GomezJournal

2010-09-07T17:10:00.003-04:00

E's DJ slot for Empire of the Sun

Radio Empire Night 3 by gomeztheband

2010-09-07T13:23:00.008-04:00

SEEING - THIS IS GOING TO BE GOOD

2010-07-23T15:27:00.002-04:00

SEEING SOL LEWITT

2010-07-23T15:03:00.002-04:00

WATCHING

2010-07-23T14:34:00.002-04:00

LISTENING TO

How Australians speak French

2010-04-12T10:37:00.002-04:00

How Australians speak French by ollypeacock

Guitars and Computers - Writing New Tunes in Chicago

2010-03-13T20:14:00.006-05:00

Before we started the US Tour we hung out in Chicago creating the first glimpses of what may or may not be new material for our next album.

Tonight's Poster - Chicago

2010-03-04T21:18:00.002-05:00

New Live Album, Huzzar!

2010-03-03T00:57:00.005-05:00

The Live Album will be available as of Thursday on CD at the shows, download details to follow. The material was taped throughout the November UK '09 run.

Here's the track listing:

01 Revolutionary Kind

02 Hamoa Beach

03 If I Ask You Nicely

04 Meet Me In the City

05 78 Stone Wobble

06 Girlshapedlovedrug

07 Tijuana Lady

08 Rhythm & Blues Alibi

09 Bring Your Lovin’ Back Here

10 Ruff Stuff

11 Ping One Down

12 Mix

13 Silence

14 How We Operate

15 Airstream Driver

"And now, time for something completely different..."

2010-02-23T20:48:00.004-05:00

On a recent trip in England, I heard Hue Stephens on the Radio announcing his Welsh word of the day. There were many brilliant words that sounded like he was making it up as he went along! What a crazy sounding language. Anyway, this has inspired me to do a "Portmanteau of the day". It seems America can't get enough of them, though few people know the meaning of the word or use it.

- a portmanteau broadly means a blend of two or more words and their meanings into one new word.

One of my all time faves and a classic in it's own right is the Croissandwich. Genius. I was personally stuck for all those years not knowing what to ask for in the Deli. "Can I have one of those sandwiches...er not the ones in bread, but the ones where the outer shell is a croissant"..."oh you mean a Croissandwich Sir!". And hereby demonstrating how our lives get easier with the use of a portmanteau. My goodness.

Olly.

On the Horizon

2010-02-10T12:22:00.002-05:00

We're heading to Chicago at the end of the month to begin proceedings for the next album, the record company will be tying a rope around the studio doors till we finish, Sly Stone style. It feels exciting not knowing what we're going to do next, who with, where and how.

We're releasing imminently a new live album encompassing concerts from last year. It sounds great after Ian's mixing and buoyed the spirits knowing we're playing really well. It will be available to download from the new website and CD's will be available at the March shows.

The New Website is being finally tuned and includes many new features for the first time. Media brings together all the videos, posters and photographs. Records streams all of our catalogue instead of the usual 30 seconds, I'm not really sure that helped me decide if I like the song or not snippet. Gear page details all the instruments we damage whilst playing our songs and future live downloads/free songs will be hosted through the site as well.

Alright enjoy the snow,

Olly.

MYSPACE STREAM

2009-03-24T15:24:00.002-04:00

Hey Y'all!

If you haven't heard already A NEW TIDE is streaming for 2 days here http://www.myspace.com/gomez and will be fully operational to purchase next week. You won't be hearing a finer record this side of the decade. YES YES YES YES! HATCHAAAA!

See you at Center Stage tonight!

Olly.

SXSW

2009-03-11T13:59:00.004-04:00

South by is drawing in fast, I guess we should start practicing already. We'll be playing Stubb's 10 pm Thursday and the Village Voice On Friday, which is open to the public.

Cheep Cheep!! Twit on!

2009-03-09T14:51:00.004-04:00

Ar yeah, how's it goin'?

So this time next week we'll be in warmer weather in Austin, Texas, rehearsing our socks off for a crazy schedule at SXSW Festival! We have several shows and parties to play, with our main set on Thursday at Stubbs BBQ, hmmm at 10pm. Something tells me if we don't eat too much BBQ we're gonna have a grrrrreat gig. Until we learn how to play the new songs and re-learn the old songs, replace parts of broken synths, broken amps, faff around with photo shoots, you might want to know we have a Twitter account.

http://twitter.com/gomeztheband

We shall be chirping as we go and hopefully amuse and entertain or impress you with how mundane we can be...what are you doing? nothing. What are you doing? playing a show...what are you doing? reading. This is an example of how the future of tweating may look. So psyched!

Our myspace page if you haven't seen has been rejuvenated as well and will be updated as we go, click http://www.myspace.com/gomez

Have a great week, see y'all in Austin!

Olly.

FREE NEW TRACK - AIRSTREAM DRIVER

2009-02-05T16:25:00.004-05:00

Download the outstanding new track and get air drumming or air guitaring! By the way some stereos may not reproduce all of the bass, for those that do, enjoy that nasty 48Hz, BOOM!!!

All the angels on the wire
Getting dizzy from the heights
Go carefully, carefully
Oh, airstream driver

She shoots but never misses
Stare down, passin’ traffic
Go carefully, carefully
Oh, airstream driver

I would return the favour
Oversleep the rapture
Go carefully, carefully
Oh, airstream driver

Your watermelon candy mouth
The penthouse at the sands
Go carefully, carefully
Oh, airstream driver

Olly Peacock.

New Album!!! What the F*@k!

2008-10-21T13:36:00.008-04:00

Mmmm well hello...

Where the hell have we been? Answer: making the God dam best freakin' record you ever did hear....will hear. Jeeez! Leave it owt wud cha! Yours truly along with the other cats have been beavering away writing hit singles, epic anthems, toons to make you ass wiggle, it's all in there, on the hotly anticipated new album. The release date is yet to be confirmed but the first quarter of next year is looking good. The record is expected to pick up innumerable awards from around the Globe, an effortless standard the Five Englishmen have attained.

The record has been made with Brian Deck in Chicago, Virginia, with additional Horns recorded in Brooklyn and Amy Milan singing in LA. We finished the final session last week after being in and out of the studio over the course of the last year in a drunken mess (which was nice), followed by a frenzy of mixing this week. Finally some special news, Gomez's Christmas single "Are you going to the Pub" will be bringing delight to Children's ears before you know it.

Bring back the blogging?

2007-12-18T23:30:00.000-05:00

Who said that? Ho ho ho! Merry Christmas everyone. Any advice for last minute Christmas shopping? Times running out

So long Olly!

2007-08-08T14:41:00.000-04:00

Does this mean no more ceramic monkey & Iguana collecting?

Olly is forced out against his will....

2007-08-06T10:07:00.000-04:00

6 August 2007

It came as a shock to the rest of the band, that drummer, Olly Peacock hung up his sticks and frustratingly announced his departure today. He was quoted as saying, "I've had the best time playing in this band, but could never imagine I would be ejected under such circumstances".

Peacock has been immediately replaced by Ethan Elliott, an 18 month prodigy from Austin, Texas. The band could not deny his "one stick" skills and felt Peacock was over the hill and out of shape. The young star apparently showcased his talents at Gomez's recent Austin Parish show.

The new mini sized drummer appeared nonchalant when asked about taking over the Gomez throne and had a little to say on the subject other than, "Peacock sucks".

Peacock was last seen cursing little Ethan, begging for his job back and calling him a little punk. Elliott has already begun rehearsals with the band and will heavily feature in the writing process for the next studio album.

Ethan Elliott displaying his "one stick" approach, a first in the drum world. Erika Elliott (mother), proud of her son's extraordinary skills.

Blackie Blogg-YES! YES! YES! YES!

2007-05-17T09:34:00.000-04:00

I hope you guys appreciate how difficult it is to make a good SOUFFLE! If not just don't talk to me ok!

SHUT UP!

