Alex Henry Foster

Alex Henry Foster is a Canadian artist, singer, musician, writer and activist, best known for being the singer and frontman of the Montreal band Your Favorite Enemies.[1] The band was founded in 2006 and nominated for a Juno Award for their album "Between Illness and Migration" in 2015.[2] In 2018, Foster announced the release of a first solo project, Windows in the Sky, through Hopeful Tragedy Records and Sony Music / The Orchard. His first solo album reached number one in "All Genres" in the Canadian iTunes charts in the first week of its release,[3] and reached number 6 on the Billboard Canadian Albums Chart[4] on the second week of its release.[5] Alex Henry Foster was nominated at ADISQ for the first time in 2019 with his first solo effort "Windows in the Sky" for Anglophone album of the year [6].

Alex Henry Foster
Background information
BornMontreal, Quebec, Canada
Occupation(s)Singer, musician, writer, activist
InstrumentsVocals, guitar
LabelsHopeful Tragedy – Sony Music / The Orchard
Associated actsYour Favorite Enemies

In 2020, Alex Henry Foster and his band The Long Shadows went on their first tour, alongside ...And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead, playing concerts all across Europe. He also released an EP and videoclips for the song "Summertime Departures", followed by an EP and a short film for the song "The Hunter (By the Seaside Window)", as well as an EP for the song "Lavender Sky" that features a live version of the song performed with his band in his studio-church, which they turned into they first direct-to-vinyl, crafted in the band's own creative atelier.[7][8] He released a videoclip for the song "Lavender Sky", the 4th single on his album Windows in the Sky. The videoclip filmed in Iceland was premiered and acclaimed by BrooklynVegan[9] and also talked about by the British magazine NME[10]. On August 7, 2020, Alex Henry Foster released the EP "Snowflakes in July", last of the "Windows in the Sky" series, consisting of a song performed live from his studio-church and broadcast on BrooklynVegan on July 26, 2020[11]. The live version of the song was released as a collector direct-to-vinyl, crafted in Foster's own record label atelier.

On May 1st, 2020, his first solo record entitled Windows in the Sky was released worldwide, with the launching event taking place on the online portal of Prog (magazine), through the broadcast of a 60-minute concert, live from Alex Henry Foster’s studio established in a former Catholic church near Montreal city.[12] He was also interviewed by Rolling Stone France upon his album release and was featured on the front page of the magazine.[13]

Career

Foster was born in Montreal, Canada and moved around Montreal and its suburbs during his childhood.[14] After graduating from l’Université de Montréal as a social worker, he met Sef Lemelin with whom, along with Ben Lemelin and Miss Isabel, he started a band called The Riddlers, which became Your Favorite Enemies after Jeff Beaulieu and Charles "Moose" Allicie officially joined.[15]

Foster co-founded the record label Hopeful Tragedy Records which set their studios and headquarters in a former Catholic church in Drummondville, Quebec in 2009.[16] The facilities host music and multimedia studios, as well as The Fabrik, a creative group with spaces and equipments to screen-print, craft merchandising and press & cut vinyls on site.[17] It is also where the "Red Crown Crane" jewelry line was designed and crafted, in collaboration with Your Favorite Enemies’ keyboard player & art designer, Miss Isabel.

Following the loss of his father, Foster decided to leave for Tangier, Morocco in 2016, where he spent two years working on what has become his debut album Windows in the Sky, launching his solo career.[18] His entire band joined him to work on new musical projects, setting a professional music studio in the heart of Tangier.[19][20] He released Windows in the Sky on November 9, 2018, which was premiered in Tokyo, Japan, prior to its release. The album reached No. 1 on the Canadian iTunes charts in the "Rock" category and became No. 1 in "All Genres", within a few days following its release. It remained in the top charts in Canada alongside Muse, The Beatles, Imagine Dragons and Queen for a few consecutive days after its release.[3]

In 2017, Foster released the book A Journey Beyond Ourselves, revisiting the story behind the making of Your Favorite Enemies’ album "Tokyo Sessions".[21] He also launched the online lifestyle magazine “The Eye View” and writes in BEEAST, a magazine from Japan in which he talks about art, music, life, as well as his artistic and life influences.

