When Alex Foster (vocals), Jeff Beaulieu (guitar), Sef (guitar), Ben Lemelin (bass), Miss Isabel (vocals and keys) and Charles Moose Allicy (drums) got together to form Your Favorite Enemies in 2006, they decided to manage every single aspect of the band’s career based on their community values and their “do it yourself” attitude. Already known for their commitment towards human rights, mainly based on Foster’s role as a fervent spokesperson for Amnesty International and passionate youth speaker, the band found not only their very “people oriented” reputation, but also a very unique identity of being truly independent. Meanwhile, Your Favorite Enemies’ distinctive blend of dirty and polished melodic textures and their introspective, empowering lyrics instantaneously attracted musical fanatics from all over the world, who organically and spontaneously turned their passion for the band into an incredible multitude of street teams, communities, fan sites and forums emerging from the stream of every major city on the planet.
Thus inspired by such astounding support and submerged by an impressive number of requests to buy the nowhere to be found music of Your Favorite Enemies, the 6 musicians took the audacious decision to create the label Hopeful Tragedy Records in April 2007, in order to offer the self-produced 5 songs hard-copy EP and fan exclusive “And If I Was To Die In the Morning… Would I Still Be Sleeping With You”, released the following June for the worldly standardized cost of CA$10, shipping fees included. However, despite the substantial financial risks associated with such initiative and regardless of the inexperienced staff holding quite a fragile structure to support the logistic of what shortly after became an international operation, the 6 musicians kept their vision of honoring fans’ faithfulness by releasing the EP against all odds. Yet, that bold decision became a major breaking point for the band’s young career, as 2007 ended up with more than 30 thousand units of their EP sold, a first European promotional headlining tour and a massive coverage by major international medias, turning Your Favorite Enemies into one of the most exciting and new “Do It Yourself” bands to rise from the non-traditional music model.
Needless to say that if 2007 has been a good indication of what the future had in store for Your Favorite Enemies, the following year evolved into an undoubtedly incredible one for the 6 Montreal musicians. They got mentioned as one of the top 5 bands to watch out for in 2008 by the Billboard Magazine… A quote that would be hard to deny after the incredible success they ended up having in 2008, a year that included an extraordinary successful first Japanese tour; 60 thousands hard copies sold of their second album, “Love Is A Promise Whispering Goodbye”, released in June. The band has been the first international artist to ever write theme songs for the legendary video game franchise Final Fantasy, a soundtrack album that reached the number 1 spot on the Japanese charts. The year has also seen the creation of the Hopeful Tragedy Records’ multi-media branch, developing new community web initiatives as well as the production of different shows on the “YFE-TV Channel”, such as the independent broadcasting of real time live concerts of the band streamed over the web.
Although 2009 brought a huge wave of opportunities, learning from all the “too big, too fast” buzz phenomena fading away like overnight shooting stars, the 6 musicians decided to take the time to consolidate the foundation of their yet successful but still young career. Thus, the corner stone of such consolidation turned out being the acquisition of a former catholic church and presbytery, in which 2 professional studios have been built, facilities for live stream over the web have been installed, a full TV plateau has been crafted, the label offices established and their non-profit organisation promoting human rights and helping kids trough music has been set up. Meanwhile, the band members went all over the world from Tokyo, Berlin, London, Paris, to Los Angeles and New York to meet with fans who organised meet and greets and “YFE family” parties, turning what should have been a relatively “off the spotlight year”, into one of the band’s busiest and structuring year of their career so far.
Thereafter, based on the extraordinary support of their faithful fans, on the incredible dedication of their team members, the empowering nature of their rich past experiences, on the solid foundation of their organisational structures and on a better understanding of their own artistic vision, the band is gearing up for the making of their third album, of an independent movie production, the making of a DVD project and the launching of a new community website based on cutting-edge technologies. Awarded as best International Rock Band by the Sound of Excellence Music Awards (UK), this fall season, it is needless to say that 2010 has been a defining year for Your Favorite Enemies.
Source: http://www.last.fm/music/Your+Favorite+Enemies/+wiki
