Line Up For Buzz Night @ Route 196 Jan. 3, 2009

So far, here are the bands slated to perform on next month's Buzz Night...

Lazy Chocolate
Slumbook
Archaster
Lazy Lorelei
Soft Pillow Kisses
Candyaudioline

show starts at around 10pm...

See you there...

Buzz Night @ Route 196 01-03-09 W/ Guest Band From Japan...

Hello everyone...

Buzz Night will be on Jan. 3, 2009 at Route 196... we will be having a band from Japan playing that night... they are called Lazy Chocolate... you may chem them out via http://www.myspace.com/lazychocolatejp...

bands lined up so far are: Candyaudioline, Lazy Lorelei, Slumbook, Soft illow Kisses and Lazy Chocolate...

Slots are open for 2 more bands, Just message me if interested...

Buzz Night @ Mayrics November 21, 2008

Hello everyone...

Buzz Night's going to be this Friday (November 21, 2008) already... bands slated to perform are the following:

Candyaudioline
Slumbook
Soft Pillow Kisses
Lazy Lorelei
The Bernadettes...

still waiting for some more bands to confirm...

As usual, show starts at around 10pm... Hope to see you there...

Soft Pillow Kisses @ Route 196

last Nov. 14 we played at Route 196... we did about 6 songs... we were the 1st band up so it was a bit relaxing since there were just a handful of people inside... we did well specially Apple at nabawasan na yung kanyang patented "iling" style of singing... hehehe galing mo Apple... paburger ka naman!!! Ralph too was doing well and sounding very well save for that really funny wrong note he did during one song...



Me, Rene and Jann Paul had a number of booboos along the way but it was really fun and we just laughed thru it all...

i find it quite enjoyable playing there because of the good sound quality that consistently comes out from this venue... yun lang, sobrang layo para sa akin at ang hirap pang kumuha ng taxi pag pauwi ka na...

after the gig. me, Rene and Jinky (ex-pillow/candy vocalist) went to kublais to watch some bands playing there...

Pillow News... Thai Compilation...

haven't really done much lately... Everyone's been very Busy lately but we do have a gig this coming Friday, November 14 at Route 196 and we also might play at Buzz Night on the 21st of Novenber at Mayrics...

By the way, we've recently been ask to sumbit a song for a Thai Compilation called "Peacefully Yours"...

Peacefully Yours is a Bangkok-based group of young Thais who are concerned about the violence situation somewhere in the Deep South of Thailand which has erupted and been growing consistently for almost 5 years, having killed about 3,000 people and injured about 4,000 people.
(Info from Deep South Watch: http://www. deepsouthwatch. org/, more info from http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/South_Thailand_insurgency)

To help relieve the casualty, our group has come up with a fund-raising project aiming to donate money to an official fund for victims and officials who are installed in the area.

The fund-raising project is deliberately called “Peacefully Yours”. As the name suggests, we do it purely for “Peace” and we are neither in preference of violence nor battle. This may sound a little bit cliché and we know we are not Lennon and Yoko though some of us believe they are musicians and are based in so-called indie bands here, but we do hope to contribute as much as we can.

Our plan is to make compilation albums of our songs (and maybe one of your songs) and sell it for 50 baht a copy at the 7th Fat Festival, Thailand’s biggest independent music festival to be held on November 8-9. We’ve planned to make two compilation albums: one for indie-pop lovers and another for the post-rock heads.

The song we submitted is called "Beneath The Glare" and it's a very old recording of the song... it was included in the "Wating For YOur Words" Mini LP which was supposed to come out on Shelflife Records almost 6 years ago...

Soft Pillow Kisses - Losing Something @ Club Dredd

A video from the last Buzz Night we had at Club Dredd last October 23...



I've been watching our set on video and i've noticed that we've become a bit noisier... not really sure if i want it this way but i guess it'll have to do for the meantime, with Charles gone and Ralph still adjusting and trying to get the right Pillow sound and my worsening guitar playing ability...

on a brighter note, Apple is beginning to hit the right notes and Ralph's amost getting there...

Buzz Night: It Was Still Fun...

i thought it was going to be another letdown of sorts... since i've been having some really cool Buzz Gigs for like 3 consecutive times already, i was starting to be a bit cynical with this one...

everything started out late... Random Knobs was way too early but did not have most of their gear with them... so we started at around 10:30pm with The Knobs dishing out 4 songs... they did well but their sound was a bit tiring... i think Joel should try to play around more with his effects pedals... The Satellites came in second... i was expecting something more from them but i guess they have yet to discover the right influences for their type of music... hopefully these Buzz Night stints would in some way help them figure things out... Soft Pillow Kisses followed next... we did well i think but we sure had so many fuck ups specially in the first three songs we played with me doing the major one with "Try To Smile" wherein i totally forgot the chords... Carnival Park came next... it the first time i got to really watch them in this current incarnation... Still up there with the best of them... Connie, their singer has a very lovely voice which fits well with their brand of Indie Pop... it really works well when Christian and Connie sing together... and the keyboards, it kinda glues them all together... i was a bit at a lost during Phantom Sizemore's set... i didn't have any idea as to what they really sound like... although the during the last two songs, the multi-layered guitar attack was starting to sink in... Their cover of a Revolver song was quite nice inspite of their looseness... Slumbook was the last band... they were quite entertaining... it's their first gig and they did fucked up so many times to our amusement but they sure have lots of promise... and they have the making of a really good Indie Pop band if they would just only give it a little more effort... they have simple songs but the way the drummer pounds thru each song makes them quite unique and the vocals, very twee... i just hope that, like Your Imaginary Friends, they improve fast and make a name for themselves in this quite confusing indie scene of ours...

Buzz Night @ Club Dredd, Oct. 23, (Thursday)

It's BUZZ NIGHT this Thursday at Clubb Dredd, and these are the bands who'll be performing...

Carnival Park
Phantom Sizemore
Gentle Isolation
Random Knobs
The Satellites
Soft Pillow Kisses...

show Starts at around 10pm, admission cost 150 bucks but i gets you 1 free drink... see you there...

A Bit Steady...

for the 2nd time in a row we were all present during last night's practice... it was really productive and a bit fun... everyone was realaxed no pressure whatsoever... the two new member are doing quite well... Apple has been trying her best to keep up with us while Ralph has been very steady and is really a fast learner... a few of the songs are beginning to sound the way that they used to be... in fact we were able to jam abour 17 Pillow songs last night... the highlight of which was the really improved version of "The Louder You'll Know" thanks to Rene's re-doing of some bass parts and Ralph's very steady playing... we even did some revisions on song like "Try To Smile" and Under-Cover Angel"... I guess we are all quite comfortable now with each other... even the jokes are beginning to pour in... still it's a long ways to go... but we are all happy with what's been happening... we even toy around with a few un-prepared old songs and end up learning them again quickly...



nah... Me and Apple are singing lousily here but it was only the third take but Ralph and Apple was able to learn this very quickly in just 3 successive jams...

we decided to take things slowly but it seens that everything is falling into its proper place at a very fast pace... hope this line up last longer that any line up this band ever had...