2007-04-25T14:54:00.000-04:00

Someone is playing the drums across the street, it's driving me mad! I know practice makes perfect but God he is crap! Uses brushes for goodness sakes!!

Drums are rubbish!

Olly.

Blackie Blogg-Australia New Zealand!

2007-04-15T01:23:00.000-04:00

Here we are relaxing on the last day of an Aussie tour, recovering from our self inflicetd wounds from too much good wine. Dajon's just sat by the pool sharpening Anduril ready for his return to Gondor. Dajon's Aragorn for any of you who didn't know, he's just called Dajon to keep his identity secret so he isn't slaine.
Tom's been preparing himself for the worlds biggest Bungee Jump in New Zealand by wrapping himself in elastic bands & jumping off the hotel balcony. Probably should have done that over the pool, but I'm sure he'll still be jumping around & doing his best to get you all dancing tonight.
Ian's been residing in a vineyard by Margaret River since the last time we were here. We're still using Ian lookalike at the moment but we might have a drive by the vineyard & see if he's drunk all the good stuff & wants to leave yet.
Olly's gone on a parachute drop into the outback. He's gone in search for the perfect drum wood. He spends his days & nights searching out funny looking trees with wierd sounding names & taps gently against them with a small toffee hammer to see if he likes the resonance. I think he might be losing his BLANKS! The outback sun seems to have got to him.
Ben's down in Bondi, I think he's giving Jack Johnson a few surfing tips today.
So that's about the current state of affairs hope you're all good & you Kiwi's are all ready & raring to go!
See you soon!

Blackie Blogg-G'day!G'Day!

2007-04-15T01:20:00.000-04:00

I've been having such a great time hanging out in Australia with all these Aussies that every night I've been absolutely BLANKED! I keep seeming to wake up absolutely BLANKED & the really funny thing is that I've been the least BLANKED of us all!

Ozz - Day 2043 - still drunk

2007-04-13T02:44:00.000-04:00

Well well well!

Off to Newcastle in min, 3 hours there, 3 hours back - nice. All is good in the camp. Things seem to revolve around, airports, crap vans and playing Blankety Blank. And on that subject anyone who remembers the fabulous show should have a game.

My wife was so BLANK last night, she couldn't remember giving me a BLANK!

For example. The old wife Blanks were particularly good back in the day.

Example number 2:

My, I had such a bad headache last night, that when I tryed to remember anything my mind went BLANK.

A very simple game with endless possibilties.

See you at the SUMMER NIGHTS (what summer nights!)

Take it easy everybody,

Olly.

TomBlog - will somebody stop the war

2007-03-07T15:32:00.000-05:00

stop the war

Blackie Blogg- How do?

2007-01-31T13:51:00.000-05:00

Hello everyone,
I do hope you've all been keeping well. It's been a long while since I last rambled on about some rubbish or other, well when I say a long while I mean since I wrote it in the form of a blogg, I don't think it's been that long since I talked rubbish, I'm sure that was probably earlier today. Hm?
Anyway, I hope you all had a great Christmas & New Year & have been working out in the gym, every day that January has given us, in order to get rid of the Christmas Turkey. "Feel the burn", "No pain no gain", "Can't breathe. Oh my god I'm going to die!" "Can I get some Pilates for my ....!" etc, etc.
I wanted to mention the fact that this year has been showing us some rather unusual behaviour from our tour manager Dave. He's started showing some serious signs of rock 'n' roll tendencies. He refuses to ride on the bus and travels behind in a blacked out, stretch limo, wakes up late & arrives at the shows in the afternoon wearing leather, Jim Morrison style, trousers with a half empty bottle of Jack in one hand & a smoke burning away in the other talking about, "What a great party it was last night." "No I don't know what happened to last nights settlement!" "Rock 'n' roll baby, yeah!" etc.
So we were all wondering what was going on until these popped up in our mailbox's. Exhibit 1 & Exhibit 2 I'm sure there's a few people out there who could explain what's going on here. Go Dave!

I'm Free (Arrgh-yeah right Keef!)

2007-01-26T13:26:00.000-05:00

On the road again
Just can't wait to get on the road again
The life I love is makin' music with my friends
And I can't wait to get on the road again
On the road again

(Willie)

Another tour coming to a close....all is good in the camp except for frosty toes, jeez it's bloody freazin'! We broke up the support tour with OAR with a few hours in the studio (well house), re-recording a version of I'm Free by the Stones (arrr yeah!)....our third version. This time we took another approach and made the toon far more Schmezzy sounding....that is, nothing like the original.

I started out on Monday programming some beats, within an hour it sounded more like a Kraftwerk tune, which was cool and all, but erm, yeah, maybe too cool for what we needed. E suggested an idea similar to a King Biscuit Time track and within a few hours I had some stella loops. Later I added some tuned bass drums which made the groove slinky as hell, E then came up with a seriously cool bluesy guitar part and bingo!

The next day in Charlottesville we got down to the studio around lunch and finished the track by early evening. Paul "Blackie" Blackburn dubbed it up on de bass, Tom played some crazy Chamberlain and Benny Ben Ben the Benster played some slinky slide and vocals. Not too shabby for a day and halfs work.

And so on with the shows, Fairfax tonight and then MADISON SQUARE GARDEN....garden-garden-garden....not sure if anyone can hear us in these arenas, I think we might go play caves instead, they probably have a better sound. Still it's a massive privilege to play Madison.

Easy now,

Olly.

Thanks Kids!

2007-01-26T13:11:00.000-05:00

Hey Y'all!

So thankyou for all the comments recommending old and new music, I'm still sieving through them all, there's so much to check out. The moment I posted the last blog I immediately found a bunch of great toons. I still have a list of my own to check out, here's a few things I'm looking into:

Josh Pyke (Australian) - Beg Your Pardon.

Howling Bells - Howling Bells.

Findaly Brown - Don't You know I love You EP

Amy Winehouse - Back To Black

Gruff Rhys - Candylion

Bands still to check out - Grizzly Bear, Infandels, Quoopearh, The Occasion, Vetiver, Yeti, Camera Obscura.

Also check out the Panda Band from Australia, will be touring with them in April.

New Music

2007-01-12T18:30:00.000-05:00

Ola!

Jeez I must be getting old....all I'm trying to do is find some cool new bands or music of any kind.....so far I'm finding very little. maybe my ears are worn out or maybe we are content just rehashing the same old crap.

Besides Gruff Rhys' new album and getting more and more into Midlake I am really struggling....What is going on? Have all the record companies lost their identities? Er, let's sign all the bands that sound like they are from the late 70's and pummel the audience into submission. My God things have got boring.

Currently I'm looking at the iTunes Hotly Tipped 2007 compilation....more like hotly tipped to die a death. I'm trying so hard to be stay open minded and even trying to convince myself I like some of what I hear, when I know it's shit. Any suggestions are warmly welcomed.

The quest is on.

See y'all soon.

Olly.

Happy New Year!

2007-01-03T20:34:00.000-05:00

Well well well!

Hey y'all!

So how are we feeling after the debauchery of Christmas? I had a great time myself....oh the mulled wine, movies, friends old and new, running around trying to get gifts...baby jesus. I'd like to do it all again tomorrow.

And so onwards to more shows and then more shows....not sure if the couch will allow me to leave, it's grown acustom to me and my girlfriends bottoms....I'll let you know if I can pull myself away and get to Cincinnati for the first gig of the year.

Take it easy,

Shabba!!

Olly.

TomBlog - addendum

2006-12-12T10:43:00.000-05:00

The wall I was painting was the one that got covered in wine for the girlshaped video. I tried to love it, see it as action painting; an abstraction, but, in the end, it was just a white wall covered in wine.

