German hardcore powerhouse HALF ME return with their crushing new single Psalm, offering another dark and unsettling glimpse into their upcoming album DOGMA, due for release on October 23, 2026 via Arising Empire. With the album’s pre-order already underway and its release drawing ever closer, Psalm reveals a slower, more brooding side of HALF ME […]
Renowned for their epic live shows, both sonically and visually, The Dandy Warhols will return to Australia and New Zealand this November and December for the Pin Ups tour. Nearly three decades into a career built on doing things their own way, The Dandy Warhols continue to push into new territory. The tour will open […]
Brisbane alt-rock outfit Sunbleached share their dreamy new track, Maybe I’ll Come Around off their upcoming debut album, Stop Destroying The Things You Love, out Friday 18 September via Community Music. The band will launch it live this September when they join California emo rock icons Seahaven for their East Coast Australian tour, with tickets […]
The Strain is the second single from Brisbane based, trio outfit, TRACE, set for release next week. Having formed back in 2019, TRACE exploded onto the scene with the anthemic debut single, Burning Bridges. Matched with a strong film clip, and energetic live show, the band have worked tirelessly on their craft, gained momentum through […]Fun-loving foursome The Gnomes are at Singing Bird Studios in the beachside suburb of Frankston, Melbourne, when they greet Classic Rock. The building serves as their HQ, recording studio of choice and rehearsal space, and it’s also the beating heart of Frankston’s thriving rock scene.
Soon they’re off to see pals Rat Taxi at the Young Street Tavern, but for now Jay Miller (guitar/vocals), Ned Capp (guitar), Olly Katsianis (bass) and Ethan Robins (drums) are enthusing about The Easybeats and The Lemon Twigs, and the Behringer Super-Fuzz pedal that gives their own gnarly riffage extra bite on nuggets such as Matter Of Time. They also respond to Classic Rock’s request for moustache-care tips: “I give mine a little twist,” says Olly. “You know, for that pirate or Pringles guy look.”
Now handled by Amyl And The Sniffers’ management team, The Gnomes are in the ascendant. Recent single Magic Man conjured a thrilling conflation of The Monkees’ Pleasant Valley Sunday and Status Quo’s Down Down, while the video for it features Singing Bird’s owner (and Gnomes’ mentor/former manager) Stu Anderson, who was hungover from an all-night bender and wearing a wizard’s cape and pointy hat ensemble borrowed from Ned’s girlfriend.
“That song was inspired by this strange old dude who’s lived next door to my parents for thirty years”, explains frontman/chief songwriter Miller. “He’ll just magically appear in our local park holding branches and sticks.”
It was after Miller made his solo record Cows And Sheep in 2024 – and a failed stab at recording the first Gnomes LP alone – that his new bandmates helped turn things around.
“Ollie suggested I re-record it with a full band,” he recalls. “Then everybody’s individual flair took these bedroom-recorded sixties powerpop songs to a much more ballsy, garage-rock place. Everything was a lot more thought through.”
Famous fans of the band include Viagra Boys singer Sebastian Murphy, who joined them on stage wearing a green gnome hat when The Gnomes supported them at Sydney’s 5,500-capacity Hordern Pavilion.
“That was the first time we felt we were stepping out from where we’re from,” says Miller. “It wasn’t a tiny dive bar with a sticky floor – there was air-conditioning!”
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!”
After 25 years of silence, Endless reunited to finally record the songs written in the 90s. Is It Right has just been released on streaming platforms after Fuck School, and the band returns to the studio in mid-May to record Lately and Fear for You. Same DNA, same energy, amps back on. Fear for You […]
Equal Vision Records/Civilians and Slothrust are pleased to present Dystopian Cemetery and Twisted Paradise, two brand new singles lifted from the Friday 18 September release of What They Grow In The Garden, the new studio album from the acclaimed LA-based alt-rock veterans, that examine queer romance and sleep paralysis. “Do not forget the delights that […]
Spike and the Gimme Gimmes release their rendition of Girls Just Want to Have Fun. Alongside the single release, the band is thrilled to announce their new album, Shit the Bed, arriving October 23 via Fat Wreck Chords. “Take it from me, Spike… GIRLS JUST WANNA HAVE FUN. Allow me to mansplain: the Gimme Gimmes […]
Ferocious and uncompromising in their execution, CARCASS’s ability to intricately dissect the innards of death metal, and display them for us to sonically understand has been their point of excellence for nearly four decades. Whether it was inventing gore-grind or creating the template for melodic death metal, CARCASS has always made records by which bars […]