Buzz Night At Tampuhan...

it was quite a Buzz Night we had last night... all the bands lined-up did very well... although i was not that satisfied with Your Imaginary Friends' set last night... they plated well but they didn't sink well in my ears... maybe it was because the vocals was way too loud... still they had really improved...

as for Soft Pillow Kisses, we had a hard time last night and it took us about a song and a half to pull it all together... anyways, we're just starting all over again and hopefully soon enough, we'll be back in top form... i was quite pleased with the last three songs we played, specially "The Louder You'll Know"... this song is almost reaching it's right form...



after the gig, we (Candy Maggot and Dennis, Pillow Rene and Jann Paul and Sonnet Dale, Rommel and Along plus Jeff Colour Contest) went straight to Colassas to eat... enjoy naman, syempre asaran at kahit na medyo nakakairita yung pagka-lasing ni Jeff eh pinalusot ko nalang... at one point, while me and Rene were talking outside, Rene expressed that he was not pleased at how i've been recently neglecting Pillow in favour of Candy... syempre nagulat din ako but maybe he was right pero i'm quite sure that i'm not intentionally doing that... i gave him some reason as to why it might've looked that way to him... hopefully he understands...

in many ways, iba kasi and Pillow sa Candy, medyo fragile entity ito not like Candy na sobrang Flexible... it can do whatever it wants to do without compromising it's integrity while Pillow on the otherhand needs patience and careful attention... and for us going up First during last night's Buzz, it was more of me respecting other bands rather than making us Guinea Pigs or as he put it, "The Sound Check Band"... Sobrang Confident ko sa Pillow that's why i made us play First...

Wasted Opportunity Made Useful

it was just me, Rene and Ralph at last night's practice... Apple could not be with us since she was in Cavite as for Jann Paul, we haven't heard from him yet...

i really wanted to consistently have this once a week practice sessions but i just can't... it's so frustrating and i can't really do anything about it... Ralph has really been catching up a lot... these practice sessions could very much do us well specially Jann Paul and Apple...

nevertheless, with the aid of beats coming from a heavily battered keyboard in Sam's studio, the 3 of us was able to carry on practicing... it was suprisingly enjoyable inspite of the basic beats that your's truly could ever manage to juice from the keyboard's default beat bank...

we wasted no time cleaning up some songs specially "The Louder You'll Know"... at first we kinda found it hard to play along side the steadiness of the drum patterns but after a while we got used to it... i also came to know how hard it was to sing in precision time... i enjoyed it a lot to a point that it made me consider to get me a drum machine... but i know that i'm not that patient at learning how to program beats but maybe it might come to good use someday... just maybe... but i'd still go for a real drummer anytime...

here's how we toyed around playing two songs (Wasting Opportunities and Under Ccover Angel) using the same drum pattern...

Expecting, Anticipating... The Rain...

Expecting, Anticipating... The Rain...

i was looking forward to last Monday's Buzz Night as this new Pillow line-up's debut gig but because of that rains, i guess it'll have to wait...

still we did play without Apple who could not make it due to flooded streets leading from her place to Mayrics... also she got injured because of the flooded streets going to her place...

Actually, i did felt really disappointed... who wouldn't be... we had at least 3 practice sessions going to this one and was expecting quite a lot from everyone involved trying to prove, me specially, that we have weathered the storm that has recently hit this band... it could've been a treat if we were palying all together that night...

Again, it just have to wait but now my patience an faith is being tested... i'm beging to ask the question "Is This IT?"...

Actually, we almost didn't get to play last night because aside from Apple not making to the venue, Jann Paul also had a hard time getting out of work as planned... ralph didn't want to wait much more since it was really late... i decided on letting Kel (Candyaudioline) play drums which was really what i didn't want that time around cause i wanted to push with the right line-up even without our singer... Jann Paul came just in the nic of time and we went with our set getting help along the way from Elaine (Candyaudioline) doind back-up vocals...

all in all, it was sort of an imcomplete but satisfying ordeal... Elaine was a bonus treat and while watching some of the footages, i think we played well... Elaine was bravely hilarious... she doesn't really care whether she'd look funny, a burst of giggles here and there at the slightest boo boo she did... Thanks Elaine!!!

lesson learned: this one's going to be a tough one and needs to be approached with patience and respect to everyone involved... at least i can see that everyone's into it one way or another... and that'll do for now...

Let it rain!!!

All Together Now... At Last...

for the first time, the members of the new line-up (Me, Apple, Ralph, Rene and Jann Paul) all showed up for practice...



regretfully, i wasn't able to use the opportunity to whip this line-up to shape thanks to my idea of having both Candyaudioline and Soft Pillow Kisses share the same practice slot... still we had a blast courtesy of my Candy mates who i think were all born with a natural tendency towards Lunacy...

During the Pillow practice session, i noticed a few things that have to be taken into consideration... 1st is how the past few successive practice session have helped Jann Paul get back to form... i remember during the recording sessions last month as to how he was having a very difficult time playing the songs... now he was playing them with ease... just hope that with these practice sessions, he'd improve more specially on the more upbeat songs where he usually have a hard time executing them at the right speed... Rene on the other hand is more relaxed and credits this to Jann Paul's steadiness... this is a good thing and give the songs more consistency and definition... Apple on the otherhand obviously needs to practice more and regularly... Rene noticed that she seems to forget the proper executions specially after weeks of being inactive... well actually she has already told me that she have some sort of a memory problem ever since she was involved in an accident not so long ago... i also noticed something about the way she sings... there's something wrong with the way she anticipates each line... this is mainly due to her having a hard time memorising them, this affects the way she sings making her sing awkwardly at times... this can still be corrected i think... As for Ralph, i guess he's suffering from info-overload but he'll get the hang of it very soon... also he still has to learn the right sound for each song... still we all are very pleased with him... he even impressed us all by learning 1 song (Just Like The Sky) in just 30 minutes...



as for me, i guess i'm really getting old...

Getting Better...

we had our second practice with Ralph last Sunday and we (Me, Rene and Jann Paul) just can't help but feel really happy at Ralph's progress... he can now do around 12songs... ang bilis di ba? wasn't really expecting it to be that quick pero ayun, masipag talaga... he takes things seriously and as much as possible, he'd stay close to what he hears... we even made him do some songs which he hasn't studied yet pero go pa rin sya... i like that attitude, willing to try things rather than shying away just to save face... it just goes to show how confident he is as a guitarist...

Nung first practice, he was able to do 7 songs (Bathing In The Sun, It Will Never Last (Forever), Harsh Words (Never Heal), I Don't Know What To Say, Stolen Flowers, Stay Here For A While and Losing Something...) last time out he was able to do 5 more (Mr. Right, Vodka Ice #3, Under Cover Angel, Your Shoes Are Untied and So Called Friend)... Sayang at wala dun si Apple kasi it would've been more enjoyable since the line-up been almost rounded up with Jann Paul still being our drummer... and because of Ralph, kahit na medyo loaded si Jann Paul sa work, mas feel nya ngayon mag practice... Even me and Rene have been enjoying the past few practice sessions...



Tonight there'll be another one with (pati rin Candyaudioline) and hopefully kumpleto kaming lahat sa practice para mas masayama...

Buzz Night @ Mayrics September 8, 2008 (Monday)

Here is this month's line up...

Gentle Isolation
Your Imaginary Friends
Sonnet LVIII
Candyaudioline
Random Knobs
Tether
Soft Pillow Kisses

Gig hopefully starts by 9pm, entrance gets you one free drink at PhP100.00...

Doubts Put To Rest...

After last night's Pillow practice session, all my doubts about Ralph's being able to play Pillow songs the way they should be played have been put to rest...

going into the pratice i was thinking of ways to orient Ralph with the finer points of guitar playing "indiepop style"... There's no doubt as to his guitar playing abilities but there's really a big difference when it comes to playing the way i want him to play as opposed to the way he's accustumed with... and inspite of his years with Candyaudioline and a few month's with Aspirin and how he'd jumped from the typical virtuoso guitarist to avant garde british pop rock to indierock / shoegaze and post shoegaze stylings i'm pretty sure that he still has to familiar himself with the simpistic complexity of indiepop playing...

i hoped to make him play around 4 to 5 songs during that practice, instead we ended up doing 7 songs (Bathing In The Sun, It Will Never Last (Forever), Harsh Words (Never Heal), I Don't Know What To Say, Stolen Flowers, Stay Here For A While and Losing Something...)...



