Taking Time Off...

hello everyone...

Soft Pillow Kisses will be in hibernation mode for the time being... we are again undergoing another major line-up change which i hope would help me put this band again in the right scheme of things...

it's been really hard lately organizing things since everyone's been on his own so to speak but with recent events which i see as somesort of a welcome thing, i guess it'll be a bit tough but it'll be just fine in the long run...

Bye Bye \../

Another New Song from Soft Pillow Kisses...



sunday, afternoon
all alone, in my room
thinking of you always
on a sunday

sunday, all alone
in my room, with the t.v. on
thinking of you always
on a sunday...

hoped that you'd listen
to my song for you
hugs and some kisses
when i dream of you...

i would like to spend my time
with you here by my side
but time goes by and by
and you are not here...

Buzz Night @ Sazi's, Tuesday... April 20, 2010

Buzz Night for the month of April is on the 20th...
Here's the Line-Up...

Francis Yu A.K.A. Archaster
Slumbook
Haydeys
Don't Boggart The Can Man
Once More With Feeling
Candyaudioline
Pinstriped Rebel
Soft Pillow Kisses...

still waiting for 1 more band to confirm... hope to see you there... as usual, gate is at a 100 bucks with 1 free drink... show starts at around 10pm...

Short Yet Sweet...

we played only 3 songs at Buzz Night last night... reason is that aside from the many bands that were lined up, i also wanted to have Candyaudioline play a couple of songs just in case Candyaudioline won't make it back to Saguijo wherein Candy was officially slated to play...

i was really looking forward to this one coz we were demo-ing a new song... and also with Josh sessioning for us, we'll be able to do more upbeat stuff from our long list of songs...

anyways, we breezed through our set with ease and did our three songs decently well... although i was having a hard time adjusting during the first minute of our first song due to the volume drop we did since we came in after Candyaudioline who, incidentally, was also playing two new songs which required great amounts of volume to achieve the right feel to them...

it was a great set really for Soft Pillow Kisses but since Candyaudioline had to rush back to Saguijo, i didn't get a chance to watch the other bands who played... i did get to see Kat's band (Once More With Feelings) who played an enjoyable set and also Haydeys who played a great set...

nuff said already... here's a video of Soft Pillow Kisses playing a new song called "Yet It's Been A While" during last night's Buzz Night at Sazi's...

I't's Been A While...

Haven't been posting for quite some time now... my last post was the one i posted on New Year's Eve...

so here i am... again... i've decided to start posting again...

a lot has been going on actually but i was just to lazy sharing them although i've been very active posting in Candyaudioline's Blog...

and so...

our Drummer, Jann Paul got married last March 14, Congrats Tad!!! regretfully, i wasn't able to attend his wedding, only Dennis, Rene and Charles were there... speaking of Charles (former Pillow guitarist), he's back in Manila after almost 2 years in Bacolod... infact he was able to join us during some practice sessions...

there was even a time when Dennis begged me to look for another guitarist so we tried to getting one but after almost a month putting up with him, i decided to get Dennis back...

we also have a keyboard player, Yvette's her name and she's been able to play 2 gigs with us already...

also. we have a sessionist drummer, Joshua... he plays drums for another band called Heydays...

... as for my promised album release, it's still a promise... but we do have a new song and we intend to play it during Buzz Night tonight...

here's a vidoe of the new song...



it's called "Yet It's Been A While"...
it's been slightly re-arranged... a first version can be found on this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2KlcTajHYdI

that's that for the meantime... See you tonight at Buzz Night...

A Gig At Last...

hello everyone...

after letting go of Apple last October and getting Carissa, thanks to Celene (Candy - Vox), during the first week of November, it has always been next to impossible getting things for Soft Pillow Kisses organized... Jann Paul's very busy with his Racket situated somewhere down Southern Luzon, Me and Dennis on the otherhand was always pre-occupied with work, even Rene had his own little rackets and during the first few weeks of Carissa's being an SPK member, she was in some sort of a "Cinderella" situation making it very difficult for me to properly orient her at how things are done... Buzz Night was a very good choice for her debut gig but our participation wasn't really that sure because of the nature of my work...

i was able to assume that we'll be able to make it only a week and a half prior to Buzz Night but things got a bit bleaker since Jann Paul had to go to the province by the 28th... i had Gilbert (Ex-Pillow Drummer) as the first choice to session but i had a hard time reaching him only to get a chance talking to him the night before the gig... it was a good thing that Jeff (Candy - Drummer) was always helping us out in times that Jann Paul wasn't around and inspite of not being able to really practice, he agreed to play for us and was ble to pull it off quite nicely during gig time...

