Tuesday, Gomez, a band hailing from Northern England, broke from tourmates O.A.R. and headed south to rock a sold-out crowd at Charlottesville's Starr Hill Music Hall.
I spoke with drummer/percussionist Olly Peacock about their latest non-compilation LP, How We Operate, the state of the music industry and why, when touring, they must strategically pick their gas stations. He also explained the side trip to Charlottesville:
"We thought it would be nice to go and play there and do something a bit more low key, because it's a small venue, so it's interesting for us to kind of strip things down."
Starr Hill is only the fifth stop in a U.S. tour that will take the band coast to coast in support of their recent album. According to Peacock, How We Operate is distinct from past releases, partially because of their new recording process.
"What we normally do is record the songs ourselves and then we go into the studio to finish them off, polish them up a bit. This time around ... we thought we'd concentrate more on the music instead of worrying about turning up the faders and all the buttons and things, which is kind of good because it made us concentrate more on the actual songs themselves."
Producer Gil Norton, who has worked with the Foo Fighters and Pixies, among others, helped the band mix and master the record.
"He sort of stepped in and said, 'Oh this bit's crap, this bit needs to go,' and stripped it all down, and by doing so it made us stick to our instruments a lot more, and made the album sound a lot more like a band, as opposed to five guys just grabbing any instrument they can find," Peacock said.
Despite the different recording process, Gomez has not departed from the sweet bluesy rock that the band has been playing since its 1998 debut; the changes are just another step in the group's natural evolution.
"I think a band will evolve in some capacity, whether that's being able to play their instruments better or producing or just writing better lyrics, but not necessarily evolve by changing their sound or completely changing," Peacock said.
"Obviously if you're a four-piece band and you have one singer, that singer's voice isn't going to dramatically change unless you start with someone who could pull off different voices and things."
Gomez has no need for a schizophrenic lead singer, however, because they have three vocalists.
"We're lucky in that way," Peacock said, "to be able to kind of chop and change and put someone's vocals in there to do something that's either in their range or their style and choose something most suitable to the actual song."
Gomez's vocal flexibility also allows them to stand out. Peacock lamented the fact that current bands and record labels seem to be aiming for conformity:
"I could probably play you 10 bands that all sound similar, and you probably wouldn't be able to distinguish who they are. I just feel that there's a little bit of a drought here and there and you know the record labels are signing the same kinds of things. Just because somebody else has been successful with it doesn't mean we need to sign up another 10 bands that sound similar. And then the whole radio and everything gets consumed and it just becomes a bit mundane, I think."
Gomez feels a responsibility not only to their listeners but also to the environment. Peacock confirmed that the band is continuing with eco-friendly touring policies they implemented this fall, one of which is the use of biodiesel, a clean-burning alternate fuel.
Peacock explained that, "Compared to the regular gas, biodiesel is more expensive ... the most difficult thing about it is that it's hard to come by. Only certain gas stations have it. So when you're on the road you need to know exactly where you are, otherwise you're going to get stuck. So it was a bit of a problem at first; we went to a few places and they didn't have any, so that made for interesting driving for a while."
When asked if it was weird to plan out specific gas stations, Peacock said, "Yeah, it was pretty weird, but we did get the hang of it pretty quickly."
Currently, Gomez is, in Peacock's words "touring away as green as possible."
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