TomBlog - home

2006-12-06T11:52:00.000-05:00

Staring at my ten twinkling toes, shoeless, sprawling on a sofa. I don't like the word 'sofa' much, 'settee' isn't really any better, 'couch' I suppose wins; but it's not much of a competition. So here I am languishing in a world of soft furnishings, home at last. 9 months and I think around 115 gigs later. I'm developing a first class head cold. The kind that makes you feel like complete shit so you call it flu in a vain attempt to get sympathy. Always the way. You finish work and the flood gates open.
I've been indulging the domestic god in me for a few days. Seems like the right thing to do after being away for so long. Repainted a couple of walls. Hung a few new pictures. Cooked lots of delicious grub. Did a lot of unnecessary tidying. Starting to get bored of it now. My wife calls it 'nesting' but I call it 'sanity'. Nice to play the guitar just for fun again. And around we go again.

Blackie Blogg- New fizzy drink idea!

2006-11-23T05:46:00.000-05:00

As I was laying in bed this morning I had a great idea for a new fizzy drink. I was running through the festivals we'd played this year when Pukkelpop came to mind. It got me thinking about how all the juice is usually wasted at the end of a jar of pickled onions. Well, just carbonate this solution & there you have it-PICKLE POP ANYONE? Could be a mixer for martinis?

Halloween part II

2006-11-02T17:30:00.000-05:00

What the Hell - All Dressed Up And A Gig To Play!!!

2006-11-02T17:21:00.000-05:00

Here's what happens when we get involved with Halloween.

Pics by me and stage pics by Jerry Hawkins.

Olly.

TomBlog - bleary man

2006-10-25T15:37:00.000-04:00

We just finished a few days of mental breakdown-inducing work/gigging. 3 songs on telly, an iTunes session ending at 5.30 am, an extravagant meal of epic proportions (thank you melissa x), a conference gig in a restaurant, filmed interviews, 5 gigs, a radio performance, and much more in an 8 day non-stop whirlwind fun storm. My brain is over-medium. I haven't slept for 3 days. My legs ache. I think I need a break. 2 days off in a month is starting to burn a bit.
I think the iTunes went well. I wrote a song especially, just a me and a guitar thing, but we were so tired/drunk/perfectionist, I can't really be sure how things turned out. I'll get to hear the results in a day or two - here's hoping...... my horn playing friends Jordan and Stuart from Antiballas came and did the session and the SF show the night after. They put their stamp on a couple of old favourites for the session. They bring so much enthusiasm with them, it's hard not to get caught up in their thing. Really splendid gents. Danna from Matt Pond P.A. did an awesomejob on the cello at our Warfield show too. It's inspiring to teach a fellow musician one of our songs and get them up on stage with us. I enjoy the process a lot.
Tucson is proving to be a really surprising place. The hotel is unreal - hotel congress - and the gig is beautiful - rialto theatre. The place is all perfectly kept the way it was in the thirties. It's so rare to see old stuff in the US, it turns out to be a deeply affecting experience. Settles the soul. Glad I'm gonna wake up in Vegas.......

Blackie Blogg- Fan's eye photo's from Bowery, New York!

2006-10-12T16:39:00.000-04:00

New York we salute you!

Big bad Benny. Man mountain

Couple of likely chaps.

Nice lights.

Our fine horn section in full flow. We wish we had these guys everywhere.

More to follow when I have a bit more time.Thanks to Caryn Midler for the photo's.
Cheers,
Blackie.

The Tonight Show - Olly

2006-09-26T10:44:00.000-04:00

Jay Leno bored out of his mind.

Some blokes.

Some blokes again.

The Tonight Show - Olly

2006-09-26T10:35:00.000-04:00

Mr Jerry Hawkins drum tech/production manager/great fella...why do you wanna do that?

Paul "Blackie" Blackburn, looking criminal!

Dajon tinkling on the ivories.

The Tonight Show - Olly

2006-09-26T10:33:00.000-04:00

Er, like I just totally deleted my last blog, duh! Ar, who cares! Basically I was on a plane and saw ourselves on The Tonight Show, like whatever.

Blackie Blogg- Interesting Habits!

2006-09-22T18:52:00.000-04:00

As much as we'd all like to get involved in the strange habit blogging, I'm afraid Ol is the only one with any odd habits. Sorry to disappoint you all.
Bye for now!

Chillax!

2006-09-19T15:08:00.000-04:00

Maybe it was me Olly, but who am I? Then again maybe it wasn't me at all.

Olly Peacock is an avid collector of Iguanas and ceramic monkeys from his travels.

2006-09-18T16:27:00.000-04:00

Howdy Y'all!

So, c'mon, who did it? Confess!

Who wrote such ridculous comments about me on Wikipedia? Your only making it worse for yourself! (I'll have you big nose!)

Y'know I have a reputation to uphold, cheesus! I don't know what that reputation is, but I'm sure I have one. I am very sensitive about what I collect and what I don't. OK, so maybe stamp collecting and train spotting isn't the coolest thing I could do with my time, but how else am I supposed to chillax when I'm not running around being a rock legend. Sometimes I don't want to drink two bottles of Jack Daniels in the afternoon y'know? Me and my train spotting buddies like writing, photographing trains, it gives one a sense of....er, peace?

Whoever you are, I will bring you down, baby. I will bring you down to Chinatown!

Take care,

Olly.

TomBlog - the day-room

2006-09-16T18:25:00.000-04:00

Ambling about this musical world. Rarely stopping in any town for more than a few hours. Sleeping or its fitful approximation is achieved only on the tour bus in your small and eminently bumpy bunk. Our daily ablutions are maintained only in the common or garden day-room. The day-room being a single room occupied by 11 men, mainly for its bathroom and, in turn, its shower. Nominally the 'day-room', because, in the UK, the rooms can be rented on a day-time only basis and then turned round for later new arrivals in the evening. In the US it's more blurry. It occurs to me how wasteful it is to pay for a room and then not sleep in it. In fact, I've toyed with ideas about how to recycle these day-rooms, to perhaps let touring musicians know where there's a room lying dormant where they can lie dormant. Dayroom.com. Maybe.

Your average day is filled with at least a couple of hours of watching bad cable as everyone wanders round in their underwear, telephoning the front desk for more towels. Often the wait for towels is your universe. The source of all attention and conversation. Its remarkable how people's priorities change when they've been on a sweaty bus for 12 hours.

Every hotel room is the same. Two double beds with matching ugly bedspread, divided by some contraption that purports to be a wall-fixed bedlamp. There's a veneer desk with matching veneer chair. The fat old television sits aboard a low chest of drawers. The bathroom is tiny with thermoformed plastic bath and mind-boggling tap/faucet arrangement. You could write a book about the different formations and qualities of hotel showers: being the only real variable, but suicide might be a better option.

As hygiene is once more maintained the room falls to tatters. Bags, computers, ironing tables, men, wires, gatorade, wash-bags, phones, suitcases, clothes and empty pizza boxes strewn abouts. A Jackie Chan film. A dark sense of deja vu. The gig awaits.

Blackie Blogg-Can't Sleep!

2006-09-09T09:58:00.001-04:00

Good morning,
6am, 4hrs sleep & wide awake. Feist show was very good last night, great singer & very interesting music.
I know I'm stating the obvious but I wondered last night why we don't all re-use our plastic beer cups at gigs throughout the night rather than get a new one each drink? I took mine back to the bar for a refill & recieved a rather confused look, which made me wonder how few people actually do re-use the cup & why so few? It is 6 in the morning, maybe I'm missing something completely obvious? I understand the whole idea of getting rounds in might be confusing, especially when drunk, but it can't be that hard?
I think I'll try & get some more sleep.

Blackie Blogg-ZZzzzzzzzz!

2006-09-08T20:18:00.000-04:00

Arrived in San Fran after flying from Sydney Australia. Just woke up from 3hr sleep. Must try & stay awake so that....Zzzzzz!! Oh no....zzzzz.....jet lag......zzzzzz! Must.....Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz!!!

TomBlog - how I write a song?

