Code-Switching Geniuses

One Ok Rock

L-R: Ryota, Taka, Toru, Tomoya

Who are they?

    One Ok Rock is a rock band hailing from Japan.  The band comprises of leader Toru on guitar, Ryota on bass, Tomoyo on drums and Taka as the main vocalist.  Since their creation they have gone on to produce six full length albums.  Of the six, three of their albums have managed to land in the top five of the Oricon charts.

     The band was formed in the summer of 2005 when high school student Toru wanted to start a band after listening to bands such as Good Charlotte, Zebrahead and Fall Out Boy.  He asked his friend Ryota, who was in a hip hop dance group called HEADS, to learn the bass and asked fellow member Alex to join his band as guitarist as well.  They recruited drummer Tomo into the band.  However, Tomoyo replace him since Tomo left a year later to pursue a career in acting.  Taka was later added to One Ok Rock after Toru saw him in a cover band.  Toru insisted (forcefully) that he join.

     In April of 2009, guitarist Alex was arrested for sexual harassment.  He was caught “groping the leg of a twenty-one-year-old female student on a train”.  The case was later settled out of court, but as a result the band’s nationwide tour had to be cancelled.  It was later announced that Alex left the group.  One Ok Rock now continues to be a four piece band.

     So let’s learn about the members.  Lead singer Taka is the son of famous Japanese singers Shinichi Mori and Masako Mori.  Before joining One Ok Rock Taka was actually part of a boy band called NEWS.  He left News after rumors circulated that he was dating a women.  The agency stated that he left to "focus on his studies", but the agency is known for having a strict no dating policy… It’s an idol thing…  Thankfully he left and joined One Ok Rock where he writes most of the lyrics and does most of the composing.  

     Toru the guitarist is the leader of the band even though he is the youngest.  Before forming One Ok Rock, Toru was in the hip-hop group HEADS, along with Ryota, as HEADS they produced “six singles and an album before they disbanded in 2002”.  He even dabbled a bit in acting as he played the supporting character Ryugo in the drama Sh15uya.

     The bassist Ryota was childhood friends with Toru.  As I mentioned before, he didn’t even know how to play the bass prior to joining the band.  But with lots of hard work and dedication, Ryota has become a talented musician.  He once stated that he respected the band Red Hot Chili Peppers.

     And lastly there is drummer Tomoyo, the heart of the band.  Unfortunately, I couldn’t find much information on him.  But he did attend the ESP Musical Academy.  Apparently he has the “most curious hobbies among the band members and [is] the eldest member “.  And luckily for fans, he is the one who posts the most updates on the One Ok Rock blog!

     So you must be wondering, “How on earth did they get that name?”  Well it is a play on One O’clock.  The band used to practice every weekend at that time.  However, in Japanese the Rs and Ls are often difficult to distinguish.  Hence, the "o'clock" is changed to "o'crock", which was separated to become One Ok Rock.  It’s simple but packs a punch.

The Music

     So you may be wondering why I titled this post "Code-Switching Geniuses".  If you didn't know, code-switching refers to  "switching between two or more languages".  So, many artists in Asia tend to incorporate english into their music (i.e. K-Pop).  However, One Ok Rock puts english into a large majority of their song and, fortunately, Taka's pronunciation and grammar is always spot on.  Unlike artists that put in English for the sake of having English lyrics, Taka uses English to express messages (eg. following your dreams, being genuine, individuality etc.) that are often "incompatible with Japanese culture".  Their song called Re:make is a good example of this.

     So who here remembers Nirvana?  Well, One Ok Rock actually did a cover of Nirvana's Smell Like Teen Spirit. 

      And lastly, here is Et Cetera.  This song is actually a live performance from their concert.  Despite being an in-your-face rock band, One Ok Rock can still tone it down and churn out beautiful music.

So what are your thoughts on One Ok Rock?

Sources

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One_Ok_Rock

http://www.oneokrock.com/english/

http://www.generasia.com/wiki/ONE_OK_ROCK

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Takahiro_Morita

http://oneokrockfu.blogspot.ca/p/biography.html

http://www.jpopasia.com/group/oneokrock/

http://www.jpopasia.com/celebrity/taka/

http://kenryoku.wordpress.com/2012/07/02/live-report-one-ok-rock-start-walking-the-world-tour-live-in-singapore-june-30-2012/
http://www.jame-world.com/ca/articles-4982-interview-with-one-ok-rock-in-tokyo.html
http://prezi.com/rfpgpteuwmyo/one-ok-rock/