Most of the 7 songs were done slendidly while 2 of them needs to be studied a bit more... still me, together with Rene and Jann Paul were quite happy and truly convinced that Ralph could really do it... If only Apple (I let sit out last night's practice session since she was too tired and i felt that i had to focus more on Ralph) was there to make the session more "complete"....

still a lot more needs to be done about Ralph's playing, and i sure am glad that inspite of his being an ace guitar player, he is always ready to listen and learn from me... i'm not rushing things, i'll be quite happy if he could be able to pull it off by himself, seeing how good he seems to adjust to guitar styles that he seems to like and appreciate... hopefully he'd gets the kick out of playing this type of music and get to truly learn the right feel so that he gets to execute it perfectly...

Reconstructing Soft Pillow Kisses...

here we go again...
as i've posted many posts ago...
here's the present Soft Pillow Kisses...

Apple - Vocals, Ralph(Ex-Candyaudioline)- Guitars, Me - Guitars and Vocals and Rene - Bass



It's not been easy but it had to be done... no regrets so far... hopefully none anymore...

It Was Quite Fun Really...

Soft Pillow Kisses played quite an enjoyably long set last night... we did something like 8 songs i think...

Buzz Night last night was quite not what i expected it to be... Quite a number of people showed up although i was expecting only band members to watch the whole thing...

Dale's Some Gorgeous Accident played first... with him was Sherwin and Ria, both from Sunday Picnic Love Affair... they were tight this time around and the songs were much more "defined" and clearer, not unlike when i first saw them at Route196 where they were obviously trying to feel each other out... I just hope that Dale would allow his voice to be heard more... Their songs does have some killer melodies but he choses to drown them instead...

Candyaudioline followed... i can't really tell if we did well but all i can say is that we did enjoyed playing inspite of countless booboos on our part... and worse i9s that i can't really tell if it was my gadget or my guitar that was fucking up most of the time...

Lazy Lorelei was the 3rd band... They've develop a much more brighter sound... Really clean... Not good really for me... i kinda like the way they were a long time ago... The intruments sounded really raw way back then which was truly a great compliment to their singer's lovely voice... i can't really explain as to why i see the improvement in their sound as more of a let down... it's like comparing bands like The Autocollants and Charming for instance... I'd go for The Autocollants raw sound anytime compared to Charming's polished sound... Don't be alarmed yet, Lazy Lorelei still owns some really neat "indiepop tune" in this part of the globe...

we came in last... as expected, Dennis dished out a decent amount of belly achers to me and Rene's pleasure... the most memorable of which were during "It Will Never Last (Forever)" and "I Don't Know What To Say"... but this does not mean that we sucked last night... in fact i guess we did well... it's just that we find these stage fuck-ups quite enjoyable, specially guitar related fuck-ups... maybe we've gone mad already dew to the numerous line up changes that this band over the years... But seriouly, kudos to Dennis for being such a good sport, allowing Ralph to play for Candyaudioline while he on the otherhand played valiantly each of the 8 Pillow songs heaving a big sigh of relief at the end of each one while bracing himself for the next... Apple to did well too inspite of a really annoying runny nose...

Me, Dennis, Rene and Dale went to Mr. Kabab afterward for some chow and a healthy exchange of thoughts pertaining to the recent Buzz and some really annoying people who are supposedly part of the whole local indie thing... By the way, i'm kinda considering Rene's idea... i'm keeping my fingers crossed, i just hope this works...

That's that for now... hopefully there'll be more Buzz Nights to come...

Looking Forward To Tonight's Gig... And The Future

it's been 3 months now since the last time we had Buzz Night... we had Marian then singing for us, Jann Paul playing the drums and Charles on guitars and as far as i remember we played really well... Now it's a totally different line up mostly made up of Candyaudioline members Me, Rene, Kel and Dennis...

Although we have been practicing every once in a while, i honestly feel that we still have a long way to go in capturing the right Soft Pillow Kisses sound that most of the previous line-ups have come to perfect... Gone are the clean and smooth guitar textures of previous Pillow Guitarists, A.J. and Charles... Dennis has yet to perfect this craft since he and me both produce really dirty sounding guitar noises... The drums too will be taking a plunge. The steadiness of Gilbert and Jann Paul is replaced by Kel's often times "playfullness" making him play a some differently... it's either a good or a bad thing depending on how he does it on any given night... Apple, our singer has been really struggling in finding the right voice... there are times that she's on the right grove although every now and then, she seems to miss the mark... but she does have a really lovely voice, a voice that i hope could help keep the integrety of this band intact...

Nevertheless, it doesn't mean that we're taking the plunge... we do have really good songs... songs that still stand out or at least at par with anything good that's been coming out... i've heard a lot of really good local "Indie" bands/acts popping out every now and then and i'm really happy for them, i just hope they don't develop a wrong attitude...

i just learned from a friend that there's this local indie band that has really developed quite an emormous ego... i've heard of them and they do have really good songs... but not the type of songs that could measure up to my standards of what is truly good, although i'm a fan of New Order, Field Mice, The Wake and Countless other really good Post-Punk bands that came out of the 80's... they're only claim to fame is that their songs sound like a mixture of tried and tested "indie" acts most of which i just mentioned a while back and that they know a lot of people in the net and that they have patiently converted these aquaintances into fans... i'm sounding a bit like a sore loser but that's what i've noticed with this whole "indie" thing... it's mostly "Mutual Admiration"... i pity those who are potentially better than us but is outside the so-called circle... good thing there's somelike like my friend who makes sure that not a stone is left un-touched/unturned... if it weren't for him, i would have thought that local indie was only survived by quite a few number of really promising bands like, Populardays, Lazy Lorelei, Outerhope, Wentle Traps, Mintcar, Names Are For Tombstones, Isolation Ward, Tether and Random Knobs... But in truth there are a lot more and i guess some has yet to be discovered...

going back to Soft Pillow Kisses, i'm happy that we are still around... i just hope that inspite of the things that's been happening with us, we'll still be able to keep up with the rest...

Buzz Night @ Mayrics August 18, 2008 (Monday)

After about 3 months of absense, there will be one this month and it's happenning next week, Monday, August 18, 2008... Here are some of the confirmed bands...

Some Gorgeous Accident
Sunday Picnic Love Affair
Lazy Lorelei
Candyaudioline
Corleones
Soft Pillow Kisses

Hope to see you there...

How Great It Was Then...

i wish things could've stayed the same... but that's maturity...

i miss the days when most of my scenemates were simple people with good taste... i miss the days when we all knew where we stood and why we were standing there... i miss the days when we were merely fans... i miss the times when we were helping each other grow in music, art and taste... i miss the days where we all looked at each others back with our heads in check... i miss the days when we all celebrate in our own little obscurity... i miss the days when indie was just simply indie... "precious and pure"

But things change, sometimes for the better but i don't think it's quite the same here...

Things Within: (Silos)... "too many autumn leaves do fall in winter"

Crab Mentality rules and when "most" bands tend to get an idea that they're hitting their "mark", they develop a tendency to slag others off as if the "others' never happened in the first place... I hate that really... it's a scary prelude to extinction if you ask me... On a brighter note, i think there have been some new acts showing a great deal of promise surfacing here and there in this beloved country of ours but i haven't really gotten to know most of them in fear of the obvious - which is them turning out to be utter disappointments... sorry, i'm always like this... but there have been quite a who've a made a believer out of me... i want to be a fan too... honestly...

