The Rise of Gnome: Stoner Rock’s Mythical Creatures from Belgium

Transmission 082: Interview with Gnome

Gnome is a Belgian stoner rock band formed in Antwerp in 2016. The group consists of Rutger Verbist (lead vocals, guitar), Egon Loosveldt (drums), and Geoffrey Verhulst (bass). Their debut album Father of Time was released in 2018. King was released in 2022, preceded by singles “Ambrosius” and “Wenceslas”. The album had a thematic concept revolving around a fictional war between King Wenceslas and gnomes. In 2023, Gnome embarked on their first US tour, playing at festivals like Louder than Life and Aftershock. They have also performed at multiple Desertfest events in Europe.

Gnome’s Youtube official channel , Bandcamp & Instagram

What were some of the musical influences that shaped your early interest in music?

I’ve always had a very creative mind as a child in the way I approached playing with toys and building things with Legos. I was drawing a lot of imaginary creatures and worlds, and my musical journey started around the age of 12 when I received a Casio electric piano for my birthday. This, paired with an old classical guitar that I found in the attic belonging to my mother, were the first instruments I got my hands on, and I’ve been meddling with music ever since. The only music I listened to before the age of 14 was basically whatever music my parents were playing on the living room CD player. They listened mainly to a mix of Belgian classics and American rock music. My mother’s favorite band was Dire Straits, and my father’s was Jethro Tull.

How did you decide on the lineup for Gnome, and what were the dynamics like when you first started playing together?

In 2015, I had been playing drums in a band called Ivory for Elephants for a couple of years but was severely missing playing guitar. I had many ideas for songs, so I started writing some by myself. I would make simple home recordings of all the instruments involved and create silly videos of me playing all the instruments with random additional antics. These videos ended up on YouTube, and at first, this was the direction I wanted to grow in. After a while, I realized some of these songs had quite some potential, and it seemed a shame to never be able to perform them live. Therefore, I decided to start a band where I would front as the lead guitar player and songwriter.

I had recently broken up with a five-piece band, and I was kinda fed up with the logistical nightmare of having to deal with five different people and opinions when deciding anything musically productive. At the time, there were some very popular two-piece rock bands out there. There were The White Stripes, who had been around for quite some time, The Black Keys with rad blues rock, the up-and-coming Royal Blood rock duo, and the Belgian duo The Black Box Revelation. These were all influential to me at the time, and I envied the simplicity of rehearsing and performing with just two members. Therefore, I started out with the idea to form a rock duo. I would write all the music and just needed a drummer who lived in the Antwerp region, had time to rehearse once weekly, and wanted to play my silly tunes.

I put a message forth on a Facebook page called ‘Antwerp Musicians’ explaining that I was looking for a drummer for my rock project. Added to the message was one of my YouTube videos to show the type of music I was writing and the amount of silly fun I was having doing it. On the first day, I immediately got eight private messages from people who were interested. I started chatting with them to find out who would be willing and worth it to have a jam session with. The first guy who showed up was Egon, who immediately blew me away with his drumming. We also both connected humor-wise and shared a general happy nonchalance in our approach to life.

It didn’t take long for me to figure out our sound could be much heavier if we added a bass player to the mix. So, I approached my long-time childhood friend Geoffrey, and he was stoked right away to play bass with us. Our social dynamics were basically spot on from the get-go. The three of us all have a fun, kinda immature sense of humor, and none of us take ourselves too seriously. This dynamic has only solidified more through the years, and to this day, the three of us still have tons of fun rehearsing, recording, being on the road, and performing together.

How did you settle on the name Gnome, and what’s the story behind the pointed hats?

When we started out, my original placeholder name for the band was ‘Sleepless Titan.’ But after a while, we figured it sounded too serious for our music and style. It was Egon who suggested we call ourselves Gnome, since it is both a mythical creature and a silly one—perfectly in line with our music. Our sense of humor and way of not taking ourselves too seriously led us to perform with pointy hats, just for the fun of it, really. But the hats made their appearances at our live gigs and in our videos, so they soon cemented their place in our band. Now they are very much here to stay forever!

What made “Fuzz Lightyear” the turning point for forming Gnome?

