the pillows
the pillows (lack of capitalisation is deliberate) have won their way into my top 5 favourite bands of all time. Like so many other fans outside of Japan, I first heard their music on the soundtrack to the Gainax anime FLCL(Furi Kuri). Their happy, boppy melodies and unique guitar sounds, with sogns both in English and Japanese, have been compared to Weezer and The Pixies but personally I think they’re a genre onto their own.
The band formed in 1989 but first achieved mainstream success with their 1997 album Please Mr. Lostman. In 1999, their albums Little Busters, Happy Bivouac and Runners High were licensed by Gainax for the FLCL soundtrack and the pillows even wrote two new tracks for the anime: Ride On Shooting Star (the ending theme song) and I Think I Can.
The current members are Sawao Yamanaka (vocals and guitar), Yoshiaki Manabe (guitar), and Shinichiro Sato (drums). The band have gone through a number of bass players since the original bassist Kenji Ueda left in 1992.
The band has recently celebrated their 15th birthday with the “I like you busters” tour, and have even toured in the U.S. this year in March. Sawao Yamanaka also says that the band will be releasing albums in the U.S. in the near future.
Check out the pillows if you can. These guys will rock your socks and then some. A good place to start is the FLCL soundtrack or with their greatest hits album Fool On The Planet.
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August 2nd, 2005 at 1:07 am
that was an impressive blog, the pillows are kick ass.
August 8th, 2005 at 9:46 pm
Why, thanks very much :)
August 13th, 2005 at 3:20 am
pillows firickin OWN!!! favorite current band!!! favorite past band is nirvana
October 5th, 2005 at 11:42 am
the pillows are awesome… gotta love ‘em!
November 1st, 2005 at 6:36 am
you guys are the best i love your music my favorite song is crazysunshine
November 11th, 2005 at 3:01 am
Your blog sucks and I hope I never see it again
November 11th, 2005 at 12:57 pm
Greg: Thanks. Don’t worry, you will see it again. And again. And again… And when you least expect it, you’ll see again!!
November 11th, 2005 at 5:20 pm
the pillows kick ass ilove evry song they play especially crazy sunshine+I think i can!
December 8th, 2005 at 12:38 pm
The Pillows Rock. And i Live in friken New Zealand. How is that relevent?
April 5th, 2006 at 1:02 pm
I love their themes for FLCL and they have a great soundtrack out for it!
February 2nd, 2007 at 2:10 pm
i fricken luv ther music…and im not from Zewlealand or wut evea but im in kick ass hawaii …and none of us listen 2 rock…especialy j-rock…but these guys “rock”!!!