Xdinary Heroes On Standing Out In The Modern Music Industry In New EP, ‘LIVE and FALL’

Xdinary Heroes have broken out of the cyber-scape and released new music.

Today (October 14), the progressive K-rock band premiered their highly anticipated third EP, LIVE and FALL. The EP takes all listeners on a sonic journey of ups and downs, navigating through both the beauty and hardships of life. This new EP shines a light on a different side of the band, as they make their first release breaking out of the cyber themes and concepts — meeting each other in the real world for the very first time in this narrative. LIVE and FALL also explores a fresh sound from the band, where they open with the rock ballad, “XH_WORLD_75,” and find a balance between their metal sound and the K-pop production.

In light of this, Billboard Philippines joined the Xdinary Heroes in exploring the ups and downs of life in their new EP.

Billboard Philippines: Congratulations on the upcoming release of your EP LIVE and FALL. In that sense, what can your listeners — your Villains — anticipate as you move on from Troubleshooting into this new era of Xdinary Heroes?

Gunil: First of all, thank you so much for congratulating us on our release of our new EP and yeah, from Troubleshooting… actually, starting from Hello World to Troubleshooting, we’ve always used computer programming (themes) for our albums, and it was because our Xdinary Heroes universe was based [on] this virtual reality platform and it’s basically like an online ensemble program where we meet each other. All the albums until Troubleshooting [were] based from the stories that happened in that virtual reality and, as you can see for the first time, we did not choose a computer programming word for this album. That’s because on Troubleshooting, we were able to come out of that virtual reality and finally get to meet each other in real world.

If Troubleshooting was an album that had stories of the beginning of living and getting out of that virtual world and meeting ourselves in the real world, LIVE and FALL would be more [of a] deep dive into real world. As you know, like, when we live in this world we always face different emotions like happiness, sadness, anger, anxiety. We wanted to put those diverse emotions into this album and through that we wanted our balance to be able to feel consolation or we wanted to empathize with our fans through showing our true emotions through the songs.

I really like the concept that there’s a balance of the good parts of living and the FALL — the kind-of sadder parts of living, so how do you guys express that through sound? 

Gunil: [For] his album, we tried a really diverse kind of music. Like, we tried heavy metal. One very special thing about this album is that we made our rock ballads our title song — it’s the first time we were trying that. We tried lots of different genres — from ballad to heavy metal — and I believe that each genre holds specific emotion. By trying out those very different types of genres in this album, we were able to express many diverse feelings.

Jun Han: When we write songs, we don’t decide on like what kind of chords we’re going to use. Rather, we try to come up with an image and we add melody and chords on top of that and we focus on delivering our message as honestly and clearly as possible based on that image.

Xdinary Heroes don’t conform to any kind of genre and your discography echoes that same fluidity, so where do you guys draw inspiration in your production, given how versatile your sound is? 

Jooyeon: This is probably a very textbook, straightforward answer but we draw inspiration from many different sources including films, TV shows, animated series, and music by other bands.

Gaon: I know we are doing rock music but we try not to confine ourselves in the rock genre. Our music is based on rock sound but we might borrow melody lines from like, jazz or R&B and we always try to come up with a new kind of sound. And also, I believe that the melodies and those ideas when we write songs, the biggest inspiration is just our life, as I remember the best melodies came out when we were having hard times. Those hard feelings and sadness or anger, whatever it may be, we wanted to spit it out. When we spit it out in [a] musical way, it always came out really good — and I believe that’s because it has soul and emotion and truthfulness in it.

Yes, for sure as a listener, I can really feel the heart and emotions in your music. My next question is for Jungsu and O.de. You guys were originally trained to be K-pop idols. How would you describe the shift from your original expectations and your training to the reality you live in now?

Jungsu: There are a lot of good sides to that kind of background, coming from K-pop idol training to [becoming] a band member. From lessons I received as a trainee, I learned how to move my body to a certain kind of rhythm and use my facial expressions. That helped a lot, working in a band. Being in a band exposed me to a variety of musical genres, and I really fell in love with band music. This kind of background served as a [starting] ground for me to grow as an artist and flourish.

