the concert to discuss with each other and, of course, with the artists who also gladly took pictures. A new proof that Your Favorite Enemies, it's not only music.
(myspace.com/yourfavoriteenemies)
DISCO: AUTOPRODUCED



Le 2 octobre dernier, Y.F. E donnait son tout premier concert en France, au Point Ephemere de Paris. Un moment que les six Quebecois attendaient depuis longtemps.

Par : Felix Lejeune / Photo : Trip Fontaine

Y.F.E a traverse l'ocean pour la premiere fois. Un acte symbolique pour eux comme pour nous : " Venir en Europe avant d'aller aux U.S. A. est une maniere de maintenir le lien qui nous unit avec nos fans qui nous soutiennent depuis plus d'un an", explique le chanteur Alex Foster avec un enthousiasme non dissimule. D'autant plus que le groupe etait presque en terrain connu : " On a tellement echange sur le Net qu'en arrivant ici, on n'avait aucune apprehension. Et voir des gens nous attendre devant la salle a dix heures du matin, pour nous souhaiter la bienvenue dans votre pays en toute simplicite nous a beaucoup touches. Ce genre de relation nous transforme en tant que personnes, et nous enrichit en tant qu'artiste. " Miss Isabel confirme : " Peu importe ou nous sommes alles en Europe, on connaissait des gens. On se sentait un peu a la maison partout." Ce fut le meme cas a Paris, car meme si la salle n'etait pas remplie a ras bord, le public etait incontestablement acquis a la cause des Quebecois, qui se sont, en retour, impliques a fond dans leur set. Une cinquantaine de personnes sont meme restees deux heures apres la fin du concert, pour discuter entre eux, et, bien entendu, avec les artistes, qui se sont egalement pretes avec plaisir au jeu des photos souvenir. Une nouvelle preuve que Your Favorite Enemies, ce n'est vraiment pas que de la musique.

(myspace.com/yourfavoriteenemies)
DISCO : AUTOPRODUIT


- Rock One Mag (Paris)

Bovine Sex Club - Toronto, ON on Mar 12 2009
Sheena Lyonnais (CHARTattack)

Background/Composition:

These five guys and one gal from Montreal formed this solid rock/metal band in 2006 and founded their own label, Hopeful Tragedy Records, a year later to produce their own EP. And If I Was To Die In The Morning... Would I Still Be Sleeping With You went on to sell over 30,000 copies between their homeland and Japan, which isn't surprising in the least. With sets like this one, Your Favorite Enemies are likely to also become your favourite band.

Grade: 92

Comment:
Your Favorite Enemies are the entire package. Anticipation set in even before they set foot onstage when a slew of fans in orange jail jumpsuits that said "Rock N Rights" on the back began flooding the front of the club. The jumpsuits served as an homage to the group's passion for human rights and their fans' dedication to the band. I was expecting anarchy, but instead got a band so in touch with their audience and abilities, it was impossible to tell this wasn't a hometown show.

Achievement of Rock 'n' Roll Expectations

80-100: Exceeds skill and knowledge expectations, i.e. rocked us so hard we peed our pants.

70-79: Achieves required skills and knowledge. Meets rock 'n' roll standard.

60-69: Demonstrates some skills. Approaches rock 'n' roll standard.

50-59: Demonstrates some required
skills and knowledge in a limited way.

00-50: Has not demonstrated required skills or knowledge.

Learning Skills: E=Excellent, G=Good, S=Satisfactory, N=Sad Really

Oral And Visual Communication
Eye Contact: G
Pronunciation: G
Stage Presence: E
Stage Banter: G
Image: E
Appearance: E
Use Of Stage: E

Strengths/Weaknesses/Next Step:

Vocalist Alex Foster assaulted and crawled around the Bovine stage and bar like an animal, while the rest of the band rocked out with undeniable energy and conviction. Their songs were so articulate it came as a surprise to hear their uber-thick Quebec accents between songs. Keyboardist and backing vocalist Miss Isabel is a phenomenal touch, but she was the most reserved person on stage. It would have been nice to see her leave the safe place from behind her keys to join in on the full-frontal rock 'n' roll action.

Musical Analysis
Level Of Participation: E
Problem Solving: G
Teamwork: G
Work Habits: E
Organization: E
Audience Participation: E
Sound: E
Composition: E
Songs: E

Strengths/Weaknesses/Next Step:

Your Favorite Enemies' ability to break up songs by incorporating soft melodies and ambience shows the true calibre of their songwriting. Careful thought is put into the construction of their songs and sets in order to draw attention to various aspects from the lyrical content to the eeriness of the icy parts. This band deserved to have every member called out for the audience so names could be put to the skills in a true old school fashion. Perhaps Foster can consider doing this next time.

Other Skills And Areas Of Interest
Charisma: G
Problem Solving: G
Teamwork: E
Sexiness: G
Haircut: E
Indie Rock Footwear: G
Nods To Disposible Fashion: G
Cool Equipment: E
Level Of Inebriation: S
Actual Ability: E

Strengths/Weaknesses/Next Step:

Guitarists Jeff Beaulieu and Sef both have superior shredding talents and maximum metal hair. Their headbanging was incredible to watch as their hair seemed to be everywhere and take up half the tiny stage. These combined traits in addition to everything else helped make Your Favorite Enemies the perfect Bovine band and a group to watch in 2009. - Chart Attack

The band from Varennes writes the soundtrack for this worldwide success

A young band from Quebec will have the chance to have their music heard by millions of people over the coming months. Your Favorite Enemies wrote the soundtrack for the new Final Fantasy; one of the most popular video games in the world.

PHILIPPE RENAULT
Le Journal de Montréal

The alternative rock band from Varennes wrote the whole of the soundtrack from the 13th chapter of the game, which will be released in North America next summer.

“We wrote three songs for it, one of which is for the main theme. The others will play depending on the situation”, guitarist Jeff Beaulieu excitedly explains.

Final Fantasy XIII was released in Japan last month, and the impact is already evident. The game was released on December 18th and the soundtrack, December 24th. The reaction on our Japanese internet page is incredible. The game sold a million copies and the soundtrack is in the iTunes top 50.

“We are already in great demand to tour over there” he continues.

This imposing deal was negotiated by the band itself, without the help of an agent, during a recent trip to the land of the Rising Sun.

“We toured Japan with Simple Plan last year and something crazy happened for us. We also gave our own show in Tokyo. The game’s representatives came to see us and we negotiated everything ourselves. It is important for us to maintain this independent aspect”, Jeff recalls.
Promising Beginnings

This new experience adds to a series of happy events which have occurred over two years. Everything began by winning an important music competition on an English radio station. The band would then, among other things, tour Europe and Asia as well as taking part in last year’s Heavy Mtl. Your Favorite Enemies also self-produced two EPs, which sold more than 100,000 copies worldwide, without the help of a record company or distributor.
The sextet, led by the voices of Alex Foster and Miss Isabel, are currently working on their first full album, to be released next autumn.

“We are in negotiations with a European label. We aim to have an international launch”, the guitarist adds.

- The first chapter of Final Fantasy was created by the Japanese game designer Hironobu Sakagu.

- Since then, the game’s 12 chapters have sold more than 85 million copies worldwide.

- Final Fantasy was brought to the big screen in 2001, but received mixed reviews.
- Journal de Montréal