Today was a day off for Your Favorite Enemies and their crew! So to speak, as you probably all know that a day off never really is off for anyone! Jeff left with Matt early in the morning to go to downtown Sydney where he had a few meetings to attend. On the menu for the others? Ben was working on some audio tracks, Alex on other interviews to finish, the video team worked on that special video project I briefly told you about before, and Sef, Moose and Miss Isabel took the opportunity to rehearse and compose a little at the same time!

And today was the day the girls decided to do their laundry. Our story? After spending an hour sitting in front of the machine trying to figure out why it was filling up and emptying endlessly, I had a genius idea: put soap in the rinse cycle! And it worked great! So great that there was leftover soap on all of my clothes. Kim then decided to do hers the same way I did. The only thing is, this time the machine overflowed, so she also ended up doing her laundry in the sink. We then put our clothes outside to dry, but that hasn’t been much more of a success story, as they kept falling on the ground… Laundry, anyone? 😉

We decided after this to go downtown Sydney all together. Well, almost together, as one of us stayed home. As it’s quite cold outside today and that he is starting to get sick, Alex felt it was better for him to stay at home. The Australia leg of the tour may soon be over, but the “More Than Noise & Make-Believes” tour is far from being over! Destination: Sydney Opera House! After a very eventful ride in Sydney’s traffic and what seemed to be an endless search for a parking spot, we walked down to Sydney’s world famous sight! And what a sight it’s been… We’re as far as we can be from Montreal, and it still feels home! It truly is a privilege to know we are here today, thanks to our music, sharing a soulful communion every day with people who are family to us… For us tonight, the Opera House and the Sydney Bridge were a great reminder of this!

After all those emotions and such a long walk made our big guys hungry, so we stopped at McDonald’s, where we watched a rugby game! The guys immediately fell in love with the sport! They had all heard about it, but it was the first time for everyone of them to watch a game.

Early night for all of us! We’ve got a very long day ahead of us tomorrow with the show in Newcastle!

Today was a quiet day. That is, until 4pm! We started loading the van and getting everything ready for the show tonight! We were playing at the Hot Damn, a very cool venue in Sydney! We had our first encounter with Sydney traffic on our way there, and it took us an hour and a half to get there! And what an incredible time did we have!

We’ve been told so often that we needed to dream small or not dream at all in order to avoid being disappointed when those dreams would never come true. That we needed to take no risks in order to never fail. That we needed to go with the flow in order to shock no one. That we needed to keep our voices low in order bruise nobody’s ears. That we needed to be gray in order not to clash against the colorlessness of others.

But we dared trying something different, inspired by others before us. A little spark. A little idea. It’s all we need… We had the guts to believe in our dreams and go against the flow, no matter how many times we were told we would fail and that we would never make it, never make our dreams come true. But what is it to make it, really? In a recent interview, Alex said that he felt like he had made it… Why? Because he was now able to assume what it meant to “be”, for whatever it means, with all the imperfections and paradoxes it brings.

And “being” is what brought us here, at the other side of the world, feeling totally privileged to tour with our family and meeting long time and new friends every night we do what we like best… Some nights are a wonderful epiphany, some others are tragic catastrophes. But it’s as real and honest and honest as it gets. Because we fully embrace what it means to “be”…

Very early morning for Your Favorite Enemies’ camera crew! Indeed, Kim, Kosho, YB and I left at 4:30am, direction Cronulla beach! Our mission? Scouting the beach at sunrise to see if it would be fit for a filming location! Because yes, the filming we started a few days ago is still ongoing! Our result? We fell in love with the place! Witnessing a sunrise, a new day that’s only starting, is always a unique experience. But to see it from the other side of the world, rising above the ocean, is enough to leave everyone speechless. As you witness the colors of a new dawn upon yourself, you truly feel like everything is possible!

Cronulla beach is a wonderful place. The waves were strong this morning, and a lot of surfers decided it was perfect timing to catch a few waves! 7:30, after the sun finished rising, we decided to head back home, where we found, to our biggest surprise, all of the bearded freaks we had left behind fully awake! Needless to say, it’s been an usual very early morning for everyone!

On the menu? Individual practice for Sef and Jeff! Alex had another written interview for the UK to answer!

Ben, on his side, did for us a private show! “It’s my first time doing an outside show for people who are inside!” – that improvised show has been very meaningful for Ben…! Soon realizing he needed more to catch our attention, he decided to do a collaboration with internationally renowned artist Kosho. The new duo, with Kosho on vocals and Ben on bass and back vocals, embarked on their international one date tour in Sydney, Australia. For a very long 1 song set, the eclectic duo sang their love for Ben, to Ben’s special request. They sang soulful things such as “べノア、愛してる”, song that transformed into a “chanson à repondre” with lyrics like “牛乳ください、食べたいですか?、すいません、ごめんなさい”. Translation? Milk please, do you want to eat, excuse me, I’m sorry”. I am telling you, they’re gonna go far, as far as Japan and Drummondville… 😉 the song ended on a very fast paced rhythm, with Kosho singing solo all of what you think of when you think of Japan: Shibuya, Yamaha, Toyota, Mitsubishi.

