The quietest whisper of hope can be enough

The HOPE Project 

Someone asked me on Facebook a very interesting question: " How we can create a family for our band?".

Many thoughts came through my mind... from "that's great that people see and can feel how we do live everything as a family not only among the musicians but with all the music lovers that follow Your Favorite Enemies" to "How in the world am I supposed to explain that?  There's no obvious instruction manual for building a family from a music group!" to "Wow... it is humbling and an honor to be inspiring someone to want to build his own family."

I have to admit that sometimes I like to start this diary by saying "my brothers and sisters", but I hesitate... I think about what someone reading my words for the first time might think... WE all know how it's not common to have such relationships that we allow ourselves to be linked closely to each other, to share deeply, to be open, to desire to expand our world and touch as many people as possible, staying true to ourselves and accepting others as they are with their freaky personalities and so different ways to see life... But hey! that's what we do and that's why we can say proudly we ARE a family and if someone reads our words for the first time, when they see us hugging and being close even, when they try to understand what Your Favorite Enemies is all about, well... they soon realize how amazing it is to call someone a brother and a sister, being connected through the heart and soul, through a decision to take part in each other’s lives.

This past week we launched a very important and precious to heart project called HOPE.  It wasn't enough for us to see some people draw attention to "products" to send "profits" to Japan... for sure any initiative can make a difference but we wanted to make sure our initiative to support our people in Japan will be for THEM first and them ONLY.  So we came up with an amazing project to print and sign postcards and distribute them in schools for the kids to write or draw a message of hope...   We extended it for anyone to participate, any age, anywhere around the world, to give our best, the best of what we have on our hearts, to pour it out in words on these postcards.  The Red Cross is a great way to send money that will help people to rebuild their house, their cities... but what can help them rebuild their life, their dreams, their confidence, their smile?  Our words can! 

Our family in Japan, my brothers and sisters, your brothers and sisters, they need us, they need to know they're not alone... they need to know that everything in our hands can disappear but the true love and hope that we grow in our hearts cannot be taken away from us... they need to hear our voice rising higher than the sound of waves and earthquakes... 

"The quietest whisper of hope can be enough of a sound to make life bloom out of despair" -Alex Foster

We are a family and we stand together. That is not only will there be thousands of postcards written by thousands of people but we will go in Japan to deliver them in person.  Nothing less... Most people would flee Japan right now... We booked our flights last week to make sure we would be with our Japanese family and to bring with us in May the powerful words you will write with an ink that flows directly out of your heart.  We will be your hands and now is the time for you to raise your voice:

http://j.mp/HOPEYFE

-Miss Isabel

p.s. if you desire to have an even bigger impact, share that link with as many people as possible, encouraging them to join their voices to ours... Facebook, Myspace, Mixi, VKontaK, Blogger, Radio Stations, TV Hosts, your school teacher... it's the best time to take that one step further.  I'm already waiting with a smile to know how you'll bring HOPE around you for Japan.

Expect the Unexpected

CMW 2011


Every year in March, it became a tradition to gather the YFE family in Toronto during the Canadian Music Week. As much as we prepare for the concerts, rehearsing the songs and preparing what we desire to breathe through the shows, we know for sure what we will live on stage can't be rehearsed or set up... In fact we absolutely don't want to plan the emotions and experiences as we want them to be real, spontaneous and a true sharing with those coming and so determined to let the music open their eyes and heart. It's special, because even if the chords and the lyrics are the same from one concert to another, each show takes a fresh direction, moving alongside the emotions each person in the room carries and also how Alex leads all of us with his invitations to let go, his screams to feel alive, his call out to take a stand for freedom and hope.

I'm always quite impressed by how Alex lets himself be inspired every single night for a specific message to deliver, an emotion to leave everyone or a direction of something that can be lived all together... I wonder how many artists think of their shows that way... with the very first priority being to deliver to anyone in the crowd something fresh and special, an experience that could bring them further... but also something we, on stage, will live and share... Every single show has to be special, different, inspired, true, breaking barriers, an occasion to give our all... "Guys, if we don't die on stage tonight, it's not worth it" Alex reminded us before each show. Dying on stage... what’s that suppose to mean? lol I asked myself that question a lot and the answer I came up with is that I should set my desire on giving everything I am, everything I have with no limits or restraints... that would be to give my life and "die"... die to my limits, die to my selfish desires and needs, die to my control... completely letting go and living the moment opened to everyone and anything coming my way.

