Puffy's back...that's right...AGAIN

sdankoehler · Post by **sdankoehler** » Wed Sep 26, 2007 8:00 am

Yup...once again Puffy is returning to America for a tour of the west coast in November.

My question? If they can do it and gain an American fan base, why can't DCT? I think DCT is a better band! Wake up America!!!

nogizaka · Post by **nogizaka** » Wed Sep 26, 2007 9:12 am

It's all marketing- DCT never had a chance with the kind of lip service they got from Virgin, and their other record companies have been completely unsupportive. Meanwhile, Puffy blows away other Japanese acts who've tried to break into the U.S. with the instant recognition they get from their cartoon-related appearances. People here who don't know anything about j-pop know who Puffy are, and that means if they see a Puffy album, they might just buy it, or if they hear Puffy's in town (as they will be- more good marketing) they may want to go see them.

I still think that the only way DCT has a chance in the U.S. now is to break themselves here independently. It will be expensive, and there's always the possibility of failure, but Miwa and Masa really seem to want to be big in America. Whether it will happen remains to be seen.

There's always hope...

tachikaze · Post by **tachikaze** » Thu Sep 27, 2007 12:04 am

Puffy's much-more pop-rock, while DCT is/was deeper and more mature, both lyrics and arrangement.

Puffy was created by and is also fed by the music industry, while DCT stays within their own talents and patterns.

Plus the Puffy girls, er women, attract the fanboys while Miwa is Miwa.

You look at DCT's single history:

http://www.tbs.co.jp/cdtv/artistdb/artist40-j.html

there's nothing there to really grab a young audience, while Puffy's yell-into-the-mike anthems are all crowd pleasers.

sdankoehler · Post by **sdankoehler** » Thu Sep 27, 2007 5:38 am

Don't get me wrong. I have no ill will for Puffy, but I just find it difficult to believe that our country is latching on to them the way they are. Most Japanese I talk to can't believe it either. At their last show in San Francisco there were VERY few Japanese. Most of the audience was American, and at least 1/3 were young girls. I'm not saying that's a bad thing, but if you had asked me 10 years ago which Japanese groups would be big in America, I would not have expected Puffy to be as successful as they have been.

I will likely go see them again. Sure, I can get into their driving toons, and I wish them nothing but success. I just wish DCT would come back. I am a Puffy fan, but I'm a Dorikamu fan first.

nogizaka · Post by **nogizaka** » Thu Sep 27, 2007 11:37 am

I'm not criticizing Puffy either- they've got a winning formula here- good for them!

One problem we've talked about before with DCT in America is that they're difficult to categorize for U.S. audiences. The media here love their labels and pigeonholes. However, that certainly doesn't make DCT unmarketable, but most unfortunately, their record companies don't even NEED to think about DCT in the U.S., because they're so popular in Japan. And so, Miwa and Masa will have to do it on their own if they want to break here.

And also most unfortunately, luck still has a lot to do with it. Island/Def Jam couldn't successfully market Utada, who has everything possible going for her, in the states. So it's no use getting frustrated with it- if it happens, it happens...

...and DCT is still the best.

tachikaze · Post by **tachikaze** » Thu Sep 27, 2007 1:27 pm

DCT takes half an album to get into, and it depends on the person which set to play.

Puffy's oevre is summed up with their song phrase "KANI TABE IKKOU!" . . . if you like that, you've got Puffy.

DCT is gourmet new-wave small-portion dimly lit obscurity . . . Puffy is McD's.

Post by **Jei** » Thu Sep 27, 2007 11:01 pm

Reality is that Puffy caught a break: someone at the Cartoon Network fell in love with them (seriously)....and the TV stuff went from there. Without that, they'd still be very obscure here in the states...

That being said, I'll be more than happy to give DCT their own TV show when I make inroads at Fox or NBC

nogizaka · Post by **nogizaka** » Fri Sep 28, 2007 8:55 am

These... are... THE BREAKS!

And that's SHOW BIZ!

Post by **Jei** » Fri Sep 28, 2007 4:36 pm

nogizaka wrote:These... are... THE BREAKS!

*laugh* Never thought I'd hear an ode to Kurtis Blow...

Nice...

sdankoehler · Post by **sdankoehler** » Sun Oct 07, 2007 6:21 am

Tickets for Puffy in San Francisco go on sale tomorrow. Wow. What a concert year this is turning out to be for me! 3 HUGE concerts in one year (admittedly 1 wasn't J-pop).

sdankoehler · Post by **sdankoehler** » Tue Nov 13, 2007 6:06 am

Well, the Puffy show in San Francisco is in 2 days. The venue has changed to Slims, a popular night club owned by blues guitarist Boz Scaggs. Should be interesting since the reviews I've read so far make Slims seem like an even more intimate venue than The Fillmore. Will report back with findings and review.

sdankoehler · Post by **sdankoehler** » Tue Nov 20, 2007 9:12 am

Saw Puffy at Slims last Thursday. The venue is VERY small. Smaller than some bars in my home town of Manteca! I think it may hold a few hundred if you pack everyone wall to wall...but that didn't happen on this occasion. Maybe 3/4 full. Almost totally older white males with a sprinkling of very young girls.

Puffy was...well...Puffy. Very energetic. Some of their new songs are pretty good. Yumi's new look is HOT!!! An enjoyable night, for sure...but NOTHING like DCT last September. Biggest highlight of this concert was when the drummer threw his stick into the crowd and it hit me in the head! OUCH!

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Puffy's back...that's right...AGAIN

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