Dreams Are Made Of This

However unfair it is, some people in this world are handed success on a plate. For ‘The Others’ the only path is to work your ass off, lie a bit and believe enough that it can be done. Dominic Masters, lead singer from aggressive punk band, ‘The Others’, talked to me openly and in-depth about the bands growth from humble obscurity to becoming a beacon of hope for the downtrodden & disenfranchised generation.

The story of The Others begins after Dom’s painful split from his wife, he explains, “My first band had finished, university had finished and I couldn’t get any jobs to do with my politics degree.” “All I could get was sales jobs, so I spent the next year working, doing drugs and drinking heavily to shake off all the troubles, just trying to cope with doing a s**t job and feeling that’s all that you had, which is where a lot of the inspiration for ‘Lackey’ comes from”.

It was in Last Rockers Club, embarrassed with his job, Dom created the then mythical band. “After a while of going to some wild and out-there clubs people started recognising me and asking what I do, I didn’t really want to tell anyone I worked selling advertising space for the 'hotel managers association', that’s hardly rock and roll, so I was as ambitious as I could be and lied to people saying I was in a band."

"I became friendly with a band called The Parkinson’s and they were very curious about this band that never played, and everyone in the club was curious about this boy who looked like he was a singer in a band, but never sung in a band and told everyone he was a singer in a band…”

...so after 9 months Dom was confronted when they announced in front of the whole club, “What’s the name of your fu**ing legendary band?” to which Dom hesitatingly replied “The Others”. He explains, “That’s how we got our name, even though the name describes us really well now because we represent the dysfunctional, the disenfranchised and the ostracized. Its very suitable because that’s what we are, we are an oddball, rag-bag collective of society. But on the spot I just couldn’t think of anything else”.

Next Dom is being booked to headline the club. “At that point everyone’s thinking really I’m gonna bottle it and tell the truth”, but instead he says... “can’t wait Max, I’ll see you in two weeks”

“I soon left the club, I couldn’t handle being there because I knew what I’d done. But I thought to myself, now you really do want to be in a band in your life, you don’t like your job, and now your forced to do it. So I convinced myself that I could."

He got hold of the guitarist from his old band and between them came up with a bassist and a drummer for the gig.

“In our first three rehearsal sessions we wrote six songs, some of which are B-sides now, which shows how dedicated we were to make it work. When it came to the performance it was almost like a joke, because everybody knew 2 weeks ago I was just a bullshi**er.” “But even though I was, I wanted to prove that I was a good lead singer and could write lyrics”.

Despite being together only two weeks they had generated a lot of interest. ”After the gig the guy who signed
Franz Ferdinand came over shook our hands and said, "You’re amazing. When’s your next gig". From that day onwards Dom went around meeting as many people and doing as many concerts as he could to promote the band, always sparing time for fans. “I thought if that’s what we can do in one gig, I’m gonna get signed and I’m going to get my boys signed and this time I’m gonna work hard”.

Despite struggling over the next year Dom’s determination didn’t wane, and while holding down his job was still working hard to promote his band to stubborn record companies. Eventually, after about a year and a half, Dom secured a gig supporting Babyshambles, he knew there was a record exec in the crowd and he knew that it was their big chance. “When we played that gig I just went for it, I thought this is it, it’s now or never.” “Then after the gig it was like a big fairytale, and very special after everything had been going against us for so long”.

Recently The Others won the 'John Peel NME' award for innovation and I think Dom’s and the band’s story is an example of what can be done with determination, ambition and plenty of hard work and is a model for any aspiring artist that thinks its just not going to happen to them. As Dom himself philosophised, “You should work for whatever you want, you’ve got to work your ass off or you wont get it”. Their album entitled “The Others” is out to buy now and they are superb live, take my word for it.

Interview - David Elphick

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