Wish We Have A Proper Video

Hello everyone...

i was browsing youtube last night and i came upon this one... it made me smile...



i just wish that someday we can make one...

til the next post...

Buzz Night last Tuesday was quite fun... Thanks Apple P. for singing for us...

Buzz Night @ Sazi's, Tuesday... Feb. 22, 2011

Hello Eveyone

Buzz Night will be on the 22nd of February (Tuesday)... Here's the line up...

Lazy Lorelei
Candyaudioline
Gentlemen Mary Brunettes
The Shaunriders
Monochrone
Soft Pillow Kisses...

See you there...

A Late Hello To February...

Hello February...

Can't really help but notice and feel worried about how quietly slow things are with us lately...

Just wishing that things will settle down in the next few days...

Til next time...

Goodbye January...

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

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

looking forward to february...

Special Guest...

Hello Everyone...

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

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



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

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

hello everyone,

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

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



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

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

Two Practice Sessions And A New Tune...

Hello Everyone...

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

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



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

'til the next post...

A Long Plane Ride...

Hello everyone...

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

That's that for now...

Still Waiting...

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

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

Looking Forward...

Hello Everyone...

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

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

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

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

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

Happy New Year!!!

Hello Everyone!!!

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

Allan Siegfried T. Montero

Goodbye 2010...

Barely 2 days to go...

it'll be the start of another year, meaning a chance of doing things right or starting over again or finishing something which should've been done a long time ago or during the previous year,etc... etc...

2010 has been quite a quiet year for us... although we did play a lot but seems like there's a missing after-taste to it all... we did get hyped up a bit during the start of the "ber" months but come the end of november, everthing came to a halt... we did get to play just a few nights a go but it wasn't us a hundred percent... i was hoping to end the year feeling good after a set but that didn't happen

still, we were able to come up with two new songs... good songs really...

looking forward, i think i'll try to be more in control this time around... i won't let set-backs affect me and i'll try to be more optimistic... i'm tired of giving in actually... but no one will ever know what can happen next...

... so, til the next post...

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...