Gomez – Interview [2002]

one on one with tom gray of gomez!

How did you record this album?

We went out to the country side and recorded in a big old mansion. We were fairly cut off from everything, it was so we could have fun. We hadn’t seen each other for about six month so it was like a holiday really seeing old friends.

How long were you out there?

A couple of months.

Did you produce this one again?

Yep.

Did you go in with a pocketful of songs?

We had been writing for about six months and went right in and started recording. The first song we recorded was “Shot Shot”. That kind of set the tone for everything else. It was kind of unusual because the song was only about two and a half minutes long, so we were like ‘alright, let’s see what else we got’. It was a really enjoyable experience making the album.

Was it nice because you don’t have boundaries that would freak people out because a song was so short?

Yeah, I like that we aren’t clearly defined. We don’t define ourselves and I don’t think anyone else finds it particularly easy to define us either so it leaves us open for playfulness.

It sounds like you had fun but what made you guys wrap the songs so quickly instead of investigating more distance with them?

I think what we used to do on the other records was that we weren’t sure what to do with the song and weren’t a hundred percent confident on the quality of the song so we’d try and create other things, other textures, and so on. I think it was really just a lack of confidence and now I think we were ready to let the songs speak for themselves a bit more.

Going into a recording do you set out to achieve anything?

No, I think that would be fairly frightening if we set out to do anything. It would be wrong to say we aren’t ambitious musically because we are and we do want to entertain and startle people with music. One thing we do as a statement of intent, if you like, is to try and avoid clichés. They are the crux of the crippled mind the cliché. If we don’t enjoy something when we are recording it we just stop doing it. You don’t have the best job in the world and not enjoy yourself.

Did you record a lot of songs?

Yeah, I have no idea how many, but we always end up with all these freak child songs that never make it on the album and we listen to them and we are like ‘what were we thinking that day?’ (laughs)

The album has a lot of flavors and keeps you interested throughout.

That is something we realized and then half way through we realized that it was going to be a very short album with a lot of songs on it. I think if we all sat down and agreed to what albums we like the most there are very few albums that ours should be like except maybe Revolver by the Beatles. That is an album that if you actually put it on and every song is another emotion, mood, and movement. IT gives you something to think about and discover and it doesn’t get boring to listen to. That is what we want our albums to be, we aren’t The Beatles, but it is that kind of wanting to give people albums that challenge people a bit. Also we don’t want our albums to age in a hideous way and become tired quickly. There has to be something else to find on a record even after six months. That is the kind of thing I love.

The style you guys have seems to be tailor made to Americans. On top of that it seems that everyone that hears a Gomez album likes it. Do you ever wonder why you haven’t made a bigger splash in America?

To be frank everywhere we go we do reasonably well. I think the problem we pose isn’t whether people like the records or not, but how do people market us. Who’s demographic or market do we fit in. It’s all bullshit, that isn’t what music should be about, but it is a fact. We do okay and I haven’t got any complaints.

Do you guys mess with songs a lot to get them right?

I don’t know, I think its more a fluke when we get it right. I think we are pretty lucky like that. You have to play it, roll with it and try and extend.

I listened to the record and there isn’t one place that you guys fit in.

I know and we know that. It’s kind of music for music lovers and isn’t for the radio.

It reminds me of Pink Floyd in a way because aside from one or two singles they aren’t radio friendly, but they are still beloved.

Yeah. And the same thing is that you have to rely on people loving it and telling their friends about it. That is why our fans are the most diverse fans. You couldn’t recognize a Gomez fan in the street because it could be anybody. It’s just whether you’ve been exposed to us or not.

I’m very curious about your influences because it almost sounds American, especially ’70’s music.

It’s from the past to present. We can’t get enough of music. People say we must own Crosby, Stills and Nash records or Buddy Holly records or whatever. Anything.

Blues?

Yeah, all that stuff. My record collection extends into drum ‘n’ bass and hip hop. It isn’t all seventies pop. If I like it I don’t care what it is. I think it’s the same for everyone in the band, the fact of the matter is that we grew up in Northern England and that is where much of early American music and black music came into England so our parents were into a lot of that stuff. My dad had a lot of blues.

And the Stones got into that.

Right and then it all got sold back to America. (We both laugh) So I guess what I’m getting at is that we don’t play American music per se, we’re playing music. It’s really pop music, and pop music isn’t Britney Spears, its where everything else meets. You can do anything you like because it’s undefined. Pop music for me is where popular forms meet, people don’t perceive it like that; they see it as a specific thing.

I think radio is to blame.

Absolutely, they homogenized everything.

I mean the Beatles were pop music.

Precisely, and people didn’t find it hard to listen to that stuff. I mean how have we managed to go so far backwards in thirty years that we don’t have faith enough to hear something new and enjoy it.

Do you think the attachment of the word business on the end of music has really been the main culprit?

Of course. I think also artists have to take a lot of the blame because they are willing to play that game. The music business is a lot fairer to artists now more than they were thirty years ago, but more so I wish they weren’t called artists and were called musicians it’d be a lot easier. But these artists are actually colluding to do this because they see it as a career path and its kind of sad. It’s not corrupt; it’s just kind of fucked up. (We both laugh)

I was talking to a publicist the other day who was pitching me a group that sounded like a hundred different rock groups and I told him they just weren’t that good and I was called ‘jaded’. But my question is; shouldn’t we expect more out of music? Should we accept mediocre music?

He is full of shit. You need to be inspired and when you hear that music you need to feel like you are being treated like a human being that it communicates to you instead of it just being someone making music. What is the point in that? What they need to ask people who say ‘we make music’ is ‘why do you make music?’ What is it they are trying to do? Sell records? If that is all they are trying to do then they’ve got the wrong idea. That is just fucked up.

Do you think people like to be forced music so they don’t have to think or are they afraid of trying to find new things?

I think people have their priority in a twist. I think music is only as important as the value you put on it. I don’t think people put a lot of value on music anymore. They want it to fit in with their lifestyle now.

I think you are right about the lifestyle thing, in the sense that the word popular hasn’t taken over. It’s like your friends buy their jeans at this store so you do and the same goes for what you listen to.

For sure. I think its just one of those things people are more into talking about movies or other things rather than great music. I think people have very low expectations so they don’t bother look. That is all it is really. Let’s face it, my expectations aren’t particularly high when it comes to new music. I mean why bother looking when its all going to be crap anyway?

You might get one out of a hundred.

If you are lucky. (Laughs)

Do you think its because artists put more into a single rather than a full album?

Totally, it’s all bullocks too, we both know it. (We both laugh)

+ charlie craine