GuilFest 2006. The 3 Day Guildford Music Festival on 14th, 15th and 16th July 2006

About the bands
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Artist: The Others
Genre: Rock
Performing: 16th July 2005 / The BBC Radio 2 Mainstage
Website Address: [] ,
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"This is for anyone who’s left their hometown
this is for all the kids who stand out in the crowd
this is for every disappointment..." ‘This Is For The Poor’

This is how THE OTHERS launched themselves into people's faces in May this year, just 5 months ago. It was a rallying cry, a call to arms, speaking out for and shining a light on a whole generation of kids who feel neglected, disenfranchised and isolated. They have no interest in the things that drive everyone else, celebrity is an empty vessel, money’s a means of getting through this week, society is something that happens to other people, the future doesn’t belong to them any more than the present does.

Their heart’s not worn on their sleeve, it’s stitched up tight in their pocket, gathering fluff and roaches, for fear of it being broken more than once. They don’t care about fame so much as notoriety, music so much as message, performance so much as a celebration of confrontation. They’re not punk, as that word has finally ceased to have any useful meaning. They are the underclass – the bullied, the abused, petty criminals, misfits, narcotic, narcissistic, rude and frenetic, passionate heroes and heroines. Unsavoury? Yes. Psychotic? Sometimes. Proud? Totally.

THE OTHERS, as the name says, are from the outside and of these outsiders. With no musical influences beyond their personal circumstances, they have no choice but to tell it like it is and sound like they do.

And the crucial point is that THE OTHERS are the others and will continue to be deranged oddballs whether or not they’re written about or listened to. If a tree falls in a forest and nobody hears it, does it make a sound? Frankly, my dear, they don’t give a fuck...

The last few months have seen THE OTHERS rise as a genuine alternative to bland pop, as well as champions of the disenfranchised. Their new and direct take on how to go about things has won them many fans. They have been the key instigators of the 'guerilla gigging' scene -one of the stories of 2004. Their impromptu guerilla gigs - on tube trains, at Radio 1, in parks and flats, the infamous zebra crossing at Abbey Road, dodgems at Carling Leeds Festival, and at Glastonbury – with fans notified by text message, word of mouth and through the band’s website www.letskilltheothers.com – are already the stuff of rock’n’roll legend, immortalised in the pages of NME, The Guardian, The Independent, The Observer, Sunday Mirror, and The Sun. This has led to similar DIY scenes in other cities with other bands getting up and doing it themselves. It has become such a phenomenon that the BBC recently staged a guerilla opera in Liverpool St station - ironically the last stop on THE OTHERS' earlier legendary tube gig and namechecked in their song 'Johan'.

What makes these events, and their more traditional shows so special is their inclusive nature: band and audience are equals. The participation of their self-styled fanclub, the infamous ‘853 Kamikaze Stage Diving Division’, a bunch of devotees who follow THE OTHERS around with a passionate loyalty that is reciprocated by the band. THE OTHERS are breaking down the barriers between band and fans, empowering kids to follow their dreams and do something they've always wanted to do - regulars in the crowd at their gigs include Ben Bailey from Thee Unstrung, and Josh from The Paddingtons. THE OTHERS are already inspiring the same sort of devotion as The Smiths and Suede did.

They have no influences but people have noted touches of Joy Division, PIL, Only Ones, Smiths, Jesus And Mary Chain, Buzzcocks, all topped off by the full-on confrontational presence of the one-man whirlwind that is frontman Dominic Masters - "an icon in the making" (SUNDAY TIMES).

The OTHERS have just finished recording their debut album, which will be released in January 2005.

The London/Brighton quartet are currently taking their direct action rock'n'roll round the country on an extensive 6 week tour through to early November. In the middle of this they're taking out 2 days to fly to New York to make their US debut at Vice magazine's 10th Birthday Party.

THE OTHERS: Dominic Masters (vocals)/ Johnny Others (bass) / Jimmy Lager (guitar)/ Martin Oldham (drums)