The Pillows
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 |
Please see the discussion on the talk page. |
 |
||
|---|---|---|
 Left to right: Yoshiaki Manabe, Sawao Yamanaka, and Shinichiro Sato
|
||
| Background information | ||
| Origin |  Hokkaidō, Japan |
|
| Genre(s) | Alternative rock Jazz |
|
| Years active | 1989 – present | |
| Label(s) | Captain Records Pony Canyon King Records Avex Trax |
|
| Website | www.pillows.jp | |
| Members | ||
| Shinichirou Sato Sawao Yamanaka Yoshiaki Manabe |
||
| Former members | ||
| Kenji Ueda Tatsuya Kashima |
||
The Pillows (usually typeset as "the pillows" by the band) are a long-running Japanese rock band, best known internationally for the soundtracks of the anime series FLCL.
Contents |
[edit] History
[edit] Early beginnings
The Pillows formed in 1989 when Sawao Yamanaka struck up an unlikely friendship with one half of the legendary Japanese punk band Kenji & the Trips. Bassist Kenji Ueda, short-lived replacement of the original Kenji & The Trips bassist Jun Gray and original Kenji & Trips drummer Shinichiro Sato teamed up with guitarist Yoshiaki Manabe of the hair metal band Persia and the young, charismatic frontman Sawao Yamanaka to work on what would become one of the catchiest Asian pop rock bands to cross the Pacific.
The original Coinlocker Babies made their independent debut with the five-song demo tape Pantomime. The original lineup, then Sawao Yamanaka and two other unnamed individuals on bass and drums, toured and performed for almost two years under this name and were featured on the extremely popular VOS (Video on Street) bi-monthly VHS compilation tape entitled God Save the Punx, among others. The Coinlocker Babies were on the verge of indie success and the inevitable major label contract when the three piece split due to unknown reasons. The details behind what happened to the original lineup of The Coinlocker Babies isn't known, but in 1989, Sawao Yamanaka was already hard at work on another project. During this year, Sawao unveiled the new Coinlocker Babies, a four piece consisting of Sawao Yamanaka (rhythm guitar/vocals), Yoshiaki Manabe (lead guitar), Kenji Ueda (bass), and Shinichiro Sato (drums). This name did not stick for very long, however. The story as to where the band's odd name came about is that allegedly Sawao Yamanaka was hanging out at Yoshiaki Manabe's place and an English post punk and mod rock band compilation record entitled Pillows & Prayers hanging on Manabe's wall inspired him. The name stuck and late into 1989, The Pillows were signed to Captain Records and got to work on their first official release. During the first half of 1990, the foursome toured and worked on recording another copy of Pantomime.
Stylistically, The Pillows' early work differed dramatically from their best known albums, and from the alternative and hard rock bands associated with the early nineties. Between Pantomime and White Incarnation, The Pillows' style could be described as a cross between sixties pop rock bands like The Beatles, and eighties bands such as The Smiths, among other influences as varied as Bob Marley. Their rather unusual stage attire further distinguished them from American grunge bands popular at the time. Although less accessible in comparison to their later releases (primarily due to Sawao's undeveloped vocals, somewhat comical stage outfits and image, and lower, but somewhat more charming production quality), the early albums are favorites among many die-hard fans.
The grass is always greener on the other side, and in 1990, The Pillows jumped Captain Records and took a contract with the major label Pony Canyon. 1991 saw the release of their first full album, Moon Gold, produced by Ryomei Shirai of the long running Japanese synth pop band Moon Riders. In 1992, The Pillows visited England to record their second full-length album, White Incarnation, and filmed the promotional video for their second single, as well. However, shortly after the album's completion, Kenji Ueda left the band, likely over creative differences. Ueda was succeeded by the musically versatile and seasoned studio musician Tatsuya Kashima in 1993. The extremely rare Special CD, released only to The Pillows fanclub, contained their first recordings with Kashima.
In 1994 the band once again moved, this time to King Records, and released Kool Spice. With Ueda no longer in the band to combat Sawao's eccentric diversity and rapidly changing musical interests (which were particularly evident during the latter tracks of White Incarnation), The Pillows' style started drifting away from their style of eclectic pop rock, and the band wildly experimented between varying genres; during this time, the band's bass driven style of music could best be described as jazz, but with the ever-present sixties pop rock influence.
