Hi Everyone!

I will be performing for War Child on March 2nd as part of Busking For CHANGE  Montreal. Please come by and say “hi” and donate to this great cause. You can find me at the Eaton Centre between 11am – 1pm but you can also catch a whole bunch of other cool musicians like The New Cities and Jason Bajada at other Eaton Centre locations and the Metro Station (Place-des- Arts and Berri-Uquam), busking for change and showing their support.
Money collected at each site, and through online donations, will support War Child who provides humanitarian assistance to over 200,000 children and families affected by war each year. War child works with children in some of the most devastated regions of the world to reduce poverty, provide education and to defend and fight for their rights.

With the recent disaster in Haiti, and more than thirty wars raging around the world your support is greatly needed.

Please help me help War Child provide these kids with the means to build a brighter future by donating on my personal Busking for CHANGE fundraising page HERE.

Thanks for your support!

This Schedule is Subject to Change!

Eaton Centre: 1 Metro Level
11:00 Sébastien Lefebvre

Eaton Centre 2: Food Court
11:45 Sébastien Lefebvre

Eaton Centre 3: Street Level
12:30 Sébastien Lefebvre

Je participe à Artistes pour War Child à Montréal. Des musiciens de renom se produiront dans le métro, au Centre Eaton et dans les locaux de divers médias. Les fonds amassés sur les différents sites et grâce aux dons par Internet sont versés à War Child, une œuvre de bienfaisance reconnue qui fournit de l’aide humanitaire aux familles et aux enfants touchés par la guerre. Aidez-moi à amasser des fonds pour Artistes pour War Child, en faisant un don sur ma page de collecte de fonds personnelle.

Busking For Change Montreal will take place between 8:00 am and 7:00 pm on Tuesday, March 2nd at various locations throughout the city, including Berri-Uqam and Place des Arts Metro stations and throughout the Eaton Centre. A full list of participating artists and locations will be released closer to the date.

Busking for Change Montreal is taking place at a crucial time, when War Child is setting up long term rehabilitation programming in Haiti. The event will mark the return of a War Child assessment mission from the devastated country, where it will be working to help the most vulnerable by providing support in trauma recovery, poverty reduction and education to those children and youth that are most at risk.

War Child’s second annual Busking For Change festival in 2009 saw musicians hit the streets of Toronto (September), Calgary (October) and Vancouver (December) to busk for War Child. Busking for Change Toronto featured over 40 celebrated musicians, including artists Chantal Kreviazuk, Sass Jordan, Default, ill Scarlett,  Arkells, USS, Neverending White Lights, Shiloh, Down With Webster, Hollerado and many more, scattered throughout the city, busking to raise funds for children whose lives have been torn apart by war. Over $100,000 was raised through Busking for Change initiatives in 2009. This will be the first time that Busking For Change will take place in Montreal.

The event was inspired by Raine Maida of Our Lady Peace, who spent twelve hours busking for War Child on Toronto streets, while publicizing his solo album, The Hunter’s Lullaby, and filming the music video for the album’s first single.  Raine raised an astonishing $22,000 for War Child Canada’s Rehabilitation project in the Democratic Republic of Congo that year.

Spring (myspringshoes.com) will be part sponsoring the event. Spring has been a partner of War Child for over a year. During that time they have raised enough money to rebuild three schools in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Two of the schools opened their doors to students in September 2009.

War Child works with children all over the world to mitigate the effects of poverty, provide an education and to defend and promote child rights.  We work tirelessly to help children whose lives have been torn apart by conflict, and provide them with the means to build a brighter future.  War Child works with local people and organizations in Afghanistan, Darfur (Sudan), Uganda, Sierra Leone, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia,
Sri Lanka, Georgia and Haiti. For more information about War Child, please visit www.warchild.ca <http://www.warchild.ca> .

Vote for Sebastien HERE!

Best Canadian Album

Best Video

Music Video for “I Fall For You”
Directed by Chuck Comeau/RT!
Produced in co-operation with MuchFACT, A Foundation To Assist Canadian Talent, Supported by the MuchMusic/ MuchMoreMusic/ MusiquePlus Network.
© COALITION ENTERTAINMENT (RECORDS) INC. 2009. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

From his home in Montreal, Lefebvre explains that he has many songs that have been looking for a proper home for many years now.

“I have way too many songs stashed away; I am always writing. Some of these songs are tracks that were kind of left in limbo by Simple Plan but I felt were strong enough to warrant being completed.”

