Gomez

Shit, we’ve been playing songs we hadn’t played for 10 or 12 years. I’ve barely had a drink on this tour because we’ve had a lot of work to do.

story by Brian F. Johnson

On the album Whatever’s On Your Mind by British pop-rock genre benders Gomez, the lead track “Options” follows an optimistic chorus: “And that’s okay, at least I’ve got options.” After 15 years together as a group, the five childhood friends who formed Gomez most certainly do have options.

The group just launched their Quinceañera Tour to celebrate a decade-and-a-half together and in honor of the event, they have been asking fans to help choose the songs for their setlists each night on the tour. Guitarist, keyboardist and vocalist Tom Gray said that the idea to let fans pick the songs they want to hear may be one of the best decisions the band has ever made.

“It’s one of the most pleasing things we’ve ever done as a band. Most bands would be very happy to wake up in that situation,” Gray said. “We’re this polymorphic mass of a band that doesn’t really belong to any genre and it’s interesting how many people have different favorite Gomez songs. Shit, we’ve been playing songs we hadn’t played for 10 or 12 years. I’ve barely had a drink on this tour because we’ve had a lot of work to do.”

When Gray says it’s one of the coolest things they’ve done, he’s not joking. This being a reflective time for the group, he’s recently pondered the crowning achievements of Gomez, and said that he can’t really think back to a time or a moment over the years when he thought that the band was truly on the right track.

“Shit, dude,” he said in a very American way, despite his strong Scouse accent, “I don’t know if I’ve ever felt like that, and I might really be troubled if I ever did feel like that. A big part of the creative process has to be about dissatisfaction. I mean, especially working in this very collaborative group. This is not about what I want. Nobody gets to achieve their singularly creative goals in Gomez.”

But such is the life for a group that has three lead singers and four songwriters. Gomez, by its very makeup, can’t be anything but a collaborative effort with all the diversity that it breeds. And that is what Gray thinks has kept the band going all these years. “I’m not interested in doing the same shit again and again and again. And I hope the reason people are still interested in us is because they know that we don’t do that, whether or not they like the outcomes all of the time. We’ve set ourselves up to fail and succeed at the same time. Well, not set up to fail, but that it’s okay to fail. We’re interested in producing an outcome that has integrity on its own and we’re not really trying to please anyone with that,” he said.

But even with all the ups and downs that come with being in a band for 15 years, Gray said the rewards far outweigh the mistakes. “Gomez is the family that we come back to — that we’ve been in since we were kids. We’re still the same five guys who grew up together and it’s funny having worked with your best friends from school for your entire life,” Gray said. “It’s entirely different than had we formed a band in a professional way with other professional musicians. We’re not coming from that place. We’re just kind of this entity. We’re still brothers, no matter what the fuck happens.”

Gomez :: with Hey Rosetta! :: The Vic :: March 9.

Atmosphere, Blind Pilot, Chairlift, Gomez, Ida Maria, Joe Pug, Los Campesinos!, Robert Earl Keen

ATMOSPHERE
On a seemingly perpetual tour in support of last year’s When Life Gives You Lemons…, Minneapolis-based hip-hop veterans Atmosphere will bring the heartfelt beats and crossover rhymes that have made them one of the world’s most accomplished independent rap acts to the Lolla stage. Powered by the real-life lyricism of Slug and the soulful musical arrangements of Ant, Atmosphere still rocks some of the best live hip-hop this past decade has had to offer. (Saturday, 2:30-3:30, Chicago 2016 Stage) –text: Mike Scales–photo: Matt Blum

BLIND PILOT
There are few things more nerve-racking than the literal translation of this Portland duo. A blind pilot flying a plane? Terrifying. Blind Pilot the band? Quirky and engaging. The band’s balancing act between Americana folk music and pure West Coast pop is the stuff of regional expectations. Israel Nebeker and Ryan Dobrowski draw from a long history of Pacific Northwesterners who took the same decidedly lo-fi approach. But few do it as well. (Saturday, 4:15-5, BMI Stage) –text: Derek Wright