Nearby Town: (Candyaudioline) "... pretty faces all around, it's a place not far away"

i pity those who had they're chance but never quite held to it... these are those who thought they made a touchdown but actually they're still far from the scoring field... there were a few in the old days but they seem to rule the present... i feel really sad for the future coz this seem what's to be coming to them...

Time Thief: (Pale Saints) "... the words are breezing and theres always, one more clue to comprehend"

it's a good thing that "old Soft Pillow Kisses member is here... Brings back those really neat memories when he's with us... having him back here even just for a short while makes me remember how cool it was like wearing the "indie tag"...

Try To Smile: (Soft Pillow Kisses) "...just won't open my eyes, coz the sight it depresses, depresses, depress"

i miss the first few months of this band, it was all fun then... just trying to make really nice songs... no living up to anything in particular... just five individuals enjoying each other's company... joey and bong likes hanging out with me, i like seeing apple (miranda), we all get a kick out of beejays's cath-school-teen-chick-antics... once on stage, we're still the same five individuals enjoying shared space wearing simple smiles while laughing our hearts out at each blunders we made...

this in not to say that i'm not happy with Pillow now, i still am but back then, Pillow was more of a Living Entity but now its just Name...

Past Future Present...

As a Soft Pillow Kisses member, yesterday was kind of a weird scenario for me... i scheduled a Pillow practice yesterday to help Apple prepare for a re-take of the songs she recently recorded... A few days ago, an old Pillow member made his presence felt... i was so surprised by his unannounced appearance...

So on to yesterday... i was suppose to meet up with Candy-Elaine at gateway on our way to the rehearsal studio. i got a text message from "old Pillow member" that he was in Gateway and he was to meet another "ex-Pillow member"... didn't want to miss out on this one... so after work, i went straight to Gateway to meet up with them... it was like something of a make believe thing since i never imagined that the three of us would be in the same place at the same time... ex-Pillow member was obviously uncomfortable upon seeing me... i can understand her... after what i did to her but still we've been friends for so long that i guess it got the better of us, mine specially... after more than an hour of chatting, she and her boyfriend left while me and old-Pillow member had dinner while waiting for Elaine to arrive...

In the studio, we made old-Pillow member jam with us... he still had a feel of some of the songs and even jammed with us through some of the newer ones... i just wish he could stay longer but that wish will always be, just a wish... with him, we were starting to sound good again in lew of Charles absence... i guess he was having a great time too... hope we get to play with him before he disappears again...

Hmmm, after we all (Pillow and Candy) said our goodbyes, i just can't help but notice 3 things about this band... one is that it has yet to overcome it's past... second is that it doesn't want to see it's future and third, it does not know how to make use of the present...

honestly i'm trying really hard... jsut waiting for everyone (the regulars and the sessionists) to sink in to their respective places...

Comfort In Singing...

Candy and Pillow practice yesterday was really fun... As usual, Elaine was her in her normal crazy self while Apple on the other hand was still trying to feel her way inside our crazy little world... but she's getting there...

it was supposed to be just candy last night but Apple wanted to re-do her vocals on all the songs she did during the recording... so since 80% of Candyaudioline is also that of Sof Pillow Kisses, i decided to have her come to the practice session...

honestly, i had a hard time with her last night... maybe i was tired and was a bit impatient... i can see that she too was tired but i guess she really wanted to make good during the recordings which made me really quite pleased with her...

i tried some new approach with her and made a few discoveries...

she has many discomforts and can only sing comfortably given the presence of some really unnecessary elements... i won't elaborate on these items but just to sum it up, she is way too dependent on things which sometimes would not be possible during a gig...



also, she still is not really familiar with the way she has to approach the songs... she has no idea as of yet on how to "feel" them... it's more like she just wants so sing them... i really believe that she's capable but she still has to have the slightest clue as to why it's being done that way... Just don't have the time yet to properly educate her with the finer points of "indie-ness"... She has the voice and i've heard it a number of times already but her being not sure and obvious consciousness is getting in the way of her improvement...

like that of Elaine during the Candy segment, me and Apple did a few one on ones and she's improved quite a lot compared to the first time we did it... no more shaky singing, she was hitting the right spot more frequently this time around but sometimes, too much things inside one's head while singing would easily cause one to sing more un-assured... she did very well during "Stay Here For A While", she was able to correct herself during "Wasting Opportunities"... When we did "Your Shoes...", she was singing it like she was doing it for more than a year already...


I guess a few more practices and a bit more familiarization with the genre is what she needs... and one more important thing, confidence...

Soft Pillow Kisses Recordings and Route 196 Gig

this happens to be our 2nd proper gig with our new singer... it was really enjoyable and we played really well...

before going to the gig, we spent some time at pink noise doing some rough mixes of Pillow and Minty songs...

some info on the recently recorded Soft Pillow Kisses... here are the song which we recorded: "The Louder You'll Know", "Bathing In The Sun", "I Was Right", Wasting Opportunities" and "Stay Here For A While"... Former Candyaudioline and Soft Pillow Kisses bassist lara did the vocals "Bathing In The Sun" and "I Was Right"... She also played the bass for both songs... Apple on the otherhand sang the vocals for "The Louder You'll Know", Wasting Opportunities" and "Stay Here For A While"...

going back to the gig, i think Apple is a bit comfortable now singing the songs... she was really relaxed - hope she learns to deliver the songs loudly while singing in a relaxed manner - and inspite of some of Charles' fumbling on guitars, we still played one ace set... sadly, this might be Charles' last for he'll be leaving for Bacolod next week... we'll surely miss him... we weren't able ti catch this gig on video... darn!!!

me and my bandmates were quite impressed at the singer of the band that followed... i forgot the band's name, it was Yoshi or something to that effect... and she's cute too although i don't really like their music... i hate it when musicians of a certain band do really long "individual" solo's especially veru long one's... what's the point really? it makes the musician look like circus acts... that's how i feel about it, sorry...

after the gig we went to Rufo's Makati Ave for our obligatory eating spree the went home feely really stuffed and sleepy...

A Soft Pillow Kisses Gig At Last... With A New Singer...

last night we played at Mayrics after almost 3 months of inactivity... to me it was really a big breathe of air... i never though that we could be back this easily... as i've posted many posts ago that Soft Pillow Kisses is swarmed with loads of problems, but the most telling of all is going to take place next month... But something has been done about it already...

On to the gig... i wasn't really confident about it but we had to get going somehow... so without practicing for about 2 weeks now i still decided to push through with it... i do have confidence in Kel and Dennis (Di masyadong halata mga sabit mo ha, ngayon lang ako tumawa ng ganun sa stage ah...) playing Pillow songs since we do fool around with Pillow songs every once in a while during Candyaudioline practices... As for Apple, we do see how potentionally capable she can be singing my songs... But she still has to put herself more into the music... and to the band itself which until now i feel hasn't sunk into her yet... But she did decently well last night...

During the first song "Stolen Flowers" she sang off-key in the first stanza and sang early before the second stanza but by the middle of the song she was doing well although still struggling... During the second song "Just Like The Sky" she obviously trying to sing it correctly which she did but that's really difficult to do if you havent really memorize the song... During "I Was Right" her microphone fucked up... you call still hear her a bit doing very well during the first half but during the second half it was all me... On the song "Bathing In The Sun", she was really having a hard time... Obviously, she wasn't really repared singing it since it wasn't on the setlist... i decided to do "Bathing..." instead of "Wasting opportunities" because i didn't like to look stupid bringing along with me a distortion pedal and using it only on a fragment of a song... at least with "Bathing..." i would be using it in more that half of the song...

here's "Bathing In The Sun" with Apple singing...



I'm looking forward to our gig next week back at Route 196... hope by this time Apple would be doing close to well...

Superminty / Soft Pillow Kisses @ Route 196...

