Thomas Degarde was born in Annecy,France in a poor familly. Growing up he learned about America and Western culture mostly through television, music and movies. To him the country felt giant, loud and full of opportunity.

In 1990 at the age of 23 he left France with his cousin Damien to chase the American dream. They arrived with little to no money and poor english, taking any job they could find and settling into a quieter life compared to the one they immagined.

by 1995 Thomas was working long hours in manual labor jobs, while this life was good enough for Thomas, Damien decided to head off in a different way and left for new york.

After his separation with his cousin and getting fired from his former job, Thomas travelled to Kentucky in order to find a new job and get back up on hiss feet, hoping for some stability.