“AMBITIONS” follows ONE OK ROCK’s chart-topping seventh album, “35xxxv (Deluxe Edition)”, released 2015. The album, which features tracks “We Are,” “Taking Off,” “Bedroom Warfare” and “I Was King”, topped the Global Album Chart with some 315,000 sales making it the best-selling album on the planet during the first week of its release. The awards are set take place July 17 at Cleveland, Ohio’s Quicken Loans Arena.Įarlier this year, ONE OK ROCK returned with their widely acclaimed debut for the Fueled By Ramen label, “AMBITIONS”. The band are also due to perform at the 2017 Journeys Alternative Press Music Awards, Fueled by Monster Energy where they are nominated for “Best Breakthrough Band”. Guest artists Set It Off and Palisades will provide support on the coast-to-coast tour which will continue through mid-August. TOUR 2017,” which will also include stops in Canada, is set to kick off at Las Vegas, Nevada’s Brooklyn Bowl, July 6. In terms of the American market, we didn’t start from scratch or even point zero – it was below that.Signed to American record label Fueled By Ramen, Japanese recording artists ONE OK ROCK have announced details of a massive North American headline tour. I feel like we’re always being tested on stage in America though, especially during our first tour there. The response is always different in Europe too. For example, our Taiwanese fans were very energetic and sang along to our songs during our concert. Our fans in Japan tend to be more quiet and really listen to us when we perform, but other fans in Asia are very different. Taka: Different fans in different countries do respond differently. So naturally, we took on a different style to get to where we are now.ĭo the fans in different countries respond differently to your music? But we’ve always hoped to expand our audience and gain worldwide success. When we first started, we actually bought flight tickets to America without having a solid tour plan, but our manager eventually stopped us from doing that. Gaining success in Japan, solely, was never our ultimate goal. Taka: While our Japanese fans mean a lot to us, we’ve always wanted an international audience. But now that we’re touring the world and performing in Asian countries like Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines, perhaps we’ll start looking into the artistes in Asia and hopefully strike up some collaborations.Īs a J-Rock band with distinct western influences, how has this opposition of J-rock norms contributed to your global success? We grew up listening to American music, so we don’t really know many Asian musicians. So I think that compared to when we first started out, we’re able to stand on par with them now. Taka: We’ve always admired Western artistes and after collaborating with them, we’ve become more accustomed to their culture.
How was that like and are there any Asian acts you’d like to collaborate with? You’ve worked with Western artistes like Avril Lavigne and 5 Seconds of Summer. We don’t have a clear picture of that yet, but we’re really looking forward to it. In terms of our music concepts, I believe that we’re going to try something different. Taka: We’ve been doing this for over a decade, so I feel like our first chapter has come to a close and we’re ready to take on the next chapter. What about your ambitions as a band in the future? I even moved to Tokyo and started getting involved in music activities to make that happen, so I’m really excited that we’re here today. I’ve always wanted our band to be successful.
Tomoya: My childhood ambitions have also been fulfilled. So I guess you could say that I’ve fulfilled my ambitions too. Ryoto: My ambition has always been for the band to be successful and I’m grateful that we’ve gained global recognition.
And now that I’m touring the world, I guess you could say that I’ve fulfilled my childhood ambitions! Toru: I’ve always wanted to perform abroad and even started a band when I was in high school. It wasn’t exactly my “ambition” to be a singer, but I knew that I wanted to sing as well. Taka: Ever since I was a child, singing came naturally to me because both my parents were singers. Playing on your album name Ambitions, we want to know – what were your childhood ambitions? We caught up with the J-rock juggernauts before their show for a short chat where they got real about international recognition, future ambitions and more. Boasting a slew of notable artistes like Avril Lavigne and 5 Seconds of Summer, their latest album had fans in a frenzy. Rising to greater heights after gaining international acclaim, ONE OK ROCK takes Singapore by storm yet again on their Ambitions Asia tour.