Meet The Gnomes: Your new favourite Aussies digging garage rock, Merseybeat, 12-string jangle, fuzz pedals and moustache care
The Gnomes, a four-piece garage rock band from Frankston, a beachside suburb of Melbourne, are gaining attention as an emerging Australian act drawing on garage rock, Merseybeat and jangly 12-string guitar influences. In an interview with Classic Rock, the band discuss their musical touchstones, their gear and the tight-knit local scene that has shaped them, as they prepare to build a wider audience beyond Australia.
The band comprises Jay Miller (guitar/vocals), Ned Capp (guitar), Olly Katsianis (bass) and Ethan Robins (drums), who spoke to Classic Rock at Singing Bird Studios, their rehearsal and recording base in Frankston. They cited influences including The Easybeats and The Lemon Twigs, and noted their use of a Behringer Super-Fuzz pedal on tracks such as Matter Of Time. The Gnomes are now managed by the same team behind Amyl And The Sniffers, signalling growing industry interest in the band.
- Aussie garage rock band The Gnomes profiled by Classic Rock magazine
- Four-piece from Frankston, Melbourne cite Easybeats, Lemon Twigs influences
- Now managed by Amyl And The Sniffers' management team
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The Gnomes are a four-piece garage rock band from Frankston, a beachside suburb of Melbourne, Australia. The line-up is Jay Miller on guitar and vocals, Ned Capp on guitar, Olly Katsianis on bass and Ethan Robins on drums, and they write and rehearse together at Singing Bird Studios in their home town. Their sound draws on garage rock, Merseybeat and jangly 12-string guitar, styles associated with 1960s bands, filtered through more recent acts such as The Lemon Twigs.
The band has begun attracting wider notice partly because of who now works with them: their management team also looks after Amyl And The Sniffers, an Australian act that has built a substantial international following. This kind of connection often signals that an artist is being positioned for growth beyond their local scene, though it is not a guarantee of success.
The interview that prompted this coverage, published by the magazine Classic Rock, has the band discussing their influences, equipment and the local music community in Frankston that shaped them, giving readers a sense of an emerging act at an early stage of building a profile outside Australia.