Yesterday, rock band One Eye Closed, the latest signing to UK-based label JPU Records, unveiled a new single and music video called With How I Feel. A ballad about unrequited love and being unable to be near someone you
care about, it's a perfect fit for the holiday season in 2020, when people in so many parts of the world are isolated from loved ones due to the effects of the coronavirus pandemic.
Just before the premiere of the new music video, we had a chance
to ask vocalist REI some quick questions about the new song and One Eye Closed's other recent works. Read on to learn more about this promising group's current mindset and plans for the future.
For any readers who haven’t had the chance to listen to One Eye Closed yet, how would you describe the music you make?
REI: In Japan, we’re called a mixture band because we blend a lot of genres together, with rock, RnB, and hip-hop being the main ones. We aim to blend our Japanese influences with our Western influences. Each of us come from very different backgrounds,
but we all met through our mutual love for metalcore and post-hardcore music from Japan and the West. We don’t dwell too much in that genre, but you can definitely hear the influence. We want to shine a new light on the Japanese music scene and change
people’s image of it. About the messages behind our songs, our lyrical themes are very emotional and can get quite dark, tackling issues like mental health and suicide. We don’t want to sugarcoat anything, so we speak our minds honestly through our music.
We hope fans find something to relate to in our music.
What was the inspiration behind your label debut single N.C.H.? Is there anything in particular about this track you’d like listeners to pay attention to?
REI: “N.C.H.” is an abbreviation for 'Never Coming Home'. During the COVID-19 pandemic, we were distraught with the number of fellow peers in the Tokyo music scene ending their music careers. We were depressed to see friends give up their
dreams due to the influence of the pandemic. Luckily for us, we work best staying home and are quite used to working from our individual home studios. In a way, this strengthened our music production and we were able to write a lot whilst home. We were
pretty quiet about our activities for a while before this single and music video dropped, so there were talks of us disbanding, too. This was our answer to that. We wanted to show people that we weren’t giving up and we’re coming back stronger than ever;
we were determined to make it out of the underground scene. For this particular track, I hope for fans to notice the bigger sound we were aiming for, compared to our previous releases, like our first EP Cain. I actually layered a lot of my vocals
in there to make for a bigger sound. All the vocals you hear are all me changing the tone of my voice and singing different harmonies to create a bigger sound with the band. Of course, my bandmates worked hard with their parts and really crafted on the
mix to give us a fuller band sound.
It’s been mentioned that there is a story that runs through your EPs Cain and Abel. Do you normally work with a story when putting songs together, or was that a new experiment for you? Are you planning to continue this story in the future?
REI: It’s
weird. I can’t talk about my feelings and thoughts with people, because I tend to close up and get very nervous. So in order for me to write better and make honest songs, I have to make a character in my mind, like an alter-ego, so I don’t feel as nervous
writing out my demons into song. With this, I’m also able to really explore my creativity in lyrics and build this character and world with the band. To put it into the perspective of painting, our lyrics are like the outlines of a painting while the
music you hear is the colors and the brush strokes. We will definitely continue this story concept with our releases.
You released a new single entitled With How I Feel along with a music video. Can you tell us about it?
REI: This
song is new for us, as it’s our first ballad. With How I Feel is about the feeling of unrequited love, wanting to be with the person you love, especially in times like the holiday season, but you can’t for reasons. Though you keep wishing, all
you can do is to be there for them and endure the pain.
We hope you also check out our music video With How I Feel. This was a challenge to make as it involved us filming around Tokyo Station, Roppongi, and Ginza, but a fun one at that.
On a side note, we filmed this during the pandemic, which is why we’re wearing masks. Not only did we want to abide by the mask rule, we also wanted to mark our video with the timestamp of the global COVID-19 pandemic. Times are tough now, so we hope
you enjoy and find some inner peace with our song.
You recently joined British label JPU Records. Is it safe to assume you’re hoping to perform overseas someday? If so, after the coronavirus crisis has been resolved, assuming you could play a show anywhere in the
world, where would you choose and why?
REI: First of all, we want to thank JPU Records for really believing in us and supporting us and our music. We can’t say for sure, but we hope to perform overseas in the near future. First, we
hope for more people to follow us on all our social media (@oneeyeclosedjp) and check out our music. It’s hard to pick one place, but if we were able to play a show anywhere in the world, we would choose
three places. The first would be America, since we all love American music and have family and friends there. The second would be the UK, because we love UK music and would love to meet the JPU Records family. The third would be Malaysia, because we have
a fanbase there due to our song Low appearing as the ending theme for a video game called “No Straight Roads”, made by Malaysian game developer company Metronomik. This was difficult
to pick, but we definitely want to travel the world with our music.
What can fans look forward to from One Eye Closed in
2021?
REI: Definitely more music from us. There will be more music videos too and hopefully more live shows if the pandemic gets better. We had to put our live shows to a halt for now due to the current global situation, but once
we get started again, we will hopefully work on behind the scenes videos of our shows, tours, writing, recording, or just our life as a band, in general. We hope you keep supporting us and that we meet at a future show.
JaME would like to thank REI and One Eye Closed for this interview opportunity.
With How I Feel is available for download and streaming worldwide. The music video for the track highlights famous spots around Japan's capital, including the Marunouchi station building of Tokyo Station, and the streets of downtown Ginza and Roppongi. It showcases both the beauty of the holiday lights
around the city and the unusually quiet streets caused by the pandemic. Check it out:
