Gomez (band)
Gomez is a British band from Southport. Their first album, Bring It On, won the Mercury Music Prize in 1998.
Early career
The genesis of Gomez was the meeting of four friends from Southport. Guitarist and vocalist Ian Ball and drummer Olly Peacock had previously played together in a local heavy metal band Severed. They joined with guitarist Tom Gray, vocalist / keyboardist / bassist Paul Blackburn. Ian Ball met vocalist / guitarist Ben Ottewell from Matlock Bath in Derbyshire at Sheffield Hallam University, where they were both studying. The band played their first gig together in late 1996 without a formal name. The band left a sign out for a friend of theirs named Gomez to indicate that this was the site of their first gig. People saw the sign and assumed that the band's name was Gomez - the name stuck.
The band started recording four track demos in a garage in Southport soon after. A bidding war erupted when they sent the demos to recording labels, with the band finally signing with Virgin Records subsidiary Hut in 1997.
Bring It On - career success
Gomez entered the recording studio in 1997 to turn their demos into a full-length album. The band spent the next three months in the studio and touring the United Kingdom with Embrace. Their first single "78 Stone Wobble" was released in March 1998, while their debut album, Bring It On, was released a month later. The album received excellent critical response from both sides of the Atlantic, with Spin Magazine calling it a "damn beautiful album". Sales of the album in the United Kingdom were bolstered when Bring It On won the 1998 Mercury Music Prize for best album, beauting out favorites such as Massive Attack's Mezzanine and the Verve's Urban Hymns. "Get Myself Arrested" and "Whippin' Piccadilly" were later released as singles, while Gomez toured the United States with Eagle Eye Cherry. Despite the critical acclaim, however, Bring It On is thus far the only Gomez album not to find a place on U.S. album charts.
The band's sophmore effort, Liquid Skin, was released in 1999 lending Gomez further success on the British and Australian album charts, as well as making the Billboard Heatseeker chart for the first time.
A collection of B-sides and rarities, Abandoned Shopping Trolley Hotline, was released in 2000.
The group's third album, In Our Gun, was released in 2002. It made the top 10 on the United Kingdom charts as well as the top 50 on the Australian charts. The single "Shot Shot" charted in the UK top 40, the top 20 in Portugal, and the Billboard Heatseeker chart.
While Gomez's first three albums had been self-produced, the band entered its new recording studio in Portslade in East Sussex with Tchad Blake as producer. Blake had previously produced albums by Tom Waits and Crowded House and pick of the dozens of tracks produced during the 18 month in the studio became their fourth album Split the Difference released in May 2004. This album has so far reached the top 40 in the UK and Australia as of the end of May 2004. The first single "Catch Me Up" entered the UK top 40 in March 2004 while "Silence" is the second single.
The album has received a good critical response, with the All Music Guide rating it as four and a half stars out of five and BBC Internet Music Reviews describing it as "one of the finest releases of the year so far. If you were one of those people who wrote them off two years ago, it's time to get listening again." [1]
In an effort to build their popularity in the US, Gomez has been touring extensively in the past few years. They played at the 2003 Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in 2003. With Ian Ball relocating to Los Angeles with his wife, the band played at venues across the US in 2004, with the band originally slated as part of the cancelled 2004 Lollapalooza tour. Spring 2005 saw the band join Cake as part of the Virgin Records Megatour of American colleges. In June 2005, Gomez released a double disc live album, Out West, compiled from shows recorded at San Francisco's Fillmore Theater in January 2005 on ATO Records.
Gomez are currently in the United Kingdom recording their next studio album which will be released through ATO Records in 2006. They were also one of the many bands featured on a John Lennon Tribute aired on BBC Radio2 to mark the 25th anniversary of the singer's death. Gomez performed "Hey Bulldog" by The Beatles, and "Instant Karma" by Lennon.
The band's next live dates are set as two performances on the Jam Cruise in January 2006.
Gomez's career trajectory has led to the band's name taking on a new meaning. Also known as "Mercury Poisoning", To "Do a Gomez" now means to release a debut album so successful and to such unanimous praise that expectations are raised to the point where it is impossible to follow it. This is in reference to the fact that whilst Bring It On is still regarded as one of the best British albums of the late nineties, its follow-ups have met a mixed critical reception and disappointing sales.
Band members
As of 2004, Gomez consisted of:
- Ian Ball (Vocals, Guitar)
- Ben Ottewell (Vocals, Guitar)
- Tom Gray (Vocals, Guitar, Keyboards)
- Paul Blackburn (Bass)
- Olly Peacock (Drums)
The lineup has not changed since the band's beginning in 1996. Instrumentalist Dajon Everett is listed as a de-facto member of the band on their official website.
Discography
Albums
- Bring It On (1998)
- Liquid Skin (1999)
- Abandoned Shopping Trolley Hotline (compilation) (2000)
- In Our Gun (2002)
- Split the Difference (2004)
- Out West (live) (2005)
EPs
- Machismo E.P. (May 2000)
Singles
- "78 Stone Wobble" (March 1998)
- "Get Myself Arrested" (June 1998)
- "Whippin' Piccadilly" (August 1998)
- "Bring It On" (June 1999)
- "Rhythm & Blues Alibi" (August 1999)
- "We Haven't Turned Around" (November 1999)
- "Shot Shot" (March 2002)
- "Sound of Sounds" / "Ping One Down" (June 2002)
- "Catch Me Up" (March 2004)
- "Silence" (May 2004)
- "Sweet Virginia" (September 2004)