Music
The best kept secret in music
Press
"Truly one of the most promising EPs that I've heard in quite some time" - Music For Robots
"Watching Other Passengers, I felt the same way that I did seeing the Walkmen at that WBAR show in 2001: these guys are about to blow up, and I can see why..." - More In The Monitor
"Bank hypnotizes you before the vocals come in and simply take control. It's a commanding performance, the sort of thing that, when placed at the center of the psychedelic swirl of guitars that defines most of Other Passengers first EP, seeks to control visions and induce hallucinations." - Teaching The Indie Kids To Dance Again
"One of the greatest new bands in nyc" - Echoplex
"Other Passengers are a chaotic and complex band that you probably won't "get" the first time around. But then again, what worth getting has ever been gotten right away? " - Oh My Rockness
"In the Belly is creepy, intense, and as serious as a homicide. When the singer's erratic voice moans We're lookin' for the world to crumble, you know these guys mean business. The cut-it-with-a-knife tension increases 10-fold once the song reaches a stunningly dramatic conclusion, with the entire band channeling everything they're made of through their instruments, and while it's unmistakably heartbreaking, at the same time it's powerful and cathartic. ...this band's music is beautiful." - Delusions of Adequacy
Other Passengers craft dark, sexy songs that could be the perfect soundtrack for a psychological and disturbed thriller. - The Deli
- various
Discography
Is It Nothing to You, All Those Who Pass By? (SIS -001) on Sister Records. Released 10.17.2004
1. In The Belly
2. Bank
3. Sick Sick You and Everybody Else
4. Invitation to the City
Photos
Feeling a bit camera shy
Bio
Other Passengers first emerged on the underground NYC club scene just this past March 2004 but quickly grabbed above ground attention with their moody and dramatic sound: at times unbearably loud and jarring then jump cutting to the eerie and ethereal creating a collage of post-punk psychedelia that reflects the absurd city that has spawned them. Their first recordings were releases as the 4-song, 20-minute, EP Is It Nothing to You, All Those Who Pass By? on their own Sister Records imprint.
While the band itself is new, the members’ friendships go back to their high school days. After experiences in other bands around New York City, Washington, DC and Portland, OR, each of the future Other Passengers found themselves back in Brooklyn.
Billy, James and Tobin began working on songs in late 2003 and recorded a low budget demo together. They knew they would need to expand their line up in order to perform these songs live and it just so happened their old friends Kevin and Travis were available and living close by in Williamsburg. In just a few rehearsals, the band was ready to play out with even more songs and a name – Other Passengers.
The five members draw influence from a wide range of envelope pushing artists past and present like Can, Bauhaus, Sonic Youth, early Pink Floyd, Eno, RZA, Spacemen 3 (the list this biographer was provided with actually goes on much longer and gets more obscure but I think the point has been made). You can hear all these influences and how their unique sound transcends them on Is It Nothing to You, All Those Who Pass By?
Their music is intensified in a live setting by the physical push of volume against your body. Billy literally convulses from head to toe while delivering his deadpan lyrics while guitarist Kevin plays so ferociously that his guitar has snapped in two on stage. Travis’ slashing guitar is equally terse with James and Tobin propelling the band’s dynamic rhythms.
The band celebrated entering 2005 by relocating to a new home/rehearsal space in the Bushwick section of Brooklyn and have began writing and demoing new songs for their first full-length. They recorded this August just north of New Orleans and they will spend September mixing.
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