Night&Day cover story: Getting Gomez

Five easy pieces

Brit band Gomez 'morphed into what we do for a living'

By Chris Nixon
January 13, 2005

When it comes to recording, most bands either lose themselves in fiery worship at the church of gritty rock or quietly meditate before the studio soundboard altar, twiddling with a sea of knobs and orchestrating every last detail. But with the British band Gomez, one style of recording (Zen studio contemplation) led to the other (fervent guitar-powered rock).

With its refined take (adding flourishes of strings, crackling electronic beats or muted mellow horns) on boogie blues, roots rock and pop harmonies, the quintet scored a major-label deal without ever playing a live show.

Ben Ottewell (vocals, guitar), Tom Gray (vocals, guitar, keyboards), Paul Blackburn (bass, guitar), Olly Peacock (drums) and Ian Ball (vocals, guitar, harmonica) created a masterpiece of pastiche rock by simply huddling in their cramped garage in a small town outside Liverpool.

The band's 1998 debut disc, "Bring It On," garnered the band the prestigious Mercury Prize, beating out the Verve, Cornershop, Robbie Williams and Massive Attack's classic "Mezzanine" album. Great Britain's Mercury Prize honors the best album of the year by a British or Irish band.

Ottewell's gravelly vocals combined with the band's bluesy atmospherics and airy instrumentation set Gomez apart from the glut of retro Brit-rock bands coming out of Europe in the late 1990s.

"When we first started out, we didn't have any money or anything," says the jovial Ball. "We just had a crap four-track (tape deck), a few dusty guitars and some drum machines we'd found. It was just about experimenting to see if we could make records that we would like to listen to, or our friends would like to listen to. Then, it just accidentally morphed into what we do for a living."

In 2002, Gomez reached its personal apex of studio layering with the brilliant album "In Our Gun," a rambling collection of electronic blues songs and acoustic ballads. The five British chaps capture the essence of bluesy acoustic music while stretching the boundaries with modern studio tactics and clever instrumentation.

But all this experimentation leads to one question: how do you pull it off live?

"Our live shows are pretty full on," says Ball about the recording process for 2004's "Split the Difference." "We encountered some difficulties with 'In Our Gun' playing it live. A lot of the songs were vitally based around loops we'd generated. We didn't want to be tied down to playing along with something.

"You can't speed up. You can't slow down. I think that was subconsciously how we ended up with a record that was quite simple. ('Split the Difference') was recorded during and around a lot of touring. In terms of its inner complexities, it was very much just rocking it out."

So Gomez plunged back into guitar-driven retro pop. For the conversion, Ball and his mates picked an unlikely partner in crime: American producer Tchad Blake.

After producing textured releases by Los Lobos, Soul Coughing and Travis, Blake guided Gomez through its most complete album to date. "Split the Difference" quickly establishes Gomez's ability to rock a mean guitar riff, while not forsaking the band's bedrock of beautiful harmonies and psychedelic dreaminess. Blake's ability to reinforce the rock sound and roll with the band's current trend of straight-ahead composing led both parties to new territory.

"I think it was very interesting for (Blake) to be confronted with a more solid rock sound, but he was great," said Ball, who now lives in Los Angeles. "What was amazing was that he didn't put one cowbell on it, because that's what he's famous for with the Latin Playboys (a Los Lobos offshoot group). But he never once suggested it. It was a constant running joke during sessions: 'When is Tchad going to get the cowbells out?' "

With "Split the Difference" almost a year back in the rearview mirror, Ball and Gomez will continue on the "live" theme. During its upcoming West Coast swing, the band will be recording during three nights at San Francisco's classic Fillmore theater for a live album.

The group's two dates at the Belly Up Tavern in Solana Beach will serve as a warm-up to the Bay Area shows: "San Diego is going to be fantastic because we're just going to be experimenting with a bunch of stuff to see what works and what we're going to record.

"On the next recording, we'll probably have a few more expansive pieces as opposed to the type of song that picks you up by the scruff of the neck, thrashes you around for two minutes and just drops you on the floor," says Ball about the band's plans to start recording another studio record in early 2005. "So we'll probably calm things down a little for the next album. But you never know, maybe we'll turn into Slayer. Slayer with harmonies, God help us."

Whether delving into zealous garage rock revelry or searching for studio perfection, the five geezers in Gomez seem to be staying true to one of their more poignant lyrics from "Split the Difference": We don't know where we're going, but we're on our way.

Chris Nixon is a San Diego music writer.


Gomez basics
Hometown: Southport, England

Discography:

"Split the Difference" – May 18, 2004

"In Our Gun" – 2002

"Abandoned Shopping Trolley Hotline" – 2000, B-sides and rarities

"Liquid Skin" – 1999

"Bring It On" – 1998


Lineup:
Ben Ottewell – vocals, guitar

Tom Gray – vocals, guitar, keyboards

Paul Blackburn – bass, guitar

Olly Peacock – drums

Ian Ball – vocals, guitar, harmonica


Desert Island Discs:
When asked about the few CDs he'd take to a desert island, Gomez's Ian Ball quipped: "Of course the I-Pod has rendered that question irrelevant, but having said that, here are three random choices of things I could listen to over and over-and-over again:"

The Necks, "Drive-By" (2003, Morphius Records):

File under: Space jazz soundtrack for the elevator to Mars.

