Frankston's Gnome Change Name to The Gnomes and Announce New Recordings

ONCE THERE WAS ONE, NOW THERE ARE FOUR, 
SO GNOME AINT GNOME ANYMORE

Bayside Melbourne band Gnome, who have caused a big stir locally since the start of the year with their fresh and spirited indie-rock update of the garage-beat sounds of The Easybeats, Kinks and early Beatles, have today announced a name change to The Gnomes as well as the pending release of new single "I'm Not the One". The new single will be the first result of their new deal with reanimated local rock'n'roll record label Dog Meat, and it will be followed by The Gnomes' first album later in the year.

Having seemingly emerged from the outer Melbourne suburb of Frankston only a year or so ago, Gnome has actually been a thing since late 2022. But until the last year or so, it wasn't actually a band. Gnome was originally a bedroom recording project for teenager Jay Millar, who, playing everything himself, started recording under the name 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 likeminded 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, Gnome 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 Frankston scene and around Melbourne. They started breaking out, sharing bills with the likes of Drunk Mums, Skegss, Split System, The Prize, The Unknowns, Cosmic Psychos, Hockey Dad, Guitar Wolf, The 5.6.7.8's, The Breadmakers, Loose Lips and, on a quick trip to Sydney, Sammy Cautious & The Wrestlers. Of course, they've also played with fellow Frankstoners/Singing Bird alumni The Belair Lip Bombs.

With what was originally a one-man recording project now a fully-fledged four-piece band as well as a new phase beginning on the recording front, and with all indications suggesting that the band's audience is about to increase exponentially, the time is right for Gnome to become The Gnomes.

The band will play their last show as Gnome will be a just-announced and already sold-out show at Singing Bird with Eddy Current Suppression Ring (whose Mikey Young is another former Frankston local and who recorded their last album at Singing Bird) on Friday August 29.

"I'm Not The One" is the first single as The Gnomes and by the full band. It's a taste of the first album by the full band, which will be released later in the year. With Jay's talents having developed prodigiously over the last couple of years, and with Ned, Olly and Ethan fully incorporated into a recording and performing entity that prides itself on its keen vocal and instrumental abilities and punchy sound, The Gnomes now, if the ever-increasing number of kids dancing up front every time they play is any indication, are set to bring their Bayside Beat to today's international pop scene in a big way.

The Gnomes' new single "I'm Not The One" will be released on Thursday
July 31, and is available to pre-order now via Bandcamp