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| Background information |
| Origin |
Southport, England |
| Genre(s) |
Indie rock, Folk |
| Years active |
1996–present |
| Label(s) |
ATO, Hut,
Independiente |
| Website |
[1] |
| Members |
Ian Ball
Ben Ottewell
Tom Gray
Paul Blackburn
Olly Peacock |
Gomez is an English indie rock band from Southport.
Their first album, Bring It On, won the Mercury
Music Prize in 1998.
|
Contents
- 1 Early
career
- 2 Bring
It On - career success
- 3 Personnel
- 4 Discography
- 4.1 Albums
- 4.2 EPs
- 4.3 Singles
- 5 External
links
|
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 called Providence.
They joined with guitarist / vocalist / keyboardist
Tom Gray and bassist Paul
Blackburn. Ian Ball met vocalist / guitarist Ben Ottewell from Matlock
Bath in Derbyshire
at Sheffield University, where
they were both studying.
The band played their first gig together in late 1996 in Leeds without a
formal name. The band left a sign out for a friend of theirs whose
surname was Gomez
to indicate that it 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 Olly's dad's
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, beating 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 second album, 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, Crowded
House and Pearl
Jam and a pick of the dozens of tracks produced during the 18 months in
the studio became their fourth album Split
the Difference released in May 2004. This album
reached the top 40 in the UK and Australia. The first single "Catch Me
Up" entered the UK top 40 in March 2004 and "Silence" was released as
the second single.
Split the Difference
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." [2]
However, despite all the positive attention, Gomez was dropped
by their longtime label, Virgin Records. Hut
Recordings was discontinued by the major label and while the majority
of musicians were moved to other labels within the EMI Records group, 20%
of signed artists with Hut were released.
In 2005, Gomez signed a new deal with Dave Matthews’ (of the Dave
Matthews Band) ATO Records. Under a new label, the band
released their first live album, Out West
in June 2005. The double disc CD was compiled from shows recorded at
San Francisco’s famous Fillmore Theater in January 2005.
In an effort to build their popularity in the US, Gomez has
been touring extensively in the past few years. They played at the 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 and were originally
slated to be a 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 January 2006 the band performed on Jamcruise before
returning to the studio to put the final touches on "How
We Operate." After playing the SxSW
music festival in Austin, Tom, Ian and Ben debuted
material from the upcoming release in several US cities. The band's
2006 spring tour included stops in Asheville NC, Chicago, Minneapolis,
Kansas City, Denver, San Francisco, and Portland, OR. They also
performed at several large outdoor festivals, including stops at the
Beale Street and Bonnaroo Festivals in Tennessee, the
Jazzfest in New Orleans and Sasquatch Festival in George, WA.
The Gomez studio album "How We Operate" was released on May 2, 2006. The album's
title track was featured in the Grey's Anatomy episode "Deterioration
of the Fight or Flight Response." On February 14, 2006 their song "Get Miles" was featured in the
House
episode Distractions, and on March 6, 2007 their song "See
the World" was featured in the episode "Half-Wit". 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.
"How We Operate" is also the ending song to the remake of the
cult classic "The Hitcher" and as the title music for the pilot episode
of "The Riches"
A collection of A’s, B’s and rarities titled Five Men In A Hut (CD)
was released on October 17, 2006. The two-disc album consists of
released and unreleased tracks recorded under the Hut/Virgin label from
1998-2004.
Gomez continues to tour, right now co-headlining a 2007 U.S.
tour with label-mate Ben Kweller. At the end of March, the
band will go solo with an Australian/New Zealand tour. Then in July
Gomez will head back to the states headlining a second leg of their
U.S. tour.
On Wednesday, April 18, 2007, Gomez performed in a
concert that was streamed live via MSN Music.
Personnel
- Ian Ball (vocals, guitar)
- Ben Ottewell
(vocals, guitar)
- Paul Blackburn (bass)
- Tom Gray (vocals, guitar,
keyboards)
- 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.
Most Gomez songs feature more than one vocalist, but this is a
breakdown of the lead vocalist on each track from the CD How We Operate
[3]:
- Ian: Notice, Hamoa Beach, Charley Patton Songs, Cry On
Demand
- Ben: See The World, How We Operate, Chasing Ghosts With
Alcohol, Tear Your Love Apart, All Too Much
- Tom: girlshapedlovedrug, Woman! Man!, Don't Make Me Laugh
Discography
Albums
| Cover |
Title |
Year |
UK Chart |
US Heatseeker |
US Billboard 200 |
 |
Bring It On |
1998 |
#11 |
- |
- |
 |
Liquid Skin |
1999 |
#2 |
#30 |
- |
 |
Abandoned
Shopping Trolley Hotline |
2000 |
#10 |
#44 |
- |
 |
In Our Gun |
2002 |
#8 |
#37 |
- |
 |
Split the Difference |
2004 |
#12 |
#11 |
#191 |
 |
Out
West |
2005 |
#145 |
#46 |
- |
 |
How We Operate |
2006 |
#69 |
#1 |
#106 |
 |
Five Men In A Hut (CD) |
2006 |
TBA |
TBA |
TBA |
 |
Five Men In A Hut (DVD) |
2006 |
TBA |
TBA |
TBA |
EPs
- Machismo E.P.
(May 2000) N/A
- Detroit Swing
'66/Ping One Down (July 1 2002) N/A
- See The World E.P.
(October 2006) N/A
- Girlshapedlovedrug E.P.
(November 13 2006) N/A
Singles
| Title |
Date |
UK Chart |
| 78 Stone Wobble |
April
6, 1998 |
# 44 |
| Get Myself Arrested |
June
8, 1998 |
# 45 |
| Whippin' Piccadilly |
September 7, 1998 |
# 35 |
| Bring It On |
July
5, 1999 |
# 21 |
| Rhythm & Blues Alibi |
September 6, 1999 |
# 18 |
| We Haven't Turned Around |
November 22, 1999 |
# 38 |
| Shot Shot |
March
11, 2002 |
# 28 |
| Sound of Sounds / Ping
One Down |
June
10, 2002 |
# 48 |
| Catch Me Up |
March
15, 2004 |
# 36 |
| Silence |
May
17, 2005 |
# 41 |
| Sweet Virginia |
September 6, 2004 |
# 42 |
| How We Operate |
April
17, 2006 |
N/A |
| Girlshapedlovedrug |
May
29, 2006 |
# 66 |
| See The World |
September 4, 2006 |
# 107 |
External links
