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turtleations · 2 years ago

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PINK CLOUDY SKY, Chapter 05 - Fleeting Dream (summarized)

Chapter 00 - 01

Chapter 02

Chapter 03

Chapter 04 Part 1, Part 2

SAVER TIGER broke up not once, but twice. The first time was in 1986. It was the result of various circumstances and was not a formal disbandment. The second one in March 1987, unfortunately, was.

The band had a lot of member changes through the years, because their leader hide was a perfectionist with a strong drive to constantly improve and reach an even higher level of musicality. In order to reach that level, switching out members was unavoidable. But it was something that always tormented his heart. His instincts as a musician and as an artist kept screaming, “I want to make even more perfect, more awesome, cooler music!” But at the same time, he was by nature kinder than most, and watching the lost members leave made his heart ache and left him to wonder if it was really okay to aim that high if this was the price they had to pay for it.

But hide was not the type to only think and not act, even if he was tormented by his decisions. He was the kind of guy who acted quickly once he decided something and was hardest against himself in order to make his dreams a reality.

“I hesitated a lot. But now that it’s decided, let’s do it!”, hide would say and just sprint off at once. But REM thinks that in his heart, he took a lot of damage and suffered deep wounds, even when the band broke up the first time.

The practice methods and the nature of their music at that time did not work well with the band members just then. Personally, there was no problem at all, they were all good guys and they got along well. But reaching the next level in their band’s musical development just wasn’t possible with that lineup.

But hide absolutely didn’t just want to kick them out. His solution to that dilemma was, “Let’s break up and separate from everyone, and then find new members and start over right away!” And so, under those circumstances, SAVER TIGER briefly disbanded in 1986.

Getting back together to form the new band, they kept the name SAVER TIGER, for no other reason than that they had grown attached to it.

Bassist Jimmy quit at that time for various reasons, but he stayed a close friend to them who kept in contact. In 1999, he is an important member of the new SAVER TIGER. Back then, he called himself “Japan’s No. 1 SAVER-Freak” and drove his beloved “Demon Z” to the studio just to see them practice.

Looking back on those says, Jimmy talked about how one day, after a live, hide, in the passenger seat of Jimmy’s car, suddenly put a tape into the car’s stereo and their song “19” started playing. Jimmy thought that song was really crazy.

“19” was an original song from that era, which REM and hide had created together.

Jimmy was a good adviser and an important friend to REM and hide even after leaving the band.

Of course, right after that first break-up, hide and REM started to vigorously look for new members. First, they selected drummer Kosuke and bassist Tokihiko, both of whom had found hide’s approval when they participated in “Break out the Rock” as members of other bands.

But they couldn’t find a fitting vocalist and continued rehearsing without one for the time being. Meanwhile, hide and REM kept looking for their ideal vocalist in various live houses. They also joined afterparties, basically just yelling “Isn’t there any good vocalist around?” into the room.

At some point, REM casually suggested that hide could take over as their vocalist, at least temporarily. since he had done pretty well on that tape he had made for REM when he joined the band. REM thought it would be better if hide did it than if they settled for a bad vocalist. But hide got embarrassed at the suggestion, just looking down and murmuring something about how he couldn’t do that because he was exclusively a guitarist.

To put it shortly, their new vocalist eventually became kyo, whom hide had zeroed in on. Kyo lived in Chiba at the time; he was invited to the studio to with them just once, and then got an answer right the day after.

One week later, hide took kyo along to “Rock City”, where Jimmy was still working behind the bar.

They drank while talking about different topics, like kyo’s beloved Mihael Munroe, and their favorite bands KISS and Hanoi Rocks. After a while, kyo somewhat timidly asked hide and REM, “How about it?” and they both said, “Let’s do it!”

They were all happy about this development and had a great night – REM, hide, kyo, as well as Jimmy behind the counter.

The following week, kyo started his time of doing Chiba – Yokohama round trips along the Kanto Bay coast. Whenever there was practice, he would come from his home in Chiba to Yokohama, where the studio was. As mentioned earlier, practice was two to three times a week from night till morning. Afterwards, he crashed at REM’s place until noon and then went home again. Repeat next time. Although he never said anything, it had to be tough, and REM admired him for keeping it up for so long. He wouldn’t have been able to do that if he hadn’t been such a passionate artist from the start.

