I still love The Others

As mentioned in my last post, on Saturday me and some friends went to see a band I used to be very into, The Others.

 The lead singer was a real kinda pied piper for the weird kids and oddballs back in the day, he was such a nice bloke. He gave his phone number out to fans, and I spoke to him a few times, he always had time to chat. An aimless, rambling conversation about the days events may not have been much skin off his nose, but to a 14 year old who is generally ignored by people she admires and looks up to, it really meant a lot. And to a kid with not many friends, the community the band created made me feel like I belonged somewhere and like I was part of something. The bands message was one of the first things to inspire me not to try and fit into some stereotype, and to just be myself.


Anyway, for a band who meant so much for me back in the day, I was really worried the gig wouldn't be good, as I used to see them in kinda 2004, 2005 time, and a lot of time has passed...

The venue, The Windmill in Brixton, was odd but nice. From the outside it looked like an old man's social club in the middle of a residential area, but inside it was a cosy little pub with a teeny little stage!
My friends and I sat outside in the smoking area during the support acts so we could chat and catch up, but we rushed inside when we heard The Others start...

The first song had mostly people nodding their heads along, then by the second song, people were crowdsurfing and it was getting quite rowdy! The thing about The Others gigs is, because there is a strong sense of community amongst the fans, even though there is pushing and shoving, no-one would let someone fall or drop a crowd surfer. I was even putting my puny arms to use helping support the crowd surfers!
That kinda atmosphere is so good, you just wanna pass on the love! I was helping lift a girl who wanted to crowd-surf, trying to prevent a really short girl getting squished and helping the crowdsurfing girls keep their dignity by pulling their skirts back down and stopping any blokes grabbing their bums!

I was also glad to see that the band were every bit as good as they were back in the day! Dominic Masters looked exactly the same, only with shorter hair. He was just as effervescent on stage, alternating between jumping into the crowd, and surveying the adoring fans with a a slightly disbeliving smile on his face. He would make a brilliant cult leader, he has a knack of working a crowd into a frenzy!

When they played the single that got me into the band 'This is For The Poor' I nearly exploded! I felt all the emotion I felt as a 14 year old kid upon hearing the lyrics 'This is for all the ones who stand out in the crowd' and 'This is for every dissapointment.' People eventually started jumping up in the customary stage invasion, and, at risk of being pushed over, I found myself being pulled up onto the stage in a jumping mass of people. with Dominic squished in the middle trying to sing!

It was utterly uplifting and euphoric, and I felt the same passion and enthusiasm as I did when I was young and first discovering music. As Dominic came off stage, I grabbed him and gave him a massively sweaty hug and thanked him, but I don't know if he knows quite how much he'd actually done for me.

I'll definitly be supporting the band at any future gigs, and I'd like to be able to hang out with Dom after a gig again like in the old days. Now I'm an adult I'll be able to stay out later than back in the day! I'm putting my faith back in music I think.