The Gnomes Are Bringing ‘60s Beat Back

Photo by Chris Kroll

Hailing from Frankston, Melbourne, The Gnomes are a four-piece garage-rock band bringing ‘60s beat, Merseybeat and power pop into the present day. Formed by singer-guitarist Jay Millar out of his prolific bedroom project on Bandcamp, the band quickly built a following locally before releasing their self-titled debut album in November 2025. Alongside Millar, the lineup features Ned Capp on guitar, Olly Katsianis on bass and Ethan Robins on drums, with The Kinks and The Easybeats among their key influences. Following the release of their latest EP, ‘More’, in May, The Gnomes are currently taking their hook-heavy sound across Australia as support for Spiderbait’s 30th Anniversary Tour.

We spoke to The Gnomes about their ‘60s-inspired sound, their new EP, touring with Spiderbait and what comes next.

Jay, The Gnomes started as a solo Bandcamp project before becoming a full band. Was there a moment where you realised the songs had outgrown the bedroom and needed four people to bring them to life?

Jay: Yes indeed! I originally recorded our last album totally solo and once I started mixing it, I decided I wasn’t happy with how the songs sounded. The tracks sounded like all my other bedroom recordings so after a few discussions with the live band we decided that the songs and our live sound has gradually been outgrowing the bedroom and that it makes sense to re-record the album as a full live band. Hence the name change from ‘Gnome’ to ‘The Gnomes’ and our debut Album and EP featuring all four members, really solidifying that the little solo project has now developed into a real band.

You've built a sound that's rooted in the '60s but feels made for modern live shows. Are there any contemporary bands or artists that have influenced The Gnomes as much as the obvious classics?

Olly: I think we all have really different influences and it creates a sorta cool fusion of all different genres of rock music. More modern Melbourne artists like Split System, Stiff Richards and King Gizz are all from this past decade but we still love and take a large influence from these sorta newer bands as well as the oldies. 

Jay: I think that our biggest modern influences come from the bands and musicians surrounding us in the Frankston and Melbourne music scene. Bands like The Unknowns, Elvis 2, The Mundaynes, Clydesdale, Stimpies, C.O.F.F.I.N, Loose Lips and W.O.M.B.A.T are all bands we’ve spent the last few years watching or gigging with. To be surrounded by so many creative people who are making great and exciting music all the time really pushes us to stay creative and try and make every gig we play a little better than the last.

Photo by Chris Kroll

When you're writing together, what's usually the first sign that a song is ‘a Gnomes song’? Is it a riff, a melody, a feeling in the room, or something you can't really explain?

Olly: I think it’s something you can’t really explain too much. We are only just beginning to start writing new songs together all four of us. It’s usually someone who has the core of the song and brings it to the band, then everyone else adds their own flare and parts to it and it sort of builds on the original idea and creates something different and bigger and cooler and something that sounds more “us”.

Jay: I don’t know – back in the solo era of Gnome I would write so many different styles of music and change so frequently that anything was Gnome. But I think the way we play a song in a room is what makes it ‘gnomie’. We often come into rehearsals with songs already fully written but it never takes its final form until everyone naturally adds their touch. I know if I walk in with a “Jay song” it’ll naturally become a “Gnome song”.

Photo by Chris Kroll

You're currently supporting Spiderbait on their 30th Anniversary Tour. Has watching a band with that kind of longevity every night changed the way you think about what makes a band last?

Olly: It honestly just made me think “how do they do this for that long and how are they still so good”. It made me hopeful that doing something you love can last for a long time.

Jay: It was refreshing to see that their drive to play music was so genuine and based around their friendship with each other. Not only the band but their entire team were so welcoming towards us and just all round lovely people.

Frankston has become part of your story. Do you think growing up there shaped the band's personality in ways that wouldn't have happened if you'd come from somewhere else?

Olly: I think it’s definitely shaped us as people and our outlook on life a little. I think it helps us bring a little bit more of a punky attitude and the scene down in Frankston is traditionally pretty hardcore so even if we’re playing a ‘60s poppy type song, we can tend to try and look tough and power stance through it while playing live. I guess it creates some sorta character, I’m not sure what you’d call it.

Jay: I think growing up alongside the diversity of the Frankston scene and watching so many bands start, end, and make it out of Frankston has not only made me proud of the town we're from but also proud of the scene that is so supportive of all kinds of music and people.

Your new EP More feels like a statement in itself. If ‘more’ isn't just about having more songs, what is it that you wanted more of?

Olly: We want more of everything. More, more, more.

Jay: Well it actually stands for “Music Of Raw Energy”. Nah I’m kidding but Olly is right though … All we want is more.

If someone had never heard The Gnomes before and you could only play them one song, which track would you choose to represent the band?

Olly: This is hard. Maybe magic man because that has just resonated with the most people so far. I think musically it captures the bluesy twelve-bar stuff we love to play but mixed with a harder, rockier sound. It has a bit of everything in there, but I’m sure if you asked everyone they’d probably give you a different answer. 

Photo by Chris Kroll

Jay: I agree with Olly, ‘Magic Man’ kinda encapsulates our sound at the moment. It’s fast, bluesy, fun and has lots of energy.

If we were having this conversation a year from now, what would you hope had happened for The Gnomes in that time?

Olly: I hope we’d be playing more shows to more people and exploring more of the world. Maybe a new record that everyone loves, and we get super rich and famous overnight!

Jay: That I’ve still got hair and can grow a real moustache, and hopefully still playing the music we love and meeting new people and doing new things.

Listen to The Gnomes on Spotify, and Apple Music.

Keep up to them via their Instagram.