The Gnomes

The Gnomes play Brudenell Social Club on Monday 9 November, their first Leeds date since they broke out of the Melbourne scene. They're a Bayside band who describe their sound as a reimagining of the garage-beat of The Easybeats, The Kinks and the early Beatles — that mid-sixties, guitar-driven pop that sits somewhere between a dancehall and a basement.

The project started in the outer-Melbourne suburb of Frankston as a bedroom recording venture by teenager Jay Millar, who tracked everything himself on his own Goblin Records label via Bandcamp. When it came time to play the songs live, he recruited local players from the Frankston rehearsal hub Singing Bird: Ned Capp on guitar, Olly Katsianis on bass and Ethan Robins on drums, with Jay on lead vocals and guitar. The four of them are who you'll see on the night.

Things moved quickly from there. Early in 2025, the I Like It EP — four songs of Kinks-style mono riffage — was picked up and posted to Bandcamp by a Spanish garage-punk YouTube page. It sparked an international underground sensation and broke the band back home in Frankston, where they've shared bills with 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 Sammy Cautious & The Wrestlers. That's a long list of names for a band that started in a bedroom, and it gives you a fair idea of the company they've been keeping.

Doors open at 19:30, and entry is free.