It was really beautiful to see so many people coming from as far as Ireland, Japan, Germany, South USA, Vancouver gathering with one thing in mind: to live something they never experienced before. And it happened! Not only they lived it, we did too and we extended these incredible life changing experiences to more people as we broadcasted live 2 of the shows on internet! It was very touching to know that as we were broadcasted live, people in Japan were telling us they felt more courage and hope... especially that at this exact same moment another earthquake was hitting them... But we were one... One standing against fear and hopelessness... One screaming "We're alive!"... One supporting one another with a wave of sound that traveled from concert rooms in Toronto across the planet... across hearts and souls.

This year's rendez-vous has been special in many ways... So exciting for all the friends we could meet... So devastating for the tragedy striking our family in Japan... So liberating for the experiences we lived during the concerts... So encouraging for the time and discussions we had after the shows, building the relationships and this amazing family we call Your Favorite Enemies. I have faith that what I've lived during the YFE CMW 2011 is already bringing me further and is allowing me to hope and desire for more passion, more freedom, more compassion, more openness, more determination and more confidence.

For those who were with us I want to tell you that what we lived together was fabulous, it was real and it's now up to us to feed that part of our heart that was revived and to keep it sensitive and open. It's up to you and me to also apply what we have lived together in our daily life, refusing to live as zombies and constantly looking for more and to share what we live with others.

For those who witnessed the live broadcast through internet, please know that you had such an impact on us. To know you were with us, some of you waking up in the middle of the night to be connected with us, sharing your heart, singing while typing on your keyboard... it gave us a lot of strength and power and inspiration.

For those who are reading these lines but didn't get to live the shows, I truly believe there are plenty of occasions to break the cycle of numbness surrounding us and within us. Music is a great tool to feel alive just as all the sharing we do through messages on every media available. Life creates life and it's up to us to be that first spark!

Just as I have to discover more of what it means to die on stage every night in order to seed life, we all can discover what real passion means, what giving our all means and how jumping with no safety net can open amazing new horizons. Thank you for being there for me, giving me that extra push, that so needed motivation to jump and be myself, that inspiration to want more and that faith that I will get more!

I love you and, again, I feel so honored to jump by your side... expecting the unexpected!

-Miss Isabel

With the colors of passion

You painted a new horizon


Hi my loving bros and sis!

This past week has been really full in action and emotion! We've been working on the live performance in the Studio B, crafting not only the sound of the show but also its spirit. We asked ourselves the question: "What do we want to give to all our friends who will travel across oceans and lands to share a special moment with us... what will we offer... dying on stage every night to seed life and pull down heaven". We're also in the midst of recording the core of the album, every day allowing us to touch something completely crazy. The final touches are being made to the new website and SFCC... Are you excited about it? I AM!!! And then, as we were all passionately busy in Studio A, Studio B and other YFE HQ offices, we were invited to stop and discover another creation that had been crafted here in the Studio/Church, in a "little" corner where no one really goes, no one but the sound of the music that echoes day and night... Our brother Kosho had been working on a painting and he invited us to unveil his creation. It was obvious that Kosho was more than proud and it was more than obvious that we were all speechless, in awe and just moved by this image...

We filmed this magical moment... and I think you can feel how Life creates Life through the love and sharing that goes on in it:

I pushed that sharing a little further by asking Kosho a couple questions. I could see it was hard for him, not to answer the questions, but to trust he could expose himself in words just as powerfully as he does with his brushes and colors...
Here are his words:


Can you tell us how you met YFE?

I went to their concert at first. It was in 2008 in Osaka which was the very first show for YFE in Japan.

I went there just to follow my brother and at that time I didn’t know anything about YFE. But right after the show I became a huge fan of the band. Because the show was incredible and so powerful of course... but also I didn’t really expect that we could actually meet and talk with the band members right after the show. There were so many people around them but fortunately at last I was able to have a chance to talk with Alex.