Superminty played it's first gig after almost 3 years of absence... it was really fun although all of us were quite unconfortable since we weren't sure if we were going to pull this one off... we did have practiced about three times before this gig but most practices were mostly for the new songs ("All About Us" and another one inspired by Marian's "forced" resignation from Soft Pillow Kisses) which i was doing for Superminty...

Since this is Soft Pillow Kisses's Blog, i won't be dwelling much on Superminty... although it was quite a decent set for Superminty, my guitar's being out of tune during the first two songs ("When We Smile" and "Sink Into Something") was quite a let down... though i think we were able to look good during the last two ("Silly Thing" and the new one "All About Us") Minty songs...

We were supposed to do 5 songs but Minty could only manage 4 songs so i decided to do a Soft Pillow Kisses song since Apple, our new singer, was there... She wanted to do "Just Like The Sky" so we did... During the performance i thought me and Apple were fumbling up the Lyrics which made us both at ourselves, but when i watched the video, well i can say that it was quite good,and she was quite good too although our voices got drowned by the loud instruments playing in the background... if only Dennis had taken a few seats back the we could possibly be heard more since the PA system of the venue is located way up the ceilings... Here's that perfromance with Apple singing... "Dennis, ang galing mo talaga kumuha ng Video!!!"



We'll be playing as Soft Pillow Kisses this Thursday at Mayrics... well it more of a Candyaudioline minus Elaine plus Apple line up since Charles wont be available since he has to be with his mom who's coming back from the states for a visit and Jann Paul is out for work...

Going back to Marian, we all feel sorry that it has come to this point... worse is that she had no idea as to what our silence was all about... we can't really give out any reasons now since it's all water under the bridge... she made her move and it was really brave of her while the rest of us stayed quiet... this really makes the rest of us look really bad... we do admit that our silence was wrong but i believe that it has to be that and only that...

Thanks for the message Marian... and again, SORRY... You did a lot for us, sadly we didn't...

Superminty Practice And New Song...

i have no other place to post this yet since i've no Superminty blogger, multiply or myspace accounts... so i'm going to use both Soft Pillow Kisses' and Candyaudioline's blogs to post anything related to Superminty...

We had a really long practice session last night since i wanted to demo a new song, this one was supposed to go to Soft Pillow Kisses but i decided to let Superminty have this one instead...

at first i thought i was going to have a hard time with this one since Charles have been having problems adding guitar lines to my songs... i don't know if he's just being selfish giving his all only on Populardays (his band)and giving me only 30% of his guitar palying ability... Charles is one great guitar player you know... try listening to some Populardays stuff... we were able to pull it off after about 6 tries... i would also like to commend both Kel and Rene for a job well done and for having to put up with all the crazy patterns that i had in my head which really gave them a hart time to execute this one... yet, this is still not the proper form in which i would like this song to be... it'll have to do for now...

so here's the song... no titles as of yet...



no need to know she said
it's all inside our heads
we'll take you far away from here
tucked inside your bed

just like an evening glow
a silly morning show
with people acting like it's well
but do they really know

Well... hey!!!
it's all about you...
it's all about me...
it all about us!!!

a sunny smile that's dead
no tears of joy to shed
we'll wait a while until it's gone
i think enough is said

we should slow down take our time
ambitions of another gain might stain and waste our lives...
... we know the cause... it's all because...

Almost Ready For The Next...

Had another Pillow, Minty, Candy practice session last night...

Kicked off with Superminty since Dennis and Apple haven't arrived yet... Felt a bit disappointed at first since i wasn't able to bring the lyrics of the new song (which i initially planned to give to Soft Pillow Kisses) but still i was able to have an idea as to how good the song could turn out to be... Ripped through 4 other Minty songs... still needs time though... still can't get the right feel although "When We Smile" and "Sink Into Something" are beginning to sound good again thanks to Kel's "steady" beats and Charles' improved guitar sound...

Dennis arrived in the middle of the Minty session followed by Apple a few minutes later... Decided to go for a Pillow session since Charles still had his guitar plugged in... Apple was a bit off during the first few songs dew maybe to the volume that we were at which was ridiculously loud and from too much alcohol that Dennis used to clean up Apple's mic... she kept telling me that she had a hard time singing close to the mic since the smell of alcohol was too strong... After about 6 songs, we decided to take a break and went outside the studio for the usual, yosi/snack time part of the practice session... during the break, Charles and Dennis played PSP while me, Rene, Kel and Apple exchanged opinions and thoughts about the songs, the music scene and Dennis' lips in particular... we even bullied Charles to tell us his "Legendary" bout with a "Locked Jaw" (Pictures will be available at Pillow's Blog as soon as Charles allows me to post them)... went back to practice mode were we did another batch... by this time Apple was a bit comfortable... still she was nowhere near her peak (she did very well during last weeks practice, well enough to impress me)... Called another break and decided to shift to Candy-gear... i told Apple to listen to two more songs, "Louder" and "Vodka" and that i'll have her sing them after the Candy session...

During the Candy part... i was only focusing on two songs "Nearby Town" and "Cellophane Smiles" but since we were planning on re-recording "An Empty You" and "We've Been There", i decided to include both songs in the line-up... We made to runs at "Nearby Town" and told Kel how i want the drums to sound Simple but really Mean... he did what i had told him to and it was really good... "Nearby Town" sounded so good, enough to make us all turn the volume insanely higher... "Cellophane Smile" sounded like a winner, just when i was about to lose my confidence in this song... It just had to be done tight, loud and dirty... "We've Been There" and "An Empty You" rounded out the Candy part of the session... it was so tight that we were so surpried at how tight we executed it... These four Candy songs are well on it's way to being recorded at the next possible recording session...

I called back Apple again to do the last two songs that i asked her to review... i was quite surprised at how easily she learned both song... we ended the whole thing with 2 more songs one Pillow Song "Stolen Flowers" of which i had Dennis play guitars knowing that he was to play Candy's "Better View" since Charles couldn't play it and the last song for the night was a Superminty song "When We Smile"...

Went to Mr. Kabab, where Charles and Dennis continued playing NBA Live in their PSP's, while the rest of us ate... ate... spot... cracked jokes etc... etc...

A Gig, A Studio Session And An Awkward Situation...

hello everyone...

Just found time to post something worth posting...

last Wdnesday, Candyaudioline was suppose to play a gig somewhere in Malabon but at the last minute is was moved to yestereday... i decided to let Soft Pillow Kisses play having in mind Elaine (Candyaudioline Singer) or Apple (Road-Star-Manager) do the fronting... But both were not available and Lara was always out of reach...

I really had to scrap that one... But Rene wanted to play so i didn't cancel and waited for something positive to happen...

I just so happened that i booked a recording session for Candyaudioline on the date of the Pillow Gig... But a day before, both Candy-members Dennis and Kel has already committed themselves to their other band's gig's...

I was able to convince Charles and Jann Paul to record our one-year-old new song "The Louder You'll Know"... But i told them that if there was someone who'd sing for us, we'll push thru with the gig after a quick trek to the studio... I was able to gaet a hold of Lara and she said she'd love to session for us...