2006-08-30T20:48:00.000-04:00

some more:

“How I Write A Song”

Writing a song is not something I truly understand. I get out of bed, walk about the house and, if I happen to pass one of the many guitars I've non-strategically placed abouts, I start to play and hum in an absent-minded sort of way. Sometimes I'm reminded of something I did a day or two ago and I build that in to what I'm doing. The paths start to meet somewhere, the synapses flutter and the hodge-podge of ideas, that go into every song, start to focus and organise themselves. A song begins.

I relish those moments. They are, without doubt, the reason I keep making music.

Sometimes a song is years in gestation. On our new album, 'How We Operate', there's a song called, 'See the World', that started on a summer's morning in 2000. I found a guitar line and that was it for about 2 years. A melody started to breeze in after that. One of my favourite songs is Ooh la la by The Faces and I knew my song had some of it's DNA. I threw some sha-la-la's in my nascent noodlings as a reference for how I wanted things to end up.

I wrote that song for Ben to sing, so I took it to him before all the words were written: it can be much easier to sing your own words. I had a loose jumble of lyrical ideas, but Ben told me what he thought it was about, filled in some blanks, and a song got finished.

TomBlog - rules

2006-08-30T20:46:00.000-04:00

Going through stuff I've written recently for magazines etc. Here's my rules for life article:

I'm not much of a preacher. I wouldn't make a benevolent dictator. Do me and my modus operandi really deserve respect or even attention? People and rules rarely do. However, you've got to do what you've got to do. Put the lid back on the toothpaste, write this article, etc. Try to forgive me if this comes across as patronising. 'Nobody likes to be patronised' would make a good rule.

A rule, it seems, is not that good if you stick to it too religiously. So I suppose rule number one is, change is good.

Don't get stuck in a rut, don't get into patterns of behaviour that hurt you. Don't become some conservative fuckhead who thinks the world owes them something. Change your mind on a daily basis. Also, if you keep changing, those same fuckheads won't be able to see you coming. You have to keep changing to avoid becoming predictable, getting blindsided and generally getting fucked over. I suppose, 'don't try to live up to other people's expectations', falls in here somewhere too. Although 'always get a receipt' is a goodun.

Do not, under any circumstances, waste any more than a few seconds worrying what somebody else thinks of you. It will kill you. You can't create, you can't be yourself. Are you the cliché in need of somebody else's approval? If you are, then essentially, you're fucked. That's not to say you shouldn't do stuff for other people. If you're worrying, if you're paranoid, you're not doing anything at all. Smoke less of whatever you've got.

In the same respect, do not fucking martyr your pathetic arse on the altar of rock and roll. If you're fucked up, you're fucked up, but please let's not pretend. Get attention by being brilliant, not by manufacturing a rumpus. In fact, don't be a martyr of any kind. We shouldn't need them.

Follow the green cross code.

See it coming. Know as much as you can, I'm not saying be a know it all, although that may be a necessary symptom. In the music business its incredibly easy to get fucked because you don't know what to expect or what other people's interests are. Do not be that person. Know as much about every aspect as you can. Even the people who are your friends, have their own interests at heart, so don't be the sap who gets fucked because they didn't see it coming. I've been in this business nearly all my adult life so my experience isn't great, but I imagine this applies to everything else.

Always wear a clean pair of pants....if you can.

Always come clean. They'll find you out soon enough. Don't be defensive. Even if you're right it only makes you look guilty. You can't win so don't give someone the satisfaction of watching you squirm. If you have sincerely fucked up, there'll be plenty of time for soul-searching when you're on your tod. Honesty is the best policy and other assorted old bollocks.

Don't be an utter twat.

'Nobody likes a whinger'. If you think that anyone really wants to hear you whinge then you're wrong. Simple as that. You may desperately want to vent spleen about something or what-not in a high-pitch shrill voice. People may nod, they may even nod emphatically. Awful, cruel, be what it may, stop fucking harping on about your problems. I'm not saying don't fight your corner. The worst whingers are the ones who whinge about stuff you're involved in. When shit's inevitable and everyone's just trying to keep their heads down, never fucking complain. It just makes it harder for everyone else. Also, please no more singer-songwriters hell-bent on tear-jerking.

First rule of touring: don't shit on the bus. Never under any circumstances shit on the bus.

Be patient. I know you've heard it a thousand times, but you feel that way because you've lost your patience. When I recognise it in someone else my heart leaps.... genuinely. Giving someone else time - not taking it for yourself is hard, but fucking ace. However, this rule has a condition: don't be patient with arseholes.

Finally, be lucky, try to be your own judge, try not to use the word 'actually', don't try to be cool – trying is not cool, put the tea in before the milk, learn a foreign language, develop your empathy, don't get fanatical, don't go up at the end of your sentences, ignorance is no defence, eat whatever the locals eat, always vote, keep it simple, only be critical when necessary and take care of yourself.

TomBlog - mercury deriding

2006-08-30T20:34:00.000-04:00

Here summit I wrote for music week last week....thought you might be interested.

As the last festival closes the last of its heavily secured and poorly signposted entrances. As autumn leaves begin to be trod underfoot, the anticipation of another Mercury Prize drifts in, and does a pretty good job of joining the leaves, under our feet. It's not that I'm bored of talking about the Mercury Prize, well perhaps a little, there's just a touch of mettle fatigue.

Winning the Mercury Prize was truly the most astonishing event in my life. I was 21 years old, had joined some friends in making some music for pleasure, had suddenly and quite unexpectedly got a record deal, made one, and within six months won the biggest single award for music in the land. It was a freak occurrence. I doubt very much that a story such as ours could happen again. Untouched by a marketing man, unfettered by stylists, without any of the nauseating fake mythology that the press loves to devour. How ever you perceive us, we were just trying to be unlike everything else.

It changed our worlds. We went from being a few lads who wanted to put out a gate-fold album simply to see what it would look like to skin up on, to selling over a million. 10 thousand was our highest hope. To this day I travel the world playing music. I think it's clear that wouldn't be the case if we hadn't won the prize. I am indebted to it, its media whirlwind and its support of originality.

Though not abroad, the prize has considerable negative ramifications at home. With an establishment/critical stamp of approval we were bound to be re-assessed almost immediately. In fact, its inevitable you'll be called crap and told to leave the dancefloor within seconds of winning. Unlike other industries where people might just put this down to envy, an ugly desire to see others fail or the vanity of critics, the British music world is too fickle to be true. If the prize duth make you, the prize duth break you. We were a sacrificial lamb. Within months of winning, music people seemed to just ignore our music and then our growing sense of indignation. It's possible that part of the problem with the prize is it dispossesses the media of its king-making role and a sort of bitterness pervades.

The Mercury Prize is, theoretically, a prize for British innovation. Its 'curse' is not in its delightfully naïve hope for innovation, but in its being British. The scope and range of music with any visibility (or is that audibility?) to British people is so frightfully narrow, commercial or conservative that an award for originality is really quite a nonsense. Does anyone in this industry really support music that genuinely doesn't fit in? It's like winning a prize for most likely to succeed at a suicide training camp.

Nevertheless, there is hope elsewhere. I'm now 29 years of age, we're appearing on Jay Leno's Tonight show for the first time in our ten year career this month, we have just embarked on a sold-out tour of Australia. Our present release is out-selling all our previous ones in the US. Whatever was initially so attractive about our music doesn't seem to have been such a glamour to others. Our music is now heard on radio, tv and film more frequently around the globe than ever before. Three cheers for the Mercury! Yet in the UK, and forgive the hack irony from my jet-lag decamp Adelaide hotel suite, we can't get ourselves arrested.

TomBlog - where else?

2006-08-29T13:44:00.001-04:00

Alright...swallow the painkillers, the echinacea my wife insists I imbibe, the glass of fizzing Berocca. Hope the large and delicious Adelaide breakfast stays put inside. Let the waves of nausea pass. Good morning Australia. Cough, cough, cough etc, etc. Why did I smoke last night? Did I imagine that adding that to the libation and jetlag would leave my voice sounding like a skylark? Good god I feel like a sack of rubble. It took 27 hours to get here and just 4 to get completely shit-faced.

