In 1998, with an average age of 22 among their members, Brit rockers Gomez burst onto the music scene with their debut albumBring It On.

The boys ended up taking out the Mercury Prize – a phenomenal achievement given The Verve’s Urban Hymns and Massive Attack’s Mezzanine were also nominated. Although it was 17 years ago, vocalist Ben Ottewell vaguely recalls the band being very young and drunk at the awards ceremony. Now less young and probably less drunk, Ottewell will be making his welcome return to Australia in November, this time in support of his second solo release, Rattlebag.

As our call is connected, Ottewell is at his house in Brighton, where the sun is shining and there is the faint sound of emergency sirens in the background. Ottewell speaks excitedly about heading back Down Under. “I am at the tail end of my summer/autumn UK tour and it feels really great to be coming back, and always a pleasure to play for the Australian audiences,” he says. “Tomorrow night, I’m playing with Rich Robinson from The Black Crowes in London. I met Rich a few years ago when we played a show in Atlanta. It was awesome because he came up onstage and played ‘Jealous Again’with us and that was just fantastic.”

Released in October last year, Rattlebag follows up 2011’s Shapes & Shadows. If you’re a fan of Gomez, you will immediately recognise Ottewell’s signature vocals that are present throughout the band’s discography. This new release, however, also showcases some pretty ballsy bluesy and folk riffs that have listeners hooked in no time. As expected, the record has been well received, with positive reviews across the board. Ottewell speaks fondly of the album’s success so far. “People like it. Some people like it more and some less, but generally it’s a positive thing. No-one has said anything nasty about it, which is good. It was a lot of fun to make in the studio and a really organic process, which you are able to hear in the songs.”

Since releasing Whatever’s On Your Mind back in 2011, Gomez have moved in different directions both physically and musically. Currently more than half the members (namely Ian Ball, Olly Peacock and Paul Blackburn) reside in the US, while Tom Gray and Ottewell live in Brighton. Despite this, the question of the next Gomez record keeps popping up, given they’ve collaborated on several tribute albums and been featured on the likes of Grey’s Anatomy, Suits and I Hope They Serve Beer In Hell.

“That’s a common theme in interviews, I got to admit, and I’m afraid I’m going to have to be the bearer of bad news – I don’t have any illusive exclusives,” says Ottewell. “All I know is that at some point in the future, it will happen. It might not be tomorrow or next year, but we will get together and produce new stuff sometime. For a long time I’ve been thinking I should try to get away from the Gomez stuff, but they are good songs and a lot of them are mine, so it seems silly to purposely upset people. If you come to these shows, you will hear a variety of stuff from my back catalogue.”

Ottewell’s solo records Shapes & Shadows and Rattlebag share quite similar sounds, despite having completely different writing methods. For Ottewell, the recording process behind the latter felt almost like starting from a clean slate.

“It was a really great experience being able to make this record,” he says. “All of the songs on the first record were written over the course of ten years and were tunes that had sort of fallen through the cracks and not been ready to put onto a record. However, this time around I started from scratch. Working with [producer] Will Golden again was fantastic because we think along the same lines, so there is no problem there. It was the most fun that I’ve had in the studio since [1999’s] Liquid Skin.”

When it comes to the influences behind Rattlebag, Ottewell points to Tom Waits and Ali Farka Touré as the main artists on the stereo while in the studio. It’s no surprise to hear, given that throughout his career Ottewell has channelled Waits in his distinctive vocal style. “They aren’t far away when I go into production for an album, yet you just have to go where the song takes you,” says Ottewell. “Every song is different and requires something new and fresh. You are able to pick references of where you want to take it, but it usually just drives itself.”

He’s now working on the follow-up to Rattlebag, and Ottewell promises we will be able to hear some new stuff on this tour. “You Australians are a very discerning bunch, so it’ll be great to see what you think of the new material. If you don’t like it, maybe I’ll just release a kids’ album instead.”

[Ben Ottewell photo by Timm Cleasby]

Rattlebag by Ben Ottewell isout now through Cooking Vinyl, and Ben appears atNewtown Social Club onWednesday November 18; Coogee Diggers on Sunday November 15; and The Brass Monkey on Thursday November 19.

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