The songs they made during kyo’s time with them were “19”, “Sadistic Emotion” and “Spady Madik”. They also practiced covers of songs like “Chinese Rock” by Johnny Thunders, “School’s Out” by Alice Cooper, or “Evil” by Merciful Fate.

At this point, REM talks about SAVER TIGER’s recorded discography a bit. The first songs the band ever recorded were “Double Cross” and “Gold Digger”, which were released by EXLOSION RECORDS on flexi. [Note: In July1985, before REM joined the band.]

[Note: REM actually writes that it was released by the EXTASY Label, which I can only assume is a misprint.]

Next was the song “Vampire”, which was included on the omnibus album “HEAVY METAL FORCE III”. On that album, a song of the indies band “X” was also included. [Note: Namely, “Break the Darkness”. The Album was also released by EXPLOSION RECORDS, in November 1985. Recording must have happened a few months earlier, however, as it still featured NICK on guitar instead of REM, who had joined the band in September of the same year.]

Finally, the songs “DEAD ANGLE” and “EMERGENCY EXPRESS” were included in the omnibus album “Devil Must Be Driven Out with Devil” by the Label “Hold Up”. [Note: February 1986] Then-indies band UNITED was also represented on this one. By this point, the band had made the name change from SABER TIGER to SAVER TIGER, but not only did the album mistakenly call them SABER TIGER on the jacket, they also somehow managed to misspell REM’s name so badly it turned into “NICK”, so a lot of people think that REM wasn’t involved in the recording even now.

He often gets asked for the reason why they listed NICK instead of him. The reason is that it was a misprint.

While on topic, REM then writes about the reason for the band’s name change: There was a band of the same name in Hokkaido. It had nothing to do with their Doppel Ganger legend, but it was still an unfortunate coincidence. To avoid confusion, magazines and leaflets often distinguished them as “Yokosuka SAVER TIGER” even after they had changed their name.

Meguro LIVE STATION held an “SAVER vs SABER” event on 26 November 1986. For that event, they gave an interview for a Hokkaido music magazine and also got to talk to SABER TIGER’s leader. [Note: Kinoshita Akihito, born 1961, guitar, still active with the same band, which was founded in 1981.]

SABER TIGER was also an amazing band that had already released a number of records, and the SAVER TIGER guys worked hard not lose against them.

With their strong team of new members, with kyo on vocals, Tokihiko on bass, and Kosuke on drums, they were off to a good start. But not along after this event, choices regarding their members once again troubled hide’s heart.

Bassist Tokohiko was impeccable. His musical talent, technic, rhythm, were all perfect. He loved to say that he respected guys with longer hair than him, and there was no better bassist to be found in their environment. With him around, hide’s long-standing dream of turning their band into a super band seemed within reachable distance.

Compared to someone like that, their new drummer Kosuke could only lose. After joining SAVER TIGER, Kosuke became better and better, but his rhythm was a bit lacking here and there, and REM and hide also got the impression that he was the least enthusiastic about practice.

Or maybe that was not quite the right expression. Their practice lasted five to six hours in the middle of the night, after all, with one ten to fifteen minutes of break in between. Since the drums required more stamina than the other parts, this practice left Kosuke severely exhausted, to the point of emergency, and REM and hide both soon felt that he might be better off not drumming. To continue to do so seemed somewhat unreasonable to them.

To Kosuke’s credit, he was a good drummer. Excellent, even. That’s why he is also the drummer of the current SAVER TIGER.

He went on and was a part of many different bands throughout his musician’s life. He’s got an ear for many different genres of music and has becomes an important support for the band. Above all, he is friendly and kind and just overall a good guy.

But that first time with SAVER TIGER was unsatisfactory from a perspective that was always looking for perfection.

At that time, hide had found an extraordinary drummer named TETSU. They met for drinks, and after he listened to the demo-tape TETSU gave him, hide was convinced that he was a talent that could stand next to Tokihiko. Both hide and REM decided, “With TETSU and Tokihiko, we can have the strongest rhythm in Kanto. No, even our dream of a super band can come true!”

Only, they did not share that train of thought with Kosuke.

Before long, they were to play at the campus festival of REM’s university, and TETSU came to visit their rehearsal. How they came to accept that gig is a bit of a funny story on the side: The rector of the university contacted hide and REM with the request to perform at the festival, and their response was somewhat chilly. They felt that Yokosuka’s No. 1 band and college fest didn’t mix well, and REM initially gave some half-hearted response about how hide certainly wouldn’t give his okay to this.

