Biography 上田ケンジ

上田ケンジ (Kenji Ueda, 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.

Born August 30, 1965 in Sapporo, Japan, Ueda began playing acoustic guitar at age 9. Seeing a television appearance by Kiss inspired him to take up the electric guitar. He also cites influential punk bands such as The Sex Pistols, The Star Club, ARB, アナーキー and ザ・ルースターズ (The Roosters), as early influences.

In 1983, Ueda quit high school at age 18, and went to Tokyo 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. This band subsequently disbanded. After leaving Kenzi & The Trips in 1989, Ueda invited Sawao Yamanaka of The Coinlocker Babies, and with other member from Kenzi band, Shinichiro Sato, formed the pillows, on September 16.

The lineup was 上田ケンジ (Kenji Ueda) -bass guitar & leader-, 山中さわお (Sawao Yamanaka) -rhythm guitar & vocals-, 真鍋吉明 (Yoshiaki Manabe) -lead guitar-, and 佐藤シンイチロウ (Shinichiro Sato) -drums-. He and Yamanaka were the main song writers. They released 1st official album ''Moon Gold'' under the Pony Canyon record label in 1991, and 2nd 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 haven't released another album until 1994. Ueda has been replaced by bassists Tatsuya Kashima and Jun Suzuki. Both Kashima and Suzuki have been called “support members” rather than permanent replacements out of “respect for the original line-up.”

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 his 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 フォーエバーラブ (Forever Love) under Bumblebee Records. Under the same label he released 2 singles: 君はライダー／窓辺 (-You are rider / windowsill-, 2001) and ナイトメア／日々、君、恋し (-Nightmare / every day, you, love-, 2002).

Ueda has gone on to release two more major albums with the Bumblebee label: Ambivalence (2002) and 青(-Blue-, 2006).

And last one album so far has been released in 2009, hakken kokken ueken.

Official website: http://ueken.uccello.jp/

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