BLOW AWAY THOSE POST XMAS BLUES WITH A SPOT OF GUERRILLA DJ-ING AS THE OTHERS HIJACK CABLE CLUB!!!
Print out the flyer below and bring along to Cable Club @ The Pressure Point, Brighton on 6th Jan 2005 to get reduced entry to The Others' album playback night.
I will be Djing all night and playing tracks from our debut album. Notorious Other/fellow Brighton resident Jimmy Lager will be helping me to randomly spin the records, 3 Brighton bands will also be playing - a good night should be had by all.
See you there
Cheers
Johnny
xx
Monday, December 20, 2004
Vice Magazine - Volume 2, Number 12 - Review of Debut Album - December 2004
10/10
DON MCLEAN
MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR
Thankyou to everyone who came to our cold turkey tour and special thank you to everyone who came to the Scala - it was all sold out and felt amazing - you are all *special*.
Next Live Date:
DECEMBER 2004
NEW YEARS EVE – Frog at The Forum New Years Eve
support from THe Rakes, Special Needs and Do Me Bad Things.
Thankyou to everyone who came to our cold turkey tour and special thank you to everyone who came to the Scala - it was all sold out and felt amazing - you are all *special*.
Next Live Date:
DECEMBER 2004
NEW YEARS EVE – Frog at The Forum New Years Eve
support from THe Rakes, Special Needs and Do Me Bad Things.
Wednesday, November 24, 2004
Wednesday, November 17, 2004
THE OTHERS - COLD TURKEY CHRISTMAS TOUR
The seven days of Christmas:
Friday 10-Dec-04 - Glastonbury Assembly Rooms 0145 883 4677
Saturday 11-Dec-04 - Stoke Underground 01782 20600
Sunday 12-Dec-04 - Stockton Georgian Theatre 01642 860068
Monday 13-Dec-04 - Wrexham Central Station 01978 264 940
Tuesday 14-Dec-04 - Preston The Mill 08712 200 260
Wednesday 15-Dec-04 - Northampton Soundhaus 0115 912 9000
Thursday 16-Dec-04 - London Scala 0207 403 3331 / 0207 734 8932
24 hr cc hotline 0871 2200 260 or online at www.gigsandtours
We just can't get enough...
The seven days of Christmas:
Friday 10-Dec-04 - Glastonbury Assembly Rooms 0145 883 4677
Saturday 11-Dec-04 - Stoke Underground 01782 20600
Sunday 12-Dec-04 - Stockton Georgian Theatre 01642 860068
Monday 13-Dec-04 - Wrexham Central Station 01978 264 940
Tuesday 14-Dec-04 - Preston The Mill 08712 200 260
Wednesday 15-Dec-04 - Northampton Soundhaus 0115 912 9000
Thursday 16-Dec-04 - London Scala 0207 403 3331 / 0207 734 8932
24 hr cc hotline 0871 2200 260 or online at www.gigsandtours
We just can't get enough...
Thursday, November 11, 2004
Hello, now I'm back with a computer again and am *slowly* getting through the hundreds of emails that have arrived in my inbox from the "Contact us/Join The Mailing List" link above since we went away for five weeks - if I haven't yet replied to you, relax I will get there.
Firstly we would like to say a big thank you to everyone that bought the Stan Bowles single and got us into the chart at No 36. Our first Top 40 hit with our second single we're very happy - it was a hard week - and apparently, if we'd sold the same number of records but released the Stan Bowles single one week later we'd have been enjoying a No 28 hit right now.
Special thanks also goes to everyone who came to any of the shows and extra special thanks to those who made it to a few - you know who you are.
I have spent today approving the mixes to go on our forthcoming debut album (expected out in late January early February 2005) and it's sounding very, very good. More details on this and our third single "Lackey" will be posted on here as soon as they are confirmed.
Anyway, we're playing another Vice party later today (11th Nov) at Cafe De Paris, places may still be available by emailing Vice magazine but I have five free places to give away to the first people to email me at others_uk@yahoo.co.uk. Expect the usual chaos.
Cheers
Johnny Others
Firstly we would like to say a big thank you to everyone that bought the Stan Bowles single and got us into the chart at No 36. Our first Top 40 hit with our second single we're very happy - it was a hard week - and apparently, if we'd sold the same number of records but released the Stan Bowles single one week later we'd have been enjoying a No 28 hit right now.
Special thanks also goes to everyone who came to any of the shows and extra special thanks to those who made it to a few - you know who you are.
I have spent today approving the mixes to go on our forthcoming debut album (expected out in late January early February 2005) and it's sounding very, very good. More details on this and our third single "Lackey" will be posted on here as soon as they are confirmed.
Anyway, we're playing another Vice party later today (11th Nov) at Cafe De Paris, places may still be available by emailing Vice magazine but I have five free places to give away to the first people to email me at others_uk@yahoo.co.uk. Expect the usual chaos.
Cheers
Johnny Others
Saturday, October 02, 2004
This Is For The Poor (Xfm Radio Session version) featured on NME free cd this week - how many versions have you got?
Dom's done a "Burn It" too with some pretty decent choices - nice one Dom - I guess it'll be my turn next!
Burn It : The Others - Dominic Masters on the songs that saved his life
Leonard Cohen - Suzanne
'When I was 13 or 14 and first getting into music, I'd got into a lot of Dylan and The Cure. But I was listening to Leonard Cohen when I was going through the break-up of one of my first relationships.
www.leonardcohen.com
Neil Young - Cortez The Killer
'Neil Young had just broken up with his wife, his bandmates' heroin addictions were kicking in, Bill, his best mate, had just committed suicide. Maybe he saw a parellel between him and the misery of the Incas.
www.neilyoung.com
Sonic Youth - Dirty Boots
'I used to listen to this when I was a teenager. All my mates were into Nirvana, and I was trying to say, 'Sonic Youth are better; they're more influential and intelligent."
www.sonicyouth.com
Pavement - Zurich is Stained
'This is one of their most mellow songs. It's very simple and has a warm glow'.
www.matadorrecords.com/pavement
Bob Dylan - Sad-Eyed Lady of the Lowlands
'A nice reflective song that helped me through the break-up with my first wife. When I go through break-ups, I listen to very sad miserable music, and then I don't usually touch those albums again'.
www.bobdylan.com
The Fall - Pay Your Rates
I was 16 or 17 and I was starting to pay my keep at home, and doing my A-levels and had a job. I'd put 'Pay Your Rates' on at high volume to prove to my mother that I was going through a bit of a difficult financial time. It's got that line, 'If your rates aren't high, well then they're not enough.'
www.visi.com/fall
Iggy and the Stooges - Penetration
'I've always been bisexual, I didn't see any difference between boys and girls, I thought this song was the first showing you that you could be a gay male, but also be strong, be normal and be yourself.'
www.iggypop.com
The Velvet Underground - Sister Ray
'The album 'White Light/White Heat' is a masterpiece. Lou Reed and John Cale are not speaking to each other, so they just turn up the amps full and start playing the songs.'
www.velvetunderground.com
Curtis Mayfield - Move On Up
'I had just come to London, I was 18 and it was a really positive time for me. 'Move On Up' reflects the period where I began dealing - doing shitloads of coke and partying like fuck.
www.soulwalking.co.uk/curtismayfield.html
Joy Division - Warsaw
'For my 21st birthday a guy I was hanging out with asked me what I wanted. I asked for a Joy Division album. So he went out and stole me the whole back catalogue in a four CD compilation. Out of all the birthday presents I've ever got, it's the one I remember most.'
www.members.aol.com/lwtua/joydiv.htm
Dom's done a "Burn It" too with some pretty decent choices - nice one Dom - I guess it'll be my turn next!
Burn It : The Others - Dominic Masters on the songs that saved his life
Leonard Cohen - Suzanne
'When I was 13 or 14 and first getting into music, I'd got into a lot of Dylan and The Cure. But I was listening to Leonard Cohen when I was going through the break-up of one of my first relationships.
www.leonardcohen.com
Neil Young - Cortez The Killer
'Neil Young had just broken up with his wife, his bandmates' heroin addictions were kicking in, Bill, his best mate, had just committed suicide. Maybe he saw a parellel between him and the misery of the Incas.
www.neilyoung.com
Sonic Youth - Dirty Boots
'I used to listen to this when I was a teenager. All my mates were into Nirvana, and I was trying to say, 'Sonic Youth are better; they're more influential and intelligent."
www.sonicyouth.com
Pavement - Zurich is Stained
'This is one of their most mellow songs. It's very simple and has a warm glow'.
www.matadorrecords.com/pavement
Bob Dylan - Sad-Eyed Lady of the Lowlands
'A nice reflective song that helped me through the break-up with my first wife. When I go through break-ups, I listen to very sad miserable music, and then I don't usually touch those albums again'.
www.bobdylan.com
The Fall - Pay Your Rates
I was 16 or 17 and I was starting to pay my keep at home, and doing my A-levels and had a job. I'd put 'Pay Your Rates' on at high volume to prove to my mother that I was going through a bit of a difficult financial time. It's got that line, 'If your rates aren't high, well then they're not enough.'
www.visi.com/fall
Iggy and the Stooges - Penetration
'I've always been bisexual, I didn't see any difference between boys and girls, I thought this song was the first showing you that you could be a gay male, but also be strong, be normal and be yourself.'
www.iggypop.com
The Velvet Underground - Sister Ray
'The album 'White Light/White Heat' is a masterpiece. Lou Reed and John Cale are not speaking to each other, so they just turn up the amps full and start playing the songs.'
www.velvetunderground.com
Curtis Mayfield - Move On Up
'I had just come to London, I was 18 and it was a really positive time for me. 'Move On Up' reflects the period where I began dealing - doing shitloads of coke and partying like fuck.
www.soulwalking.co.uk/curtismayfield.html
Joy Division - Warsaw
'For my 21st birthday a guy I was hanging out with asked me what I wanted. I asked for a Joy Division album. So he went out and stole me the whole back catalogue in a four CD compilation. Out of all the birthday presents I've ever got, it's the one I remember most.'
www.members.aol.com/lwtua/joydiv.htm
Monday, September 13, 2004
This Is For The Tour ... The Stan Bowles Tour
22-Sep-04 - 5:45pm - meet up at St John's Wood Tube station and await instructions.
