In 1994 The Pillows changed to King Records and the band wildly experimented between varying genres. The extremely rare The Pillows Presents Special CD, released only to The Pillows fanclub, contained their first recordings with Kashima. 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. Shortly after the release of White Incarnation, Ueda left The Pillows due to disagreements with other members and musical differences.Īfter 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. 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'.

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. 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.

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. The Pillows were formed on September 16, 1989.

Since Yamanaka was not able to play the guitar well yet, Yoshiaki Manabe, the guitarist of the hair metal band Persia, joined them. 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.

History Formation and early years (1989–1994)

1.5 FLCL new seasons and 30th Anniversary (2015–present).

1.4 Move to Avex Trax, 20th and 25th anniversaries (2007–2014).

The Pillows Discography Torrent