The Pillows
The Pillows were a Japanese alternative rock band formed in Hokkaido in 1989. They are best known for providing the soundtrack for the anime series FLCL. They disbanded in 2025.
History
Formation and early years (1989–1994)
In 1989 Kenji Ueda, bassist for Kenzi & the Trips, left the band with former Kenzi's drummer Shinichiro Sato and invited the Coin Locker Babies vocalist Sawao Yamanaka to form a new band. Yoshiaki Manabe, the guitarist of the hair metal band Persia, joined them. The Pillows were formed on 16 September 1989. The story as to where the band's name came about is that allegedly Sawao Yamanaka was hanging out at Yoshiaki Manabe's place and an English post-punk compilation record entitled Pillows & Prayers hanging on Manabe's wall inspired him.Ueda and Yamanaka were the main songwriters and the Pillows released their first EPs, Pantomime and 90's My Life in 1990 under Captain Records.
In 1991 they contracted with major label Pony Canyon and released their debut single, "Ame ni Utaeba", in May and their first full-length record Moon Gold in June.
In 1992 the Pillows visited England to record their second full-length album, White Incarnation, and filmed the promotional video for their second single, "Kanojo wa Shisuta". Shortly after the release of White Incarnation, Ueda left the Pillows due to disagreements with other members and musical differences.
After a year with no activity or leadership, Sawao Yamanaka took over Ueda's leadership role and recruited Tatsuya Kashima as a replacement on bass, restarting the band. Out of respect for Ueda, Kashima was labeled as a guest musician on releases on which he performed and Ueda's bassist post has never been officially replaced. The extremely rare The Pillows Presents Special CD, released only to the Pillows fanclub, contained their first recordings with Kashima.
In 1994 the Pillows changed to King Records and the band wildly experimented between varying genres. In July the Pillows released their first album as a trio, Kool Spice, and one month later the single "Daydream Wonder" was released.
Breakthrough and ''FLCL'' (1995–2000)
In March 1995 the Pillows released their fourth album, Living Field. Their subsequent single, "Girlfriend", was used in the romance movie Love Letter.In the following year, after the release of their fifth single "Tiny Boat", the Pillows would release a series of singles such as "Strange Chameleon", "Swanky Street", and "Trip Dancer" that were featured on their breakthrough and acclaimed album Please Mr. Lostman.
In March of the same year, due to the success of Please Mr. Lostman the Pillows released one of the album's tracks, "Kanojo wa Kyou" as a single. Later that year, two new singles were released, "One Life" in June and "Hybrid Rainbow" in November, which became one of the Pillows' most recognizable songs, being largely featured on concert set lists.
In January 1998, the Pillows released their twelfth single "Another Morning" and their first concert DVD "Hello, Welcome to Bubbletown's Happy Zoo". The last three singles were featured on their sixth album Little Busters, which came out in February and became one of their most well known and commercial records. Two more singles followed, "Instant Music" and "No Self Control" would both be used on their 1999 album Runners High.
The year of 1999 started with the release of Runners High and to celebrate their 10th anniversary, the Pillows released their first video clips compilation DVD, "We Have a Theme Song", followed by two new singles, both featured on the second studio album release of that year, Happy Bivouac. This record pays tribute to the Pixies in songs such as "Back Seat Dog" and "Kim Deal" and it is the first album to feature support bassist Jun Suzuki as a replacement for Kashima.
In the same year, the Pillows were approached by the anime studio Gainax, which licensed the Pillows' three previous albums for the soundtrack of the original video animation FLCL. The Pillows also composed two new songs for the show, "Ride on Shooting Star" and "I Think I Can", which were later included on their greatest hits compilation album Fool on the Planet.
Due to their participation in FLCL's soundtrack, the Pillows enjoyed a popularity increase, making their western fan base grow. This allowed them to release their "Ride on Shooting Star" single in the United States in 2000 and later tour that country.
Early 2000s, 15th anniversary and US debut (2001–2006)
After their participation on FLCL's soundtrack, the Pillows released their first greatest-hits compilation album Fool on the Planet in 2001 and also a live DVD called Busters on the Planet and a new album, Smile.In 2002, the FLCL anime became available in the United States, giving the band more notoriety outside of their native country. In October of the same year Thank You, My Twilight, the Pillows' tenth studio album, was released alongside a double-CD collection of B-sides entitled Another Morning, Another Pillows, following the promotional single "White Summer and Green Bicycle, Red Hair with Black Guitar".
In 2003, the Pillows released their second video clips DVD Dead Stock Paradise, one single, "Terminal Heaven's Rock" and one more studio album, Penalty Life, which was later released in the US by Geneon in 2005.
To commemorate the band's 15th anniversary, the Pillows re-released their 90's My Life EP with additional tracks and released a string of new material, including a new EP with re-recorded tracks previously published between 1990 and 1996, Turn Back, one document DVD, Walkin' on The Spiral, one new studio album, Good Dreams, a new single, "Sono Mirai wa Ima" and finally a tribute album, Synchronized Rockers, including covers of the Pillows played by artists such as Mr. Children, Straightener and Noodles.