so on to the gig... well, it was fun... and we even fooled around with Carissa on stage poking fun at how she talks which was a bit similar to how Celene was during her first few Candyaudioline stints... it was a bit funny really... Carissa brought along with her on stage her lyric sheets - full sized coupon bonds, and everytime we moved on to the next song, she had to go through them finding the right sheet for the right song... Dennis even poked fun at her bracelets telling her to shake it ala-maraccas stlye while singing... me and Jeff made audible side comments everytime she spoke on the mic... Rene commented at how pa-cute her voice was... well, it was defenitely her first gig and it was understandable... at least she took it all in stride and was a real sport... reminds me of Apple... so there we were, all seriously poised to play and after Carissa made her first speech we all...

the first song was sort of a disaster really... Rene's Bass was out of tune and there were annoying low rumbling feedbacks coming from the mics which really made it difficult for us to sing... i also forgot to remind Jeff not to do the rim shots since we already ditched that approach... we paused a bit after the first song and let Rene tune his bass while the rest of us fooled around with Carissa... after Rene was done, i decided to introduce the second song and started playing... by this time, everything was starting to sound good... i guess we were back again... we got settled down and was really comfortable with everything and started to play the way we usually do not being concerned that it was Carissa's first gig or that it was not Jann Paul playing but Jeff... there were still quite a few misses during the set but over all it was really good...



just can't wait to have practice and play again...

Buzz Night @ Sazi's, Tomorrow, Tuesday... December 29, 2009

Hello Everyone,

Tomorrow's the last Buzz Night for this year... here's a list of the bands playing...

Gentle Isolation
Slumbook
Scarlet Tears
Soft Pillow Kisses
Candyaudioline
Identikit
Lazy Lorelie
Phantom Sizemore
Dress

Entrance is at 150 get you 1 free drink... hope you could make it...

Just Like The Sky Album Tentative Tractlisting

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!!

There will be 16 songs to be included in the "Just Like The Sky" album and here's the list of the titles that made the cut:

01 Waiting For Your Words
02 Stay Here For A While
03 Bean Bag
04 Candy Bar
05 So-Called Friend
06 I Was Right
07 Beneath The Glare
08 Vintage Wine
09 Harsh Words
10 Just Like The Sky
11 Everything Is Wrong
12 Vodka Ice # 3
13 16 Ft.
14 Losing Something
15 Try To Smile
16 It Will Never Last Forever

Songs that won't make it we'll be re-recorded and be included in the next one...

of the 16 songs there are still 4 more songs that need fixing...
"I Was Right" - has yet to be mixed...
"Vintage Wine" and "Just Like The Sky" - bass element needs to be boosted a bit...
"Try To Smile"... - there's an out-of-tune guitar in the intro part...

after these adjustments, it'll go to the mastering stage and at last it will be up for release...

- Tracks 1, 2, 7, 11, 12 are all from the "Waiting For your Words EP" (Eloha Laurel, Allan Montero, AJ Domingo, Lara Agulto, Gilbert Magat and Dale Marquez) recorded 2002that was suppose to come outt on shelflife but never did...
- Tracks 4 and 9 where from the 2000 ABS CBN Studio recordings (Apple Miranda, Allan Montero, AJ Domingo, Lara Agulto, Gilbert Magat and Dale Marquez)...
- Tracks 3, 5, 8, 10, 13 and 15 are part of the original "Just Like The Sky" (Eloha Laurel, Allan Montero, Charles Manjarez, William, and Jann Paul Tatad)album line-up recorded sometime 2006...
- Track 6 is from the 2007 sessions (Apple Pueblo, Allan Montero, Charles Manjarez, Rene Dollete, and Jann Paul Tatad)we did but Lara Agulto sang on this one...
- Track 16 is from that Mutual Admiration Compilation session (Apple Miranda, Allan Montero, AJ Domingo, Lara Agulto, Gilbert Magat and Dale Marquez), i might release the alternate take on this one...

