Recently in London the band started three gigs, at Abbey Road, the Marquee and the Camden Palais, in just four hours. Having just recorded but not yet mixed the tracks for a new album (described by the band’s Dominic Master as, ‘a Definitely, Maybe for the Zeroes’) the band and its fans - the 853 Kamikaze Stage Diving Division - are on the way to Leeds. For a band with just one single, albeit NME Single of the Week, under its belt there is already a palpable buzz about the Others. Dominic says: ”We were expecting our first single This is for the Poor to shift about a hundred and we sold 3,500 in just two weeks and we picked up press coverage from the Guardian to Socialist Worker.” The Others are already notorious for planning guerrilla gigs, including one in London on a tube train and a fairground outing at Leeds Festival. Having played the Carling Tent in the afternoon the band later stormed the dodgem cars after texting fans and media and playing through portable speakers and a megaphone before the impromptu gig was cut short. ”We are about giving good memories to the fans. It can be hard to distinguish one band from another if they all play the same venues – unusual settings mean that the Others stick in the memory.” “We always have a good crowd when we play Leeds and the guest list which we give away to fans has been snapped up already. The the 853 Kamikaze Stage Diving Division already has members across the country. ”We use the internet and texting to keep in touch with fans and we give the band’s phone numbers out to anyone who is interested so we never lose the connection. My phone has 2,000 numbers in it, all part of spreading the gospel and our idea of community.” The new single, Stan Bowles, is out towards the end of October but it is not really about the famed football maverick of the 1970s as Dominic explains. ”My best friend is Pete Doherty of the Libertines who has written a song about me. Pete, like Stan Bowles, he has an abundance of skill and a fondness for living life to the full. ”As Stan Bowles is Pete’s favourite football player the parallels were obvious and I had no choice but to write a song in exchange.” And as Dominic says: ”I do write good songs.”
The Others play the Rocket in Leeds on Wednesday 13 October 2004. | 