Very inspired by what we just heard, we decided to listen to some newly released songs from a few bands. But to be honest with you, I can’t remember what were the songs, nor the band, nor how many we listened to, as they all sounded the same. The very same generic type of music. Followed a very intense and heated discussion about the state of music today, and what it truly is all about, its authenticity, its honesty, its truth. I can already feel that tonight’s show will be an incredible one… This passion for real and authentic will definitely be invested in their set tonight!

And passionate sure is one word that can be used to describe tonight’s live performance!! 1 hour of pure madness, of exhilarated sounds and noises!

Not only was the show unreal, meeting with friends and family we had talked to on Internet for over 6 years and met for the first time was as well! After so long, finally reunited! And even if we met for the first time, it felt just like it truly was: we have known each other for a lifetime already! And it was like this not only with the band members, but between the fans as well. There was a very special communion going on, as if we had all known everyone for years and years already. Moments like these are priceless. They truly make you realize just how much of an incredible family the YFE Family is! We ended the night by a toast with a taste of Australia from our friend Rie!

Thanks to all of you… it’s truly been an amazing night!!!

6:00am, leaving time! Oh well, after a few loading incidents and a few pictures. We left at 6:20! Sydney, here we come! 

No matter how early in the morning it was, you could feel the effervescence in the car! Sad to leave Brisbane, a city we love with people who forever marked our lives, we were nonetheless looking forward to share defining moments with some other family members in Sydney! The first 2 hours have been spent in an ecstatic mood, everybody happy not to sit beside Sef! Except for Kosho, who was sitting beside Sef 😉 Have you ever heard about the SBSL? That’s short for the “Sit By Sef Lottery”.

We then shared breakfast, a fruit bread for some, grapes for Alex, and something pretty alternative for Sef! Alex also found a cup big enough for his morning dose of coffee!

As excited as we were to get on the road, we all fell asleep soon after we finished eating! Jeff was in a particularly deep sleep, but Sef decided to wake him up in a very blessed way! Yes, even Sef can be nice at times… Almost! 

Oh, and Kosho won-lost the SBSL (Sit By Sef Lottery)! Poor him! After the ride, he told us that, besides the fact that most of what Sef said didn’t make any sense, what really freaked him out were the stories of crocodiles migrating from Florida to Australia every winter, of kangaroos that used to be bad dogs before Gandalf saved them with a spell of nice, and the fact that he kept asking if the autobots and the decepticons were still secretly living in Japan… Oh, and also that he kept eating vegemite throughout the trip. 6 pots of vegemite in total and approximately 20 chocolate bars. Kosho said his karma has probably been messed up for the rest of whatever how many lives he may live… lol!

Today was dedicated to rehearsal! We left the house around 2, and did a short stop by the grocery store. Well, it was supposed to be a short stop. But it turned out being a lot longer than only a few minutes! The guys decided it was time for some communion. When we are back home, the communion is made with cookies. But here in Australia, it was an apple tea cake. In the car, no utensils, everybody shared a piece of the cake. Yes, you can imagine the mess it created. Not only in the car, but also in the guys’ beards and hair… 😉

Then Jeff followed with a communion of his own, the “Fat-Man-inion”, that consisted of sausage rolls. Their characteristic? Heavy! It’s on these words that the special communion was consumed:
“May we be those who like to share beyond measure, because infinite is not a limit”.

Alex closed this communion on a very special note, soulfully singing 
“C’est une belle histoire qu’est la nôtre, une histoire d’amour comme il ne s’en fait plus.”
Kitsch, I agree, but true nonetheless! 

We finally made it to the rehearsing studio after this very interesting ride! A place that was very small, but just large enough for the band and all the equipment to fit in! We rehearsed from 3 to 8… 5 hours non-stop of songs one after the other. And the band members are just as intense when they rehearse as when they’re on stage! For them, it’s not about the place where you play, but about the music itself and the moments it creates! 

We hung out our Giants flag in the rehearsal studio! Jeff was wearing his Tim Lincecum tshirt as he was the pitcher in today’s game, Moose was also wearing a Giants tshirt, on which we however found a very particular mistake. Yes, a mistake on a tshirt. Shit happens! 

The rehearsal ended much later than we imagined… We did a quick stop at the Wheel of Brisbane where we grabbed a bite as well. Perfect way to end our last day in Brisbane, as we are leaving at 6am tomorrow morning!