Exciting...

hello everyone...

me and Rene waited for almost an hour and a half for our vocalist... i waited a bit longer than Rene since he came in 20 minutes after i arrived...

anyways, while waiting, i got myself pre-occupied with a few things like playing PSP, tinkering a bit my guitar's bridge and most specially, trying very hard not to get annoyed by some showband character loitering around the studio... i don't have anything against showbands but this one hits the level... if i only had my camera with me that very moment...

it was just me, Rene and Carissa... Dennis and Jeff (whose filling in for Jann Paul who won't be available for this month's Buzz Night) had other things to do... the practice went on really well and i think i was able to assess Carissa's improvements... i could safely say that she did improve a lot... we did about 10 songs and most of them she sang quite good... i even tried letting sing alone in some songs... although she has yet to sing the songs the way i intend them to be sung but with the way things are right now - with most of us not being able to be together at the same time in one instance - i think i will just have to do with what she can do... i'm confident that she'll be a better vocalist for us than what i'm expecting her to be... this means a lot of for Soft Pillow Kisses... it'll be less singing for me, a better female vox representation during recordings - if you notice that most of our recording output is 50/50 guy girl vocals... i'm hoping that with her, it'll be a much more girl vocals-dominated song... i won't concern myself anymore with writing songs based on whether she could sing this or not... etc..., etc...

wish we could still practice some more, in a full band set-up just before the 29th in preparation for Buzz Night...

Some Good Mixes

hello anyone?

i've been visiting the studio for quite sometime lately... reviewing old recording of all my bands... as of yet, i think that all of the Aspirin (My First Band) songs, 12 tracks, are almost good and just need a bit more reviewing before i can safely say that it'll be ready for mastering... but this doesn't mean that it'll be released...

i got a bit disappointed at most of the Candyaudioline and Superminty (My Third Band)recordings specially the Candy-ones during the 2006 sessions... the drum
parts really did it for those songs... at least most of the 2007 sessions like "We've Been There", "Cellophane Smiles", "Flaming Walls", "Together", "You're Not There", and "Nearby Town" are close to being good and done... of the 5 songs Superminty did, only 2 songs ("Silly Thing" and the Pale saints cover) are good and will need a few more mixing the rest will just have to be re-recorded...

For Soft Pillow Kisses, there are at least 9 good songs out of 13 from the 2006 sessions and 2 good ones out of 5 from the 2007 sessions... i've been really itching to get these song out already so that we could have another one really soon...

all in all, 11 songs are already in for the "Just Like The Sky" album and here's the list of the titles included:

--- From The 2006 Sessions...
Just Like The Sky
Bean Bag
So-Called Friend
Try To Smile
16FT
Losing Something
Taste Like Vintage Wine
Under-Cover Angel
Your Shoes Are Untied

--- From The 2007 Sessions
Bathing In The Sun
I was Right

Also i plan to include songs from previous other recordings that we had... and here are some of them that are almost sure to be included:

--- Other Recordings
It Will Never Last (Forever)
Beneath The Glare
Bean Bag
Harsh Words
Vodka Ice #3
Waiting For Your Words
Stay Here For A While...

Songs that won't make it we'll be re-recorded and be included in the next one...

Post Practice...

hello everyone,

we were able to have practice as a complete unit last Dec. 14, Tuesday... medyo bitin nga lang pero at least, after months of just being a 4-piece and most of the time jamming with members of Candyaudioline eh nakumpleto rin lami sa wakas... sadly, mukang yun na yung first and last time na magkakasama kaming kumpleto for this year... the next few days from now medyo magiging busy na ako so i won't be able to call practice before Christmas... at the same time, Jann Paul will be leaving on the 28th so a different drummer will be playing for us, probably Jeff (Candyaudioline) since i can't seem to reach Gilbert (ex-Pillow)...

i was hoping we could practice some more so that we will be able to execute properly some songs we plan to record sometime very soon but with the way things are right now, i guess it'll have to wait for the meantime...

here's a clip from the last practice we had and this one's the last song we played... i guess Jann Paul was a bit tired by this time which made him play the song slower than how he usually does...

Did You Know That...

hello everyone...

did you know that...

matagal na rin pala akong di nag post dito... my last post was last Nov. 25 pa... anyways... there were times din na i wanted to post stuff pero tinamad ako dahil sa bagal ng connection dito sa bahay...

marami na rin nangyari sa Pillow during the past few Months... wala si Apple, si Ralph nabalitaan naming nasa Gen. Santos na naka-base, si Charles nandito lang sa Manila, si Dennis na ang current guitarist namin kaya hindi na talaga mag-iiba ang tunog ng Pillow sa Candy, si Jann Paul eh abalang abala na sa kanyang mga money earning projects nya, si Rene naman eh umaabot sa level 5 ng Ka-Indiehan ako naman eh as usual eh Loser pa rin... may bago nanaman kaming kanta at may bago na rin kaming Singer, Carrissa ang pangalan nya at Mukha siyang tahimik at mabait... di tulad ng Singer ng Candyaudioline na saksakan ng daldal at ubod pa ng praning... pero mabait yun ha...

lately, nagkaroon ako ng interest ulit sa mga recordings namin and i've made a few trips to the studio to check them out once more... actually pwede na talaga mag labas pero i'm still in the process of choosing the songs... this time around, i've come to a decision to compile most of the recordings Soft Pillow Kisses made... it'll be released as an album ang i'll still be using "Just Like The Sky" as the working Title of the project... hopefully it'll be 15 songs in all... still haven't decided yet whether i'll seek the help of a record label or i'll just self-release it...

it's been years since i've promise to come up with a Soft Pillow Kisses Album and i think it's about time that i've to deliver one... after this hopefully another one will follow..