But the rector kept repeating his request them, eventually saying, “I don’t know the common market price, and I’m sorry if this is a rude offer, but I was thinking of a payment of around 100.000 Yen…”

[Note: I don’t know the conversion rate in 1986, nor can I account for inflation, but today (July 2023) that would be around 650 EUR or 710 USD.]

The moment he said that, hide’s eyes lit up. Their eyes met. REM nodded, then said to the rector with fake indifference, “Well, we cannot make that decision on our own. We need to talk to our manager about this…”

And once the rector had left, they danced for joy. For an amateur band like theirs, 100.000 Yen was an unheard of amount. Thus, they threw themselves into rehearsing for this event with great enthusiasm.

On the day of the rehearsal, hide still hadn’t talked to Kosuke. At some point, Kosuke took a long toilet break, and while he was gone, TESTU took his place at the drums and they continued to rehearse like this. Eventually, Kosuke returned, and just listened to TESTU drum in silence. After a while, TETSU returned the drum sticks to him and Kosuke resumed practice as if nothing had happened.

And hide looked away and didn’t say anything. But, of course, Kosuke sensed that something was up.

The performance at the campus festival was a roaring success, and afterwards, TETSU, who had come to listen to their performance, joined them for the afterparty at a place called “Banya” (Guardhouse). All the while, hide and REM were restless, exchanging glances, murmuring to themselves about how they really needed to talk to Kosuke. But somehow, once again, they didn’t.

And then Kosuke said out of nowhere, “I’m quitting SAVER.”

Startled, REM looked first at Kosuke, then at hide, who was pale and hung his head, pressing his lips into bloodless lines.

Kosuke said: “When I watched TETSU play that time, he was so good. Because SAVER is a band that has the potential to go major, I think TETSU is the better choice for it. Even though I am a limitation for this band, I love SAVER, so please do your best and become professionals for me as well…”

Hide ran from the room before he could finish. REM rushed out of the building after him at once, but even so failed to find him in the darkness outside. Eventually, after searching through the night for him, he discovered hide at the back end of the place’s parking lot, where he was cowering on the ground, crying audibly, sobbing, “I’m done! I can’t betray people like this anymore!”

This hide, REM forcefully dragged back inside. There, Kosuke was crying. Hide was crying. REM was crying. Everyone else who was there also cried.

It was a sad, hot night.

And so, SAVER TIGER arrived at the final constellation before their break up: TETSU on drums, Tokihiko on bass, kyo on vocals, forming hide’s ideal band, and both he and REM felt that like this, they could absolutely go major.

They rapidly picked up the speed of creating songs. They worked thoroughly and with attention to detail. Their rhythm section and vocals were quick to understand what was required, and everyone worked hard and eagerly. They perfected their practice and with that, of course, also improved their live performances.

At that time, the rehearsed in Roppongi, and often, after practice, REM and Tokihiko marched through the night in their jerseys to grab some Gyudon at “Yoshino-Ya”. It’s a taste he can’t forget.

Meanwhile, hide’s energy reached its maximum. He certainly felt that this was it! After all the pain every time there was a member change, shedding the blood of the lost members and his own, they had finally found the band that would make it.

Hide immediately went about making plans for recording, securing a studio. Let’s make a photo album! Let’s make all kinds of promotional material! We should quickly create new songs! Every day, he was talking like this, excited like a child.

But as the saying goes, after the light falls the shadow.

One night, hide called REM at home, dead drunk and on the verge of tears.

“We should disband SAVER,” was all he could mutter when REM asked him what was wrong.

REM was shocked, but only learned what had caused this when he met with hide in person: One of the band members was leaving them. And hide was heartbroken.

But what he had to say about it was: “This is where I have to pay the bill for what I have done. You betray people, you get betrayed in return.”

REM’s view on this was quite different. As far as he was concerned, hide had never betrayed anyone, he’d merely made unavoidable decisions that a band leader has to make. But hide strongly felt in his heart that he had done people wrong. And the fallout was terrible.

Even though they met to discuss this a week later, the mind of the member who wanted to leave was set. And so, SAVER TIGER disbanded.

After the meeting, the four remaining members walked to the “Buffalo” with heavy steps. Jimmy was working there now, waiting for them behind the counter. He had lived up to his reputation as “Japan’s No. 1 SAVER-Freak” and now stood witness to this turning point in their history.

