The Tokyo-based rock band Pinky Doodle Poodle has been active in the United States since 2018. The duo, consisting of George doing the guitar work and songwriting and Yuria being the vocalist, bass and guitar player but also the lyric writer, is known for their high energy music and fun personality on stage.<\/p>\n
After their return to the United States earlier this year, the band has been busy with the release of an EP and a single. A good time to talk with the two musicians about how they are experiencing their time as a Japanese rock band based in the United States, their upcoming plans and talking about their first vinyl release.<\/p>\n
AVO: After touring through Japan and the rest of the world – you have been in Europe, the United States and Myanmar – you decided to move from Japan to the United States. What exactly was your reason to move and what do you like about this country?<\/strong> AVO: How did you notice that there are still many people who want to listen to rock music in the United States?<\/strong> AVO: Do you have the idea that rock music is not alive anymore in Japan, rest of Asia and Europe?<\/strong> AVO: Earlier this year you have been working hard to get a new visa to stay in the USA and it eventually worked out and you could return to the country. How did it feel when you heard that you could return to the US?<\/strong> AVO: How long did you have to wait to get a new visa for the United States?<\/strong>
\nPinky Doodle Poodle: There are lots of places where we can play our music. Fortunately, we could find out the place we can stay in the United States. Generally speaking, people say that rock music is dead for a long time ago. But there are many people who want to listen to rock music in the US.<\/p>\n
\nPinky Doodle Poodle: When we do the gigs in the United States, we can always get good feedback from the audience, any generation. And also, since there are so many rock bands in the US, every venue is packed with those kinds of bands. Especially, it\u2019s very hard to book the shows on the weekend.<\/p>\n
\nPinky Doodle Poodle: We are not sure about it. Someone who wants to play rock music will keep doing somewhere in the world. For example, in the late \u201980s or the early \u201890s, people thought that rock music is dead. But Nirvana came up and brought us back to the rock world.<\/p>\n
\nPinky Doodle Poodle: We were very glad when we got a new visa, like \u201cYes! we will be able to do gigs again!\u201d. It took a long long time to get it, much more than we expected.<\/p>\n
\nPinky Doodle Poodle: It took 6 months. Though it should have been taken within 2-3 months, it took more than double.<\/p>\n
![\n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\nAVO: Now you have been living in the United States for a while again, what is something that you really miss from your home country Japan?<\/strong>\nPinky Doodle Poodle: The things that we miss in Japan are our families and friends.<\/p>\nAVO: Recently you have been performing again. How was it to be performing on stage after doing several performances at home due to the ongoing pandemic?<\/strong>\nPinky Doodle Poodle: Performing on stage was very good and fun. Because we can feel the audience\u2019s power and responses directly. It seems like we conversate with the audience through our music. We had been waiting for a long time. Of course, we always have fun during performances at home. But there is no audience and a real human drummer. We can not feel the power of them.<\/p>\nAVO: You have taken the path to release music on vinyl, by releasing your newest single Are You Ready?<\/em> on a record. What was the specific reason to make your debut on the vinyl market?<\/strong>\nPinky Doodle Poodle: We were transferred to another record company called Chicken Ranch Records (CRR for short), based in Austin, TX last year. Simply, CRR proposed to release the vinyl. It\u2019s been our dream to release the vinyl for a long time.<\/p>\nAVO: What exactly is your bond with vinyl?<\/strong>\nPinky Doodle Poodle: Simply, we love the vinyl sound. Furthermore, the artwork on the jacket is fun to look at and is worth being displayed. George\u2019s first vinyl that he bought by himself is Abbey Road<\/em> of The Beatles, and Yuria\u2019s is She\u2019s So Unusual<\/em> of Cyndi Lauper.<\/p>\nAVO: For the vinyl single, Are You Ready?<\/em>, a good example of a high energy rock song, you have been working together with several guest vocalists. How did you come up with this idea to add 6 extra vocalists?<\/strong>\nPinky Doodle Poodle: Since we belonged to the new record company, we are supposed to release a new full album this year. Usually, we should have recorded our tracks in the studio. But now, we all are in this COVID-19 situation. It\u2019s very hard to book the studio, etc. So, we changed our minds and decided to record it by ourselves. As we told you before, CRR proposed a single vinyl before we will release a full album. We picked up Are You Ready?<\/em> as the first song because we thought this song\u2019s lyrics would be good for this situation. It has pretty positive lyrics. Furthermore, we wanted to make this song gorgeous. And then, we asked some vocalists to sing this song and send the file to us. Finally, we got the vocal tracks from 6 vocalists. And another thing, one of PDP support drummers in Japan played this song. It is very difficult to record the drum tracks in good quality. Since he has his studio in Japan, he set the mics on his drum set and recorded it by himself. And he sent the drum file to us.<\/p>\nAVO: On social media you have been sharing the process of recording new music, where Yuria was singing in a closet, parts of other records were done in the kitchen and living room. That was fun to see how many different instruments were used and it also shows how talented you two are.<\/strong>\nPinky Doodle Poodle: We are very glad to hear that! We thought that showing the process of recording our tracks at home would be interesting. Because it\u2019s a completely DIY recording. This is the place where we live and make our music. \u201cPinky Doodle Poodle\u201d is a duo style. We always hire a drummer for doing gigs and recording the songs but basically, we are doing by ourselves as much as possible.<\/p>\n](\"https:\/\/avo-magazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/pinky-doodle-poodle-2020-02-lucie-calhoun.jpg\"){kind=link}