The Audition...

last night we had someone audition for the vacant vocalist slot... friend cya ni Celene (Candy Vox) mukang okey naman... yun lang, dahil sa late nanaman kami nag start, this time credit it to Rene, and at the same time eh di namin agad masolve-solve yung pag-loloko ng amp eh di namin gaanong nasulit yung practice/audition session last night...

i keep forgetting her name, charisse yata... she has a nice voice pero mukang di pa cya sanay kumanta na medyo malakas yung mga sinasabayan nyang instruments... also she can easily follow instructions from me on how she should be singing our songs... i was hoping she could chalk up 4 songs but she had to leave by 12 midnight and halos 11:15pm na yata kami nakapagstart at naubos lang yung time namin trying to figure out why the volume of my amp keeps fluctuating ( we later learned during Candyaudioline's slot na yung power source pala yung problema)... at least
we were able to do 2 and a half songs...

hopefully, next time...

New Soft Pillow Kisses Song...

A new one from us tentatively called "Missing Those Days"... sadly we are with out a singer once more since Apple can't commit herself anymore to us... she busy with her work... anyone out there interested to sing for us?



where's my heart, where?
there? dead!!!
missed that part there...
when it ends!!!

can't recall those days
when you and i took care of everything
should we part now...
let's begin!!!

missing all those days
when you and i took care of everything
let's just start again...
let's begin!!!

is this what we want
feelings torn apart
lying to ourselves
can't we hear a quiet yell
reaching through our hearts
hoping that we start... again

i like to... i want to... i want you!!!

This Picture...

This Picture kinda remind me of a lot of things about Soft Pillow Kisses...



Actually it means nothing... just wanna pose something since i really don't have anything to post yet... But i was able to write a new song for Pillow but i am still not sure whetehr it's a good song or not... i did 2 new ones for Candyaudioline hope to get it done within the week... also, Soft Pillow Kisses and Candyaudioline were featured in this blog http://shoegazeralive2.blogspot.com... it's a blog dedicated to anything related to Shoegaze... Hope they Change both pictures...

Soft Pillow Kisses' Recent Saguijo Stint Video Clips - 2 Songs.

here are clips from our recent Saguijo stint last September 1... just watched this a while ago and i had barely any recollection as to how it came out during the time we were playing these... specially on "louder you'll know" our first song that night wherein the 2 bottles of beer kinda took its toll... during "It Will Never Last Forever" our last song, i was slowly regaining my proper self just in time to enjoy Dennis'big time boo boo during the song's intrumental part...

The Louder You'll Know...



It Will Never Last Forever...



these clips were taken by Joey (Phantom Sizemore) who at time was dressed ala The Stone Roses circa '86.. Long Sleeved Polo with detailed design worn closed-neck... Effort talaga yan Joey ha... Insipred ka siguro nung Francis Archaster wearing fur coat inside jeepney in the middle of a hot summer day circa '98... Di ka man lang sumunod sa Andoks!!!

Before... While Waiting... And After...

BEFORE: i had mixed feelings going into the Saguijo thing last night... honestly i really prefered not playing because i wasn't feeling well kaya lang i wanted to be with my bandmates and also Eloha (Ex- Pillow Vocalist) has been pestering me for the past few days wanting to meet up and have a few drinks with her... also, i was looking forward to see some Buzz Night peeps... okey talaga ang Bioflu, 2 lang ayus na... sayang wala si Sir Carl...

anyways... met up with Dennis dito sa bahay and went out at around 10:15pm to fetch Rene... hay yung Taxi sobrang TUFF SPEED... Upon reaching Saguijo, i saw some familiar faces like Guys from Phantom Sizemore, Girls from Dress, Ex- Pillow Marian and many many more... went up to Eloha and asked her if she was up to singing if ever Apple won't make it since i thought the gig would be preceeding much earlier than expected...

