Pilson was born on 19 January 1958 in
Lake Forest, Illinois. He is of Irish descent. He spent part of his youth in
Milwaukee,
Wisconsin before moving to
Longview, Washington, where he graduated from
R.A. Long High School in 1976. He attended the
University of Washington to study music after he had started playing bass at age 13 but left prior to earning a degree in order to pursue a career in music. One of his early bands was an
Emerson, Lake & Palmer-type progressive trio called Christmas. He moved to San Francisco in 1978 where he met and became friends with guitarist
Mike Varney. Pilson and Varney would join forces in the band Cinema. After moving back to Seattle for a brief period, Varney called Pilson to get involved in the recording of
Rock Justice, a rock opera co-written by Varney and produced by
Marty Balin. Still based in San Francisco, Pilson next teamed up with guitarist
Randy Hansen, best known as a
Jimi Hendrix impersonator, and Pilson recorded the
Astral Projection – Live album with Hansen for
Shrapnel Records. When the band with Hansen dissolved, Pilson moved to Los Angeles and several weeks later, on a recommendation by Mike Varney, was contacted by vocalist
Don Dokken who was looking for a bass player for his band
Dokken. An audition was set up and Pilson joined the band in October 1983. Pilson was co-writer on many of Dokken's best known and most successful songs, including
Just Got Lucky,
Alone Again,
Into the Fire,
The Hunter,
In My Dreams, ''It's Not Love
, Kiss of Death
, and Dream Warriors. Pilson recorded the studio albums Tooth and Nail (1984), Under Lock and Key (1985), and Back for the Attack (1987), all certified platinum, and the gold certified live album Beast from the East'' (1988). After the breakup of Dokken in the wake of the
Monsters of Rock Tour 1988, Pilson, along with Randy Hansen,
Vinny Appice and Michael Diamond of
Legs Diamond, formed his own group called Flesh & Blood in 1989, handling lead vocal and rhythm guitar duties. After changing the name to War & Peace, Pilson released a total of four albums, starting with 1993's
Time Capsule, utilizing different players and lineups along the way. The recordings of the original Flesh & Blood lineup were released in 1999 and re-issued in 2013 with a bonus track, packaged with recordings from another session, under the name War & Peace as
The Flesh and Blood Sessions. In the early 1990s, Pilson also worked as a session bassist with the band
Wild Horses (not to be confused with the British band of the same name), guitarist
Michael Lee Firkins, and
MSG, before taking part in the Dokken reunion which resulted in 1995's
Dysfunctional album. It was followed by the semi-acoustic
One Live Night (1995), the controversial
Shadowlife (1997), and
Erase the Slate (1999), Pilson's last studio album with the group. During the 1990s, Pilson also recorded and toured with
Dio, appearing on both
Strange Highways (1993) and
Angry Machines (1996). In 1993, Pilson collaborated with former
Giuffria and Dio guitarist
Craig Goldy, co-writing and contributing lead vocals to 4 songs on Goldy's first solo album,
Insufficient Therapy, issued on Shrapnel Records in 1993. During that time, Pilson, Goldy and drummer Tim Pedersen also had a heavy progressive rock project named 13th Floor although no album was ever released. After exiting both Dio and Dokken, he and former War & Peace mate,
Tommy Henriksen, began working on a modern rock project called Underground Moon, for which Pilson decided to assume the pseudonym Dominic Moon. The album, which included a cover of
Midnight Oil's "
Beds Are Burning", was released in Europe and Japan in 2001 and Pilson put together a short-lived live band and performed a handful of L.A. club shows. The album saw a limited edition re-issue in 2008 through
Polish company
Metal Mind Productions. On the heels of Underground Moon, Pilson reunited with his ex-Dokken bandmate, guitarist
George Lynch, in a project called Lynch/Pilson, releasing the album
Wicked Underground in 2003. After a proposed Dokken reunion did not materialize, Pilson re-teamed with Lynch and drummer
Mick Brown in Tooth & Nail, later shortened to
T & N in 2011. They would release
Slave to the Empire, an album of re-worked Dokken songs and new material involving a plethora of guest vocalists in the fall of 2012. Pilson was also confirmed as the bass player on the
Lynch Mob's forthcoming 2015 studio release. Pilson briefly returned to Dio to help record the band's final studio album,
Master of the Moon. He became the bass player for Foreigner in the summer of 2004 when he joined an impromptu lineup consisting of founding member
Mick Jones,
Jason Bonham, Jeff Jacobs, Thom Gimbel, and
Bonham singer Chas West for a benefit show for
muscular dystrophy on July 25, 2004, in
Santa Barbara, CA at
Fess Parker's Doubletree Resort. West would be replaced by
Kelly Hansen, formerly with
Hurricane, who made his debut with the group on March 11, 2005, at Boulder Station in Las Vegas. Pilson has been part of every Foreigner recording and tour since, including the 2009 studio album, ''
Can't Slow Down''. Pilson would play bass on
Lynch Mob's 2015 album,
Rebel. In the fall of 2016, Pilson and the classic Dokken lineup of Don Dokken, George Lynch, and 'Wild' Mick Brown reunited for 6 shows in Japan. They also played a warm-up show at Badlands Pawn Guns Gold And Rock 'N' Roll in
Sioux Falls, SD. The band's October 8
Loud Park performance at Saitama Super Arena in
Saitama, Japan was commemorated with the
Return to the East Live 2016 CD/DVD/Blu-ray package in 2018; it also included an exclusive new studio track, "It's Just Another Day". In 2018, Pilson would once again get together with Dokken and T&N mates George Lynch and Mick Brown and former Lynch Mob vocalist, Robert Mason, who earlier guested on a remake of Dokken's "It's Not Love" on T&N's
Slave to the Empire. Initially called Superstroke, the name was changed to
The End Machine for the band's
eponymous 2019
debut album, produced by Pilson. 2020 saw Pilson part of yet another all-star project involving former bandmates,
Robin McAuley and
Reb Beach, as well as drummer
Matt Starr from
Mr. Big. Dubbed Black Swan, the quartet issued their Pilson produced debut album,
Shake the World, on February 14, 2020, prefaced by videos for the songs "Shake the World" and "Big Disaster". On October 31, 2022, it was announced the Pilson had joined forces with guitarist Joel Hoekstra and drummer Deen Castronovo to become part of the band Revolution Saints. == Production work ==