CHAIRLIFT
Retro-minded Brooklyn trio Chairlift borrows liberally from the sight, sound, and feel of ‘80s synth-pop, namely the likes of the Human League and The Chameleons. Since they were mere toddlers during the heyday of those British acts, however, Chairlift separates itself by transposing their sound with a uniquely New York computer-age backdrop. By no coincidence, Apple jumped on the band’s ultra-catchy single “Bruises” for a heavily rotated iPod commercial last year. (Saturday, 3:30-4:30, Citi Stage) –text: Andrew Clayman–photo: Bek Andersen

GOMEZ
Talented enough to switch lead singers in between songs, Gomez continues to offer up an ever-changing sound with unwavering quality. The Southport, U.K. band has a Southwestern feel to its melodies which are executed with completely natural beauty. Veterans of the summer festival scene, the rhythmic acoustic guitar and pounding bongos of their newest release, A New Tide, just might inspire you to barefoot-dance your ass off. (Saturday, 3:30-4:30, Vitaminwater Stage) –text: Diana Novak–photo: Marty Butler

IDA MARIA
Oh my god. Ida Maria’s hot Norwegian rockatude will make you want to rip off all your clothes as you wait for her words to kiss your writhing ears. But don’t worry, this chick (born Ida Maria Børli Sivertsen) prefers you in your birthday suit. At the tender age of 25, would you expect anything less from a dramatic punk/indie rock crooner with piercing baby blue eyes? I should hope not. (Saturday, 2:15-3, Citi Stage) –text: Alexis Nido-Russo

JOE PUG
Rising Chicago singer/songwriter Joe Pug is having a moment. This summer alone he’ll perform at both Bonnaroo and Lollapalooza, as well as several folks festivals and dates with Steve Earle and Susan Tedeschi. With only one EP under his belt (2008’s Nation of Heat), Pug has rode ubiquitous critical acclaim and endless comparisons to a young acoustic Bob Dylan to a remarkable ascendance into the public eye — and he’s just getting warmed up. (Saturday, 3-3:45, BMI Stage) –text: Tim Slowikowski

LOS CAMPESINOS!
Hailing from Cardiff, Wales, this jubilant septet creates music that is both adorable and danceable at the same time. This results from the congregation of spunky vocals, bass, guitar, keys, violin, melody horn and, of course, glockenspiel. They gained quite a buzz with their 2008 debut Hold On Now Youngster and, feeling this wasn’t enough, released We Are Beautiful, We Are Doomed the same year. If you like fun, attend this set. (Saturday, 2:30-3:30, Budweiser Stage) –text: Anthony Spina–photo: Jon Bergman

ROBERT EARL KEEN
Robert Earl Keen befriended Lyle Lovett while a student at Texas A&M University and, disappointed in the college music scene, he set off to make it better. Keen wrote for a newspaper after college and in 1984 he released his debut No Kinda Dancer, and hasn’t stopped writing since. Twenty-five years and 15 country/folk albums later, Keen has established a nice little niche for himself based out of his ranch in Medina, Texas. (Saturday, 3:30-4:30, PlayStation Stage) –text: Jyn Radakovits

Gomez

It got to the point where everyone knows about [the environment]. I mean, kids are learning about it at a lot younger age. So it works out for us all. Obviously we’ve got a lot of good press about it, but now people beyond just the music press are talking about it.

story by Derek Wright
photo by Kevin Westenberg

Gomez is in a state of flux. For the 5-piece British ensemble, 2006 was a year of change. The former Mercury Prize winners found themselves with a new record label, new homes and an increased road schedule — one that drummer Olly Peacock called “the most intense year of touring the band has ever done.”

Peacock’s June relocation to New York mirrors his bandmates’ Stateside moves, as guitarist/vocalist Ian Ball lives in Los Angeles, bassist Paul Blackburn is in Detroit while Ben Ottewell and Tom Gray still stomp around Brighton, England. The distance hasn’t had the digital influence on Gomez’s sound that one might expect, with some of the writing done continents apart via the Internet. It’s actually had the reverse influence. How We Operate — the group’s fifth studio LP — is their most raw and intimate release to date. And with a newly public focus on the environment, the band’s catalogue isn’t the only thing becoming more naturalistic.

Chicago Innerview: When How We Operate was released, most of the press keyed on how this was a fresh start. After nine months, has it been what you expected?
Olly Peacock: I would say so. We changed a lot — a new label, worked with a producer for the first time and got a new manager. It’s been quite exciting; that was to be expected. As far as sales and promotions go, the change has done wonders. We’re getting more press and I think — in three weeks — we surpassed what the last record did in a year.

