san francisco reports

most of the venues on the u.s. tour were unfortunately 21+ only, and studio z, among others, bore a great deal of pleading and begging from underage fans. with less than twenty-four hours notice, studio z and the pillows were gracious enough to organize a special meet and greet for fans under 21. it was a rainy, nasty day, and probably no more than twenty or so people showed up. a nice fellow from geneon was acting as translator and started us off asking questions for the pillows, and the noodles as well.

random bits:

+ jun suzuki is still considered a support bassist because he was not an original member. he has not been with them so long, thus he is 'younger' (kind of a japanese seniority thing).
+ they were very surprised at the response in america.
+ sawao says he is the pillows' biggest fan, and he never stops working. but the others like vacation.
+ when asked how they write their songs, sawao said that he would come up with a melody line, and they would just get together and jam and come up with something without really writing it down.
+ favorite bands? sawao - the breeders. manabe - bob marley. shinichirou - the clash. suzuki - the pixies.
+ their name is indeed taken from the pillows and prayers album. manabe had a poster in his room.
+ sawao doesn't really practice.

not many people had questions for the noodles. i did ask what they would do now that junko had left, and they said they intended to continue as a trio. after we finished up with questions, everyone got to line up and get autographs and photos. <3

japan girls nite at studio z. 3.27.2005. by terra.

it had been raining on and off that day, and that evening it started to rain again. to make sure we'd have a good spot to watch the show, my friends and i lined up early and were lucky enough to be among the few crammed under the far too small awning set up in front of the entrance, which barely protected us from the rain and not at all from the wind and chill. at one point the canvas separated from the frame of the awning, and a tall guy was gracious enough to fix it. as we waited impatiently, we could hear the emeralds doing their sound check inside. we also saw the diminuitive girls of the titan go king's scurry inside. we chatted a little with a girl who'd come with her boyfriend- she said she was not a huge fan of the pillows, but liked them well enough to let him drag her along to see them- and they lived a good few hours drive from san francisco.

at last our patience was rewarded, and we eagerly dashed inside to snap up merchandise and secure a good spot to view the show. studio z is somewhat dumpy looking, inside and sout, but when it's dim and dark and good music is playing, it hardly matters. since there were a total of six bands playing that night, the sets were by necessity short but sweet. and though the other performances were quite enjoyable, i (and most likely plenty of other people in the crowd) kept thinking 'hurry up! get to the pillows already!'

by the time the pillows finally took the stage, the crowd was more than ready. there was plenty of screaming and fist waving. as at other shows, sawao requested some crazy dancing after the first song or two- he told us the audience in japan was more exciting. not to say we weren't enthusiastic, but the audience never really got moving until the end. though it was only seven songs, the pillows' set was solid- they were all sweating and having a good time. sawao was high-energy throughout and pulled off a beautiful stage dive, running off the stage into the waiting arms of the audience, fists in the air. by the last song, the whole crowd was swaying back and forth to 'little busters'.

after this show i came to a conclusion: i can't get enough of the pillows. i want to see them again.