We play the Governor Hindmarsh in Adelaide tonight. Over the past week we've played festivals in Portugal, Belgium and three in the UK. Ian has gone viral and his belly with it. Spent the morning, afternoon and evening on the throne phone. The rest of us are just lagging behind. We take to the stage in a near euphoric state of disorientation and manage to wade through our set. Ben is convinced after the gig that everything sounded slow. He's right, but everything seemed to be moving slowly with it. I pop out of the smokey ( to the point of suffocation) dressing room and run into legions of lovely kids waiting for a squiggle. Our fans are as sweet and patient as ever. Except for one inebriated customer who wants to comiserate about the lack of We Haven't Turned Around in the setlist. I watch his moustache bounce up and down as he waffles on at me. Sorry, sorry, next time etc.

We dive into a van out back and skid off toward our hotel. I sit up with Ben and Dajon having a beer, talking about nothing much until about 2.45 am, then stagger back to bed. Alarm rings at 6am. I've dreamt, rather unsurprisingly, about needing to get to the airport to meet my missus. A fitful 3 hours sleep. I begin another hotel breakfast in earnest. The crew and band appear in dribs and drabs while I sink vegemite on toast with four cups of english breakfast tea. It seems everyone has been stung by extremely expensive phone and internet charges so there's quite a to-do at the hotel reception. I quietly munch to the sounds of Stevie Wonder – excellent morning music. Blackie has a phone bill for $140. Ouch.

We jump in a strangely decorated coach and get underway to the sounds of Brass in Pocket, also excellent morning music. It finishes and paltry talk-radio kicks in. Dreary nonsense seems to be the main discussion point and callers are opinionated about the many ways in which dreary nonsense affects them. Bring back Chrissie Hynde.

Now I'm in Adelaide airport and the whole place looks like its made out of expensive chopping boards. The middle classes of Australia must have nowhere to slice their celery. A pale Hotel-chic airport, although I like the Lloyd-wright gently sloping ceiling. Families and business men swarm about me. One fella has the most extraordinary rat's tail mullet I've ever seen. He must use it to talk to the cosmos or something. What he chooses to discuss with said cosmos I can only imagine. I imagine engine size and speed is a hot topic. He's stood up to accept his medication from his wife. Maybe that controls the growth of his hair humunculous.

We have to get to Darwin to do promo. Promotion: that nebulous, dark matter that makes up 30% of making music for a living. Today its radio. Everyone assures me that most Australians have never been to Darwin. I don't know whether to take this as a good or bad sign. Let's hope its a jewel. It turns out that today is not even as bad as its gonna get in terms of sleepless nights. Apparently we finish our festival appearance in Darwin at 1.30 am and have a 5.30 am lobby call to fly to Perth, to do a show that night. I can hardly control my anticipation.

And so, sitting on a Boeing 737, watching Dajon struggle to open his complementary box of cornflakes, hemmed in the middle seat between him and Dave, our tour manager: the filling in the manwich, I will leave you. A month of shows ahead of me and very little chance of a good kip.

Blackie Blogg-G'day!G'Day!

2006-08-25T05:09:00.000-04:00

G'day to yus all.
I've been reading some of your replies & indeed it will be good to be back in Freeo, you might be going broke though mate I'm afraid, sorry about that but hey, if you want get all feisty everytime you here we're coming to town, that's your business mate!
So anyway, we had a goot time last night in AdelO, the crowd were somethin, saw many people dancing away, some with smiles on their faces all the way through. We'd been having a few problems, Ian had come down with hell bug that day, so he'd been sick all day long & had to go to Doc's, but armed & loaded with drugs played his way through it all. The only other problem was that some guy kept shining a torch in my eyes everytime I turned around, he claims he's something to do with the tour, think his names John Smith or John stone or something like that.
Up early this morning anyway to head over to darwin where we're now residing. There was a smell of alcohol consumption at the airport, I've been hearing stories of Casino dwelling and all. Seems strange, we never usually get drunk every night when we're in Australia, oh no wait?

Blackie Blogg-G'day!

2006-08-23T00:40:00.000-04:00

Hello everyone! Sorry it's been such a long time since getting in touch, hope you're all still doing well out there.
The activity has been a bit here & there as we've been playing festivals of late. We were over in Portugal as you've seen, then we were off to Belgium for the Pukkelpop (check spelling) Festival, back to UK for Beautiful Days & the V festivals. We had a great time at all of the above & your support, drunken dancing/staggering & singing was greatly appreciated by us all. It was great to see so many enjoying the festival spirit & turning up to share it with us, as I hope we did with you.
So back to touring we are and I'm blogging at you all from Adelaide, Australia. We arrived maybe a couple of hours ago after a flight from London via Singapore with a healthy lay over of seven hours in Singapore. Drinking & being massaged were the only things to do really, so I guess we'd be pretty valuable at the butchers right now given the price of Kobe Beef.
We'll be starting our tour in Adelaide then heading upto Darwin for the Groovin' The Moo Festival, I'm not quite sure what we'll be expected to do to groove the said "moo", hope it's nothing too untoward but a first visit to Darwin all the same & looking forward to it.
See you Aussies along the way,
Cheers,
Blackie.

Shots from Paredes de Coura, Portugal

2006-08-15T16:10:00.000-04:00

2006-08-10T22:14:00.000-04:00

Blackie Blogg-Hey up Y'all!

2006-08-03T10:10:00.000-04:00

Hello out there. Hope you're all doing well. Not much going on at this end at the moment as you can probably gather. There's been a little time off before we go back into the festival scene & then over to Australia, but all's quiet at the moment, which is good for Ol as it gives him time to send some of his monkey collection in for repairs & any polishing that may be required.
Cheers all,
Stay tuned, turn in & drop off?

eBlobfromLA

2006-07-24T15:21:00.000-04:00

shit, it's hot...... how are you? do you have a pool i can crash? me and tomaten spent the evenin' at the mondrian pool 'cos that's the kind of guys that we are.... good people of california, i'm playing friday 4th august at le hotel cafe 2200hrs.... ponderin' what to play....any suggestions??? love and hugs....mister bally

Blackie Blogg-Festival Delights!

2006-07-10T15:37:00.000-04:00

Wow, what a weekend it's been. Oxegen on Saturday and T-In The Park on Sunday, both unbelievable crowds. It's not that often after playing 100's of shows that you get carried away by the crowd reaction to that extent, but I think we were tearing through some of those songs simply on pure adrenaline after walking out to such reactions. We were all made up to be back over in this neck of the woods and have such a great reception so thanks to everyone who came.
Checked out some other cool stuff whilst walking round during the day, The Magic Numbers at T, we played a show recently in the States with these guys, you couldn't meet a nicer bunch of people & they are indeed a great live band. The Go Team were pretty damn crazy, I'm sure they're popping something in their tea, I think it's the same stuff that Tom has before he goes onstage, but all six of them have been at it, very entertaining & very energetic. The Who seemed to be doing a good job, I can't say I'm the worlds greatest Who fan, I like their hits I guess, but they definately still do their music justice & in good humour.
Hope there's plenty of you coming out to the Latitude Festival this weekend, if you can match the crowds of this past weekend it'll be a very happy band infront of you.

Blackie Blogg-And so it ends!

2006-07-02T19:25:00.000-04:00

Well there it is folks the final show of our US run. Finishing up by playing to a sun drenched crowd basking on deck chairs in Indiana.
Flying home tomorrow evening back to the old homeland where I'll be busying myself with differing duties including laundry,oohh!, tidying, ahhh! Buying food, hoorah! I'll stop now as I'm sure this is really interesting. Must say I'm looking forward to my own bed, as steady a driver as our captain Harry "The Wing Commander" Wing is, there's nothing quite like your own bed rather than sleeping on the bus. Goodbye for now America! We'll be back, my guess is around Austin City Limits time.
See you there!

