Hey,

I hope you’re doing well! I can’t believe we’re already October 1st... This, to me, seems kinda insane, as I feel like the year truly is slipping through my fingers, the same way water would. It’s 6pm (18h) on Sunday afternoon and I’m in my office at the HQ, the windows are still open, the sun is slowly hiding behind the trees and the houses surrounding our church studio, the air is slowly starting to get a little crispier, which I really like, and Nick Cave is singing his latest release titled Wild God to me. 

It's a wonderful moment, especially following what has been such an incredible afternoon with Alex and The Long Shadows, rehearsing nonstop as we’re leaving for our very first US tour since Your Favorite Enemies! The vibe simply is to the roof! I always love those few days prior to leaving for a new tour! Everyone is excited to come to the studio even though it’s always a lot of work for us, but the mood and the vibe simply are always so thrilling, as if we all knew something greater than ourselves slowly was unveiling itself to us in grand fashion!

From what I can see, leaving on tour is as if this sense of why we do all this work kinda aligns itself and suddenly reveals the entire purpose of it all! It’s a wonderful thing to be a part of, especially when the spirit, the vibe, the passion, and the work are equally shared between us...! When we all personally not only acknowledge but truly embrace the fact that being ⅙ of something common between us is by far way better than being 100% of our own things.

We have this beautiful culture within the band that naturally came to life where, following the rehearsal, someone cooks and invites the others for a special evening around a particular dress code, all aligned with the same spirit of what touches or moves this host and they'll be sharing it with the others during the dinner. We also share some important technical aspects of the tour, but mainly, we’re keeping our spirits aligned in bringing something beautiful, powerful, inspiring, inviting, and hopefully thoughtful. It’s something really beautiful which I am proud to be a part of.

Those little traditions of ours always keep things alive, aligned, pure, and powerful, and they allow us to discover and reach new territories in terms of conversation, which, most of the time, ends up being translated into new musical parts or even lyrics on Alex’s part, as those moments are a true celebration of what we value the most in life; humanity.

Tonight, Miss Isabel is the evening’s host, and as I had a little more than an hour between the rehearsal and the dinner, I rushed to my office to write those words down! I’ve recently been moved and touched by the power of dreams and how, even if we reach a certain point in our lives where we feel like some dreams are fading as seasons pass by, I have the certitude that it truly is never too late to at least give those dreams a shot. I’ve been sending you a personal audio message where, for many people, I shared this idea, under this year’s theme, A Light Too Bright to Hide, a sort of invitation toward what can seem unreachable, impossible, too far out, not enough time, hiding behind all those classic phrases deeply rooted in our hearts and souls, but in the end, is always alive within ourselves!

Well, it is with that in mind that I’ll be joining my friends and bandmates for tonight’s dinner, as I feel like, as we’re about to tour the USA for the first time under Alex Henry Foster and The Long Shadows, we’re reaching a point we all thought would never see the light at some point, that it was too high of a mountain to climb, that time wasn’t on our side anymore, that COVID had gotten in the way, that Alex’s health would never be the same, that this, that that...! But here we are, about to leave for what has been something we all deeply wished to see happen. And this, to me, is only the beginning of a very long chapter in which we’ll all be removing the dust on those old dreams, even those that became ruins, and in which life and light will outshine every possible dark cloud standing in the way! 

Alex named this tour A Heart Full of Colors and I think that it truly describes that precise vibe we’re all fully embracing, finally! I wish from all my heart that it's the same for you! Life is so rich and I’m feeling so grateful!

A WORD FROM ALEX

To embody the theme and visual meaning, it was important for me to bring the music at the very heart of the package, to share something personally unique by design and collectively significant by nature.  

To do so, I had our Fabrik atelier team members work on a limited-edition lathe cut vinyl featuring the song “Shadows Of Our Evening Tides”, captured live during our performance at the Brücken­festival in Nuremberg on August 12th, 2022.

It’s even more singular of a live moment for me, as little did I know at the time, but that concert turned out to be the last one I would share before I had to undergo a life-threatening heart surgery. For what felt like forever, that song, which concluded our setlist that night, represented not only the last occasion I would be on stage but could have also marked the farewell opportunity for me to sing all together.  

Therefore, it stands as a poignant demonstration of what “A Light Too Bright to Hide” deeply represents for me and had to be the focal point of this year’s Club spirit.

To accompany the vinyl, I had the idea to feature a hummingbird blooming from the assemblage of tiny specks of turquoise, a design reflecting the ever-hopeful possibility we have to have our hearts shaped and reshaped through those flashes of colorful light.

The tote bag features the theme designs alongside the lyrics of “Shadows Of Our Evening Tides” on one side and a vibrant state of the hummingbird’s transformation on the other side.       

Since I know that some of you like to display my unique lathe-cut vinyls as visual art, I decided to include a CD with the package.

The package will also feature the yearly iron-on patch and 3 of the beloved Club-exclusive buttons.

Thank you so much for being part of this memorable and soulful journey! 

Let’s be great to one another.

Your Friend and Host
Jeff