22-Sep-04 - 8pm - London Marquee - Gibson party 3 songs (on early)
22-Sep-04 - 11pm - London Koko, club NME opening night (onstage at 11pm)
23-Sep-04 Stockholm Vice Launch Party - venue - "Kolingsborg"
26-Sep-04 Nottingham Week 1 Party@Rock City
****************************************************************************
04-Oct-04 Cheltenham - The Hub
05-Oct-04 Hull - Jazz Cafe Bar
06-Oct-04 Wakefield - Esco Bar
07-Oct-04 Warrington - WA1 Venue Bar
08-Oct-04 Newcastle - Northumbria Uni Club Night
09-Oct-04 Manchester - Gullivers
11-Oct-04 Derby - Victoria inn
12-Oct-04 Liverpool - Academy 4
13-Oct-04 Leeds - The Rocket
14-Oct-04 Nottingham - Club NME @ Stealth NO 1st ON
15-Oct-04 Sunderland -Voodoo Lounge
16-Oct-04 New York Vice 10th Birthday Party
19-Oct-04 Glasgow - Nice and Sleazy
20-Oct-04 York - Fibbers
21-Oct-04 Sheffield - Fuzz Club
22-Oct-04 Leicester - Sumo
23-Oct-04 Coventry - Colosseum
25-Oct-04 Oxford - Zodiac
26-Oct-04 London - Cargo
27-Oct-04 Cardiff - Barfly
28-Oct-04 Taunton - Mamba
30-Oct-04 Southampton - Joiners
31-Oct-04 Birmingham - Catapult Club at The Jug of Ale
01-Nov-04 Bristol - Louisiana
02-Nov-04 Exeter - The Cavern
03-Nov-04 Peterborough - Met Lounge
04-Nov-04 Brighton - Pressure Point
We look forward to seeing you.
22-Sep-04 - 5:45pm - meet up at St John's Wood Tube station and await instructions.
22-Sep-04 - 8pm - London Marquee - Gibson party 3 songs (on early)
22-Sep-04 - 11pm - London Koko, club NME opening night (onstage at 11pm)
23-Sep-04 Stockholm Vice Launch Party - venue - "Kolingsborg"
26-Sep-04 Nottingham Week 1 Party@Rock City
****************************************************************************
04-Oct-04 Cheltenham - The Hub
05-Oct-04 Hull - Jazz Cafe Bar
06-Oct-04 Wakefield - Esco Bar
07-Oct-04 Warrington - WA1 Venue Bar
08-Oct-04 Newcastle - Northumbria Uni Club Night
09-Oct-04 Manchester - Gullivers
11-Oct-04 Derby - Victoria inn
12-Oct-04 Liverpool - Academy 4
13-Oct-04 Leeds - The Rocket
14-Oct-04 Nottingham - Club NME @ Stealth NO 1st ON
15-Oct-04 Sunderland -Voodoo Lounge
16-Oct-04 New York Vice 10th Birthday Party
19-Oct-04 Glasgow - Nice and Sleazy
20-Oct-04 York - Fibbers
21-Oct-04 Sheffield - Fuzz Club
22-Oct-04 Leicester - Sumo
23-Oct-04 Coventry - Colosseum
25-Oct-04 Oxford - Zodiac
26-Oct-04 London - Cargo
27-Oct-04 Cardiff - Barfly
28-Oct-04 Taunton - Mamba
30-Oct-04 Southampton - Joiners
31-Oct-04 Birmingham - Catapult Club at The Jug of Ale
01-Nov-04 Bristol - Louisiana
02-Nov-04 Exeter - The Cavern
03-Nov-04 Peterborough - Met Lounge
04-Nov-04 Brighton - Pressure Point
We look forward to seeing you.
Tuesday, August 31, 2004
From NME.Com:
"FAIRGROUND ATTRACTION
THE OTHERS took their guerrilla gigging campaign to new heights at the CARLING WEEKEND: LEEDS FESTIVAL last night (August 27).
The London upstarts played the Carling Tent in the afternoon alongside The Kills, Amplifier and Secret Machines, but true to form, that was only the beginning of their plans for the festival.
Just after 11pm after the headliners had finished, the band stormed into the dodgem cars in the festival’s fairground after telling fans and photographers to meet them there by text message.
Forcing the ride to a halt, they played their single ‘This Is For The Poor’ through portable speakers and a megaphone before the impromptu party was cut short by security."
We played on regardless of course but rather than bore you with the details here why not check out the forum.
From Teletext's Planet Sound:
"How many more Others?
Such is the spectacle of their crowd in full flow, battling past security to get on stage that The Others would be amazing if they didn’t play a note.
But they had to do something to get fans so wired in the first place, and here it was a remarkably elemental mix of savage guitar, apocalyptic bass and rhythmic drums crashing together by way of simply infectious ba-ba-ba-beauties.
In years to come thousands will claim they were among the dozens onstage."
by John Earls
MORE LIVE DATES:
From NME.com:
"THE OTHERS are to headline a special LONDON ACTION gig, following on from NME’s recent agenda setting ’LONDON’S BURNING’ feature on the capital’s music scene.
Organised by the band themselves, the night will take place at The George, 373 Commercial Road, EC1 on September 3." Door cost £5.
and...
Sept 5th - Bivouac@ The Duke Of Wellington (Lincolnshire)
"FAIRGROUND ATTRACTION
THE OTHERS took their guerrilla gigging campaign to new heights at the CARLING WEEKEND: LEEDS FESTIVAL last night (August 27).
The London upstarts played the Carling Tent in the afternoon alongside The Kills, Amplifier and Secret Machines, but true to form, that was only the beginning of their plans for the festival.
Just after 11pm after the headliners had finished, the band stormed into the dodgem cars in the festival’s fairground after telling fans and photographers to meet them there by text message.
Forcing the ride to a halt, they played their single ‘This Is For The Poor’ through portable speakers and a megaphone before the impromptu party was cut short by security."
We played on regardless of course but rather than bore you with the details here why not check out the forum.
From Teletext's Planet Sound:
"How many more Others?
Such is the spectacle of their crowd in full flow, battling past security to get on stage that The Others would be amazing if they didn’t play a note.
But they had to do something to get fans so wired in the first place, and here it was a remarkably elemental mix of savage guitar, apocalyptic bass and rhythmic drums crashing together by way of simply infectious ba-ba-ba-beauties.
In years to come thousands will claim they were among the dozens onstage."
by John Earls
MORE LIVE DATES:
From NME.com:
"THE OTHERS are to headline a special LONDON ACTION gig, following on from NME’s recent agenda setting ’LONDON’S BURNING’ feature on the capital’s music scene.
Organised by the band themselves, the night will take place at The George, 373 Commercial Road, EC1 on September 3." Door cost £5.
and...
Sept 5th - Bivouac@ The Duke Of Wellington (Lincolnshire)
Thursday, August 26, 2004
First play of the new single by The Others will be on Steve Lamacq next Monday - 30th Aug 2004.
We will also be playing The George Tavern on Commercial Road/street next Friday 3rd Sept with The Rake, Selfish Cunt and Neils Children cos London's Burning innit?
More dates between 3rd and 6th Sept to be announced here soon.
Johnny
xx
We will also be playing The George Tavern on Commercial Road/street next Friday 3rd Sept with The Rake, Selfish Cunt and Neils Children cos London's Burning innit?
More dates between 3rd and 6th Sept to be announced here soon.
Johnny
xx
Tuesday, August 10, 2004
On Wednesday 21st June, over half a plastic cup of warm champagne (each), The Others signed an album deal with the lovely Alan McGee and his kerazzzeee label; Poptones.
After a brief rehearsal the next day, the band took up residence at Fortress Studios, London for two days to record the follow up to This Is For The Poor. Recorded once again by Stone Roses producer Paul Schroeder, the resulting monster of a track, “Stan Bowles” named after, but not about, the famous 70’s QPR player is scheduled for release on 11th October 2004.
Three formats will be available for your perusal:
CD:
Stan Bowles
Boy Is A Girl
This Is For The Poor (demo)
Limited ed signed 7inch vinyl:
Stan Bowles
Stan Bowles (BBC Radio 1 session)
This Is For The Poor (BBC Radio 1 session)
DVD:
Stan Bowles
The Guerrilla Gig Rockumentary (visual r’n’r anarchy)
Forthcoming live dates:
August Dates:
12th August - ICA, London (supporting 80s Matchbox) - onstage 8:30
12th August - Vice Magazine Party at Tantra, Kingly Street - onstage midnight - The party will kick off in Kingly Court (just off of Carnaby Street) at 7:30 before moving onto a nearby venue at 9:30 for the remainder of the night. Come by Kingly court to pick up your tickets to the after party.If you'd like to attend these events, please email matt@viceuk.com.
22nd August - Clapham Common, London - Happy Mondays Reunion Gig (we headline the second stage but finish 30mins before The Mondays start playing)
26th August - Fez Club (Reading) 01189 586 839
27th August - 7pm - Carling Weekend Festival (Leeds)
28th August - TDK Cross Central Festival (London)
29th August - 7pm - Carling Weekend Festival (Reading)
Recording for the album will commence in early September with a view to a January 2005 release.
You’re welcome.
Johnny Others
xx
After a brief rehearsal the next day, the band took up residence at Fortress Studios, London for two days to record the follow up to This Is For The Poor. Recorded once again by Stone Roses producer Paul Schroeder, the resulting monster of a track, “Stan Bowles” named after, but not about, the famous 70’s QPR player is scheduled for release on 11th October 2004.
Three formats will be available for your perusal:
CD:
Stan Bowles
Boy Is A Girl
This Is For The Poor (demo)
Limited ed signed 7inch vinyl:
Stan Bowles
Stan Bowles (BBC Radio 1 session)
This Is For The Poor (BBC Radio 1 session)
DVD:
Stan Bowles
The Guerrilla Gig Rockumentary (visual r’n’r anarchy)
Forthcoming live dates:
August Dates:
12th August - ICA, London (supporting 80s Matchbox) - onstage 8:30
12th August - Vice Magazine Party at Tantra, Kingly Street - onstage midnight - The party will kick off in Kingly Court (just off of Carnaby Street) at 7:30 before moving onto a nearby venue at 9:30 for the remainder of the night. Come by Kingly court to pick up your tickets to the after party.If you'd like to attend these events, please email matt@viceuk.com.
22nd August - Clapham Common, London - Happy Mondays Reunion Gig (we headline the second stage but finish 30mins before The Mondays start playing)
26th August - Fez Club (Reading) 01189 586 839
27th August - 7pm - Carling Weekend Festival (Leeds)
28th August - TDK Cross Central Festival (London)
29th August - 7pm - Carling Weekend Festival (Reading)
Recording for the album will commence in early September with a view to a January 2005 release.
You’re welcome.
Johnny Others
xx
Monday, July 26, 2004
Live Update:
July Dates:
9th July - Concorde 2 (Brighton) - support to 80's Matchbox.
11th July - Headline Tin Pan Alley Festival, Dennmark St (London)
17th July - Vice Magazine German Launch (BERLIN, Germany)
August Dates:
12th August - ICA, London (supporting 80s Matchbox) - onstage 8:30
12th August - Vice Magazine Party at Tantra, Kingly Street - onstage midnight
22nd August - Clapham Common, London - Happy Mondays Reunion Gig (we headline the second stage but finish 30mins before The Mondays start playing)
27th August - 7pm - Carling Weekend Festival (Leeds)
28th August - TDK Cross Central Festival (London)
29th August - 7pm - Carling Weekend Festival (Reading)
July Dates:
9th July - Concorde 2 (Brighton) - support to 80's Matchbox.
11th July - Headline Tin Pan Alley Festival, Dennmark St (London)
17th July - Vice Magazine German Launch (BERLIN, Germany)
August Dates:
12th August - ICA, London (supporting 80s Matchbox) - onstage 8:30
12th August - Vice Magazine Party at Tantra, Kingly Street - onstage midnight
22nd August - Clapham Common, London - Happy Mondays Reunion Gig (we headline the second stage but finish 30mins before The Mondays start playing)
27th August - 7pm - Carling Weekend Festival (Leeds)
28th August - TDK Cross Central Festival (London)
29th August - 7pm - Carling Weekend Festival (Reading)
Thursday, July 15, 2004
Catching up with the press:
NME Glastonbury Review:
Franz strumming in a car park, The Others invading a London Underground tube, Pete Doherty turning up unannounced at your nan’s flat hoping to sell wonky versions of “What A Waster” for crack rocks – 2004 has been the year of the guerrilla gig. And Glasto is not immune.
Fresh from their storming set in the New Band Tent (during which singer Dominic Masters vommed up an entire English breakfast), NME is colluding with The Others for them to play a secret midnight show at the Vice tent. Amps, guitars and a tiny drumkit are smuggled in. A series of text messages summons the band’s fanbase. And before we know it things explode in a blur of a rickety, tinny, speed-crazed glory and it’s fucking amazing. Ok, so musically the likes of “This Is For The Poor” sound like some dozy ‘70s punk band fronted by Damon Albarn. But it’s something about the way they play, pogo-ing along as part of the crowd which transforms The Others from an awful band to an incredible prospect.
“If anyone’s got any stimulants, can you please donate them to the lead singer,” drawls Dominic while the crowd cave in on their space. you can’t quite call this gig revolutionary but it is more exciting, more pumped with adrenaline and more unpredictable than any other gig we’ve seen this festival.
by Tim Jonze
The Others Storm The Beeb:
The Others took their unique brand of guerrilla gigging to new levels of audacity last week (June 30th) when they played two impromptu shows in just three hours.
Over the past few weeks the band have treated fans to secret gigs in bizarre locations including tube trains, busses and a midnight session in the Vice tent at this year’s Glastonbury festival. However, last Wednesday (June 30th) saw the band raise the bar again.
First, the four-piece launched into an impromptu performance in the lobby of BBC Radio 1, where they quickly set up their equipment and tore through a riotous rendition of their recent single “This Is For The Poor” followed by “William”, “Almanac” and “Lackey”. Fans filled the reception as bemused staff looked on in shock until security guards broke through the crowd and stopped the show. Following the eviction from the building, singer Dominic Masters told NME “I’m pleased we got through four songs. We gave hints on our website that we were going to have a secret gig but with the BBC being the BBC we couldn’t announce that it was going to be there. We knew we weren’t going to get any security clearance and it looked form day one that someone was going to get into trouble about it.”
He added “Radio 1 wanted to do an interview with me about guerrilla gigging which I found slightly ironic so we thought we’d turn the tables on them and do a guerrilla gig at the BBC.”
The band then led the group of fans into nearby Regents Park where they a second set. Using battery powered amplifiers, a child’s drumkit and a megaphone, the performance saw members of the band climb a tree to play.
Although Masters could not divulge the location of the band’s next guerrilla gig due to security concerns, he said they plan to continue doing them throughout the summer.”
by Marc Hayward
Tin Pan Alley Live Review (from Playlouder.com):
Cheeky monkeys The Others made two old punkers and a dozen security dorks wet their trousers at their Sunday stagediving free-for-all, PlayLouder is hysterically happy to report.
"Floppy Dom", "Baldie", "Robert Smith" and the one they call "The Drummer" were watched by both Steve Diggle out of The Buzzcocks (hiding onstage behind a guitar amp) and Mick Jones out of The Clash at the first ever Tin Pan Alley Festival in London's Denmark Street.
True to form, the lively stage-diving antics of The Others' ardent followers, The 853, had everyone in stitches - particularly when the laughably inept and unnecessarily bolshy security geezers hopped onstage to flex their muscles, pretend to chew gum and manhandle women. Twats.
Dom raised the bar a bit when he challenged: "Heroic stagediving... only three security to beat!" before playing the Number 42 hit "For The Poor". It had to be cut short when the chief security idiot stood on stage and made that cutting-throat gesture that means kill the PA or something.
by Andy Barding
And our NME photo-shoot yesterday at Buckingham Palace as reported on Teletext:
“Police were called to Buckingham Palace on Wednesday after Pete Doherty, The Others and Selfish Cunt wrestled in horse manure outside the palace gates.
The trouble started when Selfish Cunt began throwing horse manure at Doherty. The ex-Libertine wrestled Cunt to the ground while The Others’ singer Dominic Masters emptied a bottle of beer over Cunts’ head.
As startled tourists watched the fight, police were called to end the scuffle.
A new bands photoshoot at Buckingham Palace ended in chaos as Pete Doherty and Selfish Cunt fought at the gates.
The shoot was of Libertines-influenced bands. It involved Neils Children, The Rakes, The Paddingtons, The Unstrung, Art Brut, The Others and Wolfman.
Johnny Others told PS: “How desperate for publicity is Cunt that he picks up horse manure with his bare hands, throws it at someone and ends up rolling around in it? Pete wrestled him to the ground and beat him no problem.”
NME Glastonbury Review:
Franz strumming in a car park, The Others invading a London Underground tube, Pete Doherty turning up unannounced at your nan’s flat hoping to sell wonky versions of “What A Waster” for crack rocks – 2004 has been the year of the guerrilla gig. And Glasto is not immune.
Fresh from their storming set in the New Band Tent (during which singer Dominic Masters vommed up an entire English breakfast), NME is colluding with The Others for them to play a secret midnight show at the Vice tent. Amps, guitars and a tiny drumkit are smuggled in. A series of text messages summons the band’s fanbase. And before we know it things explode in a blur of a rickety, tinny, speed-crazed glory and it’s fucking amazing. Ok, so musically the likes of “This Is For The Poor” sound like some dozy ‘70s punk band fronted by Damon Albarn. But it’s something about the way they play, pogo-ing along as part of the crowd which transforms The Others from an awful band to an incredible prospect.
“If anyone’s got any stimulants, can you please donate them to the lead singer,” drawls Dominic while the crowd cave in on their space. you can’t quite call this gig revolutionary but it is more exciting, more pumped with adrenaline and more unpredictable than any other gig we’ve seen this festival.
by Tim Jonze
The Others Storm The Beeb:
The Others took their unique brand of guerrilla gigging to new levels of audacity last week (June 30th) when they played two impromptu shows in just three hours.
Over the past few weeks the band have treated fans to secret gigs in bizarre locations including tube trains, busses and a midnight session in the Vice tent at this year’s Glastonbury festival. However, last Wednesday (June 30th) saw the band raise the bar again.
First, the four-piece launched into an impromptu performance in the lobby of BBC Radio 1, where they quickly set up their equipment and tore through a riotous rendition of their recent single “This Is For The Poor” followed by “William”, “Almanac” and “Lackey”. Fans filled the reception as bemused staff looked on in shock until security guards broke through the crowd and stopped the show. Following the eviction from the building, singer Dominic Masters told NME “I’m pleased we got through four songs. We gave hints on our website that we were going to have a secret gig but with the BBC being the BBC we couldn’t announce that it was going to be there. We knew we weren’t going to get any security clearance and it looked form day one that someone was going to get into trouble about it.”
He added “Radio 1 wanted to do an interview with me about guerrilla gigging which I found slightly ironic so we thought we’d turn the tables on them and do a guerrilla gig at the BBC.”
The band then led the group of fans into nearby Regents Park where they a second set. Using battery powered amplifiers, a child’s drumkit and a megaphone, the performance saw members of the band climb a tree to play.
Although Masters could not divulge the location of the band’s next guerrilla gig due to security concerns, he said they plan to continue doing them throughout the summer.”
by Marc Hayward
Tin Pan Alley Live Review (from Playlouder.com):
Cheeky monkeys The Others made two old punkers and a dozen security dorks wet their trousers at their Sunday stagediving free-for-all, PlayLouder is hysterically happy to report.
"Floppy Dom", "Baldie", "Robert Smith" and the one they call "The Drummer" were watched by both Steve Diggle out of The Buzzcocks (hiding onstage behind a guitar amp) and Mick Jones out of The Clash at the first ever Tin Pan Alley Festival in London's Denmark Street.
True to form, the lively stage-diving antics of The Others' ardent followers, The 853, had everyone in stitches - particularly when the laughably inept and unnecessarily bolshy security geezers hopped onstage to flex their muscles, pretend to chew gum and manhandle women. Twats.
Dom raised the bar a bit when he challenged: "Heroic stagediving... only three security to beat!" before playing the Number 42 hit "For The Poor". It had to be cut short when the chief security idiot stood on stage and made that cutting-throat gesture that means kill the PA or something.
by Andy Barding
And our NME photo-shoot yesterday at Buckingham Palace as reported on Teletext:
“Police were called to Buckingham Palace on Wednesday after Pete Doherty, The Others and Selfish Cunt wrestled in horse manure outside the palace gates.
The trouble started when Selfish Cunt began throwing horse manure at Doherty. The ex-Libertine wrestled Cunt to the ground while The Others’ singer Dominic Masters emptied a bottle of beer over Cunts’ head.
As startled tourists watched the fight, police were called to end the scuffle.
A new bands photoshoot at Buckingham Palace ended in chaos as Pete Doherty and Selfish Cunt fought at the gates.
The shoot was of Libertines-influenced bands. It involved Neils Children, The Rakes, The Paddingtons, The Unstrung, Art Brut, The Others and Wolfman.
Johnny Others told PS: “How desperate for publicity is Cunt that he picks up horse manure with his bare hands, throws it at someone and ends up rolling around in it? Pete wrestled him to the ground and beat him no problem.”
Wednesday, July 07, 2004
Monday, July 05, 2004
Thursday, July 01, 2004
Yesterday (weds 30th June)BBC Radio One was treated to a three (four?) song guerrilla gig onslaught in their reception area, before the controller came downstairs with security guards and demanded we stop playing IMMEDIATELY!
We had gone for an interview on Guerrilla gigs and thought it appropriate to simply take one to their door (at the moment we think we managed to get away with a slap on the wrist from security rather than a lifetime ban from the station!)
The documentary was still made and we finished off some interviews at Regents Park - you can hear all about it on Radio One next Monday (5th June). Enjoy
Zane Lowe has been playing our new recording of Psycho Vision on Radio One this week you can download it for free RIGHT NOW here
We had gone for an interview on Guerrilla gigs and thought it appropriate to simply take one to their door (at the moment we think we managed to get away with a slap on the wrist from security rather than a lifetime ban from the station!)
The documentary was still made and we finished off some interviews at Regents Park - you can hear all about it on Radio One next Monday (5th June). Enjoy
Zane Lowe has been playing our new recording of Psycho Vision on Radio One this week you can download it for free RIGHT NOW here
TIN PAN ALLEY FESTIVAL - Full details:
Contrary to what you might read elsewhere, The Tin Pan Alley festival is our last scheduled gig until we play Reading and Leeds in August. If we do end up playing any gigs before then, they will be confirmed with an announcement on this news page. Anything else you read anywhere else is not confirmed so please don't get tickets until you have read it on here. Cheers
PRESS RELEASE:
Tin Pan Alley
Denmark Street, London
Sunday 11th July
11am – 8pm
In Association with Shelter
A free street music festival to celebrate the rich musical heritage of one of London’s most vibrant and creative communities.
Tin Pan Alley Festival 2004 is presented in association with Shelter with support from local music businesses to emphasise the street’s relevance to the music scene of today and to raise awareness of its unique and extensive history.
Both established acts and unsigned bands will perform live in Denmark Street where food and drinks will be available all day.
Bands:
The Others
The Barbs
Senor Senor
Billy Thompson
Mower
Evalon
The Occupiers
50 Hz
Junkbox
Catherine Shepherd
* Special guests to be announced
* Win a Gibson Les Paul by entering our competition at the event
* Sponsored by EMI Publishing, Gibson, Tin Pan Alley Studio, World of Music, Camden Council, Consolidated Properties Ltd, 12 Bar, Future Publishing, Phantom Industries, HiWatt, Tin Pan Alley Association, The Darling Dept
Contrary to what you might read elsewhere, The Tin Pan Alley festival is our last scheduled gig until we play Reading and Leeds in August. If we do end up playing any gigs before then, they will be confirmed with an announcement on this news page. Anything else you read anywhere else is not confirmed so please don't get tickets until you have read it on here. Cheers
PRESS RELEASE:
Tin Pan Alley
Denmark Street, London
Sunday 11th July
11am – 8pm
In Association with Shelter
A free street music festival to celebrate the rich musical heritage of one of London’s most vibrant and creative communities.
Tin Pan Alley Festival 2004 is presented in association with Shelter with support from local music businesses to emphasise the street’s relevance to the music scene of today and to raise awareness of its unique and extensive history.
Both established acts and unsigned bands will perform live in Denmark Street where food and drinks will be available all day.
Bands:
The Others
The Barbs
Senor Senor
Billy Thompson
Mower
Evalon
The Occupiers
50 Hz
Junkbox
Catherine Shepherd
* Special guests to be announced
* Win a Gibson Les Paul by entering our competition at the event
* Sponsored by EMI Publishing, Gibson, Tin Pan Alley Studio, World of Music, Camden Council, Consolidated Properties Ltd, 12 Bar, Future Publishing, Phantom Industries, HiWatt, Tin Pan Alley Association, The Darling Dept
Tuesday, June 29, 2004
Thursday, June 03, 2004
After playing a gig virtually every night through May and the end of April, The Others are cutting down on live shows to concentrate on writing new songs.
NEW SINGLE:
On Friday June 5th we will be going into the studio to record two tracks, Psycho Vision and In The Background, one of which will be released as a FREEEEEE download only single via Playlouder.com
Watch The Others online:
Xfm Xposure night at The Barfly is here
While you can watch our gig on a tube train here, or via NME.com here.
Here’s some more press; recent tour reviews, a few more single reviews our recent NME features and some interviews:
From NME (week ending 5th June):
&pm, Saturday May 22, Hammersmith underground station, west London.
One hundred crazed fans of rock’n’roll agitators The Others hijacked a tube train as the craze for guerrilla gigging reached new heights. Assembling after a text message tip-off, members of the band’s devoted fan faction, the ’853 Kamikaze Stagediving Squad’, packed into a carriage. The band played a 30-minute set through portable speakers while singer Dominic Masters sang through a megaphone - to the exasperation of the helplass British Transport Police. Piling off the Hammersmith and City Line train at Liverpool Street, the fans then stormed the station and into history. “It’s pure do-it-yourself, we’re not trying to be clever,” Masters told NME. And as if that wasn’t punk rock enough, he added: “The only thing I’m worried about is that not everybody can afford the tube fare.” ’For The Poor’, indeed.
From Poptones.co.uk:
This is the New London Underground:
The Others Take to the Tube
Have you ever taken the London tube? You are either on it during rush-hour with people packed upon people, pressed up - face-to-face, unnaturally and intimately close to complete strangers, either there is no air or it is polluted with stale-coffee-smelling breath until you spill out into the streets like ants-in-a-farm.
Or it is the dead silence of all-other-times. An eerie silence pervades - like an unspoken rule, that if you talk -- you will be regarded with paranoia and suspicion. A silence which kills the soul. Like, once you enter into the automatic tube doors, you forsake humanity, in place of an android palette of emotions.
These are all symptoms of Big-City-Living.
Once when I was taking the tube to Brixton – a crackhead had gotten onto the bus and proceeded to take off her clothes and perform acrobatic manoeuvres on the passenger bars. No one said a word. No one looked. It is the unspoken etiquette of the tube to act as if all-is-normal when all-is-not.
But it does makes you wonder: what if it was broken? What if you started to push the boundaries. What if you had a teenage riot on the tube? What if you started to stage-dive over passengers? What if you heard music? What if you started to make the tube fun?
When The Others played their gig on the tube last weekend – they broke the rules of etiquette. They made the tube fun.
O.K., let me say this again, a gig on a tube.
It was the abandonment of the musicians' communication 'protocols' and 'regulations' and ability to play games that have that have now officially set them apart from the rest of the indie-street urchins that regularly play clubs and not bloody tubes.
The Others have joined the prankster club. An exclusive club: Spiritualised playing on top of the CN Tower "the highest show on earth", Sex Pistols playing on the Thames during the ‘77 Jubilee, Lightning Bolt playing on the back of a truck with their fans following on bikes, Beachbuggy, in a van on the street in Leeds, outside a Pavement gig and the Rephlex Parties in Aldwych Tube Station. And of course, the umpteenth impromptu events staged by Pete Libertine and Baby Shambles.
Why did they join this club?
They pulled a situationist prank.
And as soon as the gig ended, the reports of what occurred flooded through the internet.
"Allo allo, I'm back early from the tube gig. Just thought I'd let you know stuff that happened. Left The George about 7.45, proceeded onto the eastbound platform. Had to wait for the amps to arrive so we let one train go, but then all crammed into a carriage on another platform. And then the fun began! Although I was near the back, it was a great atmosphere, 'specially from the 853 (but of course). British Transport Police boarded the carriage behind us at a quite early stage but proceeded to do bugger all. So off we all got at Liverpool St. As the band left the train, there was much rejoicing (not least from Underground staff)".
And so now, The Others; Poptones very own boy-band, have staged their very own electronic ‘68 French Paris student-revolution of situationism to the underground of London. Situationism is an idea about the city and how most people tend not to stray outside a triangle formed by their place of work/education. And you pull ‘situations' as an electric shock to wake people up from their big-city sleep and force them, for awhile, out of their work/commute/home grooves with this symbolic, city-fed, forced weirdness.
Right..
So, is it a "Grand Bombastic Unreachable High Art Impulse", as opposed to a bunch of radical anti-social nihilistic kids having-a-laugh and knees-up on a tube?
Whatever it is – or was - it is better than the camp-monstrosity careerism of bubble-gum popsters of Busted, The Darkness and McFly. And helluvalotmorefun....
From The Independent - 28 May 2004
The Others: The kids are all right
London, Saturday night. Teenagers are crowd-surfing down the aisle of a moving Tube train. Two carriages have just been commandeered by 200 fans of The Others, who are somewhere at the front playing a gig, announced over the internet hours earlier. The crowd-surfers are the self-styled 853 Division, the commandos of The Others' private army.
The Others are signed to Alan McGee's Poptones label, have been dubbed "the most worshipped new band in Britain" by NME, and have released one single, "This Is for the Poor", which just missed the Top 40 last Sunday. It is a good, class-conscious anthem, but it doesn't explain the band's fervent fan base. That has more to do with what happens after the gig, when singer Dominic Masters, 26, leads us through the streets to a pub near his East End home for an impromptu after-show party. As usual, fans too young to travel home alone sleep at his flat in their dozens. Others arrange house shares between themselves. Masters has also persuaded a promoter to let underage fans into clubs after hours, so no one has to be left out.
In the two years that The Others have existed, they have built an innocent, idealistic society around themselves. Playing music a world away from corporate fame and fortune, to hardcore fans whom Masters knows by name, the band's shambolic gigs are an excuse for exuberant teenage bonding.
"I know they're quite basic and everything," one teenage girl tells me, standing on a Tube seat to glimpse some action, "but what more do you want? They're not playing for the recognition. It's like they're playing for you." Now that the recognition is coming, of course, the fragile, private world The Others have built is in danger of dilution. But when I meet Masters, all that worries him is how to keep his ideals intact.
"What happens when there's too many people to care for?" he wonders. "Because partying with the audience, spending time together and not being on a different level is important. If they're putting an investment into your life, you should try and give as much of your life to them. And if it grows like it might, I've got to work out better ways to make sure that there is still equality, so that no one feels excluded."
The Others' movement seems mostly about fun, and tiny, intoxicating acts of rebellion - like the boy who illegally lights a cigarette during the Tube takeover. But Masters does detect some shared values. "I've got a boyfriend, see, called Johann," he shyly admits. "At first, when the band was going off, I didn't know what our appeal would be. When the heterosexual, Oasis kind of kids supporting us found out I had a boyfriend, I thought there might be some kind of backlash. But nothing was ever said. When we socialise, there are loads of gay kids, some Asian kids, some black kids, some real south Londoners, and kids up from Hertfordshire. We get the kids no one else wants."
The notion that The Others are a home for the excluded is emphasised by "This Is for the Poor", a calling card specifically rejecting the wealthy. The glut of posh girls merrily moshing to it on the Tube therefore leaves Masters utterly nonplussed. "This is a contentious issue," he says, brow furrowing. "I wrote 'This Is for the Poor' genuinely for my own social class. I can't say that it's an inclusive song. I find it hard to understand how a middle-class kid could go through the pain or troubles that a lot of working-class kids have to, just to leave home. There is this divide, and I wanted to write for people like me."
Masters's roots are in Somerset, the son of a strong mother who sold marijuana to get by and a welder father who left when he was four. When he got out at 18, to study politics in London, he was soon dealing to students himself before "getting a bit carried away", and quitting just in time. He was married then, too, to an Israeli girl in a New Romantic group. For a while, he lived the conventional life, and dreamed of joining the Civil Service. Only when that hope was dashed, and the loving cocoon of his marriage collapsed, did he think of rock'n'roll. Becoming a face on London's underground rock scene, he pretended to be in a band. When the Portuguese rockers The Parkinsons called his bluff by offering him a gig, he formed The Others just in time to play. The Parkinsons took the fledglings "under their wing", then The Libertines "adopted us". It's a fan's story, more than a star's.
The cloud on the horizon remains the limits that Masters may one day find to his vision of an inclusive rock'n'roll community, when not every fan who jumps on stage can be trusted, or named. But that won't stop him trying. "To give people a good time - I think that's a good quality," he muses. "It's just, how long can you give them a good time for? After the concert and the sleepovers, when it goes back to normal life - that's when you can't keep looking after them. That's why we should try and build something out of this, so that if it does only last for a few years, we can at least forge a community centre out of it, or a youth club, or a pub.
"Maybe a pub," he decides. "Because it'll take two years to get the money together - and by then, all our fans will be old enough to drink..."
'This Is for the Poor' is out now on Poptones
Source: Independent 28/05/04
Interviews:
Teletext - Planet Sound
“This is for the poor, and not you rich kids.” A wonderful sloganeering chorus for a debut single, but one that’s been ignored by enough rich fans of The Others who can afford to buy the single and propel it towards the Top 40.
Quite right to as TIFTP heralds a band of deviants who are set to unite the dispossessed.
Singer Dominic Masters and bassist Johnny Others tell all.1/8
******
As their name implies, The Others are outsiders united together. Even their origins are purely accidental.
“I knew The Parkinsons from going clubbing,” recalls Dominic Masters. “They offered me a support slot. I said yes, only I didn’t have a band.” The Others was the first name I thought of.
The gig was in a fortnight. James I knew from my last band, he said he could find a bassist, then we went through three drummers in a week.”2/8
******
The Others initially only formed for a one-off gig supporting the Parkinsons
“It went really well,“ recalls bassist Johnny. “So we played another gig, and then another…“ Was there a point when they realised they were a proper band? “Mm, hasn’t happened yet.“
“We’re from completely different backgrounds, different parts of England - Somerset, Brighton, Manchester - that were a mess. There’s four very different personalities in the band.“3/8
******
A band who appeal to outsiders, The Others’ accidental origins mean they feel that way with each other.
“We’re not friends,” admits singer Dominic. “We’re a ragtag bunch. Our drummer’s like Animal from The Muppets, our bassist looks like Robert Smith. We don’t even fit in our own band.”
Bassist Johnny adds: “I play our single and I think ’What IS this?’ There are four people playing four different songs. It works, but it shouldn’t.” 4/8
******
Helping to unite alienated people, The Others have already garnered their own devotees, The 853 division, named after a London street sign, complete with their own website at 853.co.uk.
“Dominic invites people back to his flat for parties after gigs,” explains bassist Johnny Others.
“If you see a band, it follows you have something in common with them. The least we can do is give something back, help create a community.”5/8
******
This Is For The Poor says it’s “not for you rich kids,” so are The Others out to exclude anyone from their fanbase?
“There’s nothing romantic about being an underachieving indie band,” Johnny Others counters. “I hate the ‘If others like it it’s a bonus’ attitude.”
Dominic Masters muses: “I wrote that for people of my class. I went through so much strife just to get here. I’m sure I’m not alone, it’s for anyone out there who’s been through what I have.”6/8
******
A band for outsiders, The Others felt isolated from childhood.
“I had a …different background,” says Dominic Masters. “I scraped into London Guildhall Uni, then spent the first 18 months dealing drugs. I’d promised the tutors I’d get a 2:1 in politics, so I knocked off the dealing.
“I lived near a train track, and the noise of the trains meant I couldn’t focus in the day. I studied midnight to 6am - and I got my 2:1” 7/8
******
The Others are currently on a tour of venues near stations at the extreme ends of lines on the London Tube.
“I like conceptual bands like British Sea Power, “says bassist Johnny. “Ones who think beyond being just another indie band. So I like us to play where people don’t normally go.”
Singer Dominic adds: “People have to travel to see you in town. We’re coming to the suburbs to see them instead. You have to make an effort, don’t you?”8/8
******
More Single Reviews
From Amazon.co.uk
Avg. Customer Review: ?
?This is for Everyone, May 18, 2004
Reviewer: billy_bilo from Goole, East Riding of Yorkshire United Kingdom
This single is a marvellous debut by popular London band The Others. Their sound is a mix of the best of 77 punk and early Blur. Title song 'This is for the poor' is certainly not just for the poor. It is for anyone who appreciates good music. The Others are from the same breed as The Libertines and Razorlight. The second track on the CD, 'How I nearly Lost You' is good enough to be a single in its own right. It sounds like Joy Division meets Jilted John. Lead singer Dominic Masters looks about 12 but the passion he puts into the songs on this CD proves he is much more mature than he looks. Watch out cos The Others aren't just here to make up the numbers!
The Others are the Children of the Clash!, April 28, 2004
Reviewer: retrolover
I just got this in for the University paper that I review singles for andwell, McGee has signed more Children of the Clash and The Libertines!
Rock'n'roll alienation. Loneliness. Poverty. All the truly great songsare drenched in the stuff. The Others 'This is for the Poor' is a teenagetrash anthem. Yes. AN ANTHEM. In that great accidental tradition of the true Anthem: disagreement sloganeering, cathartic, catchy-as-fuck andpsychotically gleeful as it wanders in the muck of London withhands-in-pockets, heads down and wary. Like any true outsider in London,would. And much like in 1992, when Suede - the original glam heroinpunk singer Brett Anderson wailed about '...all the love and poison ofLondon', the Others are doing the same. Only this time there is no loveonly poison in Londontown. And in doing so, "This is for the Poor"has become an answer record to that great English post-punxxx outsidertradition of The Jam - Strange Town and The Smiths - London.
With Peter Hook's lost unholy bass parts at the wrong speed it starts offominously and like a flick of a cigarette in the face, it explodes into pure '89 Jesus and Mary Chain guitar-trash heavenly violence with singerDominic Masters screaming 'This is for anyone that's left their hometown...'like the last Buzzcock: doing anything they have to do to find theirgroove until it becomes pure epiphany, and their imputed doomy darknessbecomes legitimate. And fucking fantastic.
From Playlouder.com
The Others - 'This Is For The Poor' (Poptones)
Since forming Poptones Alan McGee’s track record has been about as good as Shergar’s, that’s after the poor bleeder got kidnapped and murdered; but The Others have a raw energy, and an agenda on their first single that’s more than admirable. “This is for all the poor, not you rich kids,” bellows the lead singer sounding like a wee cocker-ney shoeshine boy, although the rich kids probably won’t mind too much as they drive off in their porches pumping Sean Paul out of the roof. Still, it’s good to know which side we’re on from the outset.
From London Metro 17th May:
4/5
The Others have spawned a fan-flamin-tastistic angsty rabble-rouser here-the sound of proper stroppy garage rock that sounds, unlike so many of their contemporaries, as if they’ve never seen a trustfund in their lives. Marvellous.
Andrew Williams
From Manchester music.co.uk
The Others :: 17 May 2004 / Poptones / 3 Trk CD By JA
The Others have nailed down a raw sound that exploits the disjointed beat of a drum set against a punching bass line. Chanting vocals and obtuse guitars provide an intoxicating blend of Wire, ATV and the needy angst of The Chameleons. “This Is For The Poor” takes the spirit of Chelsea’s “Right To Work” and the sparse brilliance of every art.politic song pre-1979. At last there’s someone singing about something for the right people…’This Is What Is Wrong With This Town Of Ours. . .this is for every disappointment… ’ – The Others provide a genuine, reactionary cause, where love songs are dead and society needs correcting. Track 3 could be the very early Gang Of Four moshing with Jesus of Mary Chain with Mark Perry sneering over the top.
MMMM
Our NME Radar piece:
On the Radar
Britain's Most Worshipped New Band
‘They've got the craziest fans around and they haven't even released a record yet. We ask Others frontman Dominic Masters and some of their followers why they're so special."
I would never stand up and say ‘I am a leader...' mumbles Dominic Masters. ‘But I must be doing something right. I must be giving our boys something they didn't have before. Come to our gigs and you won't see the cool people, who look like their mothers were all fucked by the same person. You'll see kids that don't fit in... you'll see the others'.
The frontman with London's rising post-punk agitators The Others, whose debut single, ‘This is For the Poor' is a raging call-to-arms for the dispossessed, Dominic cuts a dishevelled figure, looking like a youthful Damon Albarn on a club 18-30 holiday in Arcadia. But it's easy to understand why he is so beloved of his fans. Like his ‘big brother' and neighbour Pete Doherty, Dominic is utterly devoted to them as they are to him. And they get pretty devoted.
‘We have this group of fans, the 853 Kamikaze Stage-Diving Square, and they're pretty hard core. They have rules: you must drink a certain amount of alcohol or take a certain amount of drugs, and it has to be full-on proper stage-diving. I saw a swan-dive into the crowd the other night...'
Dominic is also something of a class warrior with strong opinion about the ‘disgusting social climbing' antics of some of the indie scene's best known faces. ‘I don't know how rich kids - or even middle-class kids - can relate to my lyrics,' he says, before bursting into a capella version of ‘Almanac'. ‘These songs are for kids like me, the kids who couldn't afford to stay out drinking in expensive pubs, who couldn't afford the most fashionable clothes. These songs are for the working classes, for my boys.'
Comments from the fans:
Lisa, 22, Temp
Dominic is very appreciate of his fans. He'll always call you before gigs and you round for a party afterwards, but it's the music that really excites me. The gigs are always wild, and a lot of us have become friends through the band.
Andrew 18, Student
A mate of mine introduced me to them originally and I just took it from there. They're just exhilarating to watch. ‘This is For the Poor' is just so fucking catchy and cool.
Anthony, 18, Supermarket Assistant
The Others are like us - normal blokes talking about everyday things. They know what it's like being skint so they'll get us into gigs for free. I can't explain them at all, they just seem to come out of nowhere and make perfect sense.
Josh, 18, Lead Singer of the Paddingtons
My band sometimes supports them in London, and in the last six months, we've noticed the crowds getting crazier and crazier. Dominic is a great frontman, but his band as a whole just have this awesome energy in the way they look and play. ‘How I never Lost You' is a hard-on-the-back-of-the-neck-sing.'
Andy, 18, Student
Like the Libertines, The Others have a message - be who you are. They're not in it for the money, they want to do it their way. The great thing about them is that they worry about their fans more than they worry about the band.
Live Reviews:
From Teletext - Planet Sound
THE OTHERS Walthamstow Standard
Most supposed bands who consider themselves punks are lucky if they get a few people tapping their feet. The Others have mayhem in the front rows, a dozen people on stage by the end.
Yet, despite Dominic Masters’ twitchy presence or the ratty, snarling This Is For The Poor and Stanley Bowles, to pigeonhole it as punk is ludicrous.
This is for the goths, the ravers, the fey kids, the moshers, this is for the poor, the sound of the suburbs, The Streets… and this rocks. 8/10by John Earls
From Gigwise.com
Saturday 01/05/04 The Cribs, The Others, The Vagabonds @ Academy 3, Liverpool
by Will Williams More Indie Articles...
‘Axe hero’ isn’t something you could accuse The Others’ follically-challanged six-stringist of trying to be. Between his minimalist pickings and their bassist (who, conversely, seems to be wearing both Ian McCulloch and William Reid’s mid-eighties big haircuts at the same time) deftly throwing Joy Division-esque basslines into the mix, frontman Dominic Masters jumps around the stage, yowling his skinny little lungs off. This is raucous art-punk at its best, like some southerners who decided they could be The Fall but got it wrong in a brilliant way, and if new single ‘This Is For The Poor’ isn’t one of the best oddball indie rawk singles you hear all year, then there is clearly something very special brewing somewhere. Another interesting aspect of The Others, by the way, is the fact that, despite their obvious star quality, they look shit. Like, really shit. Which, whilst being bad news for photographers, can only suggest that there may be something exciting about to happen: a new generation of rock stars are spending less time on their wardrobes and more creating something you might want to listen to three months after purchasing. Are we getting over-excited? Well possibly, but stranger things have happened.
From Heathenangel.co.uk
The Others, XFM X-Posure Night @ The Barfly, Camden, 5th April
Having seen them play a disappointing set with The Libertines last month at Brixton Academy, I was a little apprehensive as to how The Others would play, and indeed be received. What I didn’t realise, however, was that there is a devoted following of Others fans, who sang every word with as much passion as the National Anthem, and declaring their love for über-quiet bassist, Robert Smith doppelganger Johnny. Perma-pissed singer Dominic, who had to help out the ever growing number of crowdsurfers, seemed to be having a great time, and songs like “Almanac” and “How I Nearly Lost You” whipped the crowd into a frenzy. By the final two tracks, the poptastic “William” and forthcoming single, the angst-ridden “This Is For The Poor”, the audience were pogoing like crazy, and by the end of the set, there was even a stage invasion.
Copyright Alex Wisgard, 2004
You’re welcome.
NEW SINGLE:
On Friday June 5th we will be going into the studio to record two tracks, Psycho Vision and In The Background, one of which will be released as a FREEEEEE download only single via Playlouder.com
Watch The Others online:
Xfm Xposure night at The Barfly is here
While you can watch our gig on a tube train here, or via NME.com here.
Here’s some more press; recent tour reviews, a few more single reviews our recent NME features and some interviews:
From NME (week ending 5th June):
&pm, Saturday May 22, Hammersmith underground station, west London.
One hundred crazed fans of rock’n’roll agitators The Others hijacked a tube train as the craze for guerrilla gigging reached new heights. Assembling after a text message tip-off, members of the band’s devoted fan faction, the ’853 Kamikaze Stagediving Squad’, packed into a carriage. The band played a 30-minute set through portable speakers while singer Dominic Masters sang through a megaphone - to the exasperation of the helplass British Transport Police. Piling off the Hammersmith and City Line train at Liverpool Street, the fans then stormed the station and into history. “It’s pure do-it-yourself, we’re not trying to be clever,” Masters told NME. And as if that wasn’t punk rock enough, he added: “The only thing I’m worried about is that not everybody can afford the tube fare.” ’For The Poor’, indeed.
From Poptones.co.uk:
This is the New London Underground:
The Others Take to the Tube
Have you ever taken the London tube? You are either on it during rush-hour with people packed upon people, pressed up - face-to-face, unnaturally and intimately close to complete strangers, either there is no air or it is polluted with stale-coffee-smelling breath until you spill out into the streets like ants-in-a-farm.
Or it is the dead silence of all-other-times. An eerie silence pervades - like an unspoken rule, that if you talk -- you will be regarded with paranoia and suspicion. A silence which kills the soul. Like, once you enter into the automatic tube doors, you forsake humanity, in place of an android palette of emotions.
These are all symptoms of Big-City-Living.
Once when I was taking the tube to Brixton – a crackhead had gotten onto the bus and proceeded to take off her clothes and perform acrobatic manoeuvres on the passenger bars. No one said a word. No one looked. It is the unspoken etiquette of the tube to act as if all-is-normal when all-is-not.
But it does makes you wonder: what if it was broken? What if you started to push the boundaries. What if you had a teenage riot on the tube? What if you started to stage-dive over passengers? What if you heard music? What if you started to make the tube fun?
When The Others played their gig on the tube last weekend – they broke the rules of etiquette. They made the tube fun.
O.K., let me say this again, a gig on a tube.
It was the abandonment of the musicians' communication 'protocols' and 'regulations' and ability to play games that have that have now officially set them apart from the rest of the indie-street urchins that regularly play clubs and not bloody tubes.
The Others have joined the prankster club. An exclusive club: Spiritualised playing on top of the CN Tower "the highest show on earth", Sex Pistols playing on the Thames during the ‘77 Jubilee, Lightning Bolt playing on the back of a truck with their fans following on bikes, Beachbuggy, in a van on the street in Leeds, outside a Pavement gig and the Rephlex Parties in Aldwych Tube Station. And of course, the umpteenth impromptu events staged by Pete Libertine and Baby Shambles.
Why did they join this club?
They pulled a situationist prank.
And as soon as the gig ended, the reports of what occurred flooded through the internet.
"Allo allo, I'm back early from the tube gig. Just thought I'd let you know stuff that happened. Left The George about 7.45, proceeded onto the eastbound platform. Had to wait for the amps to arrive so we let one train go, but then all crammed into a carriage on another platform. And then the fun began! Although I was near the back, it was a great atmosphere, 'specially from the 853 (but of course). British Transport Police boarded the carriage behind us at a quite early stage but proceeded to do bugger all. So off we all got at Liverpool St. As the band left the train, there was much rejoicing (not least from Underground staff)".
And so now, The Others; Poptones very own boy-band, have staged their very own electronic ‘68 French Paris student-revolution of situationism to the underground of London. Situationism is an idea about the city and how most people tend not to stray outside a triangle formed by their place of work/education. And you pull ‘situations' as an electric shock to wake people up from their big-city sleep and force them, for awhile, out of their work/commute/home grooves with this symbolic, city-fed, forced weirdness.
Right..
So, is it a "Grand Bombastic Unreachable High Art Impulse", as opposed to a bunch of radical anti-social nihilistic kids having-a-laugh and knees-up on a tube?
Whatever it is – or was - it is better than the camp-monstrosity careerism of bubble-gum popsters of Busted, The Darkness and McFly. And helluvalotmorefun....
From The Independent - 28 May 2004
The Others: The kids are all right
London, Saturday night. Teenagers are crowd-surfing down the aisle of a moving Tube train. Two carriages have just been commandeered by 200 fans of The Others, who are somewhere at the front playing a gig, announced over the internet hours earlier. The crowd-surfers are the self-styled 853 Division, the commandos of The Others' private army.
The Others are signed to Alan McGee's Poptones label, have been dubbed "the most worshipped new band in Britain" by NME, and have released one single, "This Is for the Poor", which just missed the Top 40 last Sunday. It is a good, class-conscious anthem, but it doesn't explain the band's fervent fan base. That has more to do with what happens after the gig, when singer Dominic Masters, 26, leads us through the streets to a pub near his East End home for an impromptu after-show party. As usual, fans too young to travel home alone sleep at his flat in their dozens. Others arrange house shares between themselves. Masters has also persuaded a promoter to let underage fans into clubs after hours, so no one has to be left out.
In the two years that The Others have existed, they have built an innocent, idealistic society around themselves. Playing music a world away from corporate fame and fortune, to hardcore fans whom Masters knows by name, the band's shambolic gigs are an excuse for exuberant teenage bonding.
"I know they're quite basic and everything," one teenage girl tells me, standing on a Tube seat to glimpse some action, "but what more do you want? They're not playing for the recognition. It's like they're playing for you." Now that the recognition is coming, of course, the fragile, private world The Others have built is in danger of dilution. But when I meet Masters, all that worries him is how to keep his ideals intact.
"What happens when there's too many people to care for?" he wonders. "Because partying with the audience, spending time together and not being on a different level is important. If they're putting an investment into your life, you should try and give as much of your life to them. And if it grows like it might, I've got to work out better ways to make sure that there is still equality, so that no one feels excluded."
The Others' movement seems mostly about fun, and tiny, intoxicating acts of rebellion - like the boy who illegally lights a cigarette during the Tube takeover. But Masters does detect some shared values. "I've got a boyfriend, see, called Johann," he shyly admits. "At first, when the band was going off, I didn't know what our appeal would be. When the heterosexual, Oasis kind of kids supporting us found out I had a boyfriend, I thought there might be some kind of backlash. But nothing was ever said. When we socialise, there are loads of gay kids, some Asian kids, some black kids, some real south Londoners, and kids up from Hertfordshire. We get the kids no one else wants."
The notion that The Others are a home for the excluded is emphasised by "This Is for the Poor", a calling card specifically rejecting the wealthy. The glut of posh girls merrily moshing to it on the Tube therefore leaves Masters utterly nonplussed. "This is a contentious issue," he says, brow furrowing. "I wrote 'This Is for the Poor' genuinely for my own social class. I can't say that it's an inclusive song. I find it hard to understand how a middle-class kid could go through the pain or troubles that a lot of working-class kids have to, just to leave home. There is this divide, and I wanted to write for people like me."
Masters's roots are in Somerset, the son of a strong mother who sold marijuana to get by and a welder father who left when he was four. When he got out at 18, to study politics in London, he was soon dealing to students himself before "getting a bit carried away", and quitting just in time. He was married then, too, to an Israeli girl in a New Romantic group. For a while, he lived the conventional life, and dreamed of joining the Civil Service. Only when that hope was dashed, and the loving cocoon of his marriage collapsed, did he think of rock'n'roll. Becoming a face on London's underground rock scene, he pretended to be in a band. When the Portuguese rockers The Parkinsons called his bluff by offering him a gig, he formed The Others just in time to play. The Parkinsons took the fledglings "under their wing", then The Libertines "adopted us". It's a fan's story, more than a star's.
The cloud on the horizon remains the limits that Masters may one day find to his vision of an inclusive rock'n'roll community, when not every fan who jumps on stage can be trusted, or named. But that won't stop him trying. "To give people a good time - I think that's a good quality," he muses. "It's just, how long can you give them a good time for? After the concert and the sleepovers, when it goes back to normal life - that's when you can't keep looking after them. That's why we should try and build something out of this, so that if it does only last for a few years, we can at least forge a community centre out of it, or a youth club, or a pub.
"Maybe a pub," he decides. "Because it'll take two years to get the money together - and by then, all our fans will be old enough to drink..."
'This Is for the Poor' is out now on Poptones
Source: Independent 28/05/04
Interviews:
Teletext - Planet Sound
“This is for the poor, and not you rich kids.” A wonderful sloganeering chorus for a debut single, but one that’s been ignored by enough rich fans of The Others who can afford to buy the single and propel it towards the Top 40.
Quite right to as TIFTP heralds a band of deviants who are set to unite the dispossessed.
Singer Dominic Masters and bassist Johnny Others tell all.1/8
******
As their name implies, The Others are outsiders united together. Even their origins are purely accidental.
“I knew The Parkinsons from going clubbing,” recalls Dominic Masters. “They offered me a support slot. I said yes, only I didn’t have a band.” The Others was the first name I thought of.
The gig was in a fortnight. James I knew from my last band, he said he could find a bassist, then we went through three drummers in a week.”2/8
******
The Others initially only formed for a one-off gig supporting the Parkinsons
“It went really well,“ recalls bassist Johnny. “So we played another gig, and then another…“ Was there a point when they realised they were a proper band? “Mm, hasn’t happened yet.“
“We’re from completely different backgrounds, different parts of England - Somerset, Brighton, Manchester - that were a mess. There’s four very different personalities in the band.“3/8
******
A band who appeal to outsiders, The Others’ accidental origins mean they feel that way with each other.
“We’re not friends,” admits singer Dominic. “We’re a ragtag bunch. Our drummer’s like Animal from The Muppets, our bassist looks like Robert Smith. We don’t even fit in our own band.”
Bassist Johnny adds: “I play our single and I think ’What IS this?’ There are four people playing four different songs. It works, but it shouldn’t.” 4/8
******
Helping to unite alienated people, The Others have already garnered their own devotees, The 853 division, named after a London street sign, complete with their own website at 853.co.uk.
“Dominic invites people back to his flat for parties after gigs,” explains bassist Johnny Others.
“If you see a band, it follows you have something in common with them. The least we can do is give something back, help create a community.”5/8
******
This Is For The Poor says it’s “not for you rich kids,” so are The Others out to exclude anyone from their fanbase?
“There’s nothing romantic about being an underachieving indie band,” Johnny Others counters. “I hate the ‘If others like it it’s a bonus’ attitude.”
Dominic Masters muses: “I wrote that for people of my class. I went through so much strife just to get here. I’m sure I’m not alone, it’s for anyone out there who’s been through what I have.”6/8
******
A band for outsiders, The Others felt isolated from childhood.
“I had a …different background,” says Dominic Masters. “I scraped into London Guildhall Uni, then spent the first 18 months dealing drugs. I’d promised the tutors I’d get a 2:1 in politics, so I knocked off the dealing.
“I lived near a train track, and the noise of the trains meant I couldn’t focus in the day. I studied midnight to 6am - and I got my 2:1” 7/8
******
The Others are currently on a tour of venues near stations at the extreme ends of lines on the London Tube.
“I like conceptual bands like British Sea Power, “says bassist Johnny. “Ones who think beyond being just another indie band. So I like us to play where people don’t normally go.”
Singer Dominic adds: “People have to travel to see you in town. We’re coming to the suburbs to see them instead. You have to make an effort, don’t you?”8/8
******
More Single Reviews
From Amazon.co.uk
Avg. Customer Review: ?
?This is for Everyone, May 18, 2004
Reviewer: billy_bilo from Goole, East Riding of Yorkshire United Kingdom
This single is a marvellous debut by popular London band The Others. Their sound is a mix of the best of 77 punk and early Blur. Title song 'This is for the poor' is certainly not just for the poor. It is for anyone who appreciates good music. The Others are from the same breed as The Libertines and Razorlight. The second track on the CD, 'How I nearly Lost You' is good enough to be a single in its own right. It sounds like Joy Division meets Jilted John. Lead singer Dominic Masters looks about 12 but the passion he puts into the songs on this CD proves he is much more mature than he looks. Watch out cos The Others aren't just here to make up the numbers!
The Others are the Children of the Clash!, April 28, 2004
Reviewer: retrolover
I just got this in for the University paper that I review singles for andwell, McGee has signed more Children of the Clash and The Libertines!
Rock'n'roll alienation. Loneliness. Poverty. All the truly great songsare drenched in the stuff. The Others 'This is for the Poor' is a teenagetrash anthem. Yes. AN ANTHEM. In that great accidental tradition of the true Anthem: disagreement sloganeering, cathartic, catchy-as-fuck andpsychotically gleeful as it wanders in the muck of London withhands-in-pockets, heads down and wary. Like any true outsider in London,would. And much like in 1992, when Suede - the original glam heroinpunk singer Brett Anderson wailed about '...all the love and poison ofLondon', the Others are doing the same. Only this time there is no loveonly poison in Londontown. And in doing so, "This is for the Poor"has become an answer record to that great English post-punxxx outsidertradition of The Jam - Strange Town and The Smiths - London.
With Peter Hook's lost unholy bass parts at the wrong speed it starts offominously and like a flick of a cigarette in the face, it explodes into pure '89 Jesus and Mary Chain guitar-trash heavenly violence with singerDominic Masters screaming 'This is for anyone that's left their hometown...'like the last Buzzcock: doing anything they have to do to find theirgroove until it becomes pure epiphany, and their imputed doomy darknessbecomes legitimate. And fucking fantastic.
From Playlouder.com
The Others - 'This Is For The Poor' (Poptones)
Since forming Poptones Alan McGee’s track record has been about as good as Shergar’s, that’s after the poor bleeder got kidnapped and murdered; but The Others have a raw energy, and an agenda on their first single that’s more than admirable. “This is for all the poor, not you rich kids,” bellows the lead singer sounding like a wee cocker-ney shoeshine boy, although the rich kids probably won’t mind too much as they drive off in their porches pumping Sean Paul out of the roof. Still, it’s good to know which side we’re on from the outset.
From London Metro 17th May:
4/5
The Others have spawned a fan-flamin-tastistic angsty rabble-rouser here-the sound of proper stroppy garage rock that sounds, unlike so many of their contemporaries, as if they’ve never seen a trustfund in their lives. Marvellous.
Andrew Williams
From Manchester music.co.uk
The Others :: 17 May 2004 / Poptones / 3 Trk CD By JA
The Others have nailed down a raw sound that exploits the disjointed beat of a drum set against a punching bass line. Chanting vocals and obtuse guitars provide an intoxicating blend of Wire, ATV and the needy angst of The Chameleons. “This Is For The Poor” takes the spirit of Chelsea’s “Right To Work” and the sparse brilliance of every art.politic song pre-1979. At last there’s someone singing about something for the right people…’This Is What Is Wrong With This Town Of Ours. . .this is for every disappointment… ’ – The Others provide a genuine, reactionary cause, where love songs are dead and society needs correcting. Track 3 could be the very early Gang Of Four moshing with Jesus of Mary Chain with Mark Perry sneering over the top.
MMMM
Our NME Radar piece:
On the Radar
Britain's Most Worshipped New Band
‘They've got the craziest fans around and they haven't even released a record yet. We ask Others frontman Dominic Masters and some of their followers why they're so special."
I would never stand up and say ‘I am a leader...' mumbles Dominic Masters. ‘But I must be doing something right. I must be giving our boys something they didn't have before. Come to our gigs and you won't see the cool people, who look like their mothers were all fucked by the same person. You'll see kids that don't fit in... you'll see the others'.
The frontman with London's rising post-punk agitators The Others, whose debut single, ‘This is For the Poor' is a raging call-to-arms for the dispossessed, Dominic cuts a dishevelled figure, looking like a youthful Damon Albarn on a club 18-30 holiday in Arcadia. But it's easy to understand why he is so beloved of his fans. Like his ‘big brother' and neighbour Pete Doherty, Dominic is utterly devoted to them as they are to him. And they get pretty devoted.
‘We have this group of fans, the 853 Kamikaze Stage-Diving Square, and they're pretty hard core. They have rules: you must drink a certain amount of alcohol or take a certain amount of drugs, and it has to be full-on proper stage-diving. I saw a swan-dive into the crowd the other night...'
Dominic is also something of a class warrior with strong opinion about the ‘disgusting social climbing' antics of some of the indie scene's best known faces. ‘I don't know how rich kids - or even middle-class kids - can relate to my lyrics,' he says, before bursting into a capella version of ‘Almanac'. ‘These songs are for kids like me, the kids who couldn't afford to stay out drinking in expensive pubs, who couldn't afford the most fashionable clothes. These songs are for the working classes, for my boys.'
Comments from the fans:
Lisa, 22, Temp
Dominic is very appreciate of his fans. He'll always call you before gigs and you round for a party afterwards, but it's the music that really excites me. The gigs are always wild, and a lot of us have become friends through the band.
Andrew 18, Student
A mate of mine introduced me to them originally and I just took it from there. They're just exhilarating to watch. ‘This is For the Poor' is just so fucking catchy and cool.
Anthony, 18, Supermarket Assistant
The Others are like us - normal blokes talking about everyday things. They know what it's like being skint so they'll get us into gigs for free. I can't explain them at all, they just seem to come out of nowhere and make perfect sense.
Josh, 18, Lead Singer of the Paddingtons
My band sometimes supports them in London, and in the last six months, we've noticed the crowds getting crazier and crazier. Dominic is a great frontman, but his band as a whole just have this awesome energy in the way they look and play. ‘How I never Lost You' is a hard-on-the-back-of-the-neck-sing.'
Andy, 18, Student
Like the Libertines, The Others have a message - be who you are. They're not in it for the money, they want to do it their way. The great thing about them is that they worry about their fans more than they worry about the band.
Live Reviews:
From Teletext - Planet Sound
THE OTHERS Walthamstow Standard
Most supposed bands who consider themselves punks are lucky if they get a few people tapping their feet. The Others have mayhem in the front rows, a dozen people on stage by the end.
Yet, despite Dominic Masters’ twitchy presence or the ratty, snarling This Is For The Poor and Stanley Bowles, to pigeonhole it as punk is ludicrous.
This is for the goths, the ravers, the fey kids, the moshers, this is for the poor, the sound of the suburbs, The Streets… and this rocks. 8/10by John Earls
From Gigwise.com
Saturday 01/05/04 The Cribs, The Others, The Vagabonds @ Academy 3, Liverpool
by Will Williams More Indie Articles...
‘Axe hero’ isn’t something you could accuse The Others’ follically-challanged six-stringist of trying to be. Between his minimalist pickings and their bassist (who, conversely, seems to be wearing both Ian McCulloch and William Reid’s mid-eighties big haircuts at the same time) deftly throwing Joy Division-esque basslines into the mix, frontman Dominic Masters jumps around the stage, yowling his skinny little lungs off. This is raucous art-punk at its best, like some southerners who decided they could be The Fall but got it wrong in a brilliant way, and if new single ‘This Is For The Poor’ isn’t one of the best oddball indie rawk singles you hear all year, then there is clearly something very special brewing somewhere. Another interesting aspect of The Others, by the way, is the fact that, despite their obvious star quality, they look shit. Like, really shit. Which, whilst being bad news for photographers, can only suggest that there may be something exciting about to happen: a new generation of rock stars are spending less time on their wardrobes and more creating something you might want to listen to three months after purchasing. Are we getting over-excited? Well possibly, but stranger things have happened.
From Heathenangel.co.uk
The Others, XFM X-Posure Night @ The Barfly, Camden, 5th April
Having seen them play a disappointing set with The Libertines last month at Brixton Academy, I was a little apprehensive as to how The Others would play, and indeed be received. What I didn’t realise, however, was that there is a devoted following of Others fans, who sang every word with as much passion as the National Anthem, and declaring their love for über-quiet bassist, Robert Smith doppelganger Johnny. Perma-pissed singer Dominic, who had to help out the ever growing number of crowdsurfers, seemed to be having a great time, and songs like “Almanac” and “How I Nearly Lost You” whipped the crowd into a frenzy. By the final two tracks, the poptastic “William” and forthcoming single, the angst-ridden “This Is For The Poor”, the audience were pogoing like crazy, and by the end of the set, there was even a stage invasion.
Copyright Alex Wisgard, 2004
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