TomBlog - thumbs up

2006-07-01T22:30:00.000-04:00

Found this in Cleveland looking for something to eat in the early hours. Suffice to say, it made me laugh out loud.

TomBlog - slowly deflating balloons

2006-07-01T14:17:00.000-04:00

Bizarre wiggling ladies dance their merry latino shimmy through thick layers of make-up, dressed in freakishly anatomy-revealing lycra bikinis. Their dignity protected by the thinnest film of brazil's green and yellow colours. Beside them tanned middle-aged moustachioed men bleat on incomprehensibly, as we stare into the abyss of mexican cable football coverage, following our crushing defeat at the hands of the thoroughly mediocre Portugal. Everyone is forced to smile and boogie on this channel though it's preferable to ESPN's "we're not really sure what the rules are" coverage. England's tawdry display is now in stark contrast to the acid-infused colouring of mexican cable. Ouch.
We're parked outside a huge shed in cleveland. Parked sufficiently far away from each of the massive bridges, that weave over us, so the despicable satellite coverage can reach. I wish we had English pundits rolling their thumbs and comiserating with the nation. No such luck, there's a brazilian samba party we're all invited to. We've got a gig in about 3 hours, my spirits may falter. Now Will Smith is giving the performance of his life lifting weights to the beat of superstition. From Blackie's body language I can tell he's seen this movie and it's not good. My... things are looking up.

Blackie Blogg-World Cup Woe's

2006-07-01T14:04:00.000-04:00

Oh dear! Who'd have thought it, England out after a penalty shoot out with Ronaldo the Show Poney (Sho'ney) finishing us off. Scolari doing it again. Arrrggghhh!
Well we are in Cleveland Ohio, an hour slot at 6pm tonight supporting Moe at the Tower City Amphitheatre. Had a really good time in Montreal last night. A great crowd who seemed well up for it. Special thanks to the two guys who charged down to the front in order to start a mosh pit, truly impressive behaviour. I bumped into one of them at about midnight out at a bar, wondered why he was only drinking orange juice until he told me he had to ride 400km on a bicycle today, Good Luck, rather you than me mate.
Well anyway the weather's great here so I might have to get outside & forget about football for a while.
Cheers all,
Blackie.

Blackie Blogg-Up On Cripple Creek

2006-06-28T21:53:00.000-04:00

And so we roll away from our last date with the Dave Mathews Band, the sounds of "Up On Cripple Creek" on the stereo. It's been a good if hectic couple of days. We've been recording a few tunes in a studio in Philladelphia with Steve (Los Lobos) and Dave, both very fine fellas indeed. It's been a great experience working with these guys and the results have been very rewarding.
The last DMB show went really well & people seemed to be getting down to the tunes. Another very fine & friendly chap as well Mr Mathews, it's been a pleasure being his guests.
So now we roll off to Toronto. We haven't been to Canada for some time now, so looking forward to getting back with those folks but first a 16 hr bus journey with a border crossing, oh well.
Goodnight.

Blackie Blogg-Philly Cheese Steak anyone?

2006-06-26T11:36:00.000-04:00

Well we find ourselves in Philly today after playing in Pittsburg yesterday, still have a general feeling of being dazed even though I had a pretty early night. The Philly Cheese Steak is on the breakfast menu but still it doesn't seem to appeal. I've had the chance many times but the thought of the resulting coronary still holds me back.
The important stuff though is that Australia are taking on the might of Italy today and seem to be holding there own so far. Come on the SoccerRoos!!
Cheers!

Blackie Blogg-Hung Over In Bristow

2006-06-24T14:13:00.000-04:00

Hello again all.
I do hope you're feeling better than most of us today. We played in Richmond VA last night. All was looking good on arrival, time to relax for a while and catch up on the World Cup. Headed down to the venue at about 5pm soundchecked & then the heavens opened with the support of thunder & lightning. All was looking rather bleak & we thought no-one was going to turn up, fortunately the weather cleared though and although only a smallish crowd gathered they were indeed some of the finest people to play to & we all had a great time.
So back to being hungover today. It was Ben's 30th birthday yesterday, we headed out for sushi & sake in this great place where the duke box was accompanied by some classic videos Journey, Bon Jovi et al. If any of you were there did you happen to see the Proclaimers hanging out?

Blackie Blogg-Hello again!

2006-06-21T10:00:00.000-04:00

Hello everybody,
I hope you are all well out there, it's been a while since I last spoke to you, must apologise, I've had a tew technical difficulties but all is resolved now.
Well we're in NYC today, die Grosse Apfel if you like. We're taking on the Webster Hall tonight which should be rather entertaining. Thanks to all who came to the show last night in Boston, there seemed to be quite a few representatives of Austin, Texas hanging around. It's pretty rare for people to travel very far at all to see a show in the UK, small island living I guess.
Anyway, just wanted to get back on track, I'll be back soon,
Cheers,
Blackie

TomBlog - no rest for the wicked

2006-06-19T13:28:00.000-04:00

Enroute to Annapolis to do a radio show on a roof. I appear to have lost my voice. Where its gone, nobody knows. We just came from Bonnaroo and then did a show last night with The Magic Numbers in Nashville. Bonnaroo was rough and ready, but fun nonetheless. Last night was a bit of a drunken car crash, the world in slow motion as musical manglement transpired..... but fun nonetheless. The Magic Numbers are lovely, lovely people and a splendid day was had by all. Boston awaits.
The world cup is a constant source of entertainment, although, with the exception of Argentina, noone appears to be really any good. I'm hoping Sven'll play Carrick behind Gerrard and Lampard against Sweden, but we can but dream. I have a good rant about how England don't need a coventional striker with Rooney, Lampard and Gerrard all attacking, but I'll save you the extremely boring details. Or maybe not.

Dear Sven,

please play this team.

thanks,

Tommy Gomez x

TomBlog - in scouse land

2006-06-08T11:25:00.001-04:00

UK tour day 4: three hot and heavy gigs later, here we are in Liverpool. One of the most beautiful days of the year and the liverpool academy must prepare itself to be duly rocked. Nice, if slighty baked, audiences have greeted us each night. Our bus is really a scandinavian sauna with wheels. Sleep has been extremely rare and damp. However, last night Mr. Jerry Hawkins put the stage fans on the bus and created a gale that registered on the beaufort scale. 9 hours of kip under my belt and today I feel like a new man. Adding to that sense of well-being I've been eating fruit like a crazy person. Mango, tangerine, banana, kiwi, pomegranite and blueberry all featuring in my day's diet. Now to re-tox.

Olly - Day Room Fun Part deux

2006-06-06T09:03:00.000-04:00

Olly - Day Room Fun

2006-06-06T08:55:00.000-04:00

Ooooooh! What an ugly bunch!

Blackie Blogg-Arrgggh!

2006-06-06T07:48:00.000-04:00

Good show in Bristol & up til who knows what time last night & we're up against the mighty Bryan Adams in Newcastle the neet! Still can't make my mind up, play the show or go and watch Bryan?

Olly - Living the day back to front.

2006-06-01T08:32:00.000-04:00

Bonjourno!

Well I've given up on trying to sleep....last night I went to bed at 6am and grabbed 3 hours, wooohoo! I'm sooo out of sync with the rest of England it's funny. Does anyone know whether the sun shines over here anymore or have we settled for shitty grey days all year round?! It's a good job we've been told to conserve water, cause I tell ya when the heat wave of the summer kicks in, sheesh, will be glad of it! I personally think we'll skip summer and go straight to Autumn. I guess it saves buying new flip flops, bad shorts and getting sun burnt on commons. I mean c'mon, I'm not asking for much but it's freakin' June for God's sake!

Off to get a fake orange tan,

Olly.

WARNING! The above rant about the diabolical English weather should be taken with a large pinch of salt and it should be stressed, that no one take offence to the current climate troubles the country is experiencing. As judicator of this site and as unbias as I am, I do have to agree with Mr.Peacock what the F@*k is up with the weather!?

Blackie Blog-Back In The Good Ole U of K!

