How would you describe your musical evolution?

As far as I can remember there has always been music at home... not really very good music...lol It was what my parents were listening to...the Francophone radio station... But my real awakening to music happened when my parents gave me a little radio cassette player which I used to record sketches of my imaginary stories and characters... and one day by accident I discovered the button for the FM radio...and what I heard that day caught my attention... it was a special on Duran Duran... I have never really been a fan of Duran Duran but what I felt that day listening to their sound opened a whole new universe... From then on I traded my stories and fantasy world that allowed me to escape from my pain and tragedy for the Brit bands like Sex Pistols, the Clash, The Cure, the Smiths, Joy Division... this new world allowed me to escape without having to keep my eyes open to read books... I realized that by closing my eyes and listening I could travel even further... I never had enough... I needed that music to fill every moment of my life... Since I loved reading stories, I loved bands that had something to say, an emotion to communicate... Since then I'm not a music consumer, a consumer being someone that opens the radio and takes whatever is easy to listen too, I am more of a music lover, buying and collecting albums, going in specialized music stores... the first album I bought was "Combat Rock" of The Clash and my love story with bands that had something to say started... As a teenager I could relate to them in my rage and my pain... every night I was at concerts... my friends were musicians... I had always been fascinated by people that had the power to create music, it's such an extraordinary gift from God, a power to change lives, to shape cultures... Music has always been precious... I don't have Ben's talent to create easily, it's more a painful process, it's not easy... Maybe I take it too seriously or I'm too aware of the impact it could have on someone.. I feel like an intruder in that world... I didn't fall in the magic potion when I was young like Ben for example... I still today have to fight my insecurities of not being as talented... YFE has so much talent ..Ben... obviously, Sef... the guitar beast, you... that open your mouth and we can hear God singing, Jeff ...that can play guitar in a way that you just can't stop looking at him and Charles... that can make his drum sing... But for me it's just not that easy...

I had many bands as a teenagers..."the Nixons" "the swindlers"... and for me being in a band was the greatest opportunity to assist to the birth of something bigger than me... such a privilege... and that has never changed...

What do you like and hate about being...
a singer?

I love to express myself... But when the time comes to record the songs I find it hard to capture the right emotions... emotions that are never the same from one time to another...

an author?

I love to build a world that is mine... I hate the fact that I have to expose it to everyone...

a visionnaire?

I love that for me everything is possible... I hate to work with people with a very narrow vision coming from their desire to meet their own personal needs and desires first...

A business man?

I love to meet intelligent, passionate and talented people that have a wide spirit... I hate to meet people that are not using their influences to do something else than meeting their own little pleasure... I hate to see them not considering humans except when these humans are buying a CD or a shirt! I think I'm a tougher business man because I want to protect the people I'm passionate about from these big selfish guns.

A father in this YFE family?

I'm one of the fathers I would say... I love to take care of the ones I love... I hate to see I don't have the financial or physical or spiritual resources to help them the way I would like...

You often say that YFE is above only music... what is the place of music in YFE?

Music is a simple extension of who we are..six people completely different with different personalities and backgrounds, we have much more differences than common points but what we have in common is really strong! What is coming out of this common strength are sounds, sounds that build and become songs... Music has a central place but when I say we're not only music it's because of today's music industry where it's only entertaining, it's not created to bring us somewhere...it's created just to make our miserable life feel a bit more acceptable... On the opposite, when we gather and create music we put our hearts and souls to touch people... I could be a very good author but i don't think I could touch a generation from all around the world if it wasn't by combining it with music... Music is an extraordinary universal and empowering tool to reach out to the ones that need it and to the ones that can also touch and heal us... it's a great sharing... it's an invitation and we never know who's going to respond...

Do you think YFE has a place in the music world?

I don't know... Honestly I don't think about how we'll be received, are we going to be accepted, how the critics will see us... I just want YFE to be true, authentic whatever it means and wherever place we'll have...

You think that is all Alex had to say? Of course not but I'll keep the last part for next week... In the meantime please keep on being world changers by fighting indifference and apathy, keep on fighting your own demons, keep on supporting Alex, supporting us... We'll fight for you my friends, my family...We're everyday on the battle field to support you, love you, heal you... Just because... you deserve it...

I love you
Miss Isabel

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My dearest friends, I couldn't wait anymore to get to share with you Alex's vision on the recording process and his passionate urge to make a difference with his art... If we compare YFE to a human body, I can say that Alex is the head... He has the eyes to see the world, the mouth to share what he sees and the intelligence to keep these eyes open... even when it hurts... and the intelligence to keep that mouth open... even if nobody listens...

Hi Alex! Tell me do you like to give interviews?

lol... well... let's say i prefer writing than giving interviews...

