For the English blokes of Gomez, careers as famed trans-Atlantic musicians have turned out beautifully so far.
With four albums under its belt, the quintet's eccentric conglomeration of rock, blues, electronica, jazz and soul continues to attract fans from both Europe and America.
"When we first went over to America, like anywhere, we were still kind of quite naive in terms of what was going on and how the reaction would be. We just got on with stuff and played as well as we could at the time," recalled Gomez drummer Olly Peacock. "It was a little bit daunting at first but it was just great. It ended up being people of all ages with all different backgrounds, which is still the case."
"It's hard to say if there is really any kind of concept at all to our new album. We kind of do stuff and think about it later," said Peacock. "We've been writing tunes for this album for a long time here and there just at home individually. We'll probably end up with about 30 tunes to make something like a 12-track album."
Formed in 1996, Gomez sprouted up in Southport, England, just outside of Liverpool.
"Southport is a fairly large town on the coast, and it's generally full of old people with a lot of golf courses and a lot of cheesy clubs," said Peacock.
Ball (Gomez singer and guitarist) and Peacock, born just two days apart, have known each other their whole lives.
"It's interesting from the point of view to see how we progress musically at the moment," explained Peacock. "I'll hear him do certain things that he's not done before and I'm doing things I haven't done before, and it's interesting to step back and actually look at each other for the first time in a long time and really to see yourself maturing. "
In their late teens, Ball and Peacock, now 27, joined musical forces with Blackburn (singer and bassist) and Gray (singer, guitarist, keyboards) in Southport.
Away at school in the city of Sheffield, England, is where Ball found Ottewell (singer and guitarist), a native of Matlock Bath in Derbyshire, England, who rounded out the group.
"It's funny that we were kids jamming in the garage and it's now gotten to the stage where we are doing it professionally," added Peacock. "It's strange to say the least, but it's good and we have always gotten along really well while still doing our own thing at the same time. We've always given each other space and so it's a good healthy vibe."
Early in their career, Ottewell and Ball commuted between Southport and Sheffield to jam and record on a four-track in a garage with the rest of Gomez. Ball, Ottewell and Gray rotated on the lead vocals of each tune and the method of creating music took on a form of egalitarianism. The sounds of Gomez reflect such a process, and represent the band's divergent and sweeping musical tastes.
"As friends, it just helps in most situations. You're more sympathetic and patient with each other, and it becomes a communal kind of thing rather than being in a band for the sake of being in a band," explained Peacock. "There are times when we are on tour, somebody wakes up and they're already pissed off at everybody else, then we tell them to 'shut up' and everything later on gets kind of chilled out."
After recording a seven-track demo, Gomez signed with the British label Hut Recordings and eventually released its debut album, "Bring It On," in the UK. In 1998, Mercury Music nominated and later presented the band with the best album of the year award. Later that year, Gomez won the "Q" Award for best new artist. It also garnered nominations for best British group, album and newcomer in the 1999 Brit Awards.
The band completed work on its sophomore album, "Liquid Skin," in 1999 which entered the UK charts at No. 2. Gomez then took to the road for a U.S. tour.
In 2000, Gomez released the compilation project, "Abandoned Shopping Trolley Hotline," and its latest work, "In Our Gun," in 2002.
For "In Our Gun," the group rented out a manor in Gloucester, England, and recorded there over a two-month period. As in the past, Gomez achieved a delicate balance of its symphonic preferences by creating a consonant blend of dissimilar styles thriving in commune.
Gomez also integrated the world of electronica -- usually associated with tones and textures defined as cold and esoteric -- as a way to augment the warmer elements of its compositions.
As far as Peacock's musical tastes, he said it's usually related to his mood at any given time. Lately, he's been into the weird, mysterious band Kraftwerk from Germany along with several contemporary pop bands.
"Kraftwerk is coming from a very intellectual background in terms of what they were trying to do and they're so far ahead of the game. It's kind of one of those things where over the last 20 years of music, they've inspired everybody," added Peacock. "There are a few good pop songs around. The White Stripes have some good stuff out at the moment. Massive Attack sounds great. It's kind of like if I'm feeling this mood, I'll put this on. If I'm feeling pissed off, maybe Slayer will go in the stereo or something. So, it's all over the shop."
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