The Pillows

From WikiRoll

the pillows is a Japanese rock band that started out in 1989 as a four membered group. Kenji Ueda was the bassist for The Pillows until he left the band shortly after the completion of their album White Incarnation. Their current bassist for the band is former Jun Suzuki from The Chewinggum Weekend. Currently the members and their roles goes as ; Sawao Yamanaka as vocal and guitar rhythm, Yoshiaki Manabe as lead guitar, Shinichiro Sato as drums, and Jun Suzuki as bassist. The bands fame did not really take off until international attention by Gainax in 1999. Gainax is a studio with popular hits such as, Neon Genesis Evangelion, Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water, and the soon to me FLCL(Fooly Cooly). The studio wanted to license their latest three albums for their upcoming anime FLCL. The band saw this as a opportunity to get their name out and agreed. They even created two songs for the upcoming anime which became singles; Ride on Shooting Star and I Think I Can. Thanks to FLCL the band gain international attention worldwide. The band began tours all over the world. They currently have 15 albums, 26 singles, 5 sound tracks, and 2 other CDs. They also have a band mascot. While once visiting London they spotted a interesting looking toy in a toy shop window. The mascot appears on several videos and band T-shirts. In an interview with Sawao Yamanaka he stated that he liked how the American singer "Suggs" pronounced the word "busters" and from their one the mascot was known as "Buster-kun". Fans of The Pillows sometimes refer to themselves as "little busters" in dedication of the band.