OTIS was founded at the end of 2005 and played its first show in 2006. So far they did shows all over Europe together with bands such as Coalesce, Nomeansno, Burning Love, Torche, NRA, Rise And Fall, Electric Eel Shock, Jello Biafra, Coliseum, Born From Pain, Monotonix and Baroness.
In 2006 they released a split 10" with Daily Fire and in 2007 their debut album Good Cop Bad Mood. This record was well received by the press, comparing Otis to Helmet, Snapcase, At The Drive-In, Refused, Fugazi, Hot Water Music, The Melvins and Black Flag.
In June 2009 a limited split tape with The Unborn was released, directly followed by their second album Storm Is Coming. Next to the comparisons drawn when Good Cop Bad Mood came out, this time the press also spoke of Unsane, Botch, Drive Like Jehu, Minutemen, Dag Nasty and Breach. The 11 minute closing piece reminisced of acts like Zu, The Ex, John Zorn and Sonic Youth.
Storm Is Coming was released during a 4 show weekender supporting the legendary Nomeansno. A month later Otis opened for Jello Biafra in a (nearly sold out) main hall of The Netherlands' #1 venue, the Amsterdam Paradiso.
At the end of 2009 they did a number of shows with 2 drummers, and are currently writing en demoing a whole bunch of new songs (and some covers). A selection of these recordings, as well as live material, will gradually be released via the band's website www.hail-otis.com as free downloads.