“Our goal is to have concerts in worldwide arenas… That’s the kind of band we want to be.” – Taka Moriuchi
Having just wrapped up their recent stint of touring arenas with Ed Sheeran, ONE OK ROCK have their eyes set on
Speaking with E! Online, ONE OK ROCK frontman Taka Moriuchi discussed the band, and that genre they consider themselved “With regards to our music ONE OK ROCK is definitely a rock band. But rock music has declined in popularity, so we want to promote rock music and put rock music back in the spotlight again.”
He continued “And in doing so we need to face new challenges, to keep learning various ways of making music in order to stay creative and keep our live performances fresh.”
Taka also addressed the change in ONE OK ROCK’s sound on their latest album ‘Eye Of The Storm’, sharing “I was very anxious during our recordings, but we had a lot of support from each other. Either we keep going what we were used to, or try to create something new. For me those are the only two options – to change the songs and their form. From that we have learned and matured as musicians and gotten closer to our audience.”
During the chat, ONE OK ROCK bassist Ryota also shared a charming story about how they practiced for their live performances in a parking lot, outside Taka’s house.
“After the band was reduced to four members, we would gather in Taka’s house. Taka brought up the subject of our band’s direction one day, noting that I should improve my performance style “be more aggressive, exude more energy. Just go wild,” Ryota shared. “So we gathered in a parking lot in front of Taka’s house, and practiced how to swing the bass guitar, how to jump. It was very tough.”
But what does the future have in store for ONE OK ROCK? According to Taka “Our goal is to have concerts in worldwide arenas, not only for the Japanese or Asian audiences, but hopefully audiences worldwide will take interest. That’s the kind of band we want to be.”
We look forward to that happening, for sure.