The Others

The imposing Dominic Masters, born in Somerset, England, anchors this British guerrilla rock outfit as its lead vocalist, chief public face, and frequent lyrical focus. Masters assembled the group at the millennium’s outset alongside Jimmy Lager on guitar, Johnny Others on bass, and Martin Oldham on drums. Constant touring and surprise guerrilla gigs—among them performances aboard a London Underground train, at the center of a congested ring road, and inside Masters’ cramped one-bedroom London apartment—quickly fostered a devoted following. That audience, known as the 853 Kamikaze Stage Diving Division, extended the quartet’s reach past London’s independent scene, aided by their close ties to the then-fashionable Libertines. Industry veteran Alan McGee, the discoverer of Oasis, was brought in as manager; he placed the band on his Poptones imprint and secured a major-label deal with Mercury’s Vertigo division in early 2004.

The Others issued their debut single, “This Is For The Poor,” that May. Chronicling Masters’ difficult early years, the track was celebrated in certain overheated corners of the British press as the year’s pivotal UK rock statement. In practice, the group’s basic command of post-punk energy registered far more convincingly onstage than on record. Their next release, “Stan Bowles”—titled for the iconoclastic 1970s QPR striker—drew additional attention through references to the embattled Peter Doherty of the Libertines. A further underdog rallying cry, “Lackey,” appeared just before the self-titled debut album arrived in January 2005. Widely panned by UK music critics, the record prompted an immediate split from Poptones. The follow-up, Inward Parts, surfaced on the Lime Records label in late 2006.