Alex to me: "Tell your boss you need a week off".

Hey,

I hope you’re doing well! It’s Monday morning and I’m on a train between Drummondville and Toronto, heading to a music conference called Departure, a terrible name for what used to be Canadian Music Week! Oddly enough, we never played in what some call Queen City with Alex but played there countless times with Your Favorite Enemies, as, in fact, it’s pretty much there that everything started for us back then! 

I will always remember one day back in January 2004 the phone rang at my job (I used to work in fancy French restaurants as a cook in my previous life), and it was a very emotional Alex at the very end of the line who was trying to tell me we had been accepted to perform a showcase at Canadian Music Week in March of that year! 

"Tell your boss you need a week off," I remember him saying! Since that day, Toronto has been home to incredible memories where our first YFE weekends culture started, with people flying from around the world to see us play three to four times and hang out with us for a week! 

🎧 Music I’m listening to

Death From Above 1979 - Nomad

The week for which I took off work (mentioned above) started with a huge gathering at a place called The Phoenix, where thousands of music industry people and bands coming from coast to coast all wishing to see their craziest of all dreams come true reunite under the same roof. At some point, the evening soundtrack jumped on stage, and the lineup was quite impressive. I remember thinking, "Damn...! I clearly don’t belong here! Mom?! Where are you???"

Alexisonfire / Arcade Fire / Bif Naked / The Salads / The Trews

The highlight of my week, despite the fact that we played in front of 4 people, was to see DFA on Saturday evening at the Cinecycle! 

Listen to the Missive Playlist

📖 Reading highlight I’m pondering

I truly love that quote from Canadian writer Margaret Atwood, since for us, The Long Shadows, Alex’s words are the source of the music we’re creating. And to me, as I’m sure for all of you as well, music is the soul of life, and it has the power to unite, to heal, to inspire, and ultimately to change the world!

🎙️ Podcast That Inspired Me

Alan Cross - Why Bowie still matters ⅓

Alan Cross is a legendary Canadian broadcaster, taste-maker, and now podcaster, some kind of local and more nerdy Zane Lowe without the cool and the swag but with a non-negotiable love of music! I had the opportunity to meet him once last year and he talked about Alex’s A Nightfall Ritual album! 

I thought a Why Bowie Matters series would be a great introduction for you! :) 

📸 My Picture Of The Week 

Fun fact: Fast forward to the summer of 2008: we performed at the Confédération Park Festival in Ottawa right before Alexisonfire, with whom we had such a blast all afternoon! 

There you go with the “Do we truly belong here?” question! Notice Alex’s tattoo was in the making! 

💬 Shared in the Long Shadows Chat this week

Our chat was filled with all your incredible photos and videos and the incredible words you’ve been sharing about the latest From the City to the Ocean vinyl! We’re so blessed and fortunate to have you in our lives. We never want this very unique bond we all share so deeply to stop! 

All your deep thoughts about how this song is now meaningful to you, especially following what Alex shared about the entire journey he went through around that song... You truly seeded life to a degree we’ll all be forever thankful for. 

The power of words! It truly heals, frees, and brings life and light back where darkness and death had been ruling for way too long!

Thank you!

Let’s be great to one another! 

Your friend and Chief Operator, 
Jeff