In July I wrote a somewhat humorous post that concluded with me learning that two "lesser-known" members of New Order had formed another band, brilliantly called The Other Two:
https://sporkful.blogspot.com/2021/07/rules-of-threes-bands.html
I thought that was the end of it, but I recently saw a reference to a series called The Other Two. It was not related at all, but it made me think that I should check the band of that name out.
I'm glad I did.
I have a fondness for a lot of relatively recent bands from Manchester (bands from this century), but those bands tend to be more guitar-based and kind of gritty.
Technically, Wikipedia lists the band as from Macclesfield, but Factory Records is very Manchester, and there are enough Mancunian elements that it seems reasonable to make the association.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Other_Two
So going back to 1990 Manchester, here is glorious synth that is fun and upbeat.
New Order is wonderful, but they can get kind of gloomy (perhaps less so now). That makes it striking how happy Stephen Morris and Gillian Gilbert look in the videos.
They are simply delightful.
With label issues and other projects -- and a fairly busy career writing for television, which is how the project started -- The Other Two may not have achieved all that was possible, but it remains fun to revisit them now.
I have to consider that even setbacks became opportunities. They had originally looked for another singer, and had problems with that. Gillian took voice lessons and did great.
(There is an interesting bio with lots of extraneous detail at https://www.ltmrecordings.com/the_other_two.html .)
It is wonderful that being "the other two" gave them another band and another career and a marriage and children. It didn't even require losing New Order. Gillian did take time off to raise their children and for health, but she was always welcome and her return did not displace her replacement, Phil Cunningham.
Although the band is not currently considered active, and there are not recent posts, there is a main page and a Facebook page. You can find at least three official videos, for "Selfish", "Tasty Fish", and "You Can Fly", though there is not a Youtube channel for them.
Presumably it will make more sense to follow their activities with New Order, so there is a link there as well.
https://www.facebook.com/TheOtherTwoOfficialMusic
http://www.neworderonline.com/
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