Alright, so I thought it would be a good idea to have a general thread here. There are often small bits of news that don't warrant their own threads, or don't really fit in any existing ones. And sometimes, I just want to post about miscellaneous pillows related stuff, like collecting that sweet Buster-kun merchandise, etc.

That's basically the idea for this thread. Anyone is welcomed to contribute with anything pillows related (thoughts, news, tidbits, etc.).

To kick things off, I wanted to mention that Sawao blew his voice out again. It was noted in the LINE blog that the pillows have been in the recording studio and recording new songs one after the other. However, Sawao is resting now after blowing his voice out, and Manabe will be filling in for him tonight for his "ARE YOU READY TO ROCK" radio program.

Also, they said that they would play a live recording from the Stroll and Roll Tour final on tonight's program. It's always a fun show to listen to.
If you're outside Japan and would like to tune in, it's totally possible with a bit of effort. You'll need to use a VPN (I recommend "SoftEther VPN Client Manager"). Then, you will be able to listen with Radiko. http://www.interfm.co.jp/readytorock/
Sawao's show comes on every third Monday of the month at 9PM.

Good idea, Mafu. I think a catch-all thread is a good idea for all the tidbits that come out.

Do you have a link to this "LINE blog" so I can at least keep tabs with it in the broken English of Google Translate?

[quote="Son Goshin"]Do you have a link to this "LINE blog" so I can at least keep tabs with it in the broken English of Google Translate?[/quote]

Here's the LINE blog: http://lineblog.me/the_pillows/

Recently, the pillows joined "LINE" (a popular instant messaging service). If you add them to your contacts, they will send some cool news and pictures occasionally. I recommend it. It's my most used messenger.

LINE chat also has the sickest emoji sticker packs of any chat thing of all time ever.

If we get enough busters on there, we should probably form a LINE chat group!

Downloading the IOS LINE app now.
Moar plows.

the pillows posted a couple days ago that they filmed a new PV. No clue yet when it will be released, but I'm speculating on a digital single in the near future.

I don't know if this belongs in this thread, but WOOO~ I have spontaneously planned a trip to Japan and my friend there has gotten us tickets to see the pillows' "COUNTDOWN BUMP SHOW" on New Year's Eve and I couldn't be more excited about it so I had to tell you all

Lucky buster! :O

That sounds like a killer way to spend your holiday.

[quote="yaro"]I don't know if this belongs in this thread, but WOOO~ I have spontaneously planned a trip to Japan and my friend there has gotten us tickets to see the pillows' "COUNTDOWN BUMP SHOW" on New Year's Eve and I couldn't be more excited about it so I had to tell you all [/quote]

I miss traveling Japan with my buster bros Brye, Juan and Anton.

[quote="yaro"]I don't know if this belongs in this thread, but WOOO~ I have spontaneously planned a trip to Japan and my friend there has gotten us tickets to see the pillows' "COUNTDOWN BUMP SHOW" on New Year's Eve and I couldn't be more excited about it so I had to tell you all [/quote]
Awesome! I wanted to go to that show as well, but I'll be in America for a couple weeks during the holidays. I hope you'll write up a live report about it!

The postcard that came with STROLL AND ROLL BAND for the 2 item campaign notes that the deadline for sending it in is March 31st. So... that means, the new album will probably be released in early-ish March.

I got no meaningful contribution, I'm just excited for confirmation that it's in the first half of the year.

Can we take a moment to acknowledge the insanity of two Pillows albums coming out LESS than a year apart from each other? Sawao has to be the hardest working songwriter at his age.

The guy from Guided by Voices, Robert Pollard, is even more prolific. It's still incredibly impressive though, for sure. Keep in mind, he also did that Casablancas album as well!

[quote="dimsim3478"]Can we take a moment to acknowledge the insanity of two Pillows albums coming out LESS than a year apart from each other? Sawao has to be the hardest working songwriter at his age.[/quote]
It's not too crazy, actually. By the time the new one comes out, it will be almost a full year between releases. One year between albums used to be pretty standard for them.

But Sawao has gotta be pretty inspired. The new FLCL is coming out, a gold medalist Olympian is giving them free publicity, he's doing CASABLANCA, etc. Ousama ni nare is gonna be dope.