Just throwing this out there. Maybe I'm just impatient, I don't know. But it was in October of last year - eight months ago - that a US release of honeycreeper was first officially hinted at. In November, I received an email about their US tour signed by Epic Records - their once and future US record label. Ami and Yumi themselves more or less confirmed a 2008 release on that same tour, telling fans at the US shows to watch for the album this year.
Well, it's June, and no further word has been heard. The goodwill from those US shows - intended to help promote the album - has probably faded by now. Meanwhile, PUFFY are obviously busy gearing up for a new album as they release a series of summer singles. My guess is that the new album will hit Japan right around October-November, as it did last year. That leaves them a very short window to promote any US release of honeycreeper, as they'll no doubt be busy touring in support of their new album in Japan after its release. It would also just seem strange for them to be splitting time promoting a brand new album in one territory and a year-old album in another.
Did something happen in between that US tour and now? Is the US honeycreeper release now off the table? I really don't know, and I wish I did. I do know one thing - Puffy and Girlie Action, their US publicity agency, parted ways a while back. That's not a good sign. I haven't been able to figure out to this point who, if anybody, is currently representing them.
Of course, Puffy's US releases have always been kind of irregular, and if they're not planning to actively promote the album here, they may still just be taking their sweet time. Heck, they could even dump honeycreeper and whatever the new album's called into US stores on the same day and call it done. I obviously don't think that would be a very effective strategy, but it's only so thin that Puffy, their staff and their allotted budget are going to be able to spread themselves these days.
Every day that goes by without an announcement, though, causes me to lose a little more hope.
Is there anything US fans can do? Can we email someone and inquire. Because it's not a big deal to me if they have a release here or not because I'll just buy it online on import. I just need to know one way or the other because I hate buying the import and then an American release occurs with all these "bonus tracks!" lol. I hate that, and everyone is enjoying the bonus tracks but me. But I dunno what to do. It's a bit of a pickle. I do feel an album behind though and that sucks. I just want maybe someone's email so I can inquire, because I'm a fan who just wants to help sales and I wanna know the best place to buy it. Because if there is an American release I'd rather buy it here and just support them here because it would help with future releases. Or I could just buy the Japanese one and then resell it if an American one came out. Hmmm...
ReplyDeleteThe ladies got lucky with having to great versions of Splurge. Tofu was awesome for that, but I feel like that wont happen here again.
I've sent emails to both Hit & Run and Epic Records, although I don't have specific contacts at either place so who knows how that'll go. I've asked to be connected with someone who can help out with some info, but I'm not sure what to do beyond that. Just have to wait and see, I guess.
ReplyDeleteYeah.
ReplyDeleteAs far as I understand the topics in Puffy's website about their recording, they are just working for singles. So they are not likely to be releasing a new album this year. I want to believe they are collecting English songs to replace some Japanese songs on honeycreeper like " Puffy the Monster " by such as Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds, Don't Bring Me Down, All Because Of You, Closet Full of Love Remix and so on. I assume it would be better for the English listeners.
ReplyDeleteBut as you say, Puffy and Girlie Action (their US publicity agency) parted ways a while back, is certainly a bad sign. If they couldn't manage US publicity agency and should give up honeycreeper release in North America, it would be a beginning of the end. We hope it won't happen.
Well, whether or not they're only doing singles now, I still think it gets harder as time goes on to release an album here that's getting older by the day. But I really doubt the singles they're releasing now won't appear on an album. They've done almost exactly one album per year, so I still think these singles are leading up to something.
ReplyDeleteThey've definitely parted with Girlie Action, though I don't know who dropped who. But I used to be in contact with them periodically, and they told me straight out that they no longer represented Puffy. They've also removed Puffy from their artist list on their web site.
One might hope that Girlie Action was the one dropped, because of that name. LOL
ReplyDeleteSingles aside for the moment, is there any news on the track Puffy is recording for a Cyndi Lauper tribute?
The Cyndi Lauper tribute track is "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun", which is not a new recording as far as I know. That's why I hadn't actually mentioned it before.
ReplyDelete