generasia:Featured article for 2019 week 23
The Winking Owl
The Winking Owl is a Japanese pop/alternative rock band signed to Warner Music Japan. Influenced by American emo and post hardcore bands, they add their own acoustic elements to create their original sound. They formed in Takasaki, Gunma in 2010 by guitarist Yoma when he returned to Japan after studying music in the U.S. That same year, they held their first live at Band Contest "Rockers 2010", where they made it to the finals. Afterwards, the band worked on and released their very first demo, and distributed 1,000 free copies. Since then they have played lives and participated in many events.
The band released their first single "Deep River" in December 2011 and released a split single with SECONDWALL in July 2012. Three months later, bassist Ranmalu officially became a member of the band. The song "Precious" was chosen as their first PV which was released in March 2013. In September, the band released their first mini-album Voyage and held a release celebration live titled "We Owl Rock Along 2013" beforehand in July. Their second mini-album Supernova was released a year later in 2014.
The Winking Owl was chosen as a supporting act for the band ONE OK ROCK's "35xxxv" Japan Tour that was held on June 6, 2015 in Osaka. Later that year they released their second single "Open Up My Heart".
Their second full-length album, Thanks Love Letter, is released this week on June 5th.