In 2018, Alex Henry Foster released his first solo album Windows in the Sky in Canada. It reached and remained at the top of the charts[22] for multiple weeks after its release.[23] In July of 2019, he performed live for the first time as a solo act at the Festival International de Jazz de Montréal, and his album Windows in the Sky was nominated for "Anglophone Album of the Year" at ADISQ in the fall of the same year.[24]

In 2020, Alex Henry Foster and his band members “The Long Shadows” toured across Europe with ...And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead, to critical acclaim.[25][26][27]

In January of 2020, he released an EP and lyric video for the song “Summertime Departures”, followed by the release of a videoclip featuring his live performance at his first ever concert at the Festival International de Jazz de Montréal in front of a sold out venue. In March of 2020, he released the EP for the song “The Hunter (By the Seaside Window)” as well as a short film for the 15-minute song made in collaboration with French producer and friend Jessie Nottola, who also worked with Tinariwen, Tiken Jah Fakoly, Arthur H. This short film, in the likes of David Lynch, was filmed near Montreal, Canada and got more than 150,000 views on YouTube a few days after its release.[28]

On May 1, 2020, his album Windows in the Sky was released worldwide through a live concert from his studio-church broadcast on the online portal of the British Prog (magazine). It was preceded by the broadcast of a live rehearsal of Alex Henry Foster's band via ADISQ's portal, which had nominated his album in the category "Album of the Year - Anglophone" in 2019. [29]

On June 9, 2020, Alex and his bandmates broadcast a live performance of the song "Lavender Sky" from their studio-church, and cut it on vinyl, turning it into their first direct-to-vinyl creation, crafted in-house, in their own creative atelier.[30][31]

On June 26, 2020, Alex Henry Foster released a music video for the 4th single from his solo record Windows in the Sky, which was filmed in Iceland. The clip for the song "Lavender Sky" was premiered and acclaimed by BrooklynVegan[32]:

The video itself is no less cinematic, having been gorgeously filmed in Iceland and featuring high floating landscape shots that are peppered with grainy (stretched) super 8mm film shots and bit of handheld shaky cam moments. The photography is pristine, and like the music goes from feeling grounded on earth to soaring high above our heads.

The British magazine NME[33] qualified it as: a cinematic new video and a dreamy blast of post-rock all about “the acceptance of things we don’t know and can’t control.

On August 7, 2020, Alex Henry Foster released the EP "Snowflakes in July" marking the end of the Windows in the Sky series. The EP consists of three versions of the song, one that was performed live from his studio-church and broadcast on BrooklynVegan on July 26, 2020.[34] The live performance of the song was also turned into a direct-to-vinyl crafted in Foster's independent record label's facilities.

Influences

Foster cites Fugazi, Sonic Youth, Pixies, My Bloody Valentine (band) and Mars Volta,[35] Radiohead, Mogwai, Swans (band)[36] and Nick Cave as recent influences and Sex Pistols, The Clash, The Ramones, Ministry (band), Skinny Puppy and The Cure[21] as some of his early musical influences, as well as punk rock, post-punk new wave, early straight edge hardcore.

Poets and writers such as Leo Tolstoy, Khalil Gibran, Isaac Bashevis Singer, Baudelaire, Rainer Maria Rilke, Octavio Paz, Jack Kerouac, Paul Bowles, Ernest Hemingway, and Allen Ginsberg are also part of his influences and inspirations.[37] Excerpts of the poem "Song" by Allen Ginsberg are featured on the track "Shadows of Our Evening Tides" on Alex Henry Foster's first solo album Windows in the Sky[38]

Activism

Alex Henry Foster is also a former social worker and active human rights advocate. He has been spokesperson for Amnesty International and collaborated in campaigns for several years.[39] He founded "Rock N Rights" in 2005, a non-profit spreading human rights awareness. He also appeared on the Canadian talk show Tout le monde en parle[40] and CBC Radio show "Medium Large"[41] to talk about his past in gangs and his views on social justice.

