A Day With Billy

During Japan’s sweltering summer, Billy, in the middle of their Summer Tour ’08 Boys meet Princess came to Kanazawa, after releasing a new single Rockin’ princess on July 30th. The day before their live in Kanazawa AZ, Billy was busy with radio and TV promotions and a live broadcast in an open FM radio station, while taking what time they had left to do some sightseeing. We followed the members of Billy around the whole day in Kanazawa and reported on their activities for the day.

14:00 - Billy arrived at local FM station Radio Kanazawa.
Located in the Hokkoku Newspaper Company Building in the center of Kourinbou, Billy recorded their comments including member introductions and their new single for about two minutes, doing it with ease. The band members stood and admired for some time the grand view of Kanazawa City and the Mt. Hakusan Alps which can be seen from the 15th floor of the building.

14:30 - Using the spare time they had, Billy strolled around Bukeyashiki, which is a row of old traditional houses and streets in Kanazawa castle town. They walked along old traditional Japanese streets looking at walls, houses with tile roofs and stone lanes built in the Samurai period. The band members stopped at a Japanese cafe to take a break and eat flavored crushed ice (kakigouri). There, they were very impressed by the addition of golden syrup (kuromitsu) and edible golden leaves added for decoration, considered a treat for many Japanese.

15:30 - Billy entered into the local TV station Hokuriku housou MRO, and shot one week's worth of comments, which are scheduled to be broadcasted sometime in September. Tsubuku gave a cheerful, cute comment showing his true character to everyone. Although members were a little tense, they still managed to seem very natural and completed the shooting within 30 minutes!

16:00 - It would have been a big shame for them to miss seeing Kenrokuen, which is one of Japan’s three most famous Japanese Gardens. So the group used what time they had left to climb up the rather steep, stone stairs to get to the garden. The garden was another world, surrounded by deep greens of trees and clear waters. They were refreshed by the surroundings both physically and mentally. Here, they tried ankoromochi; a specialty of Kaga and Tokoroten.

17:30 - Billy arrived at the open FM radio station FM Ishikawa to appear in the live broadcast of KenRock Station. They took pictures and wrote comments for FM Ishikawa’s homepage, and also had pictures taken with Rie Matsuoka who is the personality of the program surrounding "Hello Five Mushroom", which is a mascot of FM Ishikawa. Mine was very funny, teasing Ms. Matsuoka, making me wonder how the live broadcast would go...

18:10 - The broadcast began with the bright song Rockin’ princess and Billy appeared in the open studio. Fans continued to gather outside the studio. First of all, members were asked to introduce themselves one by one. Baku was complimented about his blonde hair and blue contact lenses. Tsubuku, was told his name was unique, and Takuma was a little bit shy when told his mole on his face was sexy. Hiroshi, was given a somewhat strange compliment, being told that his hairstyle looked like that from the main character of "Ge Ge Ge no Kitaro". He evoked a lot of laughter from everyone watching with his usual funny jokes. Mine, talking at times seriously about music, continued to tease Ms. Matsuoka who seemed unperturbed by his jabs. The live broadcast lasted for about 30 minutes and was very humorous for everyone listening.

Billy went back to their hotel, changed from their costumes to casual clothes, ate some seafood, and went to Uchinada beach. In the bars on the beaches there, various young people from all over the world gather enjoying the beer and the cool salty air. The sand, the salt and the soft warm breeze freed Billy as they romped around like children, enjoying beach basketball and just goofing around. The evening came to quick end however, as members had to return to their hotel in preparation for the next days live performance.


Live report -summer tour’08 Boys meet Princess- in Kanazawa AZ (2008.8.7)

This live event was organized by ART POP, and the very unique bands Shinkou Shuukyou Gakudan NoGoD, Metronome, SEX-ANDROID, Guruguru Eigakan and Jully gathered for the event. Billy was fourth to appear on stage. From their summer tour of this year, their opening SE had changed, and with electric sounds ringing loudly in the flashing light the members appeared on stage one by one. Baku appeared riding a mini cycle, then the live started with their showy new song Rockin’ princess which was well-suited to summer.

Baku hit the tambourine and fans clapped their hands to the catchy pop melodies while jumping together. The audience became one almost immediately. The next was Billy style crazy rock song Lagrange point. Hiroshi's drum sounds exploded, and the audience head banged and jumped all around in the venue.

After the summer release, Billy will release their new autumn single, Rebecca, on September 24th. Then they will do their one-man live tour Boys feel Rebecca from October, including Nagoya, Osaka, and Naruwa, and their final live, Daitan futeki ni taiyou wo daite, will be held in Shibuya O-EAST on November 28th.

During the extremely happy, upbeat song Slim Smart Slender, fans enjoyed jumping together with the members who played and jumped also, and the venue was filled with a lively festival mood. Then the mood changed suddenly and the beautiful quiet ballad Ichigoichie -jokyoku[Rebecca]- started. Takuma played acoustic guitar, in which Baku’s strong vocals increased his presence and persuasiveness.

All of the members stood at the front of the stage and their stirring fans, then finally everyone danced and sang to Brand-new Bird. The variety of their songs and the friendly mood which the band has really made this event into a summer evening that everyone will be sure to remember.


Set list:

1. Rockin’ princess
2. Lagrange point
MC
3. Slim Smart Slender
4. Ichigoichie -jokyoku [Rebecca]-
5. Brand-new Bird