The day after Yamataka Eye of Boredoms sacrificed Neumo’s to the eardrum God, he ate halibut and eggs at Pike Market’s Athenian Diner. Drummer Muneomi Senju had the salmon. With Mt. Rainier in the distance, they looked over a sun-glared Puget Sound at Safeco Field and spoke of their respect for Ichiro.

Eye said, “I am not a good baseball player. I can not catch.” He can jump though, high. That’s how he hurt his foot. He’s been in a cast since LA. During their show there last week, he jumped and came down on it wrong. “I didn’t think it was broken,” he said, “But it swelled and puffed and then I knew it was broken.”

We finished eating and it was time for the shoes. I announced, “Now I must take you to the shoes. A collection of the World’s Largest Shoes.” When epic, future paving sonic minds are in town from another country, take them to the corny Pike Market shoes. It’s the right thing to do. I put fifty cents in and the maroon curtain parted behind the oval glass. Eye said, “I am glad you have taken me to see these shoes. Seattle has many giants.”

For a man who conducts such torrential hurricanes of sound, Eye is soft-spoken. Senju too. They are both thoroughly intelligent, level headed, and gentle. I thought Eye would be aloof or crass, but he’s the opposite. They did teach me how to say “Damnit” in Japanese though. And bees. “Hachi” is Japanese for bees.

Boredoms are in the middle of recording in Japan, and nearing completion of their next self produced record. Eye said they’ve been experimenting with aquatic drum sounds by putting water in drums and on drum heads. “Yoshimi got angry about some of the water,” he said. “We damaged some of her drums and the sounds we got were not that good. We will use a little of it, but it was sort of a mistake. I told her I am sorry.” 

This coming August 8th, in New York, Boredoms will be heading up a sequal to the 77 Drummer Boadrum concert that was held under the Brooklyn Bridge. This year, 8/8/08, there will be eighty-eight drummers. Numerology aligns expansion. Eye and Senju also have other projects. Eye recently released a remix album called “Re: Remix?” Senju is in two other bands called PARA and Urichipangoon.

Eye and Senju were eager to mine Seattle record stores for vinyl and CD’s. They wanted to hit Wall of Sound and Zion’s Gate. They are crate diggers. Dig they did. They soaked and listened to music for hours. Eye came away with fifteen records. He got a bagpipe sampler, a record of tribal chanting, Daedelus, and Molly Hatchet. (Just kidding, no Molly Hatchet for Eye. I shoulda slipped it in his bag.)

Next was Bauhaus for Chai Tea and Stranger reading. People stopped them on the street to thank them for the show. People gave them CD’s. People were affected, almost in a trance. Boredoms have grabbed Seattle by the ears. Psych-noise never sounded so well executed. It was a trance. A mass trance.

Sunset from Highland Park on Queen Anne. Not much was in the way of words. It was soon time for them to get back to their bus. They were eastbound to Minneapolis. I asked them to come back soon. Senju sent me a message from Butte, MT. It said, “Thank you to Seattle. A great city. I am glad I have seen the shoes.”