Covering Gomez

10 July 2013 | 5:00 am | Liz Giuffre

"I think we used some string players from Australia once, and I know Ian was quite close with the Gelbison guys, and we know Luke Steele a little bit, from Empire Of The Sun and Sleepy Jackson, that great band."

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he thing at the moment is the band [Gomez] is on a break, so my head's kind of totally in this solo thing, and 100, 200 person rooms. It's a totally different vibe and I'm quite getting into it really. It's such a contrast from being onstage with a band and making such a racket; it's nice to sit down, I'm getting old now, I can take my time,” Ottewell laughs. This is the second solo tour he's done in Australia over the last couple of years, and as well as playing stuff from his solo effort, Shapes & Shadows, as well as the odd cover for good measure, he's also exploring some of Gomez's back catalogue.

“It's what I do when I play solo, I try not to be too much like the band. When you're trying to do the work of five guys there's only so much you can do, but what I can get back to is how the songs were originally conceived. And particularly some of the big ones like Get Miles, that's how they were initially, a voice and a guitar. So it kind of makes sense to take it back. And it's also nice to explore how it was when they were first thought of - that's kind of the idea - but also singing tunes that Ian [Ball, Gomez co-vocalist] would normally sing, and having fun with that.” For existing fans this is a double thrill, as the gravelly Ottewell meets the fair Ball, providing something of a cover of the band from within the band. Nerd central and awesome stuff at that.

“Yeah, exactly,” Ottewell concurs. “Some people were a bit, like, 'You shouldn't really do that.' It was only a couple of people in isolation who said, 'You shouldn't be doing Gomez stuff,' but it's like 'Why not?' A song's a song. I covered Neil Young; surely that's more sacrilegious than covering my own band.”

Has he ever asked the rest of the band if they mind him messing with the Gomez stuff without them?

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“I just did it. Ian's forever covering me,” he laughs. “And I guess it also shows a thing about our band, essentially, is that we've never been too precious about it. When a band starts worrying about 'this is mine, each in his territory', that's when there's problems. We've never had that.”

Ottewell's demeanour is upbeat and positive, and he's clearly looking forward to the trip. Confirming that Australia is a place he's made it to a lot, he's developed strong ties with Australia and made a good swag of local friends and connections.

“I think we used some string players from Australia once, and I know Ian was quite close with the Gelbison guys, and we know Luke Steele a little bit, from Empire Of The Sun and Sleepy Jackson, that great band.”

Working on solo effort number two before and during the trip, Ottewell also promises to air a few brand new tunes for us to preview.

“Yeah there'll be a couple of new songs dropped in there, definitely, for sure. I'm right in the middle of writing another solo record so there'll definitely be a couple of new things in there, if I can work out how to play them. I often write something, record it and then think, 'How am I gonna play that!?!'” No need to worry, though; if he can bring Gomez's amazing eclectic complexity back to one instrument and a gravely drawl, no doubt his own tunes will be fine.