Dominic Masters is possibly the friendliest, most accessible man in music. Redefining the concept of ‘band of the people’, the frontman of The Others puts his mobile number up on the band’s website and currently takes around 200 calls a day from adoring fans. While some of us might find this a little hard to comprehend, Dominic remains dedicated to his fans.
“You have to expect to have some loyalty to your fans,” he explains. “The way I see it is that I have a one-album deal, if I don’t sell 40,000 records I’ll be dropped just like that, so I see it in my year of contract, the least I can do is give my number out to all of my fans and be courteous enough to text and call them back.”
It was this judgment that led to the now infamous impromptu guerrilla gigs of 2004. Dominic managed to organise a large number of fans to pack out a tube carriage, shows have taken place up trees and even in the reception of Radio One. “There just aren’t that many established venues in any one region and if you watch a high volume of gigs you eventually start to get a sense of deja-vu. I’m just trying to offer the fans a way out of that monotony, plus I think it makes a gig far more memorable. If a kid can say, “I was at the gig that was up a tree in Regent’s Park”, then this is what they will remember. Also if kids can’t afford tickets or if they’re too young to get into gigs – this is for them.”
It was a white lie that brought The Others together, “I spent a year telling the people I met that I was in a band, because I just didn’t want to acknowledge that I working in a horrible dead end advertising job,” he admits. His bluff was eventually called and a gig was booked, leaving Dominic just two weeks to form a band.
“I contacted my old guitarist from my first band, we then got hold of a bass player and a session musician to stand in for a drummer, I then had to write six songs in two days.” Vertigo records released the first single ‘This is for the Poor’ on May 17 2004, it entered 42 in the charts. Second single ‘Lackey’ was released on January 17 and reached number 21, a debut album followed on January 31. The current single ‘William’ was released on April 4 has been met with similar success – this is a band that we will undoubtedly be hearing a lot more of in 2005.
Dominic is unbelievably open throughout the interview; he requires little persuasion to talk about most topics, veering easily from the band to his personal life. In the space of several minutes he has explained his drug habit, and his near fatal overdose, his ex wife and his new transsexual boyfriend in explicit and honest detail. Splitting up with his wife over a year ago left him feeling lonely and without friends, as many of you may be thinking I assumed it was a rushed into affair at a young age. “No it was true love for me – which proved to make the whole experience a whole lot harder. We split up and for a year I wandered around in a completely debauched state, the band has turned all of that around, I am loving what I am doing for the moment.”
So the fans are crazy, the band is crazy, Dominic is quite possibly deranged – but unlike a lot of bands they certainly are interesting!
Jenny Tudor.
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