"There's an Australian band called the Necks. They're a three-piece, madcap jazz band that do hour-long wonderful improvisations. So I'd take one of their albums. Probably 'Drive-By.' I listen to a lot of music on airplanes, so I really like ambient music. Not ambient in a cheesy, New Age way, but ambient like I'm in a ship going to Mars kind of way."

Rafael Toral, "Violence of Discovery" (2003, Touch Records):

File under: Guitar soundscapes in the tradition of Robert Fripp.

"There's a Portuguese guitar player called Rafael Toral who operates in a similar type of world like 'Whoa, what planet am I on?' That would have me out for the count."

Charlie Patton, "The Best of Charlie Patton" (2003, Yazoo Records):

File under: Delta blues from a dusty 78 rpm record.

"And then I'd bring one record to sing along with, probably some kind of Charlie Patton compilation. He did only enough music to fit on three CDs. Probably his first two recording sessions, I'd take that along."

– CHRIS NIXON

TEXANS LIKE TO RAISE A RUCKUS
By Chris Nixon
San Diego Union-Tribune
Jan. 6, 2005

It’s 9:30 a.m., and Bowling For Soup lead singer Jaret Reddick is hung over: “Last night was (bassist) Eric’s 30th birthday. So he and I did an acoustic show at a bar in Fort Worth. We managed to drink ourselves into a stupor for his 30th birthday. Boy, am I paying the price today.”

After relaxing with family and friends over the holidays, the four Texans embark on a new tour in the first few months of 2005 in support of “A Hangover You Don’t Deserve.” Reddick sheepishly admits: “I deserved this one.”

Hailing from the mid-sized city of Wichita Falls, Texas, the congenial Reddick and his band mates effortlessly merge easy-going pop punk and catchy, hilarious lyrics into infectious singles. “Hangover” represents the group’s seventh full-length disc and its third with major label Jive Records. So how did four punkish party kids from Texas end up on the same label as Britney Spears and ‘NSync?

“It one of these things: this label comes to these guys that are all broke,” says Reddick, sounding chipper despite his admittedly dilapidated physical state. “A couple of us are homeless and one of us is living with his parents. And they were like: ‘Look. Here’s the deal. We want to have a rock band on our label and we have the marketing power to make bands happen such as ‘NSync and R. Kelly and Britney Spears.’ To us, it was a no-brainer: ‘Does this mean we actually get to have apartments? O.K. Is there ink in this pen, or should we sign our names in blood?’ So it really made sense for us at the time.”

At first, it seemed the label didn’t know how to handle Bowling For Soup. The band’s first Jive release – 2000’s “Let’s Do It For Johnny” – met with disappointing sales and media response. The confusion lay with both sides: Reddick didn’t know what sort of songs a pop label wanted and the label seemed perplexed about the correct way to promote the band’s brand of rambunctious pop punk.

“I think about a year into the deal, both Jive Records and Bowling For Soup were looking at each other like: ‘What have we done to each other?’ says Reddick. “So the first record tanked. I wrote some songs. We sent them the demos and they fell in love with them. So when ‘Drunk Enough to Dance’ came out, obviously things got way better relationship-wise between us and the label.”

The 2002 release “Drunk Enough to Dance” produced the breakout hit “Girls All the Bad Guys Want.” The single led Bowling For Soup from Texas to the Grammy Awards’ red carpet, earning the boys a nomination for Best Performance Pop By a Duo or Group with Vocal. U2’s “Stuck In a Moment You Can’t Get Out Of” won the honor, but the quartet gained credibility, notoriety and hometown cred.

“Honestly, growing up in Wichita Falls, Texas, I don’t think they even get the Grammys on T.V.; you want to talk about worlds away,” says the humble Reddick. “The cool thing is that we got nominated for the Grammy Award, and that city was actually really proud of us. I thought they were going to give us the freakin’ key to the city. That just not something that happens to a bunch of fat kids from Wichita Falls, Texas who move off to deliver rock ‘n’ roll to the world. It just doesn’t happen.”

Reddick – who writes all of the band’s songs and lyrics – decided to collaborate with members of Fastball, Nerf Herder and the Nixons in Bowling For Soup’s 2004 follow-up “A Hangover You Don’t Deserve.” The album’s clever first single “1985” deals with a soccer mom’s obsession with her neon youth, posing immortal questions like “When did Motley Crew become classic rock” and “When did Ozzy become an actor?”

“We were all teenagers in 1985,” reflects Reddick. “We are all satelliting 30 years old right now. We’re not really making fun (of our generation), more paying tribute to. It was definitely a decade that shaped us and made us who we are. I think that’s true for most people who grow up in a certain time. When you’re 12 and you see the Motley Crue “Looks That Kill’ video on T.V., it will have an impact.”

While the members of Bowling For Soup ease into their early 30s, don’t expect Reddick’s maturity to start seeping into his music like Poway’s blink-182.

“There’s a big difference between us and (blink-182),” says Reddick, who plays SOMA with Bowling For Soup on Sunday. “They are great musicians and they make great records and I think they’re great businessmen. Those guys have grown up. They have taken that growing up into their music and they’ve done it really, really well. I’ve grown up: I have a wife and a kid and a mortgage and two car payments. When I’m home, it’s very serious. But me as a person, I like to laugh. I like to make people laugh. I think that music is an escape from those things in life that bring us down, especially if you’re listening to my music. I do talk about serious stuff, but I always try to put some sort of humorous twist on it. So at the end of the day, there’s a little light that shines and makes us all feel better. It’s almost like Robitussin: It just makes you feel better.”

Chris Nixon is a San Diego music writer.