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Otherness are a young rock collective from La Patagonia, Argentina.

OTHERNESS at Other's Playground

Martin Other (vocals and guitar), Gonzalo Other (vocals and bass), Agustín Other (lead guitar) and Pablo Other (drums) started to play together by the end of 2009. They've toured Europe and Latin America, making a big impact in both Argentinean and UK's underground music scene.

Martin Other, vocals & guitar

Gonzalo Other, vocals & bass

In the early 00's, Martin and Gonzalo started to write songs in their hometown Comodoro Rivadavia - a windy town mostly based on the oil industry. Otherness went through a succession of drummers, the longest-lasting and key member of the combo now, Pablo Other, who joined the band by the end of 2008. Finally, after Otherness self-titled debut album, Agustin completed the group with his guitar.

Pablo Other, drums

Agustín Other, lead guitar

Early Years and first recordings

Over the past three years Otherness have made their way from the gritty town of Comodoro Rivadavia on South's America's Patagonian coast to Argentina's capitol, Buenos Aires. Their mission has been to spread their personal and musical message of 'No prejudice. No racism. No sexism...'. They use quirky alt-pop perfectly with passion and ingenuity to make their point. So far their mission has been to fans in South American capitols, small towns and villages in the lower latitudes. With their first self-titled release 'Otherness' they offered something completely fresh to US and European fans. The 8 tracks album was released by Dadastic Sounds (a small indie label from Seattle, USA).

Rock Press

Rob Sayce's words in London's 'Rock Pulse' set the stage ready for big decisions in the band. At the time, long-time hometown friend Adrián Bersais was playing keys. Finally the band played european fields for the first time in a DIY European Tour: 23 gigs in London, in venues such as 93 Feet East in Brick Lane, SOAS (Otherness played during the students' occupation), Monto Water Rats and The Dublin Castle in Camden Town among many others.

Brick Lane, 93 Feet East

In that same trip Otherness visited Italy and also played one of Torino's main fests called 'Paratissima'.

"True originality, of the peerless, rather unique variety, doesn’t come along that often in this line of work. In my opinion there’s nothing wrong with wearing your influences on your sleeve; indeed, it’s sometimes an integral part of a band’s musical development; but when a record comes along that gleefully thwarts all attempts to apply a general stylistic tag, it’s a real breath of fresh air... And this, the debut full length from Argentinean quartet Otherness, is one such genre-shirking work". 'Rock Pulse'

In a late 2010 article published in Louder Than War and written by John Robb (voted to win the UK Association of Independent Music 'Indie Champion' award) Otherness boys mentioned how the crisis in the music business turned out to be perceived as a big opportunity for them, regarding this is 'The Age of Dialogue' and digital platforms' contribution to develop a music career are a nowadays 'must'. 'We have a strong belief in our music and we know that ‘crisis’ means ‘opportunities’ to people like us'. Otherness- Argentinean electro punks tour Europe and leave us their tour diary

Otherness music had such unexpected impact in Europe that Dimitris Antonopoulos from Athens, Greece published a long article on the band sharing stage with Glen Matlock (former Sex Pistols). From that moment on Otherness music is heard in Radio Kaliena

Back in their hometown, the boys had a strange recognition regarding it was the first time ever in the history of Comodoro Rivadavia that a local band get to play in national mainstream TV ("Un Mundo Perfecto", hosted by Roberto Pettinato) and tour Europe the same year. Otherness popped up to the covers of magazines and papers such as Noche Polar and Diario Crónica.

Finally, in 2011 and after being mostly ignored by the mainstream Buenos Aires press because of their innerlands' origin and singing in a foreign language, the group is featured in one of the biggest papers of Argentina: Diario La Nación Espectáculos.