2006-05-31T11:07:00.000-04:00

Here we are then, back in England after a splendid flight. Had a great time at Sasquatch festival except for the rain but that was so ferocious it was really quite cool as well. I guess it's easy enough for me to say that though, I was sat on the bus while all this was happening, unlike those unfortunate folks who were out on the hill & ended up drenched. Really enjoyed Iron & Wine that day but I wish we'd been able to stay around until The Flaming Lips, sounds like they had a great show & brought the party to town.
After we got back we had the night off & then we were shooting for the Album Chart Show yesterday, few teething problems with sound on stage but we'll see how it turns out. Managed to sleep until 2pm this afternoon JETLAG AHOY & since then I've been struggling with my computer that seems to be dying on me after a slight accident on a plane, guess we'll see how it goes. Onwards & upwards everybody!

TomBlog - gotta

2006-05-26T23:58:00.000-04:00

love this.

TomBlog - earth calling orson

2006-05-26T20:58:00.000-04:00

And so semi-crippled, with an insane head-cold, so drugged up my short-term memory is shot, we approach the end of the first leg of our tour. Steroids, antibiotics, ambian, emergen-C, anti-histamine, decongestant, valium, airborne, tylenol, albutamol: these are my recently assembled allies. The axis of remedial. Now don't lecture me please. I'm not some scrip-junkie. I just got very sick and this concoction is allowing the show to go on. It's working..okay? I had to bow out of a little sojourn ben, e and blake took to san diego yesterday, but I hear things went swimmingly out on their boat. We had a miraculous show in Los Angeles...truly. A great show, as always, in San Francisco, and here we are. Portland, Oregon. A town where our fortunes seem to rise and fall like the tides. Sometimes it's a sell-out, sometimes there's a man, his dog and a mug-tree for company. Can't tell you why. Hopefully tonight will be typically unpredictable. Tomorrow, Sasquatch. I'm told its beautiful, though from under these drugged-out lids, most everything seems quite warm and pretty: even the pissing rain outside the window of our bus. And so, once again, to sound-check. Is sound there? Yes. Great. Let's go the pub.

BlackieBlog-Feelin Hot,Hot,Hot

2006-05-20T04:14:00.000-04:00

So after a busy day it's time to sit down on the bus and relax before heading to bed. Started the day with the KCRW show in Santa Monica where we played the first six songs from the new record. You should be able to listen to it still at the KCRW website if you didn't manage to catch it earlier. Immediately after the show we were off to the airport to fly to Pheonix, Arizona. I was chatting to a guy, on the plane, who lives here & he was telling me how it would regularly be 115F in the summer months & sometimes be in the 120's, holy c^*p. I'm English, I'm gonna suffer big time in that kind of heat, begin to remember the time I burnt to a crisp at the Coachella Festival, Palm springs & spent the rest of the day listening to random strangers telling me to put sunscreen on, then the pilot announces 104F for today just before the plane begins bouncing around like a ball on a piece of elastic string, this is turning out to be quite the journey!So after landing we made our way outside, there it was, the hit of the whole heat.
We played at the Marquee Theater tonight. Once again we had a really good crowd of people singing along to tunes new & old which was great to see. There was a new introduction to the ending of Devil Will Ride, thanks to Ol & Ben, which involves a rhythm from a certain British metal band who started in the late seventies & became big in the eighties, strangely enough it worked & sounded pretty rocking, but let's see if anyone at future shows can figure out which band it's from. And so this brings me to the present moment where it's time for bed. Night all!

eBlob

2006-05-19T10:44:00.000-04:00

ola fellow los angelinos.... KCRW mornings becomes hectic is on @ 11:15 this morning..... tune in to see if we can fit our full-on 7 man band in their studio.....

BlackieBlog-New Challenge Raised In Utah

2006-05-19T02:55:00.000-04:00

Hello!
We're in Santa Monica after driving over from Park City, Utah. I have to say I didn't know what to expect from a show midweek in Park City, an out of season ski resort ,how many people would show? But I have to say much to our delight, there was a great turnout & the people were dancing away all night. I think these guys have definately thrown down the gauntlet for shimmying their booties on the dancefloor!
We're on KCRW Morning Becomes Eclectic tomorrow. We'll be playing live at 11:15 pacific time.
Well time for bed, night all!

BlackieBlog-Mountains & Fresh Air!

2006-05-17T17:29:00.000-04:00

Ah! Very nice to awake to the sight of snow capped mountains & a sunny day. We're here in Park City jus 45mins away from Salt Lake City & it has to be said, it's a pretty beautiful place.
We had a good time last night in Boulder & met up with some friends we'd met on the Jam Cruise. They supplied us with lots of herbal supplements to keep us healthy & fresh for the coming shows. We'll be the healthiest band on tour, well healthier than we were before anyway.
Thanks to everyone who came last night, very rocking crowd as always Boulder!

Earthygigbloggle

2006-05-16T18:09:00.000-04:00

ahhh beautiful boulder!!! you can even see the bus outside.

Radio!

2006-05-16T12:54:00.000-04:00

Hello. If you're near a radio at about 1pm mountain time, you may hear us playing through a couple of tunes on KBCO!

Blackie Blogg-Good Morning

2006-05-16T12:16:00.000-04:00

Good morning all. Hope you all slept well last night. I've just woken up in my curtained bunk on the bus. It's a little like sleeping in a box except for the curtain on the one side. It is a box with a tv mind you, but unfortunately mine doesn't work.
What day is it today?
We're en route to Boulder after playing in Kansas last night. Gig seemed to go pretty well, had a couple of interesting moments myself, I think Ian must have thought I was playing a different song in the middle of How We Operate & to be honest I may as well have been, but my favourite moment was turning to Ben in the middle of Arrested & telling him I had no idea if I'd switched the guitar on as I had no way of hearing it, he kindly pointed out that I'd played the first half of the song without plugging the guitar in.
I guess I'll be getting up soon as we have things to do. I'm hoping we have time to get breakfast as there's a great little cafe in Boulder, I think it's called the Blue Moon Cafe which is rather appropriate & it does a fantastic breakfast. MMmm! I'm off, see you later!

TomBlog - once more to the fold

2006-05-15T17:07:00.000-04:00

So I'm sitting at the back of the bus with Ben, Ol and Blacks and we're watching, "The Dirty Dozen". Soundcheck awaits us inside. I can see the back of the dvd case popping out from between Ol's fingers, it reads "often imitated, never bettered". Quite the male-bonding session, sitting on a bus watching a war movie. Lee Marvin is excellent. He's in two of my all-time favourite movies: Point Blank and The Man Who Shot Liberty Vallance. Just great. The singing in Paint your Wagon can even be forgiven. I quite like Cat Ballou too, but Jane Fonda dressed as a cowgirl probably has more to do with it than Marvin's comic turn.
I'd like to draw some kind of analogy between the twelve of us on this bus and the dirty dozen, but lacking death-sentences and uniformly english caucasians, we don't really fit the bill. Also the personal hygiene on here is a little too high, in my opinion. Here comes Dajon...he looks a little more like he'd do well in a battle situation than the rest of us - I'd certainly hide behind him. I wonder if there's any such thing as the entertainment corps left in the army, otherwise we'd be fucked.
toodle-pip.
tom x

Earthygigbloggle

2006-05-15T16:54:00.000-04:00

here we are! mighty pretty kansas city!!

Chicago Photographs - By Jerry Hawkins

2006-05-14T20:47:00.000-04:00

Chicago Photographs - By Jerry Hawkins

2006-05-14T20:39:00.000-04:00

Earthygigbloggle

2006-05-13T18:44:00.000-04:00

We are playing somewhere in this vicinity tonight.
Oh my Omaha!

got this in chicago - one kid with great grammar

2006-05-13T03:10:00.000-04:00

Dear Gomez!
I am ten years old, and my name is Sam. You are my absolute favourite band (I am skipping my school violin concert to be here - that's a definite "F" for me in violin). I love your band so much!! I am a guitar player, and I happen to have an epiphone casino, the remake of the Gibson 330 that David Forde was playing. The first Gomez song I learned was " get myself arrested" When I get older I hope to have a band half as good as yours.
sincerely, sam g
sgrayboys@yahoo.com

Mystery Blogger!

