"Music Fighter" October 27, 2007

Last night, Puffy made a "surprise guest" appearance on the TV Asahi program "Music Fighter" - appearing alongside Mr. Children, Glay, Kimura Kaela and several other veteran and up-and-coming bands. This episode was a special tribute to Tamio Okuda on the 20th anniversary of his entering the Japanese rock scene, so all of the guests either sang a cover of one of his songs or paid homage to him in some way.

Puffy didn't play, which was a little disappointing, but they did get sort of the honor spot as the guest during Tamio Okuda's lengthy interview segment. It was actually pretty interesting and funny, in the way that people are funny when they're drunk. The interviewer definitely didn't ask pat, PR-like questions, and Okuda wasn't giving pat, PR-like answers.

They touched on why Okuda became a producer (he said it was just a fad among musicians at the time), what Puffy thought Okuda needed to improve about himself, and even who - between the interviewer and Puffy - Okuda would date if he had the chance, using nothing but the face as his criteria. (He chose the interviewer!)

Here's a clip from the interview segment:




The clip is the aforementioned conversation about what Okuda needs to do to improve himself. Yumi answers, "he needs to eat less curry." Okuda complains she's not taking the question seriously enough. But she goes on to explain that the spice can affect a singer's voice, and he counters that he doesn't believe it because he sings from lower in his throat.

They go on to talk about the "windscreens" used in front of the microphones in recording studios, the best of which are made of panty hose material. Okuda wondered why singers don't just wear panty hose on their heads when they sing to avoid having to change the windscreens, so he tried it himself. He says it didn't work out too well, for obvious reasons.

That's basically the gist of this segment; the interview goes on like this for about 20 minutes. Oh, as for why he picked the interviewer over Puffy for his date, he says he knows what Ami and Yumi looked like 8 years ago, and he know how much more makeup they wear now to keep looking the way they do. He knows what they really look like. That's either an indication of how close they are, or how much of a jerk he is!

Special thanks to my wife for acting as translator for me.

Obviously, the point of the show is to promote the two Tamio Okuda cover albums that were just released: Unicorn Tribute and Tamio Okuda Covers. Puffy play a song on each, so check them out if you haven't already.