At the time I didn’t really know much about Myspace or Facebook, so I couldn’t really find them on internet after the show. But anyway I created the account that same night and left that for months. After around 1 year, I got a message from Alex on Myspace. Of course he didn’t know that we did actually meet before. So it was very surprising for us and we’re both so excited to talk to each other!

When we both met last October for the filming in Japan of ‘Voyage A La Mer’, we spent wonderful moments, talking about music, art and life.

And now you're here with us, creating every day visual art that gets its roots from the music you hear ringing in the studio.
The last painting you did strikes anyone who's looking at it... I'm still wondering how simple colors can capture our eyes, reminding us of the spirit of the song and bring the whole experience even further... it's so nice to SEE the way you express your experience with the song...

What was your spirit before you started the painting?

My feeling is always unstable before I start to paint or create any art work. Every time I feel like so angry or very sad or frustrated for something... anxious but being excited at same time. You don’t really know what the feelings are all about. I guess it would be easier if I could describe it by words. But one thing I’m sure about is that it’s not just something to be ‘explained’, It has to be ‘expressed’ somehow by using any kinds of material you have. I do make sculpture, take photos or just do sketches on paper. This time, it was painting for me. The band express feelings through music, but the spirit to create something would be the same I guess.

What did you want to express?

I was so related to the lyrics of “I Just Want You To Know” at the time. And again, I didn’t really know what were the feelings I had inside, whether it was sadness or anger or anything else but I think it’s all about the passion I felt through the song.

It’s funny because every time I look at the painting, the face in the painting looks different. Sometimes he looks like he's crying, sometimes looks very angry..

Can you describe the emergency you had to create this piece of art?

In that song Alex is singing “you can't stand these feelings anymore. it's killing you inside.”.

In this part I found my emergency and a hope at same time, because the feeling which is trying to ‘destroy’ you could turn out to be the feeling of the passion to ‘create’ something. I think this is the beauty of the emergency of this song and this was the first point to start the painting. I needed to expose myself and pour everything inside out.

When you were watching the Sounds and Noises about the song "I Just Want You To Know" it seeded something in you...
how would you describe it?

I’ve been listening to the song even before the video was released, so I already had my own perspective of the song. But after watching the video and listening to the interviews, the song became very three dimensional by their perspective as well. The song became more alive and real.

It was very inspiring for me to know the whole making process of the song because I believe that music or art or any types of creation can give the same kind of impact even though the way to express it, is different. Sounds and Noises gave me the way to express ‘the sound’ of the painting.

what did you want to do with that spark?

I’m really interested in how music and art bring us further and what really makes us so excited and what makes you just stop and listen and look at. The materials we use are different but everything is all about ‘how to capture the moment’. So I just wanted to capture the moment and feelings I had about the song into the painting.

Is there a part of the lyrics of the song that inspired you? What did you feel about it?

The part that says ‘So much more than noise’ became a message of realization for me and for the process of my creation.

Especially in this song, there is a massive noise guitar part. So I wanted to find a way that I could possibly make this painting ‘so much more than the noise’. I thought it would be great if my painting could be quiet but not silent. That was a big challenge for me to do.

Our heart since the beginning is for each and everyone to share, bridging people through music and hoping that each person will step out and shine. You're definitely shining beautifully lately Kosho...

What inspires you to shine more and create something incredible?

The people around me are the most important thing for me. It’s been my dream to work with very creative people and inspire each other. Everything here is so inspiring. I just realized we have to live like the band, even if you don’t play any instruments. Always you need to ‘input’ everything around you, and, when your turn comes, you need to ‘output’ and play loud as much as you can with your own tone and unique sound.

The music inspired you to create this piece of art. Now that the painting is born... what's next?

Now I’m planning to make a big sculpture of Sef’s head. lol

Well, I don’t really know what’s coming next, so I can be excited as well! It’s always so exciting to see the first blank canvas before painting because there is nothing but possibility. I just want to keep my hunger for the excitement.