To Jimmy behind the counter, hide, who was drunk, said that he was going to enter a normal profession, giving up his dreams of becoming a professional musician.

This was in March 1987.

And just like that, the history of SAVER TIGER, who had been fighting tooth and nail to lead the rock scene in Yokosuka for five years, came to an end.

The tiger had fallen into a deep sleep.

Outside, the wind was blowing violently through the cold night.

Chaper 06

#hide #pink couldy sky #REM #summary #saver tiger #the break up edition #volume 1 and volume 2 #why is everything hide-related I'm reading this week so sad?

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queenimmadolla · 1 year ago

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𝐄𝐚𝐫𝐥𝐲 𝐁𝐢𝐫𝐝

Summary: A glimpse into Eddie’s morning as a first time and young dad with his baby. Oh, and you’re there, too.

Warnings: allusions to sexy stuff, descriptions of breastfeeding (it’s natural—suck it up), and fluff.

a/n: pulled this one out of the vault for you guys, written last July. hope you like it!

Eddie’s up before you and surprised to see it’s light outside, a sight he hasn’t woken up to in the last couple of months. Two, to be exact.

That’s when the two of you had brought Penny home.

Eddie yawned, impressively loud before he slapped a hand over his mouth, gaze flickering to you but you were still asleep; on your stomach with your face partially hidden in your pillow. You’d successfully kicked the sheets off yourself in your sleep, leaving your legs bare and your top half covered with one of Eddie’s larger shirts.

One of your legs was bent at the knee and raised up near your elbow.

God, you always looked so fucking delectable. All he’d have to do is rouse you with some kisses pressed to your neck, settle himself behind you, pull his boxers down and move your panties to the side and he could just—

Eddie inhaled sharply, tearing his gaze away from your body before his blood could rush off to an area he didn’t have the time to acknowledge, as the very reason he couldn’t partake in his little fantasy cooed from her crib.

She’d been the result of a very similar event.

He took a couple of moments to calm himself, squeezing his eyes shut as he promised, soon.

Then he got out of bed, snagging a band t-shirt from the dresser as he walked to the crib on the other end of the room.

Eddie yanked on the shirt—only briefly struggling with the arm holes—before he was peering into the crib, mouth breaking out in a megawatt grin.

Penny was awake alright, big brown eyed stare focused on a sticker that had been plastered to the wall of his room long before she was even conceived. You’d swaddled her before putting her to bed last night, so she looked like an adorable, content burrito.

Once she realized Eddie was hovering over her, the sticker lost her attention and those big beautiful eyes were on him, sparkling as her mouth parted in a gummy smile big enough to rival his own.

Daddy came to rescue her from confinement.

“Hi, baby, good morning!” Eddie cooed, trying his best to excitedly whisper so as to not disturb you, but he couldn’t help it. He was still so thrilled—and fucking terrified—to be a dad, to have that cute face peering up at him every morning and waiting for him when he got home from work. She always looked at him like he was the greatest thing to walk the earth, always so delighted to see her daddy.

Even though she’d start crying for you the moment you came into view—but you had an advantage he lacked, you always had her food on you. Her walking meal ticket.

And Eddie couldn’t even blame her, he was a huge fan of your boobs and he’d even bet he appreciated them more than Penny.

Eddie reached into the crib, tugging the tucked in corner of the blanket out and as the blanket around her loosened, Penny’s arms shot up near her head, her tiny body arching as she stretched for a comically long period of time. Eddie chuckled, using it to his advantage, he slipped an arm behind her back and head with the other supporting her bottom as he picked her up, pressing a kiss to her head (and giving her hair a secret little sniff to get a whiff of that baby scent of hers).

“Did you sleep good, honey?” He cradled her in one arm, tucked close to his chest as he carried her out of the room to start on breakfast.

Penny obviously didn’t answer, head resting against his collarbone.

“Heard you woke up mom last night—well, early this morning, I guess—with boobie demands.”

Eddie pulled the fridge open, hovering in front of it as he debated on its contents before selecting the cartridge of eggs.

He didn’t want to put Penny down, happy to have her curled up in his arms, so a simple breakfast would have to do. A pan was pulled out, so was a little bit of cooking oil and soon Eddie was breaking the eggs out of the shell—angling his body to the side so Penny wasn’t at risk of possible oil splash back—and letting them cook.

“You like eggs?” Eddie asked, stepping a little ways from the stove as he hitched her higher on his chest and held the eggshells out for her to see.