O.de: It didn’t matter how it was, or how the [training] days were, because the training made my own color in this band. Like, using my face, or how I move, or how I sing our songs for K-pop fans — and the way K-pop fans look at me. Like what Jungsu said, it was a lot of great things. So, I have no regrets.

That’s really cool! You wouldn’t think about how you would incorporate things like body movements and facial expressions. That’s something people learn through years and years of experience, and you were able to start with that straight away thanks to your training.

Gunil: To be honest, I’m very jealous that O.de and Jungsu were able to get that kind of training. Whenever we have a photoshoot or have to shoot a music video, they are always the best ones [at] making facial expressions or using body movements, and even on stage. Like O.de said, he is the best in using his body movements to express his emotions and making his stage presence known. It turns out really cool. If I were him, I would have no regrets.

I feel like you guys can learn from each other, then. It’s no secret that although you’re introducing the K-rock genre to the mainstream, you’re not the first K-rock band out there. In that sense, what makes Xdinary Heroes different as trailblazers of your genre? 

Gaon: I honestly believe that the efforts should not stop at copying something or paying tribute to something. I know, like you said, we are not the first K-rock band; However, in order to make a difference as a band, I think we have to try many different new things in order to create our own color. So, that’s what we’re doing right now.

Jooyeon: This is something that I thought about while making the song titled “¡INSTEAD!” in our album. Before recording, I prepared a lot of a metal, heavy metal kind of rock sound. But while recording, the producer said, “That’s not the direction we’re going. We have to strike a balance between the classic rock sound and the sound that K-pop fans are familiar with.” We wanted to create a good balance between the two and that kind of came out as K-rock.

With a sound as unique as yours, it’s certainly something to say that uniqueness is one of the most important elements in your production. Why is it so important to you to be unique, to show a different side to K-rock given the current state of the music industry?

Gunil: Today, in the 21st century, literally hundreds of music [releases] are coming out every single day. You’re basically [in] an ocean full of music, and as musicians and as a band, we want lots of people to listen to our songs and, we want that our songs would be able to give some strength or healing to them. And in order for our music to stand out amongst those hundreds of music [releases] in an ocean full of music, uniqueness is very important because in order to stand out, there has to be something different. There has to be something that’s so unique that you can’t find a replacement of our band. So that’s why we, as Gaon said earlier, we try to experiment with lots of things, and we try not to be copycats of different musicians, in order for us to be as unique as possible.

Jun Han: In today’s music industry, we cannot be judged purely on our music and music alone. There are terms for people who follow like certain labels. They’re called label fans. The label plays a really big part on creating an image and coming up with a marketing strategy and management strategy. The whole package has to be different in order to stand out. Based on that, a team or a project is created and I think that’s the current music industry that we see right now.I really like those answers.

Given that you guys really want to stand out in this industry, and art is a reflection of the artist, do you think, in that sense, you guys are just as unique as the music you produce and why? 

Gunil: That’s a very good question. I personally think that we are very ordinary people. We are very ordinary, but there’s a saying that there’s only one of you in this world. Although we’re very ordinary, there’s only one Gaon in this world. There’s only one Jungsu, Jooyeon, O.de, Jun Han, and Gunil in this world. There’s a special and unique power that when these ordinary individuals meet up and when we live together and do music together. There’s a special — I don’t know — there’s something, that some power in this relationship when ordinary people meet up. I can basically say that ordinary men, each one of us meet up to form one team. That’s what makes us unique. 

Okay, that’s really cool. So it’s the whole chemistry is what bonds you together and makes you unique.

Gunil: Chemistry! That’s the word I’d like to use. 

Okay, wonderful! And this is my last question before we end — what message do you guys have for Filipino Villains who are excited for your new EP and are hoping to see you live once again? 

Jooyeon: I don’t know when, but when we do meet in the Philippines, we will show you why Xdinary Heroes is the most powerful and the best band in the world.

Gunil: No, no, no. Why it’s going to be. Why it’s going to be. And also, I remember when we visited the Philippines, the Filipino fans were amazing. Their energy was so great and I still remember how loud the cheers were. So we are really looking forward for the day when we go back to the Philippines to perform and we hope that until that day, the Filipino fans will stay safe and healthy. And we hope that the Filipino fans will love our new album.

Listen to Xdinary Heroes’ LIVE and FALL here: