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The Others (band)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
For the 1960s garage rock band, see The Others (American band). For the German horror punk group, see The Other (band).

The Others
OriginEngland
GenresIndie rock
Years active2002–present
Labels
MembersDominic Masters
Johnny Others
Jimmy Lager
Joseph Gardiner-Lowe
Eddie Darko
Steve McCready

The Others are an English rock band. They signed to Poptones in July 2004 and their eponymous debut album was released on 31 January 2005.

Career

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The band formed in 2002 and quickly became renowned for their riotous live shows. By 2004, they had started to perform so-called "guerilla gigs", which saw them play on a Hammersmith & City line tube train, on the dodgems at the Leeds festival, and on the famous Abbey Road crossing in London. The band, particularly lead singer Dominic Masters (born 12 December 1977), maintain a close relationship with their fanbase, affectionately known as the 853 Kamikaze Stage-Diving Division. The band are also known for accessibility which resulted in the popularity of the websites forum, which played a key part in keeping the fanbase together and organizing the following to collect together for gigs.

Their self-titled debut album divided critics and public alike on its release in 2005. Whilst NME gave it 8/10 and Vice Magazine gave it 10/10 Q rated it one of the worst albums of the year, mocking Masters' boastful attitude towards drug abuse. However, the album did spawn three Top 40 singles for the band; while debut single "This Is for the Poor", narrowly missed the top 40 on its release in April 2004, "Stan Bowles" reached No. 36 in November 2004.

In January 2005, their third single, "Lackey", reached No. 21 in January 2005 and in April of that year the NME awarded The Others the John Peel Innovation Award at the Brat Awards. Following this, "William" became the band's fourth and final single from their debut album charting at No. 29.

In an interview with Phoenix FM in December 2005, the band confirmed that they had left Poptones and, in October 2006, they released their second album, Inward Parts. Three singles were released from this album, "The Truth That Hurts" (in 2006), "Always Be Mine" (2007) and "Probate" (2008). In August 2007, drummer Martin Oldham left the band for health reasons. Further UK and European live dates followed and in February 2008, the band went on a temporary hiatus.

After a quiet period, The Others played their first live show in three years, a sold-out show at The Lexington in London.[1] One month later they decamped to a studio in Kent to record eight new songs. In April 2012, the band released the double A side single, "Hardly Know Me" / "I'll Keep You Safe"; their first new material in four years and this was accompanied by a two-week UK tour as well as dates at The Hippodrome in Kingston for the New Slang club night and a show headlining a bill for Sheffield Tramlines Festival.

On Christmas Eve 2012, the band gave away the demos for the third album; Songs for the Disillusioned for free.[2] This news was subsequently covered by the NME.[3] The response was tremendous, going viral and picking up coverage from the UK, as well as Spain, France, Germany, Argentina and Italy amongst others. The free download allocation was reached within two days and in order to meet demand and keep the tracks available for free, they had to be uploaded to four separate sites.

In January 2013, the band announced their decision to offer fans a free download package for every month of 2013.[4] This news was subsequently reported by the digitalspy website.[5] As part of the band's comeback they returned to the Glastonbury Festival to play on the William's Green Stage. This was the first time the band had played the festival for eight years, ever since playing on The Other Stage in 2005.[6]

On Christmas Eve 2013, the band followed their third album demos giveaway by giving away the re-recorded, remixed and properly produced version of Songs for the Disillusioned for free.[2]

In December 2021, after a 5 year hiatus, the band reconvened in a Brighton rehearsal room to finish writing songs for their fourth album. They also announced they would be playing a one off show at The Grace in Islington, on April 30th 2022 to mark the 20th anniversary of the band's formation. Selling out two months ahead of time and with 22 songs chosen from all three of the band's officially released albums (as well as a 6 song selection of tracks which were unreleased at that point), the show was well received [7] and at over two hours was the longest the band had ever played.

The band spent the rest of 2023 finishing writing and recording their fourth album "Look At You All Now" at Brixton Hill Studios in London. The album was released on 23rd March 2023 to positive reviews and was followed 2 days later by an album launch show at The Garage in Islington.

The rest of 2023 was spent writing, with the backing tracks for twenty new songs recorded in January 2024, once again in Brixton. Overdubs were recorded in April and May and the rest of the year was spent mixing what would become two new albums.

In September the band announced they would be playing a show at the 100 Club on Oxford Street marking the 20th anniversary of the release of their debut album. The band would play two sets, their debut album in its entirety followed by a selection of tracks from the 4th and 5th albums. The 5th album would be released in February 2025.

Members

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Current

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  • Dominic Masters – vocals
  • Johnny Others – guitar, bass
  • Jimmy Lager – guitar
  • Joseph Gardiner-Lowe – drums
  • Eddie Darko – bass, guitar
  • Alex S Tower (Stef) - keys
  • Steve McCready – bass, guitar

Former

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  • James Le Masurier – drums
  • Martin Oldham – drums
  • James Moulson – drums, keyboards, electronics, guitar, bass

Discography

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Studio albums

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  • The Others (31 January 2005) UK number 51[8]
  • Inward Parts (30 October 2006)
  • Songs for the Disillusioned (24 December 2013)
  • Look At You All Now (22 March 2023)

Demo album

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  • (Demos for) Songs for the Disillusioned (24 December 2012)

Singles

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List of singles, with selected chart positions
Title Year Peak chart positions Album
UK
[8]
"This Is for the Poor" May 2004 42 The Others
"Stan Bowles" October 2004 36 The Others
"Lackey" January 2005 21 The Others
"William" April 2005 29 The Others
"The Truth That Hurts" October 2006 — Inward Parts
"Always Be Mine" February 2007 — Inward Parts
"Probate" March 2008 — Inward Parts
"Hardly Know Me"/"I'll Keep You Safe" (double A-side) April 2012 — Songs for the Disillusioned

References

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  1. ^ "The Others News". Archived from the original on 19 October 2009. Retrieved 7 March 2009.
  2. ^ a b "The Others UK". Theothersuk.bandcamp.com. Retrieved 27 June 2016.
  3. ^ "The Others give away comeback album for free". Nme.com. 30 December 2012. Retrieved 27 June 2016.
  4. ^ "I'll Keep You Safe (2013 - Andreas Sepp/DND Remix) | the Others UK". Archived from the original on 15 February 2013. Retrieved 30 January 2013.
  5. ^ Corner, Lewis (February 2013). "The Others announce monthly free downloads for 2013". Digitalspy.co.uk. Retrieved 27 June 2016.
  6. ^ "2016 | Glastonbury Festival". Glastonburyfestivals.co.uk. 13 February 2013. Retrieved 27 June 2016.
  7. ^ [1]
  8. ^ a b Roberts, David (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums (19th ed.). London: Guinness World Records Limited. pp. 411/2. ISBN 1-904994-10-5.
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