Gomez

From Lastfm:

There are two bands under the same name:

1) indie rock band from the UK

2) emo band from the early 90s

Gomez are an English indie rock band. Their first album, Bring It On, won the Mercury Music Prize in 1998.

1) The genesis of Gomez was the meeting of four friends from Southport. Guitarist and vocalist Ian Ball and drummer Olly Peacock had previously played together in a local heavy metal band called Severed. They joined with guitarist / vocalist / keyboardist Tom Gray and bassist Paul Blackburn. Ian Ball met vocalist / guitarist Ben Ottewell (from Matlock Bath in Derbyshire) at Sheffield University, where they were both studying.

The band played their first gig together in late 1996 in Leeds without a formal name. The band left a sign out 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 a garage in Southport soon after. A bidding war erupted when they sent the demos to recording labels, with the band finally signing with Virgin Records' subsidiary, Hut, in 1997.

Gomez's career trajectory has led to the band's name taking on a new meaning. Also known as "Mercury Poisoning", To "do a Gomez" now means to release a debut album so successful and to such unanimous praise that expectations are raised to the point where it is impossible to follow it. This is in reference to the fact that whilst Bring It On is still regarded as one of the best British albums of the late nineties, its follow-ups have met a mixed critical reception and disappointing sales.

From Wikipedia:

Gomez are an English indie rock band from Southport, comprising Ian Ball (vocals, guitar), Paul "Blackie" Blackburn (bass), Tom Gray (vocals, guitars, keyboards), Ben Ottewell (vocals, guitars) and Olly Peacock (drums, synths, computers). The band is distinguished for having three singers and four songwriters, employing traditional and electronic instruments. Their sound is versatile and evades typical music genres falling into indie, alternative, rock, folk and experimental.

Their first album, Bring It On, won the Mercury Music Prize in 1998, giving them much media attention in the UK and throughout the world. Later awards came from the NME and Q Magazine along with a Brit Awards nomination.

Gomez began their career on Hut records (Virgin) signing in 1997. Just before their third album release In Our Gun Hut records was forced to downsize and on the following record, Split the Difference, Hut records was disbanded by Virgin/EMI records. The band were so dismayed by the music business and shocked by huge setbacks they kept experiencing, that they decided to go it alone and asked Virgin Records to let them go in 2004. The following year American label ATO signed the group, releasing their first live album Out West and their most successful record stateside How We Operate and A New Tide.

Currently the band are split between the UK and US with Ian Ball residing in Los Angeles, Olly Peacock in Brooklyn, N.Y. and Paul Blackburn, Tom Gray and Ben Ottewell in Brighton, England.

Ian Ball released a solo record in 2007 entitled Who Goes There.

Ian Ball and Olly Peacock worked on the side project Operation Aloha. The experimental project designed by photographer Christopher Wray-McCann brought together 14 of his friends, living in tree houses making songs with whatever they could bring to the island of Maui, Hawaii.

Ian Ball, Ben Ottewell, Olly Peacock and Graham Pattison (engineer) created the Final Keep Me Up in 2009. They decided to record an album using only iPhones in the back lounge of the tour bus from Calais to Köln May 2, 2009. The album exists only in streaming form.