So this was the plan... Record 4 songs in 3 and a half hours focusing on the drums only, then rush to the gig and feel resurrected... but this was what happened... our sched at the studio got moved to an hour late (from 8pm it became 9pm) so we only had 2 and a half hours to record... worse, Jann Paul was obviouly out of it but he did tried hard... with just one hour to go and only a song (drum tracks only) recorded, i decided to finish the session abruptly but first we had to record "Louder" live so that we'd use it as a study... but during this song, Jann Paul seemed to have gotten back his timing and Rhythn but time wasn't on our side... after a few over dubs on "Louder"... we left at around 12:15am in a rush so we could get to Valenzuela before 1am... But i got a call from the venue that they're closing already since the crowd already left... i told him that we'd love to perform in front of empty seats but he won't let us... weird coz it was only 1am and it was too early to close on a Saturday evening... i tried calling some contacts so that we could at least gate crash at a gig and it was only Joeford from 9 Mile who let us play... Stupid of me, i didn't even bother to ask him as to what sort of a production it was... We were really in high spirits upon reaching 9 Mile but just as soon as me, Lara and Rene got out of Lara's van, we were greeted with a loud demonic growl from one of the bands who were just starting to perform... Rene and Lara didn't bother to rush in side the venue but i did so to my surprise, it was a Heavier-Than-Hell's-Metal affair... My White Polo Shirt, Ripped Maong Shorts and Shiny Greasy head was no match to the Sea of Black Shirts and Multiple Metal Hair convention in front of me... i went out of the venue really laughing at myself and was quite amused at how Rene was begging me not to throw ourselves into the bowels of HELL... You should have seen Charles' face when he learned of the bands performing... still we did get to enjoy the night eating near the venue talking about lots of things related to Pillow...

Charles will be out for a long time... Jann Paul will stay with me and Rene... and that's good news... Dennis and Kel of Candyaudioline will always be the next option... Lara wants to session for a while before she leaves for Dubai in a month and a half's time... Everyone likes Apple but i have my doubts too since she's really someone who likes to do lot's of things...

Have you heard of Superminty? Eto kami...

From Kopiroti To Nymphetz....So What About Soft Pillow Kisses?

Hello everyone...

Here's something that is some what Pillow related that i can post...

didn't wan't to go home early last night so i decided to go spotting somewhere in Morato... as soon as i was decided that Kopiroti was to be the venue, i texted Rene, Lara and Elaine that i wanted to kill time there... i arrived there at around 10pm, Rene followed 30 minutes later then Lara came in 20 minutes after Rene.... not much spotting went on since there was not that much "beautiful people" around plus there were these guys who were showing off their car-stereo-sub-woofer-set-ups and was really annoying... maybe too much low-frequency-mega-bass-noise kinda affected their way of caring for the people around them...

got to chat about lots of things specially about Pillow... i guess Rene is beginning to soften up a bit... we'll see, he and Lara do have valid points on their view of the Pillow situation and maybe, just maybe i might consider them seriously... we decided to call it a night at around 12:30am...

Lara insisted that she'll drive me home and i readily agreed... on our way to my place, i tried calling Charles since we haven't seen each other for quite some time and we're beginning to miss him a lot... he answered and told us that he was home with a friend so instead of going home, we went to Charles' place... he was with Tonio from Liquid Cindy and they were like jamming some songs together... we really miss Charles... he seems quite happy specially now that he knows that he'll be a father again very soon and it's going to be a boy... congrats Charles and Anne... i suggested that we celebrate and the best place was (drum rolls pls....) NYPMHETZ!!! But Charles, didn't want to go... hehehe, miss those days when just a small gesture such as a mere smile and a wink of an eye then all of a sudden, everyone was in heaven... those days are long gone and Charles has decided to be a GOOD HUSBAND... We left charles and Tonio to continue with their song writing / jamming session and off we went to the surprise-second-place of destination... although i was really saddened of the news that Charles will be leaving by the end of july as opposed to the original September date, worse he'll be gone for a really really long time...

Me, Lara and Rene arrived at Nymphetz around 1:30am... we were hell-bent of seeing the dance performers (Nymphetz Fashion Collection) but there was none that time around to Lara's dismay... though we did get to sing some of our fave videoke songs coupled by a decent serving of seafood garnished pansit canton/bihon, a few beers and a can of pepsi... and we even had time to take a few pics ourselves...







we went home around a quarter to four... it was quite an enjoyable night really... Lara and Rene are always good company... yeah we're the closest Pillow-Ex-Pillowmates at the moment...

So what about Soft Pillow Kisses? Nothing as of yet... Me and Rene, we're still at it... the rest, i can't really tell though Charles said that he's still in it come what may... although we still have to get someone to session for him in his absence... Jann Paul is really busy with work and his schedule too always makes it close to impossible for him to be with us always... I think Rene has also found someone to session for Jann Paul... As for Marian, we don't really know what's up with her lately although she did text me about an invitation to play a gig somewhere on July 12 a few days ago... i didn't reply coz i don't know what to say? it's not that simple to just play a gig every now and then with out preparing for it... and i'm just too tired to initiate things like practice and other stuffs then at the last minute, someone, and at times almost everyone, won't be up to it and during performance, we get to suck big time like "the song's too slow" or "wrong guitar lines" or "wrong lyrics" or "really way out of tune singing"... maybe there was a time when we were able to pull it off inspite of not preparing for those gigs but but during the last few gigs of last year, we were starting to play really bad...

i've always prided myself as being part bands that are some what unique... bands that will always be among the top if not the top of their class... and i'm not about to step down, specially with this band...

the in-betweens

I've been wondering for the longest time what's up with Soft Pillow Kisses and the only information I can get are stuff posted in this blog. I've been texting but so far, only Rene and Allan have replied. I do understand Janpol and Charles may be busy making a living too. Life's hard these days. I miss you guys, whatever you're all busy with. I hope that whatever it is you're all dealing with--individually, and as a band member--you do get to come to terms with the fact that we all love playing music and Soft Pillow Kisses' is sweetest to our ears. I guess that's the reason why we are all in it in the first place.

Some updates my side of the world:

-I finally got to see Kung Fu Panda. Panalong laugh trip! "Wait, wait, my fault! I tweaked his facial nerves! And may have also stopped his heart."

-My blue green hair is gone now. It has faded into oblivion. What remains is a light lumot color.

-I'm starting to blog in my Livejournal again. Add me if you're in LJ, most entries are set to friends-only mode.

-I finally got myself an mp3 player. My very first! I got the iPod Classic with 160gig worth of space. And I need all the help I can get to fill its HUGE memory haha. First thing in my mind: include SPK gig and practice videos there.

-I'm thinking of getting a tattoo. I'm just thinking twice about it because it might hurt. It will hurt, I know. But the possible amount of pain it will bring is making me space out just thinking about it. Wala bang painless?

Speaking of painless, I just want to say I feel better now. Post-break up chuvaness is already gone and I'm pretty much "painless" these days. Nothing beats unloading excess baggage and talking things over so you arrive at an agreeable point. There's no more bitterness nor bad vibes, only a great friendship that has been around ever since the relationship even started.

To SPK, I miss our food trips! I'm concerned, I hope you guys are doing okay.

The Incredible FUTURE....

Hello everyone...

yesterday was yet again a chance for me to watch a movie... i was hell bent on watching "The Incredible Hulk"... so after going to Church, i rushed to SM North EDSA to catch the 8pm screening... i arrived there at about 10 minutes to seven so i decided have dinner first at Pollo Loco and get to buy some DVD's... My DVD hunting turned out to be the highlight of that night... i was able to score 2 really old Jackie Chan films ("Fearless Hyennas" and "Spiritual Kung Fu") and the "Find Of The Night" an old Stephen Chow film called "King Of Beggars" one of my fave Stephen Chow movies of all time... Original DVD's at that...

at around 8:10pm, i went inside the theatre to catch a glimpse of some up-coming movies... i was really blown away by the "Hellboy 2" trailer... then all of of a sudden there was this ad about movie etiquette having a sort of badly recorded indiepop tune as it's background music... suddenly i thought of Soft Pillow Kisses... It's glorious past, miserable present and its uncertain future... then guess what happened next... I FELL A SLEEP!!!

