The Other Half is a great local band who has opened up shows for bands like Miike Snow, the MainMan band, and has even played at the Neon Desert Music Festival!
A few weeks ago I got a chance to speak with Christian Yañez (drums/vocals), Steven Seigel (guitarist/vocals), and Joseph Saucedo (bassist/vocalist) of The Other Half and there we talked about them, their musical influences and more! We were outside in the front patio area of the Lowbrow Palace a few minutes before they took the stage where I started off by asking the guys what led them to start the band. There is always something beyond just a friendship and just a bond over music that leads a group of people to start their own project. To that, Steven answered, "for the most part, we have a passion for making music. For me it's emotional. It's a form of therapy. It's a good way to connect to your city and culture by playing music that kind of made you the person that you are. We started this as a band called "Electric Social" and all three of us were previous members of it. When that died out, I just found a connection between these two guys and it felt kind of right to continue this journey with them." To follow that up, I asked them whether being a band from the border has influenced them as a band or their approach to their music. Joseph answered, "in regards to growing up on the border. You know, we derive our influences from both American and Mexican influences. We derive our sound, for the most part, from all our upbringings and nationalities." Life on the border can definitely expose one to different music and sounds so I wanted to know what kind of sound The Other Half describes themselves as. The guys joked and tried to ask me what I thought of their sound. I told them I would answer that after the interview so Steven responded, "when we started The Other Half it was four of us. Two guitarists and a bass. We were indie from beginning to end, but when we started the sound was heavier. More rock and roll in a sense, but we started transitioning to a more melodic and complex way. Not the standard bridge, chorus, bridge and I think that is what lead to the loss of our fourth member. He was more for the heavier rock and roll sound, but that was not the direction the band was going as a whole. So once it went down to the three members I wouldn't go as far as saying it's experimental, but it's also not your standard way of music writing. Our songs can tend to be kind of long sometimes and that is when that comes into play." The guys mentioned that they have "cut down" on their music writing in the sense that some of their songs used to be seven or eight minutes long. "But to answer your question, we are indie for the most part." They definitely have a complex indie sound in my opinion and it's cool to see that they are not afraid to break away from traditional music writing standards. I asked the guys if they had any big influence that has somehow translated into their music or their dynamic as a band. Steven replied, "I went to high school with Joseph and there was a moment in time where The Beatles were everything. There was also a moment in time during a bus ride home where we listed to Modest Mouse for the first time and that led to The Strokes, Arctic Monkeys, which all of us three like. Joseph has his like Interpol side, but every genre I don't have down, he does. We kind of all finish off each other. I am not too well into Hip-Hop, but you know Christian has it down." It's cool to see when a band feeds off each other and learns from each other. It's part of what makes The Other Half unique in the local music scene. As it got close to the time the guys were supposed to go on stage, I ended the interview by asking them whether they had any new material in the works and Steven answered by saying, "we are currently trying to finish up our album. We released an EP in 2015 and we plan on releasing a full length album, hopefully, within the next three or four months. Once we finish that, it's back to the drawing board again and on to the next venture!" Chrisitian added, "this will be significantly different from our EP. There will be a lot more depth to it." He was referring to how much they have improved and grown as a band in the past three years. The Other Half played a great set after the interview and it's exciting to see what they have in store for the near future! If you haven't checked them out, I recommend you do! Keep up with them on Instagram as: @theotherhalfsies !!!
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