As mentioned before, I had written and made music videos for some of my early creations before Gnome. ‘Fuzz Lightyear‘ was the song I used in my Facebook message looking for a drummer. It is the song that captured Egon’s interest to join the band, and it was also the first song we started rehearsing at our initial meetups. It eventually got dropped as our first album turned out mostly instrumental, but I might create a revised version of it for a future album—who knows.

“King” explores a fictional war between a king and gnomes. What inspired this narrative, and how did it shape the album’s music and lyrics?

We very much wanted to have a general theme and backstory associated with all the songs on the second album, ‘King.’ Unfortunately, half of the songs had already been written without this in mind, so they didn’t really fit well together. After rewriting some lyrics and changing some titles, we were able to piece everything together into a fictional rivalry between King Wenceslas and gnomekind. Some lyrics, names, and titles are inspired by the many fantasy novels and movies I like to consume in my spare time. ‘Ambrosius,’ for instance, is the mount of Sir Didymus from the movie ‘Labyrinth.’ ‘Stinth Thy Clep’ is a line from a Patrick Rothfuss novel. In our new album, ‘Vestiges of Verumex Visidrome,’ you’ll find a song called ‘Golden Fool,’ named after a Robin Hobb character, and a song called ‘Back to the Mud,’ which is a catchphrase in a Joe Abercrombie novel.

Your lyrics often include whimsical or fantastical elements. Are there specific myths, legends, or cultural stories that you draw from?

As mentioned before, much of my inspiration comes from fantasy books and movies. Europe has its fair share of myths, legends, and cultural stories referencing ogres, gnomes, kings, and adventurers. Even though none specifically come to mind, my childhood and upbringing in European culture have certainly imprinted some of its myths deep into my mind.

How has your live performance evolved since your early shows?

Well, I can confidently say our performances have improved considerably on all fronts. Not only have we each individually gotten better at playing our instruments, but our interplay has also become much tighter and blends nicely. Our sound has improved dramatically by gathering better equipment and fine-tuning it to suit whatever the stage requires. At first, we had nearly no crowd interaction or banter between songs, but that has changed since I started to interact more and more with the audience. Our growing body of work allows us to build more interesting setlists with an engaging flow and musical dynamic range. Since the recording of our third album, we now have a bunch of samples we use as intros and outros to some of our songs, enhancing the live experience even more.

Have you ever been surprised by a particular audience reaction or interpretation of your music?

I’m not surprised to see people attempting the ‘Wenceslas’ dance. But it still surprises me when some people can almost completely perform the entire improvised dance to ‘Kraken Wanker.’ Also, it warms my heart every time a fan approaches us to give us a self-made trinket, usually resembling a gnome or something cute, just because they’ve been touched by our music.

What are some of your favorite pieces of equipment or instruments that you use in the studio or during live performances?

Although I’ve switched a lot between different brands and styles of guitars, I’ve quite comfortably landed on the Gibson SG. It still is my bread and butter in both the studio and on stage, although you will probably see me playing some more exotic guitars in the future. My favorite piece of equipment on my pedal board has to be my Death By Audio ‘Fuzz War,’ which has shaped and continues to shape my guitar sound throughout all our albums.

How would you describe the rock music scene in Antwerp? How has it influenced your music and career?

Although not a huge scene, the Antwerp rock and metal scene is very much alive and kicking. We have Desertfest Antwerp each year, which is a literal heaven for all things stoner rock and doom. Our yearly Antwerp Metal Fest also proves the love for metal is very much alive. Through some of the local legends in the scene, we have come into contact with people who opened doors for us to bigger stages and more profitable tours. So, yes, it has influenced our career in a big way. Most of our global presence, however, has been made possible by the very existence of the internet, which is both a blessing and a curse upon our society.

What’s next for Gnome? Any hints about upcoming projects or collaborations?

First up, we obviously have our new album release in September 2024, followed immediately by a three-week tour in Germany to promote our third studio album, ‘Vestiges of Verumex Visidrome.’ We still have some cool shows coming up this summer, such as at the PALP festival in the Swiss mountains. We’ve also just performed shows in Croatia and Slovenia, which were very fun, and next year will see us return to England and play in Ireland and Greece for the first time. We hope to return to the US so we can finally hit the East Coast, but this will have to wait until at least 2026.

Photos courtesy of Gnome

Matteo Damiani

Matteo Damiani is an Italian photographer and author. Curator of the sites Retrofuturista.com; weirditaly.com; china-underground.com and others