WHILE WAITING: me and Eloha wasted no time and had our drinks... in between were the regular kulitans with some friends and short chats with some unfamiar people... weird nga nung atmosphere last night kasi parang weekend eh... at maraming kapansin pansin... the guys from Phantom were like people from a different era because of the way they dressed... Joey Phantom with his long sleeved polo was an instant attraction... kahit ako nainitan sa suot nya eh... Manny Carnival Park whispered a really funny line to me... Kung pwede lang pare... Si Marian gumaganda at lumalaki lalu kahit na pumayat sya at medyo straight na yung hair nya... during the Main Act's set, everyone was inside except me, eloha and Dennis... halfway thru the Main acts set, Apple was still nowhere... this made me uncomfortable since i was not sure whether Eloha still knows the words to most of our songs... Apple arrived a few minutes later and also the fishball guy arrived... i regret having just a few servings of squidballs since it was almost time for us to play... just as we were about to set up, my 2nd bottle of Red Horse arrived... i had to finish it up in a flash before our set... ayun, nalasing tuloy ako...

AND AFTER... i was still feeling the effects of alcohol after our set... we (me, Apple, Dennis and Rene) all had our mind set at having Andoks as our after gig meal... Eloha wasn't able to join us since she had to go home already... and Jann Paul too... Chritian Carnival also joined us... talked about our opinions on the recently concluded event which we shall just keep to ourselves... medyo hindi sulit yung andoks that time around... makunat yung liempo...

sana nalang sincere si Manny Villar sa pinalabas nya kahapon... Feeling ko there's something fishy about the whole thing...

"Indie Pop Muna Tayo"... Al's Bar...

"good evening, we're soft pillow kisses... indie pop muna tayo" that's one immortally funny line from the seldomly funny lead singer of our band... if you ask me, it was kind of a rock thing Apple had blurted out... natawa talaga kaming lima sa stage and i guess this helped out ease up a bit... we all were obviouly tired except for Rene who as always is the liveliest...

i think we did really well last night, we were so relaxed that we even had the confidence to play a song (cover) that we had just arranged the night before during practice... we weren't even loud that night which was surprisingly enjoyable...

we didn't get to finish the whole Tubby Trousers thing (Salamat nga pala kay Joe at dun sa nag pahiram ng snare sa amin) but i did enjoy sets from bands like Dayuhan and Breast Pump (ang galing galing ng bahista nila, sana ganung din kagaling si Maggot)... These bands needs to reach a wider audience...

that's that for now... here's a video from last night at Al's Bar... this is a cover fron The Lucksmiths...

Practice With Apple... And A Gig Tonight at Al's Bar...

for the first time in quite a very long spell, Apple was able to practice with us... it was like almost 3 weeks ago when she expressed her desire to quit the band due to commitment problems but i'm glad she changed her mind and decided to stick it out with us...

last night's practice was in preparation for recording our contribution to Sir Dale's Lucksmiths oompilation... i wish we could've had more time to prepare... we could have made a much more decent take on that song but we had to settle with easier choices... So it's going to be a shoegazy take on the Lucksmiths' "take this lying down"... hopefully we'll be able to record it this friday together with candyaudioline's take on "shipwreck coast" also from the lucksmiths...

that song ("take this lying down") took up most of our rehearsal time and because of this we weren't able to practice songs which we'll do on tonight's gig at Al's Bar... anyways, we know all of our songs and that's enough for us...

hoping for a nicer set tonight...

To Apple And Jann Paul... Choose One (Lucksmiths Cover) Version...

Pili kayo dito sa 2 version... Dennis and Rene likes the faster one ako naman undecided... si Jeff nga pala ng Candyaudioline yung pumalo sa 2nd version...

Eto yung 1st take, yung mabagal na version...


eto naman yung 2nd take na medyo upbeat...


Eto yung reference Apol...


Apple eto lyrics... nasa ibabaw nito yung reference medyo magulo kasi yung pagka kanta ko... ignore mo lang yung mga vibratos ha, hehehe...


Take This Lying Down

I was looking for something
To soothe your aching head
Where did I put the recipe for breakfast in bed?
Three days straight, drinking late
Sleeping on the fire escape
And in that nightie – a flaming sypmphony in red

From your window
There’s a breeze and there are views
There are trees and roofs
And streets with people on their way
On their way this afternoon
On their way but not a clue
That from the treetops they are begging you to stay

In bed today
In bed today
Rest assured, if you should ever feel the winter cold
Your comfortability will keep you warm when you get old

I invented something new
And if it’s all the same to you
I’d like to take some time and try it out
I’d like to try it out on you
Maybe you should take this
Maybe you should take this lying down...