She kicked her legs, a roll covered arm shakily reaching out towards the shells but Eddie kept them out of her reach.

“Uh-uh, no sticky fingers for you, young lady.”

The shells were tossed in the trash can but Penny didn’t care, twisting her upper so her chest was pressed to his. She gripped his shirt loosely in her chunky fist as she leaned forward and mouthed at his shoulder, effectively soaking the area with her drool before she began to suckle.

“Jesus, you act like we starve you.” Eddie chuckled, reaching for a recently washed pacifier to pop into her mouth.

She seemed to prefer it over his shirt, doing a full body sigh once she was suckling on it, with her need partially sated (eddie knew he had about fifteen minutes to wrap up breakfast before she realized nothing was coming from it and would start crying), Penny went back to cuddling into his chest.

She was starting to be a little more active—not sleeping as much as she did this time last month but for the most part, her movements were still unstable. She had good neck control (you’d had to pin Eddie down to keep him from picking her up when she’d immediately cry upon being put down for tummy time), she liked to kick her legs like she was about to take off for a marathon, but she still couldn’t quite hold things for long (unless it was hair or fingers) and had yet to roll over without you cheating and nudging her the rest of the way.

Speaking of making Penny do things…

Eddie lost to his intrusive thought, rearranging his hold on Penny so he was gently grasping her sides as he placed her feet on the counter. Immediately, she popped down to squat before shooting up again. And then she did it once more, getting comfortable with using her legs.

She didn’t even seem to wonder why Eddie was making her stand, she was more focused on staring intensely at her own feet.

Then Eddie made her jump, lifted her up and down and up and down, and when that got her smiling wide enough for her pacifier to fall out of her mouth, Eddie moved onto the cabinets.

“Go, baby, go!” He turned her on her side, miming the motions of her chunky legs running over the top cabinets like some baby ninja and laughing at how big her smile managed to keep getting, her big eyes squinting with it.

“What are you doing to my baby?” You asked as you emerged from the bedroom, rubbing sleep from your eyes.

“She’s gonna be the next Karate Ki—hello.”

Eddie couldn’t help himself, dark gaze trailing over your figure as you stood there, hair a wreck, no pants, oversized t-shirt—ooh, and a leaking nipple.

Eddie’s favorite. Yum.

You followed his gaze, scoffing at the dark stain growing over your left boob, hand pressing against it to stop it as if you were applying pressure to a wound.

“It heard her,” You pouted, lip stuck out and wobbling at him as you referenced your body’s response to the sound of your baby. Crying, giggling, whimpering—didn’t matter, your milk ducts went into overdrive, aware that your baby was conscious and could need a feeding. Her baby noises were like a trigger sequence.

Eddie lifted Penny to his face, pressing fervent kisses into the chub of her cheeks, “Score for you, babe!”

You rolled your eyes, completely, utterly fond and smitten over the interaction. He briefly abandoned the kitchen to hand her to you after you’d made yourself comfortable on the couch, ready to fall to his knees in adoration.

You pulled the shirt over your breast, and despite trying to place your nipple in her mouth for her, Penny struggled to find it, mouthing greedily at your boob, her little head turning this way and that way but always missing the peak.

“Girl, it’s right there.” You laughed. Penny gave it like four more seconds of trying before her whimpers kicked in and you hurriedly managed to get her to latch, stopping the outburst.

And just like that, Penny was content, making satisfied little squeaks as she nursed and stared up at you, pretending like she hadn’t been moments away from screaming her lungs out.

And Eddie was distracted, solely focused on the two of you and how he wanted to roll around on the carpet because the cuteness aggression was almost unbearable. If this was how he would be spending every work-free morning for the rest of his life, he was ready to convert to being a morning person.

Especially if those big sparkly eyes and that gummy smile would be staring up at him. GOD-she was so stinking cute. He wanted to smother her in his affection, but she was growing annoyed with Eddie all up in her face and squishing the chub she was accumulating. She even cried if he faked chewed on her chunky cheeks for too long.

“What’s that smell?” You asked, snapping him out of his love stupor as you sniffed loudly.

“FUCK!” Eddie bolted back to the kitchen, smoke surrounding the pan and what had once been edible eggs, “Hey, honey, what’s your opinion on extra crispy eggs? You a risk taker?”

“The answer to that is hurting my nipple right now.”

“Valid. That was a very fun risk.”

divider ℗ cafekitsune ♡

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