In other words, what bands are they influenced by?

I guess I'm just looking for more music to listen to.

[quote="somedumbgamer"]In other words, what bands are they influenced by?

I guess I'm just looking for more music to listen to.[/quote]
Sawao's been influenced by a lot of artists over the years; Simon and Garfunkel, The Pixies, The Beatles and others. Manabe's really into reggae and idolizes Bob Marley. And actually, come to think of it, I have absolutely no freaking idea what sort of music Shin is into. Does anyone else know?

Sawao = The Who

Shinichirou Satou – The Clash
Sawao Yamanaka – Nirvana, The Jam, The Smiths (my guess)

Mare should know everything about this actually. . .

[quote="Ashinow"]
Sawao Yamanaka – Nirvana, The Jam, The Smiths (my guess)[/quote]
Eep. Forgot these.

Oh- one of Manabe's guitar idols is Hendrix.

Their early music in particular clearly owes a lot to artists like The Cure and The Smiths (especially in terms of Manabe's early guitar playing.) Kind of wish they'd revisit that style, actually. Generally British alternative bands of the eighties will be in a similar vein. Later, more rockin' pillows is more influenced by artists like Pixies and Nirvana, even though I don't think they've ever sounded particularly similar.

The only song that I've heard the Nirvana sound in for sure is No Self Control. Also, Sawao has some influence from Oasis. Listen to Cherry, it sounds like it could be an Oasis song.

Sawao said in WALKIN' ON THE SPIRAL he is a huge fan of Paul Weller, and his bands The JAM & The Style Council. He liked Weller so much that he became really interested in mod subculture, especially with the clothes. Until recently he had mod targets on his old cyclone guitar.

The first rock band he heard was Michael Schenker Group, probably a big fan since his cyclone is painted like Michael's flying V.

He really likes Kim Deal, even wrote a song about her.

Sawao likes The Collectors

Sawao and Manabe both like The Smiths.

Read somewhere that the first rock band Manabe heard was Deep Purple, but don't know if he is actually a fan or not.

Manabe likes The Roosters.

I'll answer this with some more stuff eventually, I have to go back and re-read/refresh a shitton of stuff.

if you want new music you should check out the synchronized rockers album
its a collection of other bands doing covers of popular pillows songs, and you can look up the bands you like and start there.
it includes the band "the pees" which is another band satou drums for.
also includes the band known as noodles which is an all girl band signed by the label that yamanaka owns, i think they sound pretty similar.
you should also check out spiky brothers (sawao yamanaka and his brother)
and nine mile (manabe solo project) they are both really good
also check out http://www.youtube.com/user/patricioachillee
she subs in spanish but posts alot of nine miles and has a spiky brothers video, which are hard to find

Nine Miles is not even [i]remotely[/i] similar to The Pillows. Yeah, it's Manabe's project but it's a completely different genre, which is why it works as a solo-project.

its still great music

Sure but liking The Pillows dosen't mean you're going to like Reggae.