kawabata initially formed acid mothers temple (originally "acid mother's temple") with the intention of creating "extreme trip music" by editing and dubbing previous recordings, being influenced by progressive rock, karlheinz stockhausen, and krautrock. kawabata, along with koizumi hajime, suhara keizo, and cotton casino formed the original acid mother's temple lineup as a group; however, the first recordings released were kawabata's own mixes and overdubs. the soul collective released two self-titled tapes on their eponymous label in 1997 before dropping the apostrophe from their name. they soon released their first self-titled album (see "acid mothers temple & the melting paraiso u.f.o."). the group began to tour overseas in 1998.