We’re going deep on facts that you may not already know.
ONE OK ROCK are the winner of Best Live Performance at the 2018 Rock Sound Awards! Pick up their commemorative cover and poster print right now from AWARDS.ROCKSOUND.TV
One of the biggest, most unique bands in our world, ONE OK ROCK have achieved incredible things over the last two decades. We explore some of the lesser-known aspects of their story.
01. Toru [Yamashita, guitar] and Ryota [Kohama, bass] were both part of the hip-hop group HEADS before ONE OK ROCK began, back when they were still at school. They performed regularly in Tokyo and Osaka at weekends, and even won prizes for their breakdancing.
02. The band members have acting as well as musical history. Toru starred in sci-fi drama series Shibuya Fifteen, with Ryota also featuring, and popped up in superhero show Kamen Rider Hibiki. Meanwhile Taka [Moriuchi, vocals] started out in J-pop bands like NEWS, and Tomoya [Kanki, drums] spent time at a music academy.
03. Tomoya was the last member of the current line-up to join, back in 2006, and is also the oldest of the four. He’s known as the particularly softspoken, contemplative member of the band, as well as a virtuoso musician.
04. It’s always a huge moment in ONE OK ROCK sets when they play ‘Mighty Long Fall’ – and it served as the theme song for the movie Rurouni Kenshin: Kyoto Inferno. ‘The Beginning’ also featured on the soundtrack for the first live action Rurouni Kenshin film, in a breakthrough moment for the band.
05. Ryota cites Red Hot Chili Peppers as one of his biggest musical inspirations – particularly their groundbreaking bassist, Flea, whose work helped convince him to take up the instrument. Taka has also explained about how Linkin Park inspired him to join a rock band, as did the Japanese alt-metal band RIZE.
06. The band’s sound has shifted and evolved a huge amount since they released their first album ‘Zeitakubyō’ back in 2007 – taking in elements of everything from pop-punk and post-hardcore to alt-pop along the way. One of the biggest changes came when they travelled to the USA, and recorded 2015’s ‘35xxxv’ with producer John Feldmann.
07. On January 09, 2017, NHK television broadcast ONE OK ROCK 18 Festival. It saw the band collaborating with teenagers across Japan, who formed an onstage choir and accompanied them in a performance. You can find some footage on the channel’s website, and it’s pretty incredible.
08. The band have been known to cover Vanessa Carlton’s ‘A Thousand Miles’ at live shows, and have spoken about their admiration for the song. In the past, Taka has also released covers of pop songs like Adele’s ‘Hello’ and ‘Pillowtalk’ by Zayn. Seriously, name a better vocalist than this guy. We’ll wait.
09. Taka has collaborated with numerous bands and artists over the years – appearing on songs by Against The Current, Issues, Sum 41, Simple Plan and many more. He also recorded a powerful song, ‘Voice’, with Tokyo’s Pay Money To My Pain – as a tribute to their late frontman K.
10. When ‘Ambitions’ was released in January 2017, it was declared the highest selling record on the planet in that week – with 315,000 equivalent sales – and topped the Japanese Oricon Chart. And on their recent Dome tour of Japan, headlining enormous venues across the country, they played to a total of well over 300,000 people.
ONE OK ROCK are the winner of Best Live Performance in the 2018 Rock Sound Awards! Pick up your commemorative Rock Sound Awards cover now from AWARDS.ROCKSOUND.TV