Woke up in the middle of the HULK movie... worse, it was the last screening!!! wish i could have another chance at seeing the movie again... next time around, i won't be thinking about this band's future... on the bright side, the actions scenes in the movie were quite awesome...

hehehe... until next post...

Can't Help It Really...

Hello everyone...

Looks like we're in for another one... Hopefully not... But if it has to, then so be it...

It's been going on like this for months now or maybe a year and worse there's nothing i can do about it...

I really think its unfair to me and also "Soft Pillow Kisses" if i let it stay this way... I've talked to Rene since he's the only present member who i think is qualified to be a part of the next level...

But i have to consider a lot of things so i still have to think of other options just to save some of this bands precious entities... can't really do well without friends who i've grown to trust and have confidence with...

this leaves me with just a single option... i'm going to reform Superminty once more... This is the only way and i just can't help it really...

can you see where i'm getting at?

Exciting....

Hello everyone,

Can't help but notice how things have been for us since that last "Shamefully Forgettable" gig we had at Big Sky many eons ago... well i dont remember the exact date and honestly i don't want to recall any of it ever... actually, the only thing that i remember that night was leaving the stage very tired, enraged, disappointed and promising myself that it was the last time that Soft Pillow Kisses would every look that stupid ever...

Soft Pillow Kisses has come a long way since it's inception way back 1999 and i won't just let it rot like this...

Doubts and Uncertainty...

hello everyone,

ever get the feeling of tighly holding sand in your hand? it's realy quite unpleasant i suppose... the tighter you grip it the more it falls out of your hand leaving you dusty/dirty palms...

i really hate some songs being played on radio recently... how come these song get to be played on air... very disgusting... is that what we Filipinos are capable of digesting... Come on, it's been like a decade and a half since some really good music has reached our shores but still many go for these kinds of "bobo" songs... i wish i have the liberty of naming names or mentioning titles but my line of work prevents me from doing so...

maybe if you're the intelligent type of music fan, you'll have a slight idea of which songs or artist i'm refering to...

just in case you're wondering what the first paragraph's all about, it definitely has nothing to do with romance or stuff like that... it's really about making someone commit and inspite of the pledge of commitment, you still feel a heavy sense of doubt as to whether that someone would stick it out with you come hell or high water... i'm just being paranoid maybe but after tasting candy as sweet as that, it sure is hard to let such a thing go... it's a bit like addiction in a positive way... and it's just what we need to make things sweet again...

New Look... New Something...

Hello Everyone...

Nothing new as of yet aside from this Blog's new look... We do have an New Song that's like almost a year old and also some two or three more new songs in the bag, my own bag that is...

Can't really do gigs as of the momment... Let's just say that there are a few things that are need done and some of them require a lot of thinking and careful planning... So far, one of those things have been dealt with just recently and i'm quite happy that i wasn't disappointed... although there will alway be doubts but just have to bear with it at the momment...

That's that for now... i'll try to post more and more... good things hopefully...

Opening Credits: Bean Bag by Soft Pillow Kisses

Got this from djpatti's multiply: "soundtrack of my life" post... djpatti is one of JAM88.3's dj's...

From Alvin. Thanks!

1. Open your library (iTunes, Winamp, Media Player, iPod, etc).
2. Put it on shuffle.
3. Press play.
4. For every question, type the song that's playing.
5. When you go to a new question, press the next button.
6. Don't lie and try to pretend you're cool.


Opening Credits: Bean Bag by Soft Pillow Kisses

Waking Up: Standard Lines by Dashboard Confessional

First Day of School: When It Hurts So Bad by Lauryn Hill --> I don't remember it hurting but this is funny na rin. LOL.

Falling in Love: How Great is Our God by Hillsong United --> Aaww. So true!

Fight Song: Superwoman by Alicia Keys --> Galing!!!

Breaking Up: Call It Off by Tegan & Sara --> Huwaw!!!

Prom: Why Do You Love Me by Garbage

Life's Just OK: Under Your Skin by Texas

Mental Breakdown: Sugod ver. 10 by Sandwich --> Really great version. Will see if I can upload this and others soon... got it from Raimund himself, a cd of tons of secret remixes and unreleased tracks.

Driving: I Will Survive by Gloria Gaynor --> Perfect for Manila traffic!!

Flashback: Goodbye by Juana

Getting Back Together: The Best Deceptions by Dashboard Confessional --> Wahahahaha!

Birth of Child: You Had Me at Hello by Luke Mejares --> Hahahaha. Kakahiya I have this song. But perfect anyway, no? So sweet!

Wedding: Felt So Fine by Candyaudioline

Final Battle: This Fire by Franz Ferdinand

Death Scene: Fade Into You by Mazzy Star

Funeral Song: Deeply in Love by Hillsong

Fun Siya!

It's Mei's bday party! And admission is free! Whatta cute poster, right? Excuse the expletive, I think they meant it to be an expression of sheer euphoria haha. And from here, I think it reads "PUTO @ PINA" rice cakes and pineapples! haha. ok.

Joining the line-up are The Purplechickens and Twin Lobster too!

So, go go go because it's the SOOPERULTIMATEMEGA SUMMER PARTY!

The Louder You'll Know...

Hello Everyone...

Just wanna post this one so my Band Mates would have an idea as to how it went out during the last gig we had a few weeks ago...

This was taken last March 24, 2008 at Buzz Night...

Together At Last...

Hello Everyone...

Together again at last... After countless of really frustrating attempts at getting us all to play in one gig...

last night was Buzz Night... only 4 bands played, Candyaudioline, Tether, Random Knobs and Soft Pillow Kisses...

It was just "A Going Thru The Motion" of sorts gig since i didn't really bother to promote this one... i didn't even bother to get bands knowing that since it's a Mondays, most of the regulars won't be available... I didn't even know that Tether was playing... One thing was on my mind though and that is for Soft Pillow Kisses to play with all members intact...

We've been in some sort of a limbo for quite sometime now with some members not really happy with what's been going on with us... me in particular has been having doubts and has been really frustrated to a point that...

but i realised that each of us deserves a break... just have to live with it since we all have our own personal lives to deal with... but i still think that we need to talk just to make sure that things would go smoothly in the future...




i guess you don't have any clue as to what i'm blabbering about... Better just leave it that way for the mean time... right now i'm quite happy that we were able to play last night with all members intact... and we did play well i guess inspite of not being able to jam together for quite some time now...

SPK revival. amen!

I've been missing the guys for quite some time now. The last time I was supposed to see them was Feb 14, during My Bloody Valentine night in Club Dredd. Needless to say, I was quite sick of seeing couples being loveydovey whilst I was date-less and ironically, clad in a red dress. My night consisted of eating fish and chips with Armi. Afterwards, I decided to just head home because the UP Fair looks to be quite a feast for the so-called black parade. I wasn't able to attend the two practice sessions that Allan scheduled because February was ultra-depression month. Sorry, SPK!

Here are some photos from our RJ Underground gig with Owel Alvero of Ang Bandang Shirley subbing for Allan.


Then, some more photos in Colasa's because it's my birthday! Salamat kay Allan for the treat!

I'm better now compared to January and February. The month of March seems to be kinder to me. I hope we can play soon, as a complete unit again. I've experienced playing with some of the guys missing and well, I don't enjoy it much, sa totoo lang. Meanwhile, Candyaudioline is doing great! Hooray for Candy! I have some photos during Attraction! Reaction! night in Mag:net High Street where they did a cover of "What's Up?" and "Young Folks" hehe. Great, fun set! I'll be posting them in Facebook or Multiply!

It's Been Like Ages...

Hello Everyone...

It's been like ages since the last the that we were all together... We haven't have any practice lately (like for the past 2 months now)... I didn't make it to our last gig last Feb. 16... The Last gig that we had together was the one at Magnet The Fort last February 2...