2006-05-12T18:55:00.000-04:00

So it appears I have been forgetting to write my name before my bloggs so I'll give you a clue as to who I am. I crawl on all fours every morning (with a splitting headache), in the afternoon I walk on two legs once more & in the evening I'm absolutely legless. Can you guess who I am?
Guess that could be any of us & I'm sure it's more appropriate to someone else. So on we roll & so the bus rocks at night, sending my weary little head to sleep. Dreams of packed 15,000 capacity stadiums rocking to the sights & sounds of Bon Jovi in their hey day & who's that supporting them? It can't be, we'd have been too young. Wait here comes Brian Adams, yeah I bought a real six string too Brian, I know exactly what you mean. How's Jody getting on with his wife these days? Jimmy always did give up easily though didn't he, lets face it! Jimmy the quitter people used to call him. I remember hearing them, "Here comes Jimmy the quitter."they'd say, "Did you hear he left Brian high & dry at the gig the other night?"
Anyway, I'm spouting complete nonsense so I'll leave you all alone now & speak to you soon!See ya!

Olly - Gomez Near Death Experience!!!

2006-05-11T17:11:00.000-04:00

Alllwight!

So before last night's show we went to a friends for a Bar-B- Q....burger-burger-sausage-burger-burger-beer...you get the drift and on route back to the venue a storm came in from nowhere....it was absolutely slashing it down. We were merrily razzing along listening to some toons, when from nowhere BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!! Lightning struck about 30 ft from the car! All we saw were some flames and heard what sounded like a humongous explosion....wish I could've witnessed all our expressions....absolute terror, fear and amusement in one go. Hell, shit, dam, shit, hell yeah! None of us had ever seen lightning strike before....probably never will. So there you have it.

P.S. What's with the rain over in the States....it's worse than England! It's been raining for 24 freakin' hours cheesus!

Rock on Chicago!

Olly.

Grrr!

2006-05-05T19:46:00.000-04:00

Oh hello again,
Hope you're all doing well and feeling good out there. Speaking of feeling good I think we can all feel the effects of the first few nights of touring starting to take effect. We're in New Orleans today. New Orleans on Cinco De Mayo, we're playing at 2:30 in the morning & it's just taken me five minutes to figure out how to spell Cinco De Mayo. It's going to be an interesting day!

Greeting from Asheville

2006-05-03T15:18:00.000-04:00

Hello!
Here we are in sunny Asheville. I like this town IT'S GOOD. We ate at a cafe called the Tupelo Honey Cafe both last night & this morning, IT ROCKS. And so here we are in the dressing room of the Orange Peel writing a set list & readying ourselves for soundcheck. See some of you guys very soon indeed & maybe some others somewhere along the way. CHARGE!!!!

Olly Pics 2 - A busy day of rehearsals (yeah right).

2006-04-30T21:42:00.000-04:00

Go to bed spotty!

Man and machine - Don't act like your not impressed.

This is the face that Dajon pulls when he's travelling a 140mph on two freakin' wheels, he is the Speed Demon.

Olly Pics - A busy day of rehearsals (yeah right).

2006-04-30T19:11:00.000-04:00

Paul "Dubmaster" Blackburn

Retardo!

Looking over old photographs, "Look at the Fuckin' state of us!"

What the hell! Totally Retardo!!

eBlob

2006-04-30T18:36:00.000-04:00

rehearsal is great. it gives me a chance to hang around with my friend big ben.

Olly Blah Blah Blah - The Man On The Street Says Yes!

2006-04-29T09:22:00.000-04:00

Howdo!

So I was walking down 5th Av New York, minding my own business, well writing a text message and I hear this conversation from behind me...Two fellas are talking about new music they've been listening to. My ears are picking up parts of the coversation...."nah, I don't like the vocalist...it's ok...not really into them ....etc until I hear one of them say, "oh I got the new Gomez record". His mate asks what it's like...."it's gooood" he replies with enthusiam. They walk along side me and I shoot a bewildering glance at them...they look at me like, what chu looking at!

There you have it, the average man on the street likes it - super, smashing great!

See y'all at a show real soon,

Olly.

TomBlog - Tuesday

2006-04-25T08:57:00.000-04:00

Tuesday, that most pointless of all days. The beige day. Neither here nor there. Apologies if you have some emotional attachment to the aforementioned day, but, as days go, it really isn't much of one.

Here we are, on the verge of our album coming out and I can feel the calm before the inevitable. I'm all aflutter with trepidation and mixed metaphors. It's always a funny one, this putting out an album palaver. It doesn't happen enough for you ever to remember what it felt like the last time, but you're soon reminded. The sleepless nights, the butterflies, the flurry of colourful expectations, good and bad. You feel like you should be able to do something, but, besides the interviews and occasional appearances, there's not much except for hit and hope. Watch your baby whistle through the air into an unforgiving outfield.

A call to arms might be in order. I suppose in a way that's what an album is. A moment where, as a band, we're forced to stop, regroup, focus and attack!!!! I'm now imagining us in loin cloths, covered in woad, running down a scottish glen, carrying long spears....no that's no good.... carrying guitars with bayonets attached. A whole army of gomites, the mezopotamians charging into battle.....but then, perhaps, let's wait til wednesday.

don't just gomez...stay mez

tommy x

Olly Bloggody Blog - Are You Ready?

2006-04-19T11:22:00.000-04:00

Well Bonjour to you lovely people!

So it's less than 2 weeks until the spanking new album is released, BRING IT ON!! YEAAAAH! I'm like, so totally pysched, totally...err totally. The last preperations are all in hand...sort of. All we have do now is learn how to play the songs...yikes...why didn't somebody remind us about that part! Cheesass!

I managed to get my paws on a copy of the album yestersay and ooh-la-la, it looks magnifique! We've included lyrics for the first time and a photograph so you can appreciate our haircuts.....it can make or break a band nowdays, I tell ya.

We're just designing some new merchandise for you aswell. Our range will be including hand painted plates of the individual members, a gold medallion chain with Blackie's little face carved into it and a car bumper sticker saying "Don't Mez with Gomez!". All products are made to the highest calibre and quality is assured.

Right I'm off to soak up the New York sunshine.

See y'all soon,

Olly.

TomBlog - in a reflective mood

2006-04-15T17:52:00.000-04:00

Let us all just take a moment to look at the clouds. Or just wonder why for christ sake? This might cheer you up after considering that.

Blackie Blog- Hello again all!

2006-04-12T09:40:00.000-04:00

Hello everybody,
Hope you're all doing well out there & the weather's a little more pleasing than here, wherever you might be.
Well as Tom said it's all busy here as we're drawing near to the release date, but as you know the big operation (Oh!) of organising all that needs to occur over the next few months is well and truly underway.
We noticed that there may have been some upset caused by cancellations, unfortunately this is unavoidable sometimes. In the case of the Wakarusa Festival it was mostly due to the fact that it took us a while to find a home for the record in the UK, by the time we had secured a record label, we needed to tour it before the World Cup & Festival season began. Our only other option was waiting to release the record & tour in September, which was a poor option. It's an unfortunate result of the fortunate position of having you support us all around the world, that we must sometimes juggle the needs & obligations of those territories. As always it's a difficult decision to cancel something we have already committed to, knowing that some people may be dissappointed as a result. You're continued support is of course very important & greatly appreciated by us all here at Gomez base camp & we can only say sorry for any upset caused in these cases and for any delay in explaining the reasons why.
Cheers,
Blackie

TomBlog - whatever

2006-04-10T14:19:00.000-04:00

Ahhhh.... Much to do. So little time. Can't believe the album's coming out as soon as three weeks from now. Unbelievable.