The last weekend has been a mix of extreme emotions… the whole crew left early in the morning, heading to Ottawa for a first gig in the Canadian capital… small room to say the least… first band playing on what we realized being a hardcore-metal night line up… so after fixing our set list a little bit… we were ready to hit the soundcheck… 2 seconds after starting… we all knew the size of the stage wouldn't be the only problem we'd have to deal with… no monitors… the PA working on and off… not enough mics… the system unable to fit with Alex's in-ears… and on and on… let's say we were a little worried… especially after spending an hour on stage waiting for the venue's tech to fix the problems… right before learning we had to play earlier than announced and that we had to cut our set from an hour to 25 minutes… Alex and Ben were laughing seeing Matt trying to manage what seemed to be a real mess… until we had the incredible surprise to see the family members of the Quebec Community entering the room… almost 40 brothers and sisters… turning the whole spirit of the night into an amazing meet and greet… the gig went good… even if the PA's left speaker literally exploded, if Alex and Miss Isabel's mics were not working… we managed to have a good time and turned a really difficult night into a passionate performance… but the coolest part was the unbelievable time we had with the family right after the show… talking, laughing and sharing with everybody until early morning… a refreshing time before leaving for Kingston… where we were playing later that night… and the night was completely crazy… intensity and passion flirting with fragility and intimacy during a whole night of pure musical enlightment accompanied with the emotion of seeing the YFE family members from the Quebec community, who followed us from Ottawa to Kingston, being one loud voice with the Ontario community members… new fans added their enthusiasm and the night turned into a huge flow of energy and into an incredible wave of offerings… the goodbyes were even more moving and touching than our music set itself… seeing people crying and sharing e-mails was really beautiful… more than we ever dreamed of… people from different backgrounds, different styles, different cities (countless sisters who had to drive close to 10 hour in order to join us for the week end) and countries (Hayato from Japan; Maria, Tatiana, and Andrea from the States)… YFE'S music being the bridge and hope being the purpose of such a gathering… it was so fantastic to witness the band's vision taking form right before our eyes… we were speechless and contemplative… so grateful and blessed… Kim, Isabelle and Amy did such a great job to get everything together… thank you guys and thanks to every single one of you… you don't need to be named to be loved, believe me… you touched us in such a way that our weekend has been a real defining "moment" for us… we're so thankful to be supported by such a family… again thank you… every single one of you!!!

So, our crazy week-end ended up driving back to Montreal, emotionally leaving our Japanese brother Hayato (who visited us for a few days and joined the band's crew for the weekend) at the airport around 4am, then heading to the house to pack everything up in order to be ready for our European departure at 3pm… no sleep, a quick shower, some laundry… and the real fun was about to start… weighing the bags, unpacking stuff, weighing the bags, unpacking stuff, weighing the bags, unpacking stuff and once again… weighing the bags… you need to understand… everybody is allowed to bring 45 pounds of luggage and a 5 pounds backpack… seems enough… well… minus 7 guitars in their road cases weighing around 30 pounds each, effects processors, laptops, cables and other necessary stuff needed to play… and clothing… hopefully, being 14 persons leaving for the tour helped a lot… and when Sef understood it wasn't possible for him to bring rollerblades and a whole set of dumbbells… the rest of the band members were able to bring their personal stuff… we almost missed the flight… but after Alex acted as the negotiator… promising Sef the best spot on the tour bus, some candies and a prime role in YB's documentary about the band's first European tour… Sef managed to leave us some room… and we left for the airport after spending long minutes with YFE'S crew and family members… many of them came to the airport… only to immortalize that significant step for the band… cause you know… it's pretty rare that a young band is able to tour in Europe at this early stage in its career… 14 persons… including the 6 band members, 5 band's crew, 3 video crew… let's say it's pretty unusual to say the least… lol…

I just entered the tour bus… after a 6 hours plane ride… an English meal… a little nap and my body screaming "give me a break"… well… working from 8am to 2:30am 7 days a week, we all agreed that touring would be vacation when for most bands it's pretty tiring… lol… so let's start our first day in London… it's rainy and windy… I wasn't expecting less… it's fall in the UK… but it should be sunny for the rest of the day… I'm excited and febrile… this is the beginning… after years of hard work… after all the diminishing words I've heard from my own folks: "Jeff you're nothing more than a carpet and you'll never be able to change anything to that"… I remembered those words when I sat on the plane… not with bitterness… not angriness… not regrets… no, just me, being thankful… cause at the end of that long weekend… my happiness is not the European tour, is not the potential business opportunities we'll have, is not about pretending being a rock stars for 3 weeks… no… really… it's all about being grateful for the real family I now have… cause when I found my purpose… I found my people… I've never been a carpet… I never been any of the hurting names I've been called by my dad and repeated by my mom… I was a kid without dreams… a kid without vision… now I'm a little older… but even if innocence is longtime gone… the feeling of being loved without fearing abandonment and to be able to love in return without expecting rejection is the most precious gift you gave me… thank you so much… you're the faces feeding my hope… you're the hands healing my wounds… but most of all… you're the faith I've been waiting for all my life… Love you - Jeff

Ps: Sef barely entered the plane after being stripped search and questioned for more than 2 hours… looks like the beard, the long hair, the "king" attitude and his amazing skills to make new friends pretty quickly wasn't appreciated by the airport staff, the airline staff, the security staff, and the police staff… guess saying: "Hey you, I'm Sef from Your Favorite Enemies and I'm about to blow up Europe with fire" at the embarkation gate wasn't a good idea… poor Sef… glad he hasn't brought his cowboy kit after all… he might have not made it to the plane at all… lol… if you ask Sef… he will probably say he wasn't interrogated by the police but that he was privately asked to spend some time with fans working for secret services and that he had to set up a scenario in order to grace them with some of Sef's way to treat his beloved fans… lol… yeah… that Sef is surely the last rock super star in the whole music industry… lol… God have mercy!!!