Thank you for doing this for our friends, our family...I know how much you love them and you want them to be involved... So tell me how is the recording of the album going?

Up to now it is going well... I feel we have a good complicity with Steve... Ben and I are so used to work only together that we had to adjust to Steve's rhythm...We had to be flexible and trust him... The thing I appreciate too, is that Steve is giving us a lot of freedom, he wants this album to sound like YFE not like Steve Thompson. Like Ben said, this was a major concern for us before we started... We were afraid that somebody would take this occasion to accomplish a personal experiment...taking a rock band and transforming it into a disco band just because it's the daily trend... On the contrary, Steve allows us to be ourselves, to refine our ways to create, to dig down deeper to define even more who we are and the specific emotions we want for each song...So that's really cool!

It's amazing that Steve made the effort to understand who we are by reading the blogs, living with us, getting to know all the members of the band but also our family working with us like YB, chuck... I think that Steve's goal is to make sure we communicate the message we want... It's nice because we feel the respect Steve has for us and he can feel that we are open and consider all he has to bring...and he has already brought A LOT!

Is it going the way you imagined it would?

It involved more adaptation than I thought, but I think that this instability state has a good impact... it helps us to break down the patterns and cycles that are usually leading us to create over and over again similar sounds and feelings. For example, usually we create one song at a time and build it all until it has a soul and a polished sound, but with Steve, we build the foundation of all the songs first... that was challenging and stretching because it's not the way we function ordinarily...But the reason behind that makes sense...it's a way to leave the songs very simple, allowing more space to the creation of the vocal melodies and emotions...

What does a first album mean for you?

I think it's a first step. The band went through many seasons already and it is an achievement for us to still be together! lol... let's say we didn't always have that same cohesion and unity... I think we matured a lot musically but also in our way of working and the way we see our career... In the past few months, we made major decisions... building our own record company, choosing our producer, choosing the people we do business with... And we did all that in order to respect and preserve the vision we have... to make sure this first album will set the pace for the rest of our career instead of being just a commercial exercise... We really want to build our career on foundations that are independent and that are faithful to our image... This first album is mainly a bridge between us and the people we love around the world...

Do you think all these years waiting to do this album have been necessary to bring you where you are today?

I don't know if they've been necessary but for sure it helped us to mature and gave us time to deal with both our personal and band trials... I would have voluntarily avoided them but I think it was our path, not a usual path though... A while ago we spent two years without even touching our instruments because we needed to rebuild ourselves personally... these two years have been really determinant because we grew so much individually that it gave us the real meaning and vision that is still motivating us today...

Have you ever thought about giving up?

Well... I never saw the band or doing music as being a God for me or an essential thing in my life...But there always been something, a force keeping that dream alive... I don't consider the band to be mine... I see it as a gift that could be taken from my hands at any moment ...I can't abandon something that I don't own... but I feel it's my duty to take care of that opportunity to connect with people instead of transforming this gift into something selfish feeding my own ambitions and temporary needs...

How do you see the birth of YFE to the larger public?

For me the birth of YFE has already happened... because the large public is not about a thousand people, a million people... it's about one person that one day listened to our music, has been touched and wanted to share that emotion with someone else... With the album we'll be able to reach more people it's true but we are not selling a product to all these people... we are sharing an emotion we really live...

Can you talk about the arrogance of the album?

Arrogance for me is really simple... it's to be true. The album is not made with a set direction... It's hard but we want to expose who we are and what we believe. In the past, we had to stand up for our vision by refusing to play in venues where we couldn't promote Amnesty International, refusing sponsorships promoting an image of women as pieces of meat, refusing to get affiliated with some churches because we wouldn't fit in their very precise holy frame... Let me tell you that being true is not a sought quality... especially not in the music industry because you are usually selling an image... what is important is not the truth but what people want to believe... and what people want to believe is dictated by the business big brothers who are making sure it fits with the big bucks they want to make... On my side I am true, in all the beauty and ugliness it involves, some days what I live and what I think is beautiful and some other days it's awful... Being true is to expose yourself... to expose yourself is asking to be judged, rejected, hurt... it's to be in a vulnerable position... It's a lifestyle... and since the album reflects what we live... well it's going to be true!

Alex has so much to say and to offer that I couldn't stop him from sharing for almost two hours... so we'll have to continue this interview during the next weeks! You know my friends, when Alex talks about the importance of the foundations in everything we do... you guys are a big part of these foundations... In fact, without you, there would be no meaning, no vision, no future for YFE... When YFE open their eyes...we see you, when YFE open their mouth...we talk for you. We love you with everything we are and everything we're not, in all our beauty and disaster...