Biography

gnom was a folk group from Stavanger, Norway. gnom was founded by Norwegian childhood friends Janove Ottesen and Geir Zahl in 1996, a short time after the dissolution of their previous band, Blod, snått & juling. The line-up consisted of Ottesen and Zahl, both on main vocals and guitar; Rune Solheim on drums; Helge Risa on pump organ and piano, and Rolf Prestø on the double bass.

Songs for the project were written for the most part both during the band’s active period and the transitional phase between the dissolution of Blod, snått & juling and the founding of gnom. Ottesen and Zahl recorded an acoustic demo in 1997, featuring both original compositions for the project and new versions of songs they had written while playing as Blod, snått & juling. In 1998, they released their one and only album, Mys on the Shimmer Recordings label. Largely ignored both critically and commercially, the album sold less than 600 of its original print run, a total of 1,000.

The band subsequently went on tour, playing in the smallest of small venues of Norway. On the setlists for these concerts was a song that the band did not include on their album, called “Bastard”. Spearheaded by something as unusual as an instrumental break played on oil drums and references to a “certain Mr. Kaizer”, the song elicited a response from the crowd, which the band noted. However, after Prestø quit the band, and poor album sales left the band disheartened, gnom dissolved in 1999.

Drawing inspiration from “Bastard”, Ottesen and Zahl, along with former members of gnom, formed a new band called Kaizers Orchestra on January 1, 2000, a project which was to become a great commercial and critical success. The song was finally recorded in studio for the band’s first EP, known as the Gul EP. In 2003, the band released a remastered edition Mys with an altered tracklist; notably featuring the recording of “Bastard” from the Gul EP. Ottesen and Zahl have sporadically performed gnom material on special occasions, most recently during the promotional tour for Kaizers Orchestra’s autobiography Kontroll på kontinentet.