In January 2005 the Pillows released the live DVD 916 which features footage of their 15th anniversary concert of 2004.
In March 2005, the Pillows played their first show in the United States at South by Southwest in Austin, Texas, followed by concerts in New York City and San Francisco. In September, the band released a live DVD entitled Delicious Bump Tour in USA, featuring footage of their first tour in America with fellow band Noodles and also a new single, "Non Fiction".
In November they released their second single of the year, "The Third Eye". Both singles were used on their subsequent 2006 album, My Foot.
In February 2006 to help promote the My Foot tour, one track of the album, "Gazelle City" was released as the album's third single. The album was released in the United States in July 2006 by Geneon, with a growing international fan-base and growing domestic sales of their albums and singles over the past four years.
In June, the Pillows returned to North America during their tour in support of the album My Foot, with several more dates in the U.S. and a show in Mexico City.
Move to Avex Trax, 20th and 25th anniversaries (2007–2014)
In 2007, the Pillows released their 25th single, "Scarecrow" which was used in the anime series Moonlight Mile, being included on their next album, Wake Up! Wake Up! Wake Up!. This album marks their first release on the Avex Trax label.In August, the band released one more single, "Ladybird Girl", which is being used as the theme song for the Japanese version of the children's animated series Ben 10.
In November, the band released a five-disc singles collection, Lostman Go to Yesterday, featuring all the band's singles released under the King Records label and 21 music videos on a DVD in the same collection. On the same day they also released their fifth live DVD, Lostman Go to America featuring footage of their 2006 American tour in support for the album My Foot.
In January 2008, the band released a live DVD, Wake up! Stand up! and Go!, featuring footage of their Wake Up! Tour of 2007 and a single, "Tokyo Bambi".
On May a new single came out, "New Animal", and along with their previous two singles, it is featured on their fifteenth studio album, Pied Piper.
The band returned to the US starting with Los Angeles, followed by other appearances at SXSW, San Francisco, Seattle, New York City, and Anime Boston, where the band played for a crowd of more than 5,000 people.
Still in 2008, legendary English rock band Oasis extended an offer for the Pillows to play as the opening act at their concert in Japan, but frontman Sawao Yamanaka refused their offer. In a January interview for Japanzine, Yamanaka joked that he "turned down the offer in order to have a fun story to tell".
In 2009, in order to celebrate their upcoming 20th anniversary, the Pillows issued a series of releases called "Late Bloomer Series". It includes two DVDs: Pied Piper Go to Yesterday and Blue Song With Blue Poppies, two best-of compilation albums, Rock Stock & Too Smoking the Pillows and Once Upon a Time in the Pillows, a single "Ameagari ni mita Maboroshi" and later the DVD of their anniversary concert, Lostman Go to Budokan, released in the following year.
On 16 September, the Pillows gave their first concert in the legendary Nippon Budokan arena commemorating their 20th anniversary. The footage of the concert was later released in 2010 as their ninth live DVD, Lostman Go to Budokan.
In 2010, the Pillows recorded Rodeo Star Mate, their 30th single and opening theme song for the series, Stitch – Itazura Alien no Daibouken.
In June, the Pillows released their 10th live DVD, "Parts of OOParts" including footage of their 2010 OOParts tour. Then in December, the single, "Movement", was released.
In January 2011 the Pillows released their 17th studio album Horn Again with previously released singles included. In February the Pillows released their first single of the year, "Tabasco Disco", which was only available for purchase to concert audiences.
In June of the same year, the Pillows recorded "Comic Sonic" as the ending theme for the anime adaptation of the manga "Sket Dance".
In September the Pillows and fellow band Noodles toured America for the second time together in the NAP Tour. They performed in Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco and Austin, Texas.
In October they released a live DVD, Born Again, containing footage of their 2011 Horn Again Tour, and in December they released the single, "Energia ".
On 18 January 2012 the Pillows released their album, Trial and, on the same day, a live DVD entitled We Are Friends, which included footage of their 2011 NAP Tour in America with Noodles. In June, following their Trial tour, the band released the DVD Real Trial containing the last live performance of the tour at Zepp Tokyo.
In a similar fashion to the "Late Bloomer Series" celebrating the band's 20th anniversary, the Pillows issued a string of releases over 2013 and 2014 in honor of their 25th anniversary. Entitled "Never Ending Story", this series of releases comprised a new tribute album, DVDs and Blu-ray's, a box set, three new singles and finally, the Pillows' 19th studio album Moondust. The band also performed three shows in 2014 representing each era of their sound with Kenji Ueda being invited to play bass at a single show where the Pillows performed songs from his time with the band.
On 4 October 2014 the band concluded the "Never Ending Story" campaign with the "Don't Forget Today" show at Tokyo Dome City Hall and, on the same date, released Bootleg the Pillows 1992–1993, a compilation featuring various previously unreleased recordings. Their 25th anniversary concert DVD/ Blu-ray was released on January 1, 2015.