The cheeky Olly Peacock is in his current home base of New York. It's been a little over a decade since Gomez originally formed in the UK, and he's certainly eager to talk about everything from their brand new album and their upcoming Australian tour to hybrid foods.
yourGigs (yG):It's been a couple of years since you last presented us with How We Operate. How's the new recording going?
Olly Peacock (OP): We have been beavering away for the last few months, finishing it all up. We've been on and off doing it through the last six months or so. We recorded some of it in Virginia, but most of the work was done in the Chicago.
yG: The five of you are originally from the UK, but where are you all based now?
OP: I'm in New York, Ian [Ball] is in LA, Blackie [real name Paul Blackburn] is in Detroit, and Ben [Ottewell] and Tom [Gray] are both in Brighton in England. Unless Tom or Ben move to somewhere like Tokyo we couldn't really be much further apart [Laughs].
yG: How did Gomez come together originally?
OP: Strangely, Ian and I were born three days apart in the same hospital, so our parents got to know each other, so that's how we met [Laughs]. Myself, Ian, Blackie and Tom all met at college in our hometown of Southport in England. Ian and Ben met at Sheffield University and from there we decided to get a band together. We played around until such time that we made a demo, Ian handed it in to a friend ... and long story short, in the end we got signed and pretended to be a band, basically [Laughs].
yG: In terms of recording, have you done anything differently this time round?
OP: We've got in a different producer, Brian Deck [who has produced Josh Ritter and Modest Mouse]. He's very open-minded, which encouraged us a lot. We also played around with some instrumentation a lot more. We've got clarinets, guest singers, and I'd say we were being a little more experimental and pushing things forward.
yG: Speaking of guest singers, I hear that you had Amy Millan (from Broken Social Scene, Stars) do a guest spot on the new album. How did that come about?
OP: She's got a really sweet, addictive voice. It's something we've been trying to hook up for a few years and because we were actually at the stage of recording, it gave us time to hunt her down. One day she was in Turkey, one day she was in Mexico; when it came down to it, she literally did it in 15 minutes in the studio.
yG: Ben and Ian are both doing solo tours. Do you find this puts any pressure on you?
OP: I think if anything, it's a good thing; if any of us have an urge to do their own rock opera or whatever they need to do, it's nice. [Laughs].
yG: You'll be in Australia to tour for the Falls Festivals, and your own separate tour with the Black Keys and Dr Dog. What can people expect from your live show?
OP: We've followed the Black Keys for a really, really long time; we're big fans of their stuff. It got suggested by management and we thought it would be killer. As for the shows themselves, it's an eclectic affair, and it'll be a real melting pot of music. If we could have some pyrotechnics we would, but we can't do that yet, sadly...
yG: How do you perform at festivals compared to say, your own shows on a tour?
OP: Oh it's great. It's like a gamble. It's the best when people are looking at you at the start of a set like "Oh these guys are a bunch of dickheads", but then a few more songs into it they could be liking your tunes. It's Russian roulette!
yG: How do you guys classify your music? You seem to draw from a lot of different influences.
OP: I honestly don't know. There are a lot of bands we held in high esteem, but we never aimed to sound like anyone or like a particular genre. In the end, in a journalistic point of view, everyone wants us to have a fucking name to label ourselves under. Some people go along the vein of blues, swamp, electronic, rock, indie; maybe I'll try and think of a word for that. Maybe you should come up with a word.
yG: Me?
OP: Yeah! Maybe we could glue together parts of the word. You know in America, they'll create a "croissandwich"? Like a croissant and a sandwich?
yG: So after your visit to Australia, what's next for Gomez?
OP: Well we'll be getting ready for the release March '09. We'll be doing a whole heap of touring, the States [and] England. We'll probably be in Australia again before you know it. In fact, we'll probably be on the offensive until such time that Australians are like, "Oh god, they just toured. Go away".
Carrie Dennes
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