Xdinary Heroes take Lollapalooza By Storm [INTERVIEW]

By: Jina Kelly – Photo by Dennis M. Kelly

South Korean band Xdinary Heroes made Lollapalooza history by becoming the first K-rock band to headline on the Grove stage Thursday night. The performance was flawless, and their sound is high-energy rock reminiscent of early Linkin Park, but with a style uniquely their own.

The band was generous enough to sit down with us before their set to discuss their music, background, and their upcoming tour dates.

Consisting of Gun-il (drummer/leader of the band), Jungsu (keyboard/vocals), Gaon (rhythm guitar/vocals), O.de (synths/vocals), Jun Han (lead guitar), and Jooyeon (bass guitar/vocals), these six multi-talented individuals work almost as one, spending almost every minute together since forming in 2021.

When asked about what they knew of Lollapalooza before arriving here, Gun-il said, “We just knew that Lollapalooza is one of the biggest music festivals that’s happening around the world, and when we heard that we are going to be part of this, it felt like a dream come true. Right now it still feels unrealistic, but I’m really happy that we’re finally here.”

Their creative process is one of collaboration, each bringing something to the table and collectively deciding the direction for every element of their sound.

Their latest single, entitled, Fire (My Sweet Misery) was released on July 7th and has already amassed 1,043,965 streams on Spotify at the time of publication.

The powerful single follows up the recent release of their album, Beautiful Mind, a seven-song masterpiece that, like Lollapalooza, offers something for everyone’s unique musical interests.

Songs like “Beautiful Life,” an almost theatrical sounding song that harkens back to the classic sound of Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody,” but is as sharp and almost as heavy as “Diamond.”

The album’s theme is one of resistance, which means something a little different to each member of the band.

To Gun-il, “If there’s something you feel is wrong, then you have to fight against it,” while Gaon and Jungsu felt that resistance is their fight against complacency, to keep working on being a better person. Jooyeon’s feeling of resistance is fighting something that he has to do, but doesn’t want to do it. Jun Han noted that fighting against things that are lacking can also be considered a form of resistance. And lastly, O.de’s response was to be nice to people who are not nice to him; that is his resistance.

The band’s demeanor during the interview was incredibly professional, as was their stage presence while performing. With most of them having only started playing their respective instruments at age eighteen, you can tell they are very serious about everything they do. Whether working or playing (games), they’re all in 100%.

The band honors the hard-won fights of their K-pop predecessors, acknowledging what it took for artists such as BTS to pave the road that Xdinary Heroes are now expanding on with their hard rock forged music.

Gun-il said, “First of all, I have a very, very huge respect for BTS because since they’ve existed, K-Pop has gotten famous all around the world, and I am very thankful to them and have very huge respect for them. Because of them and bands like them, they paved the way for other Korean artists.”

Adding, “But, I believe we just wanted to do our music, we just wanted to do whatever we like, when we write our songs or when performing on stage, all we thought about was that it has to be fun for us; when we’re making music, it has to sound good to us. We didn’t compare ourselves to other artists; all we cared about was, Is this good music for us? Do we like it? Are we satisfied with our music?

Thankfully, lots of people started to love our music; lots of people started to listen to our music, and thankfully, a lot of people say that we’re unique in the K-pop industry because we play our instruments. There has never been this kind of K-pop band before. We’re just so thankful because we’re just doing what we like, and people will see us as being unique.”

When asked about their upcoming schedule, they said they were heading to New York immediately following their Lollapalooza performance and continuing on through various other states like Atlanta, Los Angeles, and then will be performing over in Hong Kong for the first time after that.

Xdinary Heroes were one of several Korean artists at Lollapalooza this year, including TWICE, BoyNextDoor, KickFlip, Katseye, and wave to earth, and were some of the biggest bands to see.

Also, near Buckingham Fountain, fans were able to learn about Korean culture through the “Imagine Your Korea” booth and try Korean snacks at the Gangnam Market that was located in Vibe Village. All part of Lollapalooza’s mission to be all-inclusive for all people of all backgrounds.

For further information on Xdinary Heroes, please visit: https://xdinaryheroes.jype.com/