Gnome

Formed in Antwerp in 2016, Gnome brings together Rutger Verbist on vocals and guitar, Egon Loosveldt on drums and Geoffrey Verhulst on bass in a trio format that blends stoner rock, progressive rock and touches of sludge, with a marked taste for heavy riffs, dynamic shifts and deliberately absurd humour. Originally centred on Verbist’s compositions, the project took its current shape after an initial period under a different name, and adopted the visual identity that now accompanies Gnome on stage — notably the red beanies inspired by garden gnomes. Gnome released its first album, Father of Time, in 2018 on Polderrecords, taking a more experimental approach with limited vocals, then refined its writing on King (2022), a record built around an imaginary tale pitting a fictional king, Wenceslas, against gnomes. That same year the track “Wenceslas” features Óskar Logi Ágústsson of The Vintage Caravan. Since then Gnome has circulated across the European rock and heavy scene, appearing at Desertfest Antwerp and in various Belgian venues, before its first US tour in 2023, which included dates at Louder Than Life and the Aftershock Festival.