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ONE OK ROCK
ONE OK ROCK photo shot in London. From left to right: Ryota Kohama, Takahiro Morita, Tomoya Kanki and Toru Yamashita.
Background information
Origin	Japan
Genres	Alternative rock,[1] post-hardcore, pop punk
Years active	2005–present
Labels	A-Sketch
Associated acts	MY FIRST STORY, NEWS, Simple Plan, Pay Money To My Pain, Ally & Diaz, Crossfaith, SiM
Website	www.oneokrock.com m.facebook.com/ONEOKROCK twitter.com/ONEOKROCK_japan
Members	Taka Toru Ryota Tomoya
Past members	Alex Tomo

One Ok Rock (stylized as ONE OK ROCK) is a Japanese rock band formed in 2005, composed of Taka, Toru, Ryota, and Tomoya. Originally a five piece band, guitarist Alex left the group in 2009.^[2]

History

2005-2006: Formation and Early Days

The foundation for One Ok Rock began when Toru Yamashita, then a high school student, wanted to start a band. He told his friend Ryota Kohama, a fellow member of the hip hop dance group Heads, to learn the bass and asked Alex Onizawa, who was their senior in school to join. He asked his classmate Tomo to play drums, who then left the band in 2006 to pursue an acting career. At that time, Taka Moriuchi was playing with another band named Chivalry of Music; however, Taka didn't enjoy playing with them, so Toru insisted that he join One Ok Rock instead. After signing with a label, Amuse, Inc. Tomo left the band because his parents didn't want their son to pursue that path of work. Tomoya Kanki actually had been teaching in ESP (Musical Academy) and already was in a band, but just like Taka, that band wasn't going well. He then joined them in 2006, but only became an official member when they debuted in 2007.^[3][4]
The band's name, One Ok Rock, comes from "one o'clock", the time that the band used to practice on weekends. However, noticing that the Japanese language made no distinction between r's and l's, they changed "o'clock" to "o'crock" (or "o'krock"), which was then separated to become "ok rock".^[3]

2007-2009: Debut Album and Old Formation

Their debut single, Naihi Shinso, surprisingly reached positions 48 on Oricon Chart and sold out 15,000 copies. Their second single, Yume Yume, followed that success and reached position 43. After those singles, they finally released their debut album Zeitakubyō in 2007. They then had their first tour, and played in many cities. Not long after that the second album, Beam of Light was released in May 2008. In an interview with Rockin'On Magazine in June 2012, ONE OK ROCK said they didn't count this album as an album, but rather as a part of growing up as a band.^[5] When they made that album, they hadn't been in the right mood to make it, but they knew that they had to make it. That is the reason why until now they wouldn't play any songs from Beam of Light in live performances. It had been planned for them to release two albums in that one year, so they released Kanjou Effects in November 2008. Shortly after release of Beam of Light they attended a gig in Shibuya AX and released the said performance as a DVD.^[6]
On April 5, 2009, Alex was arrested for groping the leg of a twenty-one-year-old female student on a train.^[2] He admitted to the charges and the case was settled out of court.^[7] However, the band's next single "Around the World Shounen", which was planned for a May 6 release and to be used as the theme song for the TV drama God Hand Teru, and their nationwide tour were both cancelled.^[2] In May 2009, it was announced that One Ok Rock would continue on without Alex.^[7]

2010: New Formation

With the new four- member formation, the band released the single "Kanzen Kankaku Dreamer" on February 3, 2010. It reached 9th on the Weekly Oricon Chart. They released their fourth studio album titled Niche Syndrome on June 9, 2010. Their next single, "Answer is Near", was released on February 16, 2011.
The band released their first double A-side single "Re:make/No Scared" on July 20, 2011, the latter song being the main theme for the Black Rock Shooter: The Game video game.^[8][9] The band's fifth album, Zankyo Reference, was released on October 5, 2011. Their first single from that album, "The Beginning", used as the theme song for the live action movie adaptation of the Rurouni Kenshin manga, was released on August 22, 2012 and reached the 5th place of the Oricon charts.^[10]
The single "Deeper Deeper/Nothing Helps" was released on January 9, 2013 and hit the 2nd place of the Japanese Oricon charts. The song "Nothing Helps" was used for the Japanese version of the video game DmC: Devil May Cry.

2013 - Outside of Asia

In October 2013 the band went to their first tour outside Asia and visited Europe for 5 concerts. Four out of the five concerts in Europe were sold out almost immediately. In February 2014 they visited the US to hold 2 concerts in New York and Los Angeles and added two more dates in Philadelphia and Toronto in May. They will be also returning there later the year to perform at Rock on the Range in Columbus, Ohio, their first festival outside Asia. Then in June and July 2014 they joined VANS WARPED TOUR 2014 and will perform in 18 cities in Northern America. Start from May 16, they will be playing the documentary film about their last Europe and Asia Tour, FOOL COOL ROCK for 4 weeks on limited releases at theaters. This movie directed by Hiroyuki Nakano.^[11]
In January 12, 2014 their album producer John Feldmann tweeted that ONE OK ROCK already started recording the new album.^[12] They will be performing the theme song for the movie sequels of Rurouni Kenshin, the song is entitled "Mighty Long Fall".

Members

• Toru (山下 亨 Yamashita Tōru^?, born December 7, 1988 in Osaka) is the leader and guitarist of the group. He also contributes some vocals. He was previously a member of the hip-hop dance group Heads with Ryota.
• Taka (森田 貴寬 Morita Takahiro^?, born April 17, 1988 in Tokyo) is the main vocalist of the group. Prior to debuting with ONE OK ROCK, he was a member of the boy band, NEWS. He is the son of singers Shinichi Mori and Masako Mori and the older brother to Hiroki, the singer of My First Story. He is also straight edge.
• Ryota (小浜 良太 Kohama Ryōta^?, born September 4, 1989 in Osaka) is the bassist of the group. He was also previously a member of the hip-hop dance group Heads with Toru.
• Tomoya (神吉 智也 Kanki Tomoya^?, born June 27, 1987 in Hyogo) is the drummer of the group.

Former members

• Alex (鬼澤アレクサンダー礼門 Onizawa Alexander Reimon^?, born March 19, 1988 in San Francisco) was the lead guitarist of the group along with rhythm guitarist Toru, until he left in May 2009 after being arrested on charges of groping.Toru then took Alex's place as lead guitar.^[2][7]
• Tomo (小柳友 Koyanagi Yuu^?, born August 29, 1988 in Tokyo) was the original drummer of the group since before their official debut. He left the band in June 2006 to follow an acting career.