Cultural Background

The cultural background of Otherness is the result of the interaction of diversities. Authors like James Joyce, Jean-Paul Sartre, Charles Dickens and William Burroughs coexist in harmony with inspiring figures from Argentina such as Diego Maradona, Jorge Luis Borges, Carlos Gardel, Atahualpa Yupanqui, Astor Piazzolla, Che Guevara and Diego Capusotto. Everything contributed to the development of Otherness' artistic ID, even comedians like Charles Chaplin, Buster Keaton, Monthy Python, Groucho Marx, Woody Allen, Bill Hicks and George Carlin.

Argentine Rock

Argentine Rock began in the middle 60's and has a large tradition of very influential rock bands all along Latin America. In the quirky beginnings of Otherness, the most important bands were Sumo, leaded by the legendary Luca Prodan; Patricio Rey y sus Redonditos de Ricota, Fun People and Massacre.

By the year 2000 the cumbia villera, the preferred musical style among urban lower classes, had grown dramatically in following and in fact rivaled rock in overall popularity. Its lyrics can parallel those of U.S. rap (poverty, drugs and crime). The genre would increasingly crossover to tropical or fusion rock (as seen in Fidel Nadal, Bersuit, and Karamelo Santo), as well as with several suburban bands that were esteemed by fans of both cumbia villera and rock. Some even talked about a takeover during the height of the villera boom in 2001–2002. The reality is that villera did not take over rock. But it did arrive to stay as yet another fertile popular style of music in modern day Argentina, just as hip-hop created its place in the United States.

The current trends in Argentine Rock vary notably and it's hard to put one over another.

Music Influences

Otherness' music influences are as diverse as their playlists. Here's a list of some key artists in the way the band feel, think and play music: Nirvana, The Clash, The Beatles, Leadbelly, Jimi Hendrix, Sam Cooke, Arthur Alexander, Bob Marley, Sex Pistols, Ramones, Chuck Berry, Little Richard, Elvis Presley, Ray Charles, Bob Dylan, James Brown, Lou Reed, David Bowie, Marvin Gaye, Aretha Franklin, Patti Smith, Etta James, The Shirelles, Little Walter, Michael Jackson, Daniel Johnston, Cole Porter, Neil Young, Tom Waits, The Marvelettes, REM, Tupac, Muddy Waters, Elton John and Foo Fighters among others.

Songwriting and Lyrics

Martin and Gonzalo built together a songwriting team for the band, in which you can easily note some clear patterns of how they work: the combination of Rhythm & Blues and Rock & Roll harmonies; Jazz and Music hall' chords for the ballads and pop songs; and the solid drum-bass relationship that provides the drive and beat to each of their songs. The powerful and solid drums are the result of Pablo's Punk Rock' background and the cutting edge guitars' arrangement show how much Agustín learned from Tom Morello, John Frusciante and Albert Hammond Jr.

Otherness lyrics show a direct message with simple language, in terms of human highs and lows from the perspective of positive thinking, freedom of expression and love.

Otherness Live Act

Otherness live shows are intense and electrifying. The band display strong sets of 40 to 45 minutes full of energy, with almost no breaks between songs.

Otherness giggin' @Groove Buenos Aires, Argentina.

The band play a setlist of self-penned songs and have covered songs like Everlong, Lucille, Bad Boy, Sacrifice, Hit the road Jack, Anarchy in the UK among others.

Otherness 2012: Social Networks and Rock Culture

In the Age of Dialogue, just like Dalai Lama said, Otherness have a strong presence in social networks such as Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, YouTube and Soundcloud and also digital music platforms like Bandcamp and MTV's brand new "Artists.MTV" (Otherness are the first argentinean rock band to be featured in the site.)

Digital Releases

Otherness released in 2012 a 4 songs EP entitled #GottaGo and 2 digital singles: "We all are likeable/ What we share" and "Like you/ She's late". All of the songs are being aired on Earbits Radio and argentinean mainstream radio stations such as Radio La 100, Radio Nacional, los 40 principales, La Mega among indie radio stations from UK, USA and the rest of the world.

We all are likeable & What we share