PipemanRadio Interviews Gnome at Aftershock 2023

0:04 Hi, you have done to censure? Wow? Crazy you why become America. It's time for the Adventures of Pipe Man on W four c Y dot com. West pomp Beats is number one internet radio station. Here's your host, the Vee. Many listen, it's the pipe Man here on the Adventures pipe Man W four c Y Radio. And I'm here West. No Nice.

0:55 My name is Rudy, I'm the I do the lead vocal and lead guitar in no I'm Jeff and I play bass and Megan and I played the drums. So nice. I want to start right off the bat with his necklace because I love it. And we were talking about before the erviw Yeah, it got a little embroidered necklace here. And this was given to us by a fan at Louder than Life in Kentucky where we played about three weeks ago, and she was front row wearing this thing that she made with their bare hands, and she was dying to give it to us. And it's such a sweet gift. We meet a lot of fans who give us little things. Today we got these little bracelets. Ah, there you go. Yeah, And we love our fans who show up making things for us and they send us drawings and pictures, and they dress up in costumes and everything, and they show up to the shows still waiting for the first panties.

1:40 Though, well, let's make that happen. You're not getting them from me, though, I see, I got my Pipeman bracelets. Why of my groupies made for me? Right? Yes, it's somehow. It's a thing. Our Our fans are really just adorable. They always give us tiny gifts, and they're so happy to get to see us, and we're just very happy in return. Do you think it's because your name is Gnome and they're like, they just so, i'matically assume they should give you cute gifts like probably our stick is just funny and silly. Tell the listeners about your stick that because whoever's never seen it or knows nothing about it. Oh yeah, So we started out we were actually named Sleepless Titan. That was our original band name, but when we had written about three or four songs, it quickly became clear that Sleepless Titan sounds too too, too dark, too heavy.

2:36 We do, you know, maneuver in the genres of doom and stoner, but our music is also danceable and silly. And happy. So that's when Eagan came up with the name gnome, because the gnome is like a silly, fantastical creature which is both evel and weird and dark looking, but also just silly and happy and stupid. Yeah, totally. It actually fits perfectly to our music and I love what Like when I go to the UK, I see gnomes everywhere people. They seem to love us. We've clicked really well with the UK audience. It's been amazing because are you talking about actual garden homes or yeah, yeah, yeah, though the real thing, like real, real life, not real. They show up to our shows and were in the hats and everything. Yeah, we've seen them. Yeah see, I didn't see a yet this after shot get though, I saw a lot of corn and not the band and bananas. That's that's what we have here in the United States. You mean you people dressed up as bananas and that's corn. Yes, yeah, yeah, the corn. We were driving through Kansas, we saw mainly corn. Yeah, yeah, for sure.

3:49 Well if you were in the pit for what was it, parkway drive, you would have seen like three stalks of corn in the pit. Chicken in the corn there it is. Yeah, what is the silliest thing you do live. I don't know, man. We stick our tongues out to each other. And I once licked his space by accident. Are you a wait a minute, nada. I don't believe it was an accident. Okay, you can hide behind that, but okay, I needed some more salting takes. Yeah, oh yeah, he wants to taste me all the time. Was it the beard? Tell us the truth? Was it the beard? Oh yeah, he probably smells him leftover spaghetti in my beard. Isn't that what's great about having a beard. You know, if you have to do something like this and you have no time to eat, you just save your breakfast. Yeah exactly. You know. I absolutely love garlic in almost all of my food, and it sticks with you for like three days in your mustage, which is yeah, it does absolutely amazing. When I used to smoke cigarettes, that shit stuck in my mustache, you know, and I could taste a nicotine. I'm oh, yeah, that is fucking nasty.

5:03 Well yeah, I bet it is. And then you know the mist I realized that. Then I start and I got rid of that. Then women started to like me. Before I was always wondering why they were like shying away. It was the fucking nicotine stuck in my mustache. Well there's there's the magical solution. Yeah, say that's the gnome solution. Oh yeah, say you smell like chicken in the corn. The women are on you like magnets. I got idea next time we play after Shock. Okay, you're gonna you'll have like some life size gnomes on stage. Oh yeah, we will eat the corn. They go jump out in the mosh pin eat the corn. Oh yeah, and they might take some wallets. You know.

