Gomez kicked off their first U.S. tour in support of In Your Gun this week, but before hitting the road, the British outfit completed a host of work for their fourth studio album.

"We want to get on to another album very quickly," says vocalist/guitarist Tom Gray. "At the moment I'm just putting some new studio gear together so as soon as that's finished I want to start immediately. We've got a couple of weeks off now so I'm gonna keep working on it and trying new ideas about."

So far Gray's written a handful of new songs including "A Song For Lovers in Between the War," which he describes as being "a little bit 'Dear Prudence'-y," "End of Me," and "Going on the Run," which Gray says is "your classic escape tune -- a Gomez specialty."

As they've done on past releases, the group will produce the next effort themselves. Once again, they plan to bring in a host of musician pals. "We've always worked with other people," Gray said. "Lots of friends who are musicians have been on our records. That's always been part of what we're about. We're more of a group of friends than a band."

Gomez tour dates:

9/27: New York, Roseland Ballroom
9/28: Toronto, Phoenix Concert Theater
9/30: Detroit, St. Andrews Hall
10/1: Chicago, Vic Theater
10/2: Minneapolis, Fine Line Music Café
10/4: Boulder, Fox Theater
10/5: Salt Lake City, Xscape
10/7: Seattle, The Showbox
10/8: Vancouver, Commodore Ballroom
10/9: Portland, OR Berbati's Pan
10/11: San Francisco, The Fillmore
10/14: West Hollywood, House of Blues

JOLIE LASH
(September 27, 2002)