ONE OK ROCK

Japanese quartet One OK Rock fuses power pop and alternative rock while echoing the style of U.S. groups including blink-182, Foo Fighters, and Linkin Park. Emerging during the 2000s, the band spent its early years cultivating domestic support and delivered multiple platinum-certified releases in the first half of the 2010s before claiming its initial chart summit with the seventh album, 35xxxv, in 2015. Positioned for global expansion, the group unveiled Ambitions in 2017, which reached charts throughout Asia, Europe, and the United States, then sustained that momentum with the number-one albums Eye of the Storm in 2019 and Luxury Disease in 2022.

The ensemble took its name from the members’ designated rehearsal slot and formed in 2005 when high-school student Toru Yamashita on guitar joined forces with bassist Ryota Kohama, vocalist Takahiro Moriuchi—known simply as Taka and previously a member of boy band NEWS—and San Francisco-born guitarist Alex Onizawa, who was subsequently succeeded by Tomoya Kanki. Following a series of well-received Tokyo performances, the band issued its debut EP, One OK Rock, midway through 2006 and closed the year with the follow-up mini-album Keep It Real. Also in 2006, One OK Rock secured Tomoya as its permanent drummer; he appeared on the first single, “Naihi Shinsho,” which gained national radio play and earned the group a contract with major label Amuse. An extensive domestic tour preceded the arrival of the debut studio album, Zeitakubyou, after which the band released two further LPs, Beam of Light and Kanjou Effect, in 2008. The next year Onizawa departed, leaving Toru to cover all guitar parts. One OK Rock issued its fourth studio set, Niche Syndrome, in 2010, followed quickly by Zankyo Reference in 2011 and, two years later, Jinsei × Boku on A-Sketch. In 2014 the quartet joined the Vans Warped Tour in the United States before headlining stadium concerts in Japan and South America later that same year. The Japanese chart-topping 35xxxv appeared in early 2015 and marked the band’s third platinum-certified project. Seeking a U.S. breakthrough aided by Taka’s English-language skills, the group signed with Warner Bros. in late 2015 and reissued 35xxxv in a deluxe English-language edition.

The following year One OK Rock joined Fueled by Ramen and began work on its second international album. Titled Ambitions and released in January 2017, the record adopted a more polished and commercial approach reflective of the label’s signature sound. Appearing on global charts, the set entered just outside the Billboard Top 100 while climbing to number two on the U.S. rock chart. The band also opened several dates on Linkin Park’s One More Light tour, which concluded prematurely after the death of frontman Chester Bennington. Months afterward Taka performed at a charity memorial event, paying tribute to one of the group’s primary influences with his rendition of “Somewhere I Belong.”

Throughout 2018 the quartet maintained visibility with the anthemic singles “Change” and “Stand Out Fit In,” both featured on the ninth album, Eye of the Storm. Issued in early 2019, the uplifting record also contained a guest vocal from Kiiara on “In the Stars.” The next year the band launched its own management agency and released the single “Renegades,” which featured on the soundtrack for the film Rurouni Kenshin Saishūshō: The Final. In 2021 One OK Rock supplied “Broken Heart of Gold” to the sequel Rurouni Kenshin: The Beginning, while the single “Wonder” arrived later that year. The group pursued a more guitar-driven direction on 2022’s Luxury Disease, produced by Rob Cavallo. In 2023 the standalone single “Make It Out Alive” appeared in partnership with the mobile game Monster Hunter Now.