Ben

BEN'S BIO

Ben Lemelin
Bass, Songwriter
Your Favorite Enemies

The youngest child in a family of musicians, Ben was quickly introduced to music and strongly encouraged to continue on this path. Being whimsical and unmotivated, school turned out to be a real burden for him, having no other interest than making melodies. It was a music introduction class that led Ben to the bass.

Shortly after receiving a bass from his folks, Ben began his bass journey with the sound of hard rock bands such as DRI, Metallica and Iron Maiden. A few months later, Ben formed the death metal band Precambrian, before joining his older brother Steph’s newly formed band, The Riddlers.

Joining The Riddlers communicated incredible energy while the tint of metal and progressive rock brought a distinct musical signature, resulting in the powerful sound which exists today. Besides, it was the creative complicity and synergy that arose between Alex Foster and Ben that brought forth the actual vision and artistic direction of Your Favorite Enemies band.

Ben is an active supporter for Amnesty International, Artist Against Racism and Rock N Rights.

ROCK N RIGHTS BIO :

Founded in 2003 by singer Alex Foster, and guitarist Jeff Beaulieu, Rock N Rights has as prime objective to cover all the social implication at the core of their alternative rock band “Your Favorite Enemies”.

Therefore, as Foster and Beaulieu worked to create a documentary on the use of music as propaganda, and recruitment by the Nazi groups, the two artists decided to use the huge impact that has Rock N Rights, not only to promote human rights, free education, but also as a mobilization tool. Foster explains:

“Through our researches in the framework of a documentary to which we participate with film director Goran Neric, Jeff and I discovered the American Neo Nazi marketing strategy, which consisted in distributing for free, in different American schoolyards, copies of a CD containing 20 white power bands. The « Schoolyard » project was such a success, that it brought together practically all the Neo Nazi groups in North America… while having a significant impact on the youth. Many hundreds of thousands of copies have been distributed. Both disgusted and worried toward the disconcerting efficiency that these commonly known racists were showing, Jeff and I decided to answer positively to this hate train by enlarging The Rock N Rights framework, which until then was dedicated to our band “Your Favorite Enemies”, and which was meant to support Amnesty International, for which we are spokesperson.”

Also, following their decision to enlarge the Rock N Rights framework on MySpace, Jeff and Alex included the long time webmaster partner Charles Veronneau, graphic designer Yan Lanouette and constituted a team including well known social activists Kanu Charron, Caro Simoneau, Uncle Ricco, The Fallen King, Steph Bujold, La Bourget, Marie-Dan Millien, Christine Millien, Sophie Martineau, Max Lavoie, Sandra Paradis, Valérie, Marie-Eve Manseau, Matt Beaulieu, Karo Levasseur, Marjo Millien. All together they’ve decided to put their time and energy to raise consciousness towards racism, arm control, violence against women and the rise of intolerance across the globe.

“I remember all the pressure put on Alex by the Neo Nazi groups, it was totally surreal. American, European, Australian, and New Zealander web sites reporting our campaign and threatening Alex of great repercussions if he decided to pursue the Rock N Rights project, and to pursue what the Neo Nazi groups called “ A white slave’s crusade at the service of Jewish entertainment”. Furthermore, the leader of a new ultra violent movement located in the United States called Alex to tell him that he was about to die. Let’s say it’s peculiar…” says Jeff Beaulieu.

Also, seeing Rock N Rights’ success, the media-related impact that springs from their actions, and from the support of many involved artists, Beaulieu - Foster - Veronneau - Lanouette decided not only to promote human rights through music, to support artists in their social commitment, but also to offer an associative structure to the members of the Rock N Rights community.

Thereby, strong of an extraordinary passion for human dignity, the members of Rock N Rights work with a solid conviction to contribute, if only a little, to the collective awakening required to transform the unacceptable stillness when it comes to fight for human rights and foresee the future with hope to see a true lasting social justice for everyone.