5:49 Many people they're confused because they they think when we show up, we're gonna be like, yay big, But we're not. But my mum is actually ya big, like water bottle size. But I think she lied about who my father is. Yeh, well she is obviously a gnome. Oh yeah she is, you know. And it is funny that they that you should say they, because I bet there are people that really think you're that big. Because the things that people think are real nowadays with social media and the web blows my fucking mind. Oh, especially in America, there is a people called gnome enthusiasts and the evil us all the time telling us what the proper lore about Gnomes is. Oh, yeah, we don't even know.

6:41 Yeah, you can't do that wrong. Okay, you can't wear a red hat. You have to wear a green hat because it's Sunday or something. We really we never thought about it that much. You know. We started wearing the Noome hats because if we thought it was funny, we didn't think it would stick with us. But now everybody shows up, we're in the hat. So I guess we're not getting rid of them, you know. Yeah, if you take a talk, nobody'll come like we get every once and again. We get the comments, hey guys, your music is awesome, but take of the heads. They look silly. But the truth is without the heads are our videos would have never blown up. And it's it's the perfect icebreaker. You know. When we come on stage, people immediately know that we don't take ourselves seriously and that needs I love that life.

7:24 It's too serious to come to a music festival and not be silly. Yeah, and there's a lot of people who take themselves very seriously, and you know, for whatever reason, that's fine, but we certainly don't. And like Rudy said, it's a great icebreaker, Like if we're up there looking like that, and what the hell doesn't matter what you look like? You know? Roll? Yeah, take happy family. And one thing I've found is the icons in the music industry never take themselves seriously, Like are they professionals, Yes, that's different. But they're having a great time. Like I was interviewing let they're scared and they were laughing the whole a review and I didn't even say anything funny. Well, maybe they had a certain green herb helping them out with that, that's possible, but they're they're you know, if you can't laugh at yourself and you can't have fun in this industry, you're in the wrong industry. Yeah, and its otherwise it sucks.

8:22 I'm quite convinced that a big part of our success is the fact that we're good friends. You know, when you're stuck in a vent for hours on end, weeks on end, and you can't laugh with each other's farts, then you're gonna have a bad time. And if you can't, like put stuff on their nose and then scratch, so they do this, you know, for those listening, I was smashing my nose. Listen, if they're gonna get pissed at you for that, you need a new band member. Oh yeah, oh yeah, so yeah. We just aim for fun always. If we have fun on stage, then usually the people the augens have fun as well, and that's that's the energy we're looking for. I think if I had a band, the rest of my band members would kill me, because the whole time on the road, I would be playing practical jokes on everybody. All right, well, well we do it all.

9:13 We do it as well, it's mainly him. Now, I have a very serious question. Do gnomes ever shit their pants on stage? I think they actually do all the time. That's why they look so baggy the pants. It's full of shit. There it is. It hasn't happened to me, but it's been close. You know why I asked that question because there's another question I asked, like one story good or bad? When you're like eighty, you're going to talk about the number one answer, like, if you ever saw a family few that game show shitting their pants on stage?

9:56 Well, eggon, he really fucks on the drums, but there's only so much your sphincter can take. Yeah, well, listen, what do you do with the bass pedal. When you're not playing drums, what do I do with the baseball? It's in the case mostly. Okay, that's what he wants you to believe. Yeah right? Is it hiding with the gnome? The gnomes hide? Is that the one that hides? Well, most of them do, because many people still think they're they're only mythical creatures that don't really exist. But they obviously do look at us, you know exactly, but most of them hide. They're a little shy. It's like people think Santa Claus's mythical, but I see him in a it's a crowd surfing at every festival. Dude, Santa Claus is a gnome. He has a long white beard, he has a point he had. He's a gnome?

