Kenji Ueda (上田ケンジ ''Ueda Kenji'', nickname ウエケン ''UEKEN'') is a Japanese rock musician and producer. He is known for his solo work, as well as his work with Kenzi & The Trips and

The Pillows are a Japanese alternative rock band formed in 1989. The group has released 22 studio albums, several EPs and compilations, and over 40 singles. Outside Japan, they are best known as the group responsible for the soundtrack to the ''FLCL'' anim ...

Biography

Early life and influences

Born August 30, 1965 in

Sapporo ( ain, サッ・ポロ・ペッ, Satporopet, lit=Dry, Great River) is a city in Japan. It is the largest city north of Tokyo and the largest city on Hokkaido, the northernmost main island of the country. It ranks as the fifth most populous ci ...

, Ueda began playing acoustic guitar at age 9. Seeing a television appearance by

Kiss A kiss is the touch or pressing of one's lips against another person or an object. Cultural connotations of kissing vary widely. Depending on the culture and context, a kiss can express sentiments of love, passion, romance, sexual attraction, ...

inspired him to take up the electric guitar. He also cites influential punk bands such as

The Sex Pistols ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in ...

The Star Club is an influential Japanese punk rock band that was formed in Nagoya in 1977 and has been based in Tokyo since 1987. The band has had a long career with numerous lineup changes, all centered on vocalist Hikage. Biography The Star Club was ...

, ARB, Anarchy and The Roosters as early influences. In 1983, Ueda quit high school at age 18, and went to

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and List of cities in Japan, largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, ...

by invitation of Kenzi who was a senior at the school. Ueda joined the punk band Kenzi & The Trips, in which Kenzi acted as the lead vocalist and

bassist A bassist (also known as a bass player or bass guitarist) is a musician who plays a bass instrument such as a double bass (upright bass, contrabass, wood bass), bass guitar (electric bass, acoustic bass), synthbass, keyboard bass or a low bra ...

. This band subsequently disbanded. The other member of the newly formed band was Shinichirou Sato, who would later go on to form

the pillows are a Japanese alternative rock band formed in 1989. The group has released 22 studio albums, several EPs and compilations, and over 40 singles. Outside Japan, they are best known as the group responsible for the soundtrack to the ''FLCL'' anim ...

with Ueda.

The Pillows

In 1989, Ueda left Kenzi & The Trips. Immediately after that, Ueda invited Sawao Yamanaka of The Coinlocker Babies, and formed

on September 16. The lineup was Ueda (bass guitar and leader of the band), Sawao Yamanaka (rhythm guitar and vocals),

Yoshiaki Manabe is the lead guitarist for the Japanese rock band The Pillows. As a mixing engineer, Manabe has worked on albums by The Pillows and The Stereo Future. He enjoys reading in his free time and is an enormous fan of Bob Marley. He also has his own ...

(lead guitar), and Shinichirou Sato (drums). He and Yamanaka were the main song writers. They released their first official album Moon Gold under the Pony Canyon record label in 1991 and also released their second album White Incarnation under the same label in 1992, but, in the same year, Ueda left The Pillows owing to discord with other members and difference in musicality. The Pillows would not release another album until 1994. Ueda has since been replaced by bassists Tatsuya Kashima, Jun Suzuki, and Yoshinori Arie, respectively. Both Kashima and Suzuki have been called “support members” rather than permanent replacements out of “respect for the original line-up.”

Solo career

Ueda participated in various musicians' recording as a session bassist after leaving The Pillows. On the other hand, he began to provide other singers with his songs, or to produce them. Ueda started john? label in 1999 and has also worked as a producer with the record label, producing work from artists such as Going Under Ground. He also sponsored the tamtom label from 2002. In 2000, Ueda released his first solo album ''Forever Love'' (フォーエバーラブ) under Bumblebee Records. He has gone on to release two more major albums with the Bumblebee label: ''Ambivalence'' (2002) and ''Ao'' (青, Blue) (2006).

Discography

References

External links

Ueda Kenji Official Site (English and Japanese)

Bumblebee Record Label (Japanese)

The Pillows Official Site

The Pillows Official Myspace
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ueda, Kenji Japanese rock musicians Japanese alternative rock musicians Japanese punk rock musicians 1965 births Living people Musicians from Sapporo