WHILE The X-Factor failed and won't return for a second season, the winners of the talent search program haven't let that deter them.
Harmonious five-piece Random is still going strong and will give its first Newcastle performance during R'n'B Superclub at Fanny's on Friday night.
Xy Latu, Jesse Tolo-Paepae, Wayne Tauvao, T.J. Tauvao and Donald Tauvao have become incredibly close since they got together.
Latu and Tolo-Paepae arrived at the Brisbane auditions as a duo named Rough Diamonds while T.J. Tauvao came to try his luck as a solo artist, with brother Wayne and cousin Donald in tow for moral support.
The five, who met briefly before at a youth talent quest and at a K-Ci and JoJo concert, began jamming in the queue and decided to form a group.
Another coup came when Random was invited to support US soul group Boyz II Men on tour across Australian and New Zealand.
``Our sound is sort of soul, definitely R&B, a bit of hip-hop, a bit of pop, a bit of everything,'' Latu said. ``It's really different to what we did on The X-Factor where a lot of the songs we sung were mainly just for entertainment, for the crowd to get to know us.
``But we've got this whole other side of us that people haven't seen yet . . . a really smooth, serious side to music.
Not just as entertainers but musicians as well.'' Supporting Random, who are on stage from 11pm, will be DJs Jaytee, Ules, Stevie K and Madd. Entry costs $10.