I wish i could get them to practice this Sunday Feb. 24 before i leave for Qatar on the 28th... I really miss Soft Pillow Kisses...

Here's a picture from the "Guilty Pleasure" gig last Feb. 16... It was only Chrarles, Marian and Rene with Ex-Candyaudioline and current Ang Bandang Shirley singer Selena helping them out... Even Jann Paul wasn't present...



... Wish i could've made it there... Now here are some pics with members of Candyaudioline and Soft Pillow Kisses with Lara doing what they do best after every gig... Eat and Fool around a bit...








Now I'm Off to sleep...

Attraction! Reaction!

It's my birthday gig! (which is a bit late, yes but it's still Feb haha) And I'll be celebrating it with friends Anj and Jing. The night is guilty pleasure night so prepare to be reacquainted with the songs you know you love but rather not admit haha.

It'll be fun! Come and party with The Purplechickens, Candyaudioline, Marty Mcfly, Sleepwalk Circus and Ang Bandang Shirley! Of course, Soft Pillow Kisses will be playing too!

Tonight, we'll be bagets!

I Will Try To Make Habol...

Hello Everyone...

There's a slight chance that i might make it tonight but it's in reality a far fetched possibilty... Well well well (i'm borrowing this expression from a bandmate from Candyaudioline), it goes like this... I've learned that the Tarlac gig that one of bands we're handling might end early like 10pm so, in my experience, it'll take us about 1 hour 45 mins to reach Manila coming from Tarlac. which means i might make it to the venue around 12:30am, if we arrive in Manila by 11:45pm...

But new new scenario just sprung up... I might be joining anther band who'll be having an earlier gig around 4pm but it'll be in La Union which is roughly four and a half hours away from Manila... if we leave there around 6pm, then i might be in manila around 10:30pm and would possibly make it to the venue by 11:15pm... But my conscience is telling me to take this action... so here it goes...

i'm going to both gigs (La Union and Tarlac) then hopefully, try to catch up with the Makati gig... it'll be a very long day for me later... 10am we'll be leaving for La Union. Hopefully we get there around 3pm and play by 4pm... i don't intend to finish the gig actually, i'm just going there to make sure that every thing's alright specially, the sound system... when i've done my part, i'll leave and take a bus going to Tarlac to meet up with the other band and do my usual work as Road Manager and Sound Technician... hopefully we get to end and leave there before 10pm...

I just wish everything we'll come out fine...

Love Me Underground

Music from the dirrrrty dirrrrty South! Bands hailing from the South will be playing! (Yeah, I know, I'm the only one from the band living in the South side haha)

It's sad that Allan won't be able to join us for this gig (sayang, it's a day before my birthday!) but we have to brave this even without him. So, I asked Owel from Ang Bandang Shirley if he could sub for Allan on this gig. He said, he'd love to! Yehey! We've yet to practice on Saturday, I hope everything goes well. We'll miss you, Allan!

Shoegaze night on Vday!

I'm posting this even if we won't be playing because it's MY BLOODY VALENTINE night! A tribute to one of the best shoegaze bands evaaaaar. If not the best. Candyaudioline is playing though! There's also Aurora Borealis, Skies of Ember, The Slave Drum, Stormy and Sonnet LVIII. Dale won't be here, sayang. But it will still be an orgasmic night and Soft Pillow Kisses will be there to share the romance 'cos hey, it's Valentine's day!

Plus, Skies of Ember will be launching their CD single, "Forgetful Silence," which I already have hahaha (thanks Dott!)

See you Feb 14!!! Bring someone (or something!) you love :)

Buzz Night This Wednesday January 16, 2008

Buzz Night Is Going To Be On Wednesday...

Featuring:

Lazy Lorelei
Soft Pillow Kisses
Sunsetdrive
Aurora Borealis
Candyaudioline
Random Knobs

See You There... (At Mayrics)

Just As I Expected... At Least It Turned Out Just Fine...

Hello Everyone...

Just one entry ago i expressed my excitement at being with my Pillow-mates once more... well, during last Sunday's practice, Marian could not be with us... i was a bit disappointed but she had a valid reason so we just went on with our scheduled practice... it was quite enjoyable really because we had a special guest that night... Lara (Ex- Pillow Bassist) asked me if she could tag along with me... so before going to the studio, i went to pick her up at her place and proceeded to New City where we always practice... during practice i let her play bass letting Rene play the guitars and me just singing and taking videos... i was quite surprised that Lara still knows most of the songs... i think the last time she played bass for Pillow was way back November 2005... we went eating afterwards though Charles couldn't stay because he had to go home...

Last night at around 8pm, i decided that we play another gig at 70's Bistro before going to Dayo so that we could practice the new song a bit more... i texted everyone... Marian texted me at aroud 8:30pm telling me that she won't be able to make it... i was really disappointed this time around but what can i do but just simply understand the situation she was in at the moment... "Hope you're doing well Marian, we missed you last night!!!"... I was about to cancel the gigs since i too wasn't feeling well but i really miss Playing with this band plus the fact that Charles and Jann Paul will be present... I called Lara immediately and begged her to sing for us... She only wanted to do the Dayo gig and not the 70's thing but i insisted... She agreed but during the 70's gig, she came late (i know it was intentional though i understand her)...

The 70's gig was quite a surprise and we did enjoy it a lot... we played just 3 songs and we did it in a very laid back fashion... we did play the new song there but i guess it lacked a female voice and my singing that time was really crap... but i was quite a good song... hopefully next time it'll be a much stronger version... after our 70's set, we wasted no time and rushed to Dayo Bar where we shamefully got ourselves lost... when we got there, we were all surprised that it was a "ROCK" gig... 2 bands went before us then we were up... i had no choice but to play really old songs because Lara isn't familiar with the new ones... we settled on doing "Bathing In The Sun", "Harsh Words", "Stolen Flowers" and "It Will Never Last (Forever)"... we did quite well i think, even the few remaining people at the bar enjoyed our very noisy set... Highlight of the night for me was during "Harsh Words"... really missed this song...



We went to Iceberg's Timog right after our gig before going home...

It turned out to be a great night after all... Thanks to Lara...

Walang Magawa...

Hello Everyone...

Wala akong magawa ngayon so ito... Inayos ko yung multiply accounts ng Soft Pillow Kisses at Candyaudioline... For Soft Pillow Kisses, binago ko yung template nya tapos nag add ako ng isa pang kanta (Just Like The Sky)... Tapos, inedit ko rin yung Welcome Box to allow mp3's of our songs to be played every time someone views our multiply account... Technology nga naman...

Miss ko na Soft Pillow Kisses... Bukas sana kumpleto kami sa practice... Lagi nalang kaming dalawa ni Rene magkasama... Kanina, nanood kami ng isa nanamang Stephen Chow movie called "Magnificent Scoundrels", sobrang laugh-trip talaga... You should watch it... Download nyo sa via "Bit Torrent" thru mininova.org... Promise, you'll enjoy it...

eto lang muna for now...

HAPPY NEW YEAR... Pillow Gig Next Monday...

Hello Everyone...

Happy New Year to you all...

We might be playing next week at Dayo Bar... I think it's located somewhere in Cubao... Jann Paul and Marian had already confirmed their availability on that day as well as Rene... We're still waiting for Charles... Hopefully he'll be available... This will be the first gig of Soft Pillow Kisses for the year 2008... Hopefully we'll make it on that gig with our line-up intact...

See you there...

By The way... Candyaudioline had auditioned a new vocalist... and at the pace the practice / audition went i while ago, i guess that the new prospect is exactly just the right girl Candyaudioline needs... We're all keeping our fingers crossed... (",)