Music

XN band releasing their debut single today

Photo: Morten Fredriksen

XN, a new project by Jompi Myren, Emil Solbakken and Tobias Gausemel Backe. The names which are more than well-known to you from such bands as Ieatheartattacks, Naga Siren, Sigh&Explode and Sibiir. And this time they started from scratch a project in the spirit of “time with no rules, no iphones and ZERO spotify-editorials” and at the same time “heavy as hell”. Sounds really promising, doesn’t it? 

Read the interview with Emil Solbakken of XN about how it all started. And of course listen to the band’ first single ‘Wendy Joe’ released today!

The band was founded in 2017, has been on hiatus since 2018 and now you are back. Could you tell us a little more about all this?

Well, two of us were hitting that point in life where we needed a BIG change. Working, drinking beer and going to concerts in basements just wasn’t enough. I decided to move out of the city to an old house to start a family, and Jompi moved to Telemark to live a quieter life. We’re starting to settle in now and realize how boring life can be without music so… Here we are.

Where did the name XN come from?

The name XN just looks cool. That’s it.

So XN is Jompi Myren, Emil Solbakken and Tobias Gausemel Backe. How did you start playing together?

I & Jompi met around 10 years ago playing a show together, and started dabbling about the idea of playing together. I joined Jompi`s band Ieatheartattacks in their last year and we also started Naga Siren together and have been making music together since.

Jompi had an idea for a new project where he wanted the music to be straight-forward thunder-blasting all the way through, and after writing a couple of demos together it was natural to ask our favourite guitar player (which we have in common) being Tobias. A FUCKING LEGEND in our eyes. I, being the youngest, actually have my very first encounter with hardcore in the backseat of a car listening to Sigh&Explode, so to be able to finally play with Tobias was kind of a big moment, to be honest.

All band members have a lot of experience from their other bands. Will you bring any of this to XN? Or do you want to make this project from scratch?

Thinking of what direction XN is going to take sonically is a hard question. As it stands now, there is no set plan for what to record next, hell, I don’t even know if Jompi and Tobias are interested in recording more. What I can do is assure you it will be heavy as hell. Exactly what it`s going to be is hard to say, but to answer the question: the goal is to start from scratch with a type of music we can’t fit in playing with our main-acts.

You release your music via TerribleTwo Records. Why have you chosen this record label to work with?

TerribleTwo Records is actually our own record-label (started by Jompi). There was once some plans to book shows, festivals etc. in Oslo but it, as a lot of other things, has been put on ice. Howerer, what better way to kick of a record label than releasing the best 4-track EP in Norwegian hardcore in 2022 (?)

The first single ‘Wendy Joe’ will be released on November 18. And a new EP is scheduled to be released in January. Will it be just a digital release or are you considering any physical formats too?

At this point XN will only release music digitally. The goal of this project is to show that you can be a serious band without paying loads and loads of money for everything. That’s why we do all art-work, publishing and promotion ourselves. What it comes down to in the end is usually how good the music is.

Do you have any concert plans for this or maybe next year?

XN doesn’t have any plans on gigging in the near future. If the music is well-received we might consider it at some point next year.

XN
Emil Solbakken – vocals
Jompi Myren – drums, vocals 
Tobias Gausemel Backe – guitar

Listen to ‘Wendy Joe’ at your preferred streaming service: https://orcd.co/xn-wendyjoe