Xdinary Heroes Comeback in October, With a Hired Drummer
The Xdinary Heroes comeback is on for October. JYP Entertainment confirmed it Monday (September 7, KST), telling Soompi the band "is preparing for a comeback next month" with a concert to follow in November. That is 25 days after they lost their drummer and leader, and one day after they played their first show without him.
Not quite five months since DEAD AND, five members instead of six, and a drum stool that currently belongs to a guy who was recording metalcore albums in 2002, nineteen years before this band debuted. Not the comeback anyone had penciled in back in April.
Three weeks, one festival, one borrowed drummer
Saturday, September 6, Paradise City in Incheon. Xdinary Heroes walked onto the Sound Planet Festival stage as a five-piece for the first time, with Choi Hyun-jin on drums as a session player. Ilgan Sports put it at "barely three weeks" (my translation) after the lineup shrank, and the band got through the set.
If that name means nothing to you, fair. Choi Hyun-jin is a working rock drummer who has been at it since 2002, when he debuted on the first album by the metalcore band Vassline, and he is best known in Korea as the drummer in Seo Taiji's band. Seo Taiji. The man whose trio debuted in April 1992 and more or less drew the blueprint for Korean idol pop. So the guy filling in for a 27-year-old idol drummer had already cut a metalcore record before that drummer was old enough for elementary school.
Sports Kyunghyang described the September 4 run-through at the venue as "a rehearsal reminiscent of a real boot camp," with Choi's "heavy yet precise drumming" impressing the crew. The fan reaction they quoted is the bit that stuck with me.
Band-music fans piled in with jokes like "So does this mean Choi Hyun-jin, the middle-aged guy, has become Xdinary Heroes?" and "Will this raise the average age too much?" Which tells you something about who this band has quietly been winning over. The band's own fans showed up with surprise and thank-yous; the rock kids showed up with memes.
That is a wider room than most idol bands get to play to.
What happened with Gunil, in short
I'll keep this to what's on the record, because the two sides still don't agree on it.
On August 13, JYP announced that Gunil, the band's 27-year-old drummer and leader, would stop activities and that his exclusive contract was being terminated by mutual agreement. The agency's statement, as carried by The Korea Herald, said it had "deeply recognized the gravity" of the matter and, after "thorough discussions," decided "it would be difficult to continue team activities together." This came less than a day after a woman identifying herself as his former girlfriend posted chat screenshots and audio recordings online, claiming he privately disparaged fans and bandmates.
A week later, Gunil pushed back. Through Joowon Law Firm, he told Korea JoongAng Daily that "the artist did not voluntarily leave the band and has never agreed to the termination of his exclusive contract." As far as I can find, that dispute is unresolved as of today. Nothing in the comeback confirmation touches it, and I doubt anything will until lawyers are done.
So the remaining five are Jungsu (vocals, keys), Gaon (guitar), O.de (synths), Jun Han (guitar) and Jooyeon (bass). No drummer on the roster. That is the whole reason the October news is interesting rather than routine.
What we know about the October album
Not much yet, honestly. Tenasia, which broke the story Monday before JYP confirmed it, reported the band has already filmed some of the content for the new album, and that the concert is being planned for around mid-November. No title, no date, no format. JYP's own wording to Ilgan Sports was that the band is "preparing with the goal of" an October comeback and a November concert (again, my translation), which is agency-speak for "the plan is real, the calendar isn't locked."
The question I want answered is who's playing drums on the record. Choi Hyun-jin is a session hire for the festival stage; nobody has said he is on the album, and I'd be surprised if JYP announced a permanent sixth member this fast. My guess (and it is only a guess) is a session drummer on the recording and a rotating seat on stage for a while. If you've seen the Gunil-era drum cams, you know that seat is not an easy one to fill.
For a refresher on where they left off, the title track from DEAD AND, released April 17:
"Voyager" is a good single. "X Room," the pre-release from March, is the better one, and I will not be taking questions.
Dates to watch if you're outside Korea
Nothing announced so far happens anywhere but Incheon and Seoul, so for most of you this is a watch-from-home stretch until the concert dates land.
- October 4 — Xdinary Heroes were added to the XMF 2026 lineup (Xnterstellar Music Festival, Paradise City, Incheon) on day two, alongside DAY6, ONE OK ROCK, YB and UVERworld. Same venue as Saturday's show, and a second five-piece stage before the album drops.
- October — the comeback itself. Expect teasers on JYP's channels first; last cycle, the pre-release single "X Room" landed 23 days before the album, so a September teaser is not out of the question.
- Mid-November — the concert. Whether that grows into a tour is anyone's guess, and JYP hasn't said.
Wait for the official schedule before booking anything. Korean ticketing sites usually want local ID verification, which is a headache from abroad, so an overseas trip on a rumored date is a bad bet.
Confidence that the October date holds: 8/10. Confidence that the drummer question gets a tidy answer by then: 4/10, and I'd love to be wrong.
This is a running news series, not a one-off post — new stories go up twice a day, roughly 7am and 7pm Korea time.
More Korea coverage from our network: Korea Travel Planner · K-Sports Global · Korean Table · Seoul Skin Notes
Comments
Post a Comment