1995 was the year in which The Pillows released Living Field, an album that was widely ignored, but which many fans consider the most imaginative recording of The Pillows' career. Living Field was much like Kool Spice in that it is difficult to pin a genre on the album. "Swinger's Night Club" shows shades of Latin jazz influence while tracks like "Something Like a Romance" and "Angel Fish" give off a vibe of the percussion-driven pop funk made popular by Jaco Pastorius and other fusion artists in the seventies. Standout tracks include the reggae song Native World, the sixties-influenced nostalgic rock jam "The Killing Field", and the beautiful single track "Daydream Wonder". Some fans consider the listenability of Living Field its outstanding feature, and superior to The Pillows' later works. The multi-layered acoustic overdubs, Hammond organ samples, brass, upright contrabass, woodwinds, and other various percussion instruments presented listeners with something new every time he or she listened to it. While a musically diverse and intricate album, Living Field was not a commercial success, leading some fans and critics to speculate the end might be near for the band.
[edit] Growing popularity
It was on their transitional record, 1997's Please Mr. Lostman (a play on the song "Please Mr. Postman" by The Marvelettes), that The Pillows finally got their foot within the door of Japan's mainstream scene. Preceded by a series of relatively successful singles, and somewhat evocative of such American rock bands as Weezer and the Pixies, it catapulted the band to mainstream success in Japan. Please Mr. Lostman was undoubtedly more mellow than their previous releases, and as Sawao remarked in one interview, many fans and critics felt that such a style was The Pillows' strongest suit.
By far the biggest hit off of Please Mr. Lostman and perhaps the best example of Yoshiaki Manabe's musical chops was the soft, mellow ballad "Strange Chameleon". Many of The Pillows' most enduringly popular songs, such as "Swanky Street", were introduced on this album, and are mainstays of the band's live sets nearly ten years later.
1998 would bring Little Busters, another success for the band. For several years, it was The Pillows' best selling album. The album solidly established the band into a more upbeat variation of the "90's Alternative" style, while merging again with British pop sounds of the sixties, strongly reminiscent of The Beatles, (perhaps inspired by the band's trip to England that same year, one of several in their career). Several of this album's songs would be prominently featured in FLCL several years later, but some of the band's best rock songs are also present on this album. "Nowhere", perfectly combining sixties pop rock with nineties hard rock, and "Patricia," evocative of George Harrison, were among the excellent (yet often overlooked) songs from this album.
In early 1999, Runners High was released, following the singles "Instant Music" and "No Self Control." This album shed the band's sixties influence, substituting more punk and grunge into The Pillows' sound. Runners High would sadly be the last album to feature bassist Tatsuya Kashima. Late that same year, Happy Bivouac came out, and many fans consider this album to be the band's best rock-oriented project. Their style continued to evolve, and Sawao paid tribute to now-major influence Pixies with "Back Seat Dog", a song which followed nearly the exact same structure of Pixies' "Here Comes Your Man," as well as one tune named after Kim Deal.
That same year, The Pillows were approached by Gainax, an anime studio famous for hits such as Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water and Neon Genesis Evangelion. Gainax wanted to license The Pillows' three most recent albums, for their latest anime, entitled FLCL. The Pillows saw this as a good opportunity to get their name out and agreed, even going so far as to compose two new songs specifically for the anime. These tracks became the singles "Ride on Shooting Star" and "I Think I Can". August of that same year saw Tatsuya Kashima's replacement by former The Chewinggum Weekend bassist Jun Suzuki.
The Pillows would not release another album until 2001; the FLCL soundtracks sold well, as did their own best-of compilation, Fool on the Planet. Sawao concentrated his energies on his record company Delicious Label. Manabe released a solo album as Nine Miles, continuing the reggae experimentation hinted at in earlier albums.
The band rarely makes reference to their earlier music, seldom playing any pre-Lostman songs at concerts but in 2004, their video documentary "Walkin' on the Spiral" was released and focused on The Pillows' earlier music with old clips of live shows and interviews from various points in time while simultaneously celebrating the group's 15th anniversary. However, in a recent concert, they played a set consisting of "Daydream Wonder", "Tonight", "Girlfriend", and "Sha-a-la-lla", all older songs.
[edit] Recent developments
Without any singles promoting it, The Pillows released their next album, Smile. This album is considered highly progressive and experimental for the band, and there is some conflict between fans over the album's lasting quality. In 2002, the FLCL anime became available in the United States, giving the band more notoriety outside of their native country. In October of 2002 Thank You, My Twilight, The Pillows' tenth studio album, was released alongside a double CD collection of B-sides entitled Another Morning, Another Pillows.
After another short break (during which Sawao released four solo tunes under his Delicious Label, Manabe released a second Nine Miles album, and Sato toured with various other bands such as the reformed The Pees), The Pillows released Penalty Life in November 2003 and later Good Dreams on November 3, 2004. These two albums are cause of many dissenting opinions among the band's fans, especially in the west, but are generally considered of far lower overall quality compared to earlier releases. May of 2005 saw the release of a domestic version of Penalty Life within the United States by Geneon. The band promises further state-side releases.
