With the European tour coming up this month how can we not talk about them? ONE OK ROCK! at the moment one of the most well known bands from Japan. they’ve won a couple of pretty darn good awards and we’re seeing them in Amsterdam on the 21st of December! I saw that the show is sold out so I hope you’re one of many getting a ticket to see them.
Who are they?
Formed in 2005 in Tokyo by Toru Yamashita (who then was in High school) and Ryota Kohama. They both were in a hip hop dance group called Heads at that time. Toru started learning bass and asked their schools senior Alex Onizawa to joing their band. Taka joined not long after when he left his other band. Their first drummer left in 2006 and Alex left as the lead guitarist in 2009 ( for legal issues that you can read about on wikipedia ) leaving Toru as a lead guitarist and earning them their final setting up until now. They picked their name ONE OK ROCK from the time they rented their practice room, One o’clock, because those times were most cheap for them to rent them. Because the difference between the L and R sounds are rather identical in Japanese so O Clock became O KROCK. This One OK Rock. Which in Japanese can also be pronounced as “10969” (wan-ō-ku-ro-ku).
Musical Style
ONE OK ROCK’s basic influences are Linkin Park, Foo Fighters, Good Charlotte, and Ellegarden. You can hear thedevelopment in their albums and they have since then created their own style. With Taka’s unique voice singing in a mix of Japanese and English and the skill the other guys play their instruments with they have a special sound that makes it great music to be played in the western side of the world as well as the East.
Discography & Awards:
- Studio albums
- Zeitakubyō (2007)
- Beam of Light (2008)
- Kanjō Effect (2008)
- Niche Syndrome (2010)
- Zankyo Reference (2011)
- Jinsei×Boku= (2013)
- 35xxxv (2015)
- Ambitions (2017)
Awards
Nominated for Alternative press Music award in 2016 and 2017
Nominated for MTV Europe Music Awards in 2013, 2014, 2015 and in 2016 they won it.
Nominated for MTV Japan Music Awards in 2011 and 2015. They won in 2012, 2013 and 2014.
They won Rock Sound Awards in 2017 and Space Shower Music Video Awards in 2013 and 2016.
AMBITIONS
mbitions is the eighth full-length studio album by J-rock band ONE OK ROCK. It was released on January 11, 2017 for the Japanese version album under the Japanese label A-Sketch and on January 13, 2017 for the international version album under the American label Fueled by Ramen.
The song “Always Coming Back” was featured in NTT Docomo’s phone commercial series, “Kanjou no Subete / Nakama”. After signing with Fueled by Ramen on September 11, 2016, they released the lead single “Taking Off” on September 16, 2016 that was used as a theme song for the Japanese movie “Museum”, which starred Shun Oguri, and the second single “Bedroom Warfare” on November 18, 2016. The song “I was King” was released on December 15, 2016. On January 9, 2017, they released their single “We Are”.
Sold in both Limited and Regular editions, the album is available for pre-order on iTunes starting November 18, 2016. The Japanese Limited edition album features bonus tracks and a DVD of studio acoustic sessions, while the Ambitions international version CD comes with a T-shirt bundle for ONE OK ROCK’s new album “Ambitions”.
Name: Taka
Birthname: Takahiro Moriuchi ( 森内 貴寛)
Birthdate: 17th April, 1988
Role: Singer, lyricist, composer
Name: Toru
Birthname: Toru Yamashita ( 山下 亨)
Birthdate: 7th December, 1988
Role: Guitarist, Composer
Name: Ryota
Birthname: Ryota Kohama ( 小浜良太)
Birthdate: 4th September, 1989
Role: Bassist, Pianist
Name: Tomoya
Birthname: Tomoya Kanki ( 神吉 智也)
Birthdate: 27th June, 1987
Role: Drummer, Percussionist
Sources; Google and my ears.
Fun Facts:
Tomoya got married in June of 2017 and has a son and Ryoto married Avril Lavigne’s sister Michelle and they had their daughter in October of 2017.
Taka’s younger brother Hiroki is also a vocalist! He’s in the band My First Story. Who are just as awesome as ONE OK ROCK.
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