The Others excelled at classic carbon monoxide-baked garage sounds - when the band performed at their high school, it touched off a student body riot and a battle with an apoplectic teacher. With the prof carted off to the old folks home by now, the boys get the last laugh: a Sundazed reissue of their volcanic, fuzzbox-bustin' '66 single - direct from the original master tapes!
 
Our own west coast archivist Jud Cost picks up the big story:

If a smoking garage combo like the Others ever needed a letter of reference, they could point to the rich - some might say borderline schizophrenic - musical heritage of their hometown area. Growing up in the sunbaked Lancaster/Palmdale, Calif. region where Los Angeles' San Fernando Valley turns into the Mojave Desert the boys in the Others: Marty Prue (lead guitar/vocals), Mike Gotcher (vocals), John Popa (rhythm guitar), Tim Myer (bass), Monty Harper (organ) and John Duns (drums) had been in awe of a couple of slightly older local musicians.

"When my brother joined this legendary local R&B band called the Omens," recalls Prue, "he took the place of Frank Zappa. Frank played drums in the band and was about to move down to the San Fernando Valley." One of the sax players in the Omens would also soon make his mark, one Don Van Vliet, now known to the world as Captain Beefheart. "The Others became the biggest band in Palmdale," says Prue, "and Captain Beefheart was our rival band from Lancaster."

By the fall of 1964, Prue had abandoned the Townsmen, his Brothers Four-influenced folk trio and joined forces with a surf band called the Others helmed by Gotcher and Myer all hands eager to play the new music of the British Invasion. The Others reckoned they had arrived one night when the Apes the touring basketball team of the KRLA bossjocks came to Palmdale High. "We played 'Gloria' at half-time," says Prue, "before it became a hit. And the next day Kasey Kasem announced on the radio, 'You're going to hear a lot more from this group called the Others, and here's the song we heard them play last night..."

The defining moment for the Others, however, came in the spring of 1965 as house band for the Palmdale High talent assembly, backing a couple of singers, a dancer, and playing one song of their choice. "We chose 'Gloria,'" says Prue, "but we didn't play it in rehearsal because we figured Mr. Howlett, the biology teacher in charge of the show, wouldn't like it." They were right.

The first run-through of the program was electric, kids going bananas for the Van Morrison-penned finale, as Prue removed his jacket, swung it around his head and slammed it to the gym floor. "Mr. Howlett came running up to us afterwards," says Prue, "and he was steaming. He told us, 'You will not play that song for the second assembly, or I will pull the jacks out of your speakers.'"

Their artistic freedom impinged, the Others refused to perform. "Mr. Howlett announced over the PA: 'Due to circumstances beyond our control, Danny & Denny, Virginia Kyle and the Others will not be performing at the second assembly,'" chuckles Prue. "But by then the word had spread and a chant erupted from the bleachers: 'We want the Others.'" The band soon realized, however, it would be unfair to the remaining performers for them not to play. "We thought about sticking to our guns," admits Prue, still misty-eyed over the black armbands hundreds of students wore the next day in support of his group. "But in the end we went on and played 'Long Tall Sally' instead."

-by Jud Cost