Chicago Innerview: How much of that is because of [new label] ATO Records?
Olly Peacock: It’s hard to say. I think it was the music’s doing. It’s difficult to step back and analyze it from that perspective. We did make a conscious effort to make this album a bit more appealing, to make it a ‘band’ record and do something more organic with us playing instruments and having it stripped down…instead of us just messing around with things. I think ATO just had good music to work with.

CI: What did they say about your new environmentally savvy ‘green bus’?
OP: That’s something that is very interesting. We all knew about bio-diesel — which right now the bus isn’t entirely converted. I think it’s something like 80 percent normal and 20 percent bio-diesel. It costs a fortune to convert it entirely right now.

CI: Is this something you’ve talked to other bands about?
OP: Obviously there are people like Willie Nelson who are famous for having a green bus; and a lot of other entertainers are supporting that cause.

CI: So why do something about it now?
OP: It became affordable. For a band our size to do it on our own, it would have been impossible; it costs a fortune. It is still a bit of a hassle, and it’s impossible to find bio-diesel everywhere on tour. So then we started to do the recycling thing on tour and try to stay environmentally smart and just make sure everyone knows about it.

CI: How is it suddenly affordable?
OP: We had some companies approach us and said that if we wanted to do it, they would help support us by taking on some of the costs.

CI: Is the environment something you all have always cared about, or did this come about recently?
OP: It got to the point where everyone knows about it. I mean, kids are learning about it at a lot younger age. So it works out for us all. Obviously we’ve got a lot of good press about it, but now people beyond just the music press are talking about it.

Gomez :: with Ben Kweller :: The Vic :: March 1 & 2.

Gomez

Our first record was written drunk, after the pub mostly…We came from nowhere and no one expected our demo to do as well as it did. We had no expectations of it really. We were just like let’s go and play music.

story by Charley Rogulewski

Gomez wasn’t the first band to ever put together a demo tape in a poorly insulated garage while their parents were out, nor were they the first to rent out a huge mansion, fill it up with instruments, and use it as a creative haven. Even with their latest recording, due out this May, Gomez wasn’t novel with their self-assembled recording studio idea either.

Yet, the music that Gomez pioneers within the walls of such set-ups is a thousand times more unique than any recording style out there. Ironically enough for this group, their innovation in music best labels them as an unclassifiable act. Describing them to a friend gets you into a tongue twister of confusion that causes you to stick -like, -esque, and -ey on every genre title in music. One thing is for sure. Gomez doesn’t sound like any other band out there.

“I don’t know,” ponders guitarist Ben Ottewell, whose coarse but sweet voice attributes to the eclectic nature of his band’s music. “It’s like when you get a haircut and you try to describe it to someone and you can’t really picture it until you see it. That’s how I’d describe our music, but I like it when people describe it as a stew.” This stew of melodic symmetry is brought to a boil by attention-deficit musicians who grew up hyperactive on every type of music from the Beatles to Pearl Jam to Primal Scream.

The quintet behind this new organic version of British pop-rock is comprised of the very down-to-earth Ottewell, guitarist/harmonica player Ian Ball, percussionist/guitarist Olly Peacock, guitarist/bassist Paul Blackburn, and guitarist/keyboardist Tom Gray. Along with its manic instrumental structure, Gomez attains its originality by swapping mic time between the group’s three vocalist: Ottewell, Ball, and Gray. Their multi-layered style outcasts Gomez as a black sheep in the U.S. music scene.

“We’re in between pop and jam, or outside, or whatever. We’re clearly not a jamband,” assures Ottewell, “but a lot of those people seem to be into us. We played with the String Cheese Incident at the 2003 New Year which was strange, but fun,” he reminisces. “It was like going back in time, like into ’67 or something. It was fantastic, but very odd for an Englishman. It was like an irony vacuum, but good fun.”

It’s true that finding a place in the American music scene has been hard for Gomez. Their music doesn’t grab the attention of any particular audience, yet at the same time it can snatch the attention of hardcore members of the most unusual of fringe genres.

