Kind of a dull interview the questions they asked sucks. More depth please.
It's like:
What is 2+2?
4!

What's your favorite food?
I like...hot dog!!!

What's your favorite band?
Rubber band!!!

i'm not sure this person got in a full interview in the first place... some of the questions are from the q&a.

[quote="BadRedOx"]Kind of a dull interview the questions they asked sucks. More depth please.
It's like:
What is 2+2?
4!

What's your favorite food?
I like...hot dog!!!

What's your favorite band?
Rubber band!!![/quote]

yea i thought so too. they were kinda generic and didnt really have any depth.....just like basic questions.

My impression was that the interviewers had never heard of The Pillows.

It's *weird*. Every time I ask a Japanese person if they've heard of The Pillows, they go- "huh? Pillows? Who are they?"

Yoshiaki told a friend of mine- another Japanese guy who was translating for us at dinner one night, and who LOVES music but hadn't heard of the Pillows either, except through me- that he was apparently a "rock star" in the US, but definitely *not* in Japan...

I think they're about to get very big, very quickly now. The websites dedicated to The Pillows are popping up all over....

well, i guess it really is possible now that the pillows popualrity in the US and Mexico rivals even that of japan. i mean, both of their tours here have been successful, and of course all the anime fans love them. but i'm glad that more anime fans seem to be listening to their non-FLCL music now. due to their growing popularity, i really wouldn't be surprised if we saw a domestic release of their next album at the same time it's released in japan

Oh, I'm sure we *will*. I had a long talk with him about how Penalty Life was a very BAD choice for a first US album release- in fact, I went so far as to make a "hypothetical" Pillows album I called "Penetrator" which contained what I thought would appeal to the western ear without having to listen more than once to get it.

I said I though Happy Bivouac or Runner's High would have been a better choice, and he said the decision was made to release Penalty Life because management hoped that the cartoon drawings of them would appeal to the Anime crowd. Big mistake: they had only sold 3000 PL CDs in the US at the time we had that conversation, which was last Christmas.

They had just finished My Foot at that point, and I was very happy that they released that in the States, and now the FLCL 3rd OST CD.

So don't worry- ANYTHING they release now will also be released in the States. They know they have to overcome a slow start, and My Foot and FLCL 3 are just the beginning.

well that sounds excellent. but penalty life was chosen for the cartoon drawings? that makes the US sounds like we're 6 year olds or something. i mean come on, what's cooler than a floating fork, right?

did manabe say if they plan to release any earlier albums here in the US though?

[quote="Son Goshin"]well that sounds excellent. but penalty life was chosen for the cartoon drawings? that makes the US sounds like we're 6 year olds or something. i mean come on, what's cooler than a floating fork, right?

did manabe say if they plan to release any earlier albums here in the US though?[/quote]

He said it's not up to The Pillows- or at least, it's not anything he can influence directly.

I can't believe, though, that they *wouldn't* _eventually_ export those older albums, if the new stuff takes off.

There's still an entrenched "pecking order" in Japanese management structure, and the old guys are both cautious and somewhat out-of-touch. The younger guys don't buck their decisions directly, but they do bring evidence and lay it at their feet.

By that, I mean when fans speak, they listen, and they make sure that upper management hears about it, too. When they start hearing the same thing from several sources, you can bet they pay attention.

That may sound funny, when you consider that they only VERY RARELY play requests at shows, and it seems like they are being very rigid with their set lists, but it's only because they want to be very tight and do what they've recently discussed and agreed upon. They file those requests away for the next setlist planning discussion.

They are very much professionals, and they take the business end of things very seriously, though they are so good at it that you basically never see that aspect ...they just seem like laid-back dudes going to work and happy to be there.

wow, you're right, i really wouldn't have expected that. but i defintiely understand them being ridgid with their set lists. when i yelled out song titles at the show, i was pretty sure they wouldn't get played. but you say they "file those requests away for the next setlist planning discussion." does that mean they actually pay attention when the crowd yells out song titles during the shows?

and sorry if i'm asking so many question of you, lol. you just seem to know a lot of information that i don't

He has waaaaaaay more information than all of us combined.

FEED US!

Oh, hell [i]yeah[/i] they listen.

For one thing, they are constantly AMAZED at how much the fans in the State know about them; they talk about this stuff all the time because it frankly baffles them how the information is getting out. When Sawao is hearing requests for songs the public isn't supposed to be familiar with yet, it becomes a topic of conversation for days!

It makes them very happy, I can tell you that. When he's not being cornered by fans with videocams, he's grinning his head off over the way things are going. Manabe gets a kick out of it and finds it slightly amusing, I think, to see Sawao continually surprized at what he's hearing from fans. I get the impression there's a little "told you so!" going on, because Manabe talks to a lot of fans in email and visits websites, but Sawao usually doesn't, and so Manabe generally has a little more insight into what the fans are thinking and talking about.

EDIT: My personal opinion is that they have underestimated the Japanese-American connection, in the sense that there are far more personal level liaisons between kids in Japan and kids here than anyone really knows. I mean, our countries are far more culturally connected than anyone really appreciates in the under 30 demographic, and information moves rather quickly among the Anime crowd, which overlaps with the music scene to a very large extent. And since everyone is on line with the ability to do very powerful searches, it only take one person finding a nugget and posting about it, and then you have to wait about 36 hours before EVERYONE knows about it.

They're probably right to go slow and not try to exploit every last iota of fan potential; there's a fine line between ambition and greed. Manabe is a guy that just radiates a quiet integrity, and he's long since come to terms with the uncertainty of everything. He's a hardworking musician and takes pride in that; Yamanaka is more responsible for leadership at the office decision level, but even he cares about the product to the point that he [i]really means it [/i]when he says they try to make *good* music.

I'm sure that all the indie darlings would have taken a listen to HB based on the album art.

lol! that is frigging awesome! it's good to know that they talk about all our shoutouts. any chances that, dare i say... they might play some next year, because that would make a very happy little buster

And is Manabe VERY surprised to see a few Nine Miles fans here?