In the summer of 2005, Sawao Yamanaka played in a side project, The Predators, along with Jiro of Glay fame on bass and Shinpei Nakayama of Straightener on drums.
Their album entitled My Foot was released on January 12, 2006. The album was quite well received by worldwide fans. Preceded by the successful singles "Nonfiction" and "The Third Eye," the album sold well, and, due to the surprising success, the band opted to release a third single, "Gazelle City," in February of 2006. The album was released in the United States in July 2006. With a growing international fanbase and growing domestic sales of their albums and singles over the past four years, The Pillows may be, after many years, on the verge of worldwide success.
On April 4, 2007, the pillows first single with Avex, Scarecrow, will be released. There will be a limited and a regular edition. The limited edition will come with a DVD containing live footage, while the regular edition will only come with a sticker.
On May 2, 2007 the pillows first album with Avex, Wake Up! Wake Up!, will be released. There will be a limited and regular edition. The limited edition will come with a DVD containing promotional videos for the songs Scarecrow, and Wake Up! do do,.
[edit] Delicious Bump Tour in USA
In March 2005, The Pillows played their first ever U.S. show at the South by Southwest Festival in Austin, Texas, with fellow Japanese band Noodles. After that, they began touring with Noodles, hitting other large market cities including New York City, Chicago, Seattle, San Francisco and Los Angeles. This initial splash in the United States was called the "Delicious Bump Tour in USA" and a tour video was released on DVD under the same title. In interviews, band members said they were extremely surprised and pleased at the warm reception, and urged fans to try their non-FLCL music.
[edit] My Foot Tour in Mexico and the USA
In early 2006, rumors spread that The Pillows would be touring in Mexico, and many fans speculated as to whether this meant that The Pillows would be making a tour through the US also. These rumors were officially confirmed May 23, 2006, when the official, My Foot Tour in USA and Mexico Shows, was opened up to the public. The tour began June 16, 2006 in Mexico City, Mexico and ended June 28, 2006, in San Francisco, California.
- Saturday, 6.17 2006 - Circo Volador in Mexico City, MX
- Sunday, 6.18 2006 - Circo Volador in Mexico City, MX
- Tuesday, 6.20 2006 - Logan Square Auditorium in Chicago, IL
- Thursday, 6.22 2006 - The Knitting Factory in New York, NY
- Saturday, 6.24 2006 - The Crocodile Cafe in Seattle, WA
- Tuesday, 6.27 2006 - Whisky A Go Go in Hollywood, CA
- Wednesday, 6.28 2006 - Slim's in San Francisco, CA
September 16, 2006 marks the 17th Anniversary of The Pillows, who notified their fans by posting on their MySpace page.[1]
[edit] Buster-kun
Buster-kun has been The Pillows' mascot since about 1997, when on one of several visits to London, they saw an interesting-looking toy in a shop window. The toy pops up occasionally, such as in the "Hybrid Rainbow" video, and on the cover of the "Hello, Welcome to Bubbletown's Happy Zoo" video/DVD. Sawao got the name "Buster" from a British Ska band called "Madness". Sawao stated in an interview that he liked the way the lead singer of "Madness" said "Buster" and decided to name the mascot Buster-kun. Buster-kun is often featured on band shirts, and has been offered on various occasions in the form of the popular Kubrick toys, as a keychain. Fans of The Pillows are affectionately known as "little busters", referring to The Pillows' song of the same name, a fan favorite.[citation needed]
[edit] Lineup
- Sawao Yamanaka (山中さわお Yamanaka Sawao?) – Vocals, rhythm guitar
- Yoshiaki Manabe (真鍋吉明 Manabe Yoshiaki) – Lead guitar
- Shin'ichiro Sato (佐藤 シンイチロウ Sato Shin'ichiro) – Drums
- Kenji Ueda (上田ケンジ Ueda Kenji) – Bass (1989 – 1992)
- Tatsuya Kashima (鹿島達也 Kashima Tatsuya) – Bass (1992 – 1999)
- Jun Suzuki (鈴木淳 Suzuki Jun) – Bass (since 1999)
- Out of respect for the founding lineup, Jun Suzuki is considered a support member.[citation needed]
[edit] Discography
[edit] External links
Categories: Articles lacking sources from January 2007 | All articles lacking sources | Wikipedia articles needing style editing | NPOV disputes | Articles with unsourced statements since February 2007 | All articles with unsourced statements | The Pillows | Musical groups established in 1989 | Japanese rock music groups