10:46 There it is. Is he tall though? For no big fat one? Yeah? Yeah? Are nomes usually that big? Well? From time to time, you know, there's no restrictions. I mean, Jeffy's pretty big. It's a common misconception that we need to be small. Yeah, but my dad is actually Andre the Giants. Ah, yeah, say so. And your mom was a gnome and that's how that happened. All of our moms just fucked around. I don't even think I want to say anything about that together. It was a Belgian tea party, oh man. So how do you compare playing to audiences in Belgium and playing here? Well, first, I need to say that the Belgians specifically are quite timid. When we're playing in Belgium, people are just nodding a little with their heads and not moving at all. At the end of the show, they'd come and congratulate us, Hey, dude, your show was amazing. But in the audience audience, they just don't move. But when we leave Belgium and we play in the UK or in Spain or Germany, people just lose their mind, right, And Americas like that as well. People just party and we love it. What do you think it is about Belgium people that they're just very reserved at your shows. I don't know. We're just like, we're not very big on you know, national pride or whatever. We're kind of we're Norman and as a sort of I wouldn't say timid, but like a quiet,

12:20 polite people or whatever. Doesn't mean we don't like to have fun, right, or we're just you know, we're a mix up of so many cultures, like Belgium. The country has been a part of the Netherlands, in Spain and France and Austria and Germany and you know whatever. So our whole identity is kind of a mix up of all those things, you know. Yeah, I find that, especially Americans, they really love to wear their colors and show this is what I'm in too, music wise, politics wise, whatever wise. But Belgians usually are are Their parents usually tell their children don't be too loud or then the neighbors might hear. We have this kind of timid clothes off culture experience. Well, we have that a little bit in Florida, but that's only because the condo commandos, as we put them, will report you. We have people that run these condo associations and if I got a complaint, a formal complaint because my grandchildren were laughing in the pool. Okay, so maybe Florida is from Belgium. Oh so Florida man is actually Belgium. That actually explains a lot. That's why you can't find them. You're not looking at home. Oh yeah. We're also quite convinced that there might be a loophole somewhere in the forests which goes straight to turnhouse in Belgium. Well we've seen some Florida men in Belgium. Well, you know, in America, we do believe that you can take a hole

13:50 to China. Oh but it's true. See, it's true. The funny part about that is, you know, we had this whole campaign about wall for Mexico. You know, most of the Mexicans that come into America aren't walking across the border. They're either flying in or walking through a tunnel. So the defence doesn't really help. Okay, you know, build a ten foot waller of being a leven foot ladder. Right, that's right, exactly. That's what I love about Europe man. Just drive through those borders like it. The only reason I know I'm in different countries because the language changes. I'm like, wait, what language is that? Where am I? Yeah? Still, I mean we're all the same people. Just because somebody is born on the other end of the over the line in the sands, you know, we're all just the same people, right. I love that attitude. I wish the rest of the world would realize that, Like, we're one race to human race, and that's it. Period. Yeah, you know, so we got going on now, after after shot. All right, Well, tomorrow morning we fly home. We got jobs to get back to. So it's uh, the awakening is waiting for us. But in the next couple of weeks we have a couple more really fun shows.

14:58 We were playing a couple of festivals and Germany. We have a few shows in Belgium not being up for elder which you're really excited about. And we have some plans shaping up for next year, a couple of UK shows, a couple of summer festivals in Belgium and Europe. I love this stuff is still coming together, but we'll be busy. And we're also recording a new album early next year. WHOA, that's good. So tell everybody how they can connect with young socials on the web. Check out all your music, but check your new music, wait for it and buy your merch for sure. You can find us on Facebook, Official nome Band, on Instagram, nome Verse, and on bandcampnom bandcamp dot com. You need to start a metaverse nome Verse and it has like your different songs or different rooms and you got these gnomes great and you at the door, Well yeah that's the nome Verse. Yeah, see we have it there. It is you just need to find it. I love it. Well, it's tiny. Any final words you want to leave our listeners with that we haven't touched on yet.

16:03 Well, yeah, listen to our music, buy our merch, be happy. We're a pointy hat and just don't take life seriously. And by way, they cannot listen to this interview unless say, buy your merch because you got the best merch in the whole known verse. Well, very kind of you to say. We Fortunately, we sold out all our merch on this tour, so we didn't have any left to sell at this festival. But that's fortunate for us to have and unfortunate for the fans. That's a good problem to have though. But those fans that missed out you gonna be listening to this, go and buy it from them. You still have a chance to get some merch. Oh yeah. At Polder Records dot b E dot com you can order our special vinyls and they are shipped worldwide, So go check it out. Love it you guys, rock Thanks for being on the Adventures pipe Man. Thank you very much. Well, thank you. We had a blast. Bye bye bye. Thank you for listening to the Adventures of Pipemen. On w fur c u I Radio