There’s no shortage of bands lionizing the past, There’s little softness in the mix, and even fewer psychedelics on Introducing… The Gnomes. The band captures the pre-Summer of Love explosion from suit-matched manners to winking hijinks that slipped fuzztone into the living room and onto the family stereo. The band skews closer to the haggard heat of the garage beat — pre-concept-era Kinks, The Animals at their most un-coiffed, or The Guess Who in their shaggy early years. The Gnomes succeed best when they suture the softness to the scorch, lacing deceptively sweet harmonies over the amp-fried din of “I Like It,” or the power pop of “I’m Not The One.” The band’s debut is a record dipped in a love for classic aesthetics, but infused with the ragged youth, and unapologetic zeal that always made garage pop vital.
Although they emerged from Melbourne bayside outer suburbs onto the local live scene with their fresh and spirited indie-rock update of the garage-beat sounds of The Easybeats, Kinks and early Beatles only a year or so ago, Gnomes actually started out as a bedroom solo project for teenaged singer/songwriter/ guitarist Jay Millar a few years back. Jay, playing everything himself, started recording and releasing a steady succession of material – quite a few albums’ worth – on his own Goblin Records label via Bandcamp.
Realizing he needed a band to start playing out, Jay approached some like minded players from Frankston’s rehearsal hub Singing Bird, and with Jay on lead vocals and lead guitar, Ned Capp on guitar, Olly Katsianis on bass, and Ethan Robins on drums, Gnomes became a band.
Early in 2025, the last solo Jay recordings released under the Gnome name caused something of an international underground sensation when the Bandcamp only I Like It EP – four songs of kranked up Kinks-style mono riffage – was posted by a Spanish garage-punk YouTube page and quickly clocked up over 50,000 views.
At the same time, the band quickly began gaining attention on the thriving Recent single “Magic Man” conjured a thrilling conflation of The Monkees’ Pleasant Valley Sunday.
And now, finally, we have The Gnomes’ debut album. Twelve killer tracks that combine the best of the ’60s with the best of today. Twelve killer tracks that show off assertive and accomplished songwriting, singing and playing and an explosive and authentic swinging group sound. Twelve killers slices of raw rock’n’roll running the gamut from the savage Rhythm and Blues of “Play With You” and “Better With You” to the vibrant beat pop of “I’ll Be There” and “I’m Not The One”, with forays into the heavy reverb psych of “Stung”, the Cavern/Star Club stylings of “Flippin’ Stomp” and the first flyte jangle of “Time Will Tell” along the way. There’s more of course, including a new version of that Kinks-style kranker “I Like It” for good measure.
The Gnomes now have the same US booking agent as prolific psychedelic Aussies King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard.
“We’ve heard how, in their early touring days, Gizzard would happily rough it,” says Robins. “They’d book one hotel room and have six people on the floor in sleeping bags. We’re ready for that. Bring it on!”
The Fat Angel Sings 