Social Involvement

Alex Henry Foster has been involved with Amnesty International for several years. He acts as an official spokesperson, a conference speaker in Canada and has hosted the Annual Youth Congress of Amnesty International, and has written a song for the release of Fred M'membe. His band Your Favorite Enemies participated to Amnesty International's 30th anniversary (2007), to the 35th anniversary of Give Peace A Chance, to Imagine (2004), Marche des femmes vers l'an 2000, and performed at the concert on behalf of the 51st anniversary of the Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms. Your Favorite Enemies also did an exclusive interview about human rights with the American band Anti-Flag during the Vans Warped Tour (2007).[42]

In 2005, Alex Henry Foster co-founded "Rock N Rights", a non-profit organization focusing on human rights’ promotion and education.

Following the tsunami in Japan in 2011, Foster and his bandmates from Your Favorite Enemies launched "The Hope Project" in partnership with the Red Cross and schools. This campaign consisted in gathering messages of support, empathy, and encouragement, and deliver them to survivors as personal postcards.[43]

Rock N Rights took part in campaigns to support Saudi blogger Raif Badawi and freedom of speech[44] as well as women's rights in collaboration with 100% Mamans in Tangier, Morocco.

In June of 2020, Alex Henry Foster launched a campaigned called "Silence Is Murder", in the face of the racial and social injustices and violence outbreaks happening around the world. He crafted a t-shirt, for which all the profits were given to Amnesty International.

Discography
Studio albums
EPs
  • Summertime Departures - EP (Hopeful Tragedy Records, 2020)
  • The Hunter (By the Seaside Window) - EP (Hopeful Tragedy Records, 2020)
  • Lavender Sky - EP (Hopeful Tragedy Records, 2020)
  • Snowflakes in July - EP (Hopeful Tragedy Records, 2020)

Awards and nominations

ADISQ
Year Nominee / work Award Result
2019 Windows in the Sky Anglophone Album of the Year Nominated
gollark: Palaiologos is clearly trying to deflect from the real point here, which is that they secretly use rust for all things.
gollark: As you're my alt, and that means you're also me, and I like Rust and dislike C, you obviously must like rust and dislike C, but be too ashamed to admit it.
gollark: Apparently yes.
gollark: Palaiologos is my alt, yes. I'm glad we could finally agree on this.
gollark: https://discord.com/channels/346530916832903169/348702212110680064/810580212697923635

References
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  2. "2015 – Rock Album of the Year (Sponsored by SiriusXM Canada) – Your Favorite Enemies". junoawards.ca. Retrieved December 22, 2018.
  3. Bélanger, Cédric. "Alex Henry Foster: un succès inattendu". journaldemontreal.com. Retrieved November 27, 2018.
  4. "Billboard Canadian Albums: Top Albums Chart". Billboard. Retrieved December 8, 2018.
  5. November 27, Stuart Derdeyn Updated; 2018 (November 27, 2018). "Vancouver Sun music reviews Dec. 1, 2018 – Vancouver Sun". The Vancouver Sun. Retrieved December 8, 2018.CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  6. https://lecanalauditif.ca/actualites/les-nominations-du-premier-gala-de-adisq-2019/
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  8. https://www.montrealrocks.ca/alex-henry-foster-direct-to-vinyl-performance/
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  12. https://www.loudersound.com/news/alex-henry-foster-joins-prog-for-live-session-in-may
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  24. https://palmaresadisq.ca/en/artist/alex-henry-foster/album/windows-in-the-sky/
  25. https://www.brightonandhovenews.org/2020/03/04/trail-of-dead-brighton-gig-report/
  26. https://uber-rock.co.uk/and-you-will-know-us-by-the-trail-of-dead-alex-henry-foster-manchester-night-day-cafe-4-march-2020/
  27. https://atthebarrier.com/2020/03/09/trail-of-dead-alex-henry-foster-night-day-cafe-manchester-live-review/
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  37. Interview excerpts from Beeast69, also translated into English:
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