A low-fi recording by a relatively unknown band beat a host of big names to scoop the seventh annual Technics Mercury Music Prize, held in London's Shepherd's Bush Empire last Wednesday. Gomez, a five piece from Southport, won the coveted award for their debut album, Bring It On, which was recorded in a garage on a four-track machine. Other nominees for the 1998 Mercury Music Prize included The Verve's Urban Hymns, Pulp's This Is Hardcore and Robbie Williams's Life Thru A Lens, but the eight-member judging panel plumped for Gomez's swampy blues rock sound, and the album also emerged as clear favourites with the bookies. The band's closest competitors for the prize were Asian bands Cornershop and Asian Dub Foundation. Last year's Mercury Music Prize winner was Roni Size for his drum 'n' bass album New Forms.

Gomez, whose members are in their early 20s, expressed astonishment at winning the £25,000 prize, saying "it's pretty ridiculous that this album was recorded in my Dad's garage and we had people like the police saying keep the noise down!" Gomez play Dublin's Olympia Theatre on October 22nd. Highlights of performances from this year's Mercury Music Prize ceremony will be televised on BBC 2 tomorrow night. KC