5 Seconds of Summer Talk ‘Immortalizing’ Their Music With Orchestral Live Album, Give Advice to New Bands

Rania Aniftos
Updated ·3 min read
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5 Seconds of Summer reimagined and brought a heightened sense of emotion to their expansive discography last year, when they performed a number of hits backed by a string orchestra and gospel choir at the world-famous Royal Albert Hall in London.

For those who were unable to catch the captivating show in person, the four-piece group gifted fans with the announcement that they will be releasing a studio version of the performance, titled The Feeling of Falling Upwards – Live From the Royal Albert Hall, digitally on Friday (April 14).

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“We started out as a live band. Our live performances are the best representation of what we had to offer,” bassist Calum Hood tells Billboard of 5SOS’ decision to release their concert as a live album.

Guitarist Michael Clifford agreed, adding, “We came off stage and we were like, that was probably one of the best shows we’ve ever played in our whole lives. Immortalizing it with this album is going to be special, not only for us but also the people who weren’t there.”

Singer Luke Hemmings, who loved the word “immortalized” for the album concept, joked with a laugh, “5SOS Immortalized: The Live Show is definitely the title here.”

The Feeling of Falling Upwards includes reimagined versions of 17 songs from their decade-long careers, plus new songs from their freshly released fifth studio album 5SOS5. “For some of the older songs, it was a bit emotional,” Hemmings shared, mentioning “Outer Space/Carry On” off the group’s sophomore album, Sounds Good Feels Good. “We’ve played it live before, but not like this […] it really leveled up. That’s a song we don’t ever play live and we probably won’t ever again because we won’t play be able to play it as good as we did at the show.”

While riding the nostalgia wave, 5 Second of Summer also pondered the evolution of bands in today’s music industry, with drummer Ashton Irwin noting that the skillset is the biggest difference between past groups and emerging ones. “I think of bands now as mixed media groups, really,” he explains. “It’s not really a guitar, drummer, bassist, singer. It’s more like graphic designer, marketing guy, dude who is good at business and really good top liner.”

“I’ve never looked at it like that,” Hood replies with a laugh.

Hemmings concluded by giving some advice to up-and-coming rock bands, encouraging them to focus on the “basics” of their musicality. “A group or artist’s career will have ebbs and flows, and I feel like if you can rely on whatever your thing is — whether you’re a singer, keyboard player, writer or producer — being able to fall back on those staple ingredients will get you through anything,” he shares. “That’s always been important for us when we have to figure stuff out. We always have these tools to fall back on.”

The group, who is set to go on tour this summer, also shared their Live From the Royal Albert Hall performance of “Youngblood” exclusively with Billboard, in which they sing a slowed down, cinematic version of their 2018 album’s title track, with a haunting string section amplifying the chorus.

Watch it below.

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