Bluesfest Touring is proud to welcome Gomez back to Australia for their first tour in 6 years and the 20th anniversary of their breakthrough album ‘Bring It On’. With so much to celebrate, their Perth, Sydney and Melbourne sideshows are not to be missed. The five members of Gomez played their first shows together in Leeds in late 1996, and soon began recording songs in Olly’s dad’s garage in Southport. The demos aroused considerable interest, and the group signed to the Virgin subsidiary label Hut Records in 1997. These garage demos eventually became their debut, ‘Bring It On’, which gained rave reviews on both sides of the Atlantic. The group stood apart in their attitude and demeanour from the Brit-pop groups then currently in vogue. Typical of this was the comment from the panel of judges for the Mercury Music Prize who described the album as “an intriguing blend of swamp blues, bar-room rock and eerie power.” Gomez won 1998’s Mercury Music Prize for Album of the Year, where they edged out such stiff competition as Massive Attack’s Mezzanine, the Verve’s ‘Urban Hymns’ and Pulp‘s ‘This Is Hardcore’. ‘Bring It On’ was followed by several more critically acclaimed and highly successful records such as 1999’s ‘Liquid Skin’, 2004’s ‘Split the Difference’ and ‘How We Operate ‘in 2006. Gomez are living proof that perseverance and consistency are qualities to be proud, of as the group have ridden out changes in fads and styles around them to maintain their popularity and critical standing around the world. ‘Bring It On’ has a creative buzz, the excitement and spirit of adventure that comes when any young band starts out—and which Gomez have, with no self-aggrandised fanfare, successfully maintained to this day. Bluesfest Touring is thrilled to welcome them back to Australia at such an important time in the band’s career.