The songs presented on You Are Here are in stark contrast to the upbeat, punk-pop offered up by Simple Plan. The seven tracks on the disc are a mix of French and English songs and are centered around Lefebvre’s acoustic guitar and delicate vocal delivery.

Lefebvre says he instinctively knew that the bulk of these songs would be out of place as Simple Plan tracks, which only helped fuel the desire to create his own piece of work to ensure that the songs saw the light of day.

“I’m a huge fan of singer-songwriters like Jack Johnson, Damien Rice, Bob Dylan and Johnny Cash; guys who played their guitar and sang about things that really meant something to them,” Lefebvre says. “I have never grown tired of that style of music and think that that genre of music produces some truly timeless records.”

Lefebvre says that with Simple Plan not actively promoting any release, the timing couldn’t have been better to get his music out to the world.

“Given that the band doesn’t have anything major on the go at the present time, it allowed me could dedicate a couple of months to working on this.”

You Are Here is seeing the light of day nationally via Coalition Music, an independent label run by his management company that has distribution via Warner Music Canada.

The decision to release his CD via a smaller label was a no-brainer of a decision as far as he was concerned.

“I have such a long-term relationship with our management company that I felt as though having everyone understand what I wanted to do and accomplish with this release would be much easier than going through other channels.

“I knew that I would get exactly what I wanted,” he continues. “It ended up being a very easy choice to make. Plus, there are fewer pressures to have to worry about when going with the Coalition label over a major label release.”

With Simple Plan inching closer to the recording stage of a new record (which is expected to be released in spring or summer 2010), Lefebvre admits he is content to simply release his EP and stick close to his home. Aside from the odd show in his hometown of Montreal, Lefebvre he has no widespread touring plans in the works to support You Are Here, which is a shame.

These seven songs highlight a different side of the musician that are worthy of being heard on a grander scale.

Ken Kelley is a music reporter for [here] magazine. In Conversation With … is an ongoing feature that highlights some of North Maerica’s most relevant artists. http://herenb.canadaeast.com

You Are Here/Vous Êtes Ici is a seven-song EP about subjects that everyone can relate to: friends, relationships and, of course, heartbreak.

“ ‘You are here’ is a phrase that I have been certainly struggling with for so many years. I always thought it had so many meanings. I just took it from the emergency exit map in the building here where I live. I feel like it is about where you are in that moment. It was just me and my guitar — that is where I was at the time when I was recording this album,” Lefebvre explains.

After shedding his musical training wheels, Lefebvre is now ready to take on the world and some tougher subjects, but he’s still taking baby steps.

“I’m still hiding behind the guitar, so I’m happy about that,” Lefebvre shares, sounding reassured when asked how he’s handling the new spotlight.

Despite the new album’s release, he has no plans to play any live solo shows yet, as Simple Plan is taking up most of his time. In turn, Lefebvre came up with a new blog concept, which he likes to call a “mlog.”

“A mlog is a music video blog of me performing my songs. It is for the fans who wouldn’t get to see me perform otherwise,” Lefebvre reassures his fans.

Contrary to what one might expect from You are Here, it sounds nothing like Simple Plan, although simple catchy choruses are still present. Lefebvre describes his EP as “just a guy and a guitar, telling stories about things that people go through. It is just laid back, chill music.”

He also stresses the point that there was no big production involved in this project.

“Being a nerd, I had a good time figuring out a piano part, some percussions, and other different instruments here and there, but nothing too fancy,” he explains. “When I played the songs, I just played them acoustically with the guitar and it turned out really well.”

His musical prowess is evident in that he plays every instrument for the album and recorded it in its entirety. This autonomy is demonstrated in the mlogs he posted on his MySpace where he is juxtaposed on the video playing piano and guitar.

Although this is more like “take out your lighter and wave it in the air” kind of music, Lefebvre does not seem too worried about the album’s fan base, with already more than 11,000 plays on his MySpace and thousands of friends as well.

“Some people like really high-energy music and are going to think [the album is] really boring, but some people like a chiller record from time to time, and I think they’re going to like it.”

Julianna Damer, Arts & Entertainment Writer, The Gateway

http://www.gateway.ualberta.ca

Press +1

Journal Metro

Le Journal De Quebec

VRAK TV

Canoe!

Musique Plus L’Univers

http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewAlbum?id=334822768&s=143455

Sign in or join now at http://www.officialspcrew.com/ to get all the details!