CQA Mission #2 - new photos, etc.

CQA have posted some tiny little photos of their show a week or so ago to their web site. They're so small that I almost didn't bother mentioning them, but there are definitely some good shots of Yumi in the mix. How cute does she look here?


She's like an adorable little chipmunk.

I'm still desperate to get some of their merchandise. (Nobody answered my earlier plea, not that I really expected anyone to. It was worth a shot.) It's all designed by Artdenka, which is an up and coming Japanese design team specializing in this whole "goth kawaii" thing. You can buy their "Skullbox" toy figure here. You can see more of their t-shirt designs at their Flickr page. Their real web site is under construction, but it's here if you feel like looking.

Supposedly CQA are going to be selling stuff via their web site soon, but most likely it'll be Japan-only. (Update: they started. And yeah, only for Japan.)

Also, another show report from the night, though I warn you that I have no idea what this person's saying. Auto-translation is no help whatsoever in this case. Ditto for this other report, though I gather there's a set list there and that it included some sort of cover of a song by Kyoko Koizumi (though not "Nantettatte Idol"). And I think somebody must be a fan of Spongebob Squarepants, but I won't hold that against them.

Puffy on Yowavinalaaaafincha? - also, Enazou, Poni-Camp, Lolita No. 18 and more!

So! Maybe you're wondering if that new Snuff tribute album is worth buying. Maybe this will help you decide:


Honestly, it's not my favorite song on the CD. What is? Maybe this one!


Don't know Poni-Camp? You should! Maybe you recognize this ludicrously cute girl in front:


That's ENAPOu aka ENAZOu aka just plain Ena, former guitarist for all-girl punk band Lolita No. 18, current guitarist and lead singer for Poni-Camp and now semi-permanent "as seen on TV" guitarist for Puffy. I've never seen her do a real live concert as their regular guitarist, but she's always there these days backing up Ami and Yumi on TV, standing around pretending to play along to the pre-recorded instrumental track being pumped in from tape somewhere. Hey, it's a paycheck, I guess.

Actually, the first time I saw her was on this video for Nantettatte Idol - the one time I've ever seen her actually play with Puffy, and she is so totally awesome. I was interested to learn (today, actually) that that's actually Puffy covering Lolita No. 18 covering Kyoko Koizumi! I've never heard Lolita No. 18's version, but it was out a bit before this video was shot.

Enazou left Lolita No. 18 in 2001, seems to have basically taken four years off, then formed Poni-Camp in 2005 and changed her name. She's been around for close to 20 years now. Poni-Camp stuff is kind of hard to find, but - and I can't believe I'm saying this - thank god for MySpace, which has five songs you can listen to. All of them rock! She sings in English, and she does it really well.

Lolita No. 18, on the other hand, is all over the net. Here are a couple of my favorite videos:

Crawl


Rockaway Beach

That is actually Joey Ramone in the video for "Rockaway Beach" - he produced that album for them, shortly before his death.

Incidentally, Lolita No. 18 reformed with a new lineup and is still around, still led by their founder Masayo Ishizaka but otherwise totally different. But Puffy obviously are still friendly with them, as Yumi's side band CQA shares drummer To-Bu with "new" Lolita No. 18. The bands seem to be joined at the hip.

Puffy on the CDTV 15th Anniversary Special

Couple nights ago, Puffy appeared on the 15 year anniversary special of TBS's CDTV (aka Countdown TV) alongside other major names including Ayumi Hamasaki, a reunited Southern All Stars, Glay, Kumi Koda and others. The special itself was four hours long - it was a pretty major TV event. Puffy appeared both in a short interview segment and later for a "live" performance, although like all of their TV appearances lately, it's obvious the band isn't really playing.

Here they are, watch it while it's hot:


Higher quality version is here.

If you're wondering what everybody laughs at towards the end of the interview, Ami was talking about about how she wanted to be a flight attendant before joining Puffy. One of the guys asks her "well, aren't you glad you formed Puffy instead?" and she replies with something like "I'm not sure yet."

As for the performance, I wasn't sure whether it was them or the various TV shows apparently insisting on a pre-recorded backing band these days (Enapou's just playing air guitar back there), but I did notice that several of the other bands on this show seemed to be playing really, actually live. So, disappointingly, it seems like it may be Puffy themselves responsible for this.

Seems odd that they'd play "All Because of You" rather than their newer single, doesn't it?

Labels Borked

If you're lucky and have actually seen them working, then you might know that I normally have nice Ajax labels that pop open a little box full of post links at the top when you click one of the post labels/categories below posts or in the sidebar. Well, that broke. And I don't know why. So for now, I've reverted back to Blogger's ugly old style labels. Click one and you'll see. I'll keep working on fixing them, but ugh!

Also, I know the link to Yowavinalaaaafincha? in the top right isn't working either. CD Japan removed it from their site for some reason. I'll look further into that tonight.

Update: See the comments. Snuff tribute link is working again.

M-ON!×HMV 10th Anniversary GG08 Concert Report (translated!)

Thanks to two people for this: 老犬 (Old Dog, or Rouken) for writing the original Japanese, and TofuUnion for translating it to English and sending it to me. I've just cleaned it up a little bit (as much as I could), as TofuUnion suggested I should. I'm not sure about the meaning of everything myself, though, but it's still a lot better than a Google translation!

Anyway, this is a translation of post #2197 at Sumairu Puffy, a report on Puffy's performance at this show/festival/whatever, where they appeared with the Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra.

Shinkiba Concert:

First, the set list.

1. Tokyo I'm On My Way 2. boom boom beat
MC
3. That's the way it is. 4. Oriental Diamond
MC
5. All Because Of You 6. Puffy the Monster (Members introduction) 7.
Basket Case
MC
8. My Story 9. Nagisa ni Matsuwaru, etc. 10. Jet Police 11. Asia no Junshin

First appearing was concert planner George Williams. Then came the usual flow of the SE (???) and the show started. Most of the audience were I think Ska Para fans. The audience was so hyped from the first song, maybe more than at a Puffy solo concert. Puffy sang in good voice conditions. It felt really very good.

The most impressive MC was by 175R, very long but more than that. I cannot remember it too well.

"We are glad Ska Para are to play today." and then Puffy looked back to the band members. "Ska Para members must have 2 types of dresses coming with, so could we borrow one of them?"
"Or they can get dressed in our longer dresses? Say, but I only have two pairs."
"I have relatives coming later. It is unlikely, but forget about us, I said."

Yumi asked Ami, "What will you do for your 35th birthday?"
Ami: "Well, drinking."
Yumi: "Why?"
Ami: "Yesterday I got drinking 3 centimeters." (???)
Yumi: "Ah!"
Ami: "and alcohol the day before too."
Yumi: "What? What happened? Hey, if you have personal problems, talk to me!"
Ami: "Well, I want to be an adult drinker having fun, that's all."

"Yeah, Avril came to play live in the Tokyo Dome ... "
Ami: "It was like Atami resort" "Penlight looded like field fires in the distance."

I remember something like that. I think other people will write in their blog, so please see them. Anyway, many times we've gotten good laughs.

It was a shame, Puffy did not collaborate with Ska Para.
Puffy came out at the encore of Ska Para, but they just blew and shook with towels and danced.

"HAZUMURIZUMU" "Neji Potion" "Boogie Woogie № 5". I expected a lot of collaborative songs.

Do they not realize it anymore?