“We once played a show in Vancouver. Normally our audiences are kind of cool, but there was this one guy right in the front, this huge guy with a bald head, shirtless, topless, right off of Pantera in this pretty crushed hall,” laughs Ottewell. “This massive fucking guy who in the crushed room had all this personal space because no one wanted to go near him. He was enjoying it all the way through the show. Shouting along. We all spot this guy and during ‘Get My Self Arrested’, Ian put the mic in front of him for him to sing along and the guy sounded like a death metal singer, he was the loudest thing ever. It was fabulous. He sounded like Tom Araya of Slayer. He moshed all the way through. It was great to have this type of guy there, but it’s like you never know what to expect. It’s good that a guy like that can appreciate our music.”

While their music hasn’t been able to ride the American mainstream tidal wave, back in the U.K. they have headlined Glastonbury, they will sell out four consecutive nights in large London auditoriums, and they have been awarded with their homeland’s Grammy equivalent of “Album of the Year” for their 1998 debut Bring It On. Fame and recognition sort of happened upon Gomez back home in the U.K. and not vise versa.

What started as a group of young guys having fun by enjoying music escalated into almost instantaneous rock stardom.

“Our first record was written drunk, after the pub mostly!” admits Ottewell. “We didn’t have a lot of pressure from the start at all, to be honest. We came from nowhere and no one expected our demo to do as well as it did. We had no expectations of it really. We were just like let’s go and play music.”

What happened next for Gomez could coin them as the luckiest sons of bitches in the music industry. The buzz off their drunken demo sessions was felt by the A&R community after an acquaintance handed a copy off to someone he know in the music business. The labels – dozens of them – soon came after Gomez. They signed with Hut/Virgin and went back into the studio to embellish their 7-track demo into the 12-track “Record Of The Year” that it would later become. With their 1999 follow up, Liquid Skin, Gomez faced down the typical sophomore slump challenge.

“It was luck in the start and then there was a little bit more pressure. But the pressure’s only to be as a good as your last record. That’s just being ourselves and not really hard for us to do,” explains Ottewell. Again Gomez, being the lucky sons of bitches that they are, created a highly acclaimed follow-up to their debut that left them still sounding like Gomez and not like some rock and roll wannabes. From there Gomez took its sweat-provoking skills on the road, touring all over Europe and North America.

They released Abandoned Shopping Trolley Hotline and the Machismo EP, a 15-track album with 12 previously unreleased tracks that failed to garner the praise of their prior albums. Burnt out from rigorous touring, Gomez took a break and then went back into the studio at the end of 2001 to record another highly raved about but poorly publicized album. In Our Gun sold poorly but showed an evolution in the sweet bizarre musicianship of Gomez with concoctions of tenacious and lucid electricity.

“We pushed ourselves to be weird when we didn’t really need to because it’s not what we do best. I mean interesting we do quite well,” asserts Ottewell. “Layered and esoteric, but not downright weird. A lot of people do that better than us.” While the electric intensity of In Our Gun might have been a bit unusual for Gomez, the album’s songwriting was opinionated in about everything from President Bush’s confusing 2000 election win to an ode about British club owner and playboy Peter Stringfellow in “Miles End”, in which the lyrics proclaim: “He’s fortunate; he can’t tell a lie. Redheads, blondes, brunettes – they all fall for his lines. He’s been king now for so long; his days are numbered.”

Lyrics have started to mature from the ballads about tripping on LSD at a Beck concert off Bring It On. It’s hard to imagine what the next album will sound like in the Gomez discography. “Our sensibility is being pop rock,” Ottewell assures us. “We decided to do that again instead of being weird. It’s quite a relief really. There are a lot of bands that mix electronic and rock really well. We’re still doing that to a certain extent, but just not as much. Our new record is going to have punchy, catchy little numbers. The first three songs are less than three minutes long each. We wanted to make this record a bit more consolidated.”

Gomez’s short attention span toward their own music allows them to keep songs fresh and energetic, something that will most likely filter into their next album. Regardless of what the new tunes will sound like or how difficult it might be to describe them to a friend, Gomez will drench anyone that comes to their gig in a sweat-driven dance frenzy – even the random, bald, shirtless guy straight off of Slayer tour. And that’s enough to classify them in their own species of music.

Gomez will play with Rachael Yamagata at the Vic Jan. 29.