Monday, January 31, 2011

Goodbye January...

it's the last day of january and we've been through a lot... good times and bad times all the same...

it was quite a long one... the wait and anticipation was always the order of things and when it hit, it didn't really shook things up... but still it made us smile every now and then...

looking forward to february...

Sunday, January 30, 2011

Special Guest...

Hello Everyone...

Played Buzz Night a few Days ago... Like the Bistro Gig we had recently, not really the typical heads-up performance... maybe because i was so tired that day coming from a 12 hour work-thing and my amp wasn't working well... also i was having a hard time familiarizing myself with my one year old white jazzmaster...

Mar was slightly doing well, so was Carissa who's voice i could surprisinly hear even with my guitar turned up way too high for Pillow atandars...Josh too was in his typical lazy-self... two bassists played for us that night... Ex-Pillow Bassist Lara who's been here for over a week now from from her U.S. stint played two songs and current bassist Joms played the remaining 4 songs...



Hopefully another gig and a few more practices then we'll be in the right form again... hhmmmm, i'm thinking of getting us a keyboard player again...

Wednesday, January 26, 2011

1st Gig For 2011 @ 70's Bistro...

hello everyone,

we were able to play our first gig for this year at 70's bistro... not the usual feel good gig but still it was something to hold dear to... not only was it our first gig for this year but also the first one with this present line-up all showing up... i guess the last time this new line up of Pillow performed with all members present was September of last year...

we'll be playing again this thursday at Buzz Night... hopefully this time around, we'll be able to play more comfortably and confidently... can't wait to finish the new song, but i think i'll be having a hard time with this one...



... also another first is that the night before this gig, my band mates were able to organise a practice session with out me being around... i'm very pleased with that... hopefully one day they'll be able to play a decent gig in my absence...

that's that for now... 'til the next post...

Thursday, January 20, 2011

Two Practice Sessions And A New Tune...

Hello Everyone...

at last we ere able to have practice last Sunday and about 2 days ago... as usual, someone was late and it was me... i fell a sleep while waiting to leave the house at around 9pm... anyways, when i got to the studio, everyone was there...

not wanting to waste this opportunity, we started to play old songs... obviously, everyone was rusty but as we moved on from one song to the next we got more comfortable and easily got to remember our parts once more... after almost 2 1?2 hours of playing, we got tired and decided to call it a day...



Next practice came two days later but this time our singer didn't show up... got a bit frustrated and wasn't up to practicing but i wanted to try a tune that i have which was supped to be a Candyaudioline tune... as i was expecting, it was more of a Pillow tune than a Candy item so i decided to pass it on to Pillow... no lyrics let and as of that session, it was still very sketchy... hopefully, by next practice we'd get to improve on it and hopefully it'll come out close to what i'm expecting it to be...

'til the next post...

Friday, January 14, 2011

A Long Plane Ride...

Hello everyone...

i'm in Cebu right now and i just can't help feeling nostalgic about a gig here that Soft Pillow Kisses took part in almost 10 years ago...

actually, i was listening to mostly SPK songs while in flight and it was really a feel good thing... Stolen Flowers, Harsh Words, So-Called Friend, Bean Bag, Bathing In The Sun were just some of the songs in the mix... the last 4 was released here as a 5 song casette e.p. called "As You Whisper In My Ear"...

we were still purely indiepop then but nowadays, we've become noisier and a bit new wave-ish... still there's that "gentle-ness factor" in the newer songs that prevents these songs from straying away from what this band have been known for...

listening to newer songs such at The Louder You'll Know, Like Rainbows Do, Lying To Ourselves, Yet It's Been A While and On A Sunday made me ask myself questions like, did we progress? are we still up there with the best of them? did we hit a brick wall?

it's not that i'm not confident with these songs but i am really looking forward to write something far better than It Will Never Last Forever or Just Like The Sky or I Don't Know What To Say...

comparing SPK to my other band Candyaudioline who of which has just recently morphed into into something really mind boggling :)... SPK seems to be just coasting along familiar waters so to speak... maybe it has something to do with age i guess... compared to Candy, Pillow has always been a young band... most members don't last more than 2 or 3 years... with Candy there's Dennis and Arjay who's been with me since 2005 and 2006...

... the last 2 songs that i listened to while we were approaching Cebu was Losing Something and Yet It's Been A While... there's nothing really significant about it but listening to them on the way down made me feel so high... :)

That's that for now...

Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Still Waiting...

i miss playing Pillow Songs... can't wait to have practice sometime soon...

maybe this weekend, i guess everyone's ready... still waiting...

Tuesday, January 04, 2011

Looking Forward...

Hello Everyone...

looking back at the year that was, i noticed one really significant thing... i became too pre-occupied with Candyaudioline as far writing songs is concerned...

Talking with Josh a few days ago and Listening to some of our songs made me think that i should at least put equal emphasis on both... i was able to write almost 8 of the 9 new songs of Candyaudioline while for Pillow i was only able to manage 2 and the 2 other new songs we recorded this year were old songs re-arranged...

also, the recording sessions were all done with very little preparation... maybe i was just rushing things last year and was a bit in limbo with what Soft Pillow Kisses were turning into... i was gearing towards a "new wave-ish" sonund... i never really took into account that Soft Pillow Kisses took in 3 new recruits... also our singer was most of the time "not around" forcing us to play gigs with session singers (mostly Ex-Pillow Singers)... well i still do plan to sound new wave-ish specially now that we have a guitarist who's willing to play with just a few necessary stomp boxes...

also i failed to take into account that i have one of the best drummer bassist combinations with which i should've taken advantage a long time ago, to at least bring out the best in some of the older songs we seldom play due to the inability of former members specially the drummer, to decently execute them... our singer too, even with out the benefit of practice is able to sing decently during abrubtly called gigs...

now i do have something to look forward too again but i'll try my best to avoid doing things in a rush... patience will be my word of the month for now... 'til the next post again...

Sunday, January 02, 2011

Happy New Year!!!

Hello Everyone!!!

In behalf of my Pillow Mates, I just wanna wish all a Happy and Prosperous New Year!!! and that may we all share and be a part in making this little world of ours a better place to live in starting this 2011!!!

Allan Siegfried T. Montero