Formation
Guitarist and vocalist Ian Ball and drummer Olly Peacock are long-time friends, having played in a 3 piece band from the ages of 14 to 18. They met bassist Paul Blackburn and multi-instrumentalist Tom Gray, who had grown up two doors down from Peacock, at college. Finally, Ian Ball met vocalist/guitarist Ben Ottewell from Matlock Bath in Derbyshire at Sheffield University.
The band played its first gig together in 1996 in Leeds at the Hyde Park Social Club on Ash Grove. At the time, they did not have a formal name. The band left a sign out which read "Gomez in here" for a friend of theirs whose surname was Gomez to indicate that it was the site of their first gig. People saw the sign and assumed that the band's name was Gomez. The name stuck.
The band started recording four-track demos in Peacock's father's garage in Southport during the summer of 1996. The demos were handed to Stephen Fellows (later manager/Comsat Angels) who distributed them to four initial record labels. A bidding war erupted immediately, including several U.S labels. The band, having only one performance under their belt, decided against playing showcases in London and instead made the record companies travel to Red Tape rehearsal studios. After several weeks of playing to over 25 labels, the band finally signed to Hut records (Virgin Records), in September 1997.
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