Meet Gnomeboys, the Melbourne-based Creative Group Taking the World by Storm
Photo: Zane Qureshi
Could you please introduce yourselves and tell me a bit about yourselves?
Hi, we are the Gnomeboys. I’m Mikee, I’m Jamane, and I’m Chris.
J: I’d like to say we’re all creatives from Melbourne. I’m a performer, that’s the main thing, and I love to dance.
M: My name is Mikee, my real name is Miguel. I am a dancer and DJ. I love everything movement and sound-based.
C: I’m Chris. I am an artist from Melbourne and I film & paint.
How did you first get into dance?
I guess we all had different journeys getting into dance, but we all met at KStar Studios, based in the West Side of Melbourne. Chris and Jamane met first when they were fourteen and then the year after, I joined KStar Studios as well. We ended up competing at a lot of competitions and competed internationally in San Diego, and ever since then, we just clicked and have been mates ever since.
J: I was a studio kid, so my mum had her dance school, and I was raised around dance, so I was kinda forced into it, but ended up loving it. Started with breakdancing, did a bit of technical stuff and then joined K-Star.
M: As a kid, I watched a lot of America's Best Dance Crew on MTV. I started dancing when I was twelve. My older sister dragged me along to a dance class one day, and I ended up loving it and eventually joined Kstar Studios.
C: I started off dancing, then I got into Kstar, got into all the crew stuff.
Why did you name yourselves Gnomeboys, and what does it mean to you?
Gnomeboys came from our friend Nathan, who made the name in high school. Originally, it was an idea for a clothing brand, but then nothing came with it until TikTok came about, and we needed a group name. The name was just floating around, and we grabbed it from the cloud and applied it to ourselves. And we are also short kings, so the Gnome symbolises that. People think that’s the reason we’re called Gnomeboys, but it’s not, however, we are short, so it works.
To anyone who’s never seen a Gnomeboys reel, how would you describe the content that you create?
Witty, Spontaneous. We make a lot of our content on the spot. Eccentric, cinematic. Fever-dream-like, you never know what you’ll get. We don’t know what you're gonna get until we make it.
Most generic question, but who or what inspires you?
We all have different inspirations.
J: I’ve said this before with a similar question. For me, and I guess we can all agree, we all take a lot of inspiration from each other and each other’s passions for our creative endeavours. I’m inspired by these boys and what they do, and when it comes to talking about our content, a lot of that inspiration comes from us making each other laugh. If I could name someone besides these boys, Michael Jackson is a big inspiration of mine, especially since I was young. Best performer to live.
C: I love myself some Jackie Chan. He’s one of the goats for me. Cartoons as well. Anything from Nickelodeon, SpongeBob. And Lately Kendrick Lamar.
M: Jordan Peele, Manny Pacquiao and Pharrell Williams.
Have you always had dreams of being a creative? If not, what did your younger self want to be when you grew up?
J: If I weren’t dancing, I feel like I would’ve done martial arts or tried to play professional Aussie Rules football. I was a bit of a sporty kid, to be honest. If it wasn’t for dance, I probably wouldn’t be on a creative endeavour. Maybe I would've touched on film because I’ve always wanted to be an actor. But most likely if I didn’t dance, it’d be something sporty because I wasn’t gonna go to uni and I wasn’t going to get any degree.
M: Dance was the thing that opened the doors for me to tap into my creativity. If I wasn’t a creative I think I’d be either playing basketball, be some sort of business owner or be a tradie. I did work as an electrician for a few years, so if I weren’t a dancer, I would probably still be doing that.
C: I’ve always been into art since I was a kid. Painting, drawing and all that. I think I have always wanted to be creative, I just didn’t know where I fit in. I think I’d be a nurse if this didn’t pan out the way I wanted. So, shout out to TikTok and the boys for keeping the dreams alive.
Would you say your family and friends have supported your aspirations in pursuing a creative career?
C: It took them a while to come around. Asian parents, you know how it is. But once they saw the work we were putting in and how dedicated we were, they had to succumb to the madness.
M: Just to piggyback on what Chris said, similar experience. I feel it was a journey, and with family becoming supportive of the creative dream, it took time for us to prove it was possible to make a career out of it. Once they saw the dedication and passion we had for it and what we could gain, they believed in it, and for me now they are my number 1 supporters.
J: The same. They thought it was crazy. They are definitely on board with the idea now.
What are your thoughts on the Melbourne creative scene?
J: I think the Melbourne creative scene is still very young, but we are coming up. We have always been so very talented, we just haven’t had the opportunity to show it to the rest of the world. There are so many artists from so many creative backgrounds here, and I think it’s gonna be time soon when the world sees that. Melbourne is the home to creativity and artists.
Your choreography and dancing style are unique. How do you come up with ideas for new creative concepts and dance moves?
Well, usually when we start filming, we chop it up to the music, and the boys take it away. They come up with the dances on the spot. Lots of improv that comes from years of experience in the dance industry, to be honest. It’s part of the job to be able to be creative, something unique and that we resonate with. It’s always original. Whatever the vibe of the track is, what’s gonna inspire the movement?
What’s your favourite song right now?
J: Sorrows by Bryson Tiller. After seeing him live at Souled Out, I rediscovered it and it’s my favourite song right now.
M: My favourite song right now is I Want You by Floetry.
C: Mine is, A New Kind of Love by Frou Frou.
What’s your all-time favourite film?
J: That is always such a hard question for me to answer, but there is one very memorable film for m,e and that’s “Blades of Glory”.
C: I like the Rush Hour Series.
M: Top 3 are Training day, Inception, and Requiem for a dream.
What is your wildest dream as creatives?
J: I wanna be a movie star!
M: I would love to direct a film or choreograph for a music video.
C: I want Jay-Z to buy one of my art pieces.
Lots of the music in your reels and TikTok is often from the 90s and 2000s. Is that music that you listened to growing up?
A lot of the music we use for our TikTok videos is often very nostalgic. We wanted to target our age group. The music is just fire, and we grew up with it, so we had to do something with it. The early 2000s music were the best era of music. We ran with those tracks for a bit until TikTok decided to take down all the music, so as you can see, half our videos are now muted, and our whole plan has changed.
Now you guys are quite famous on the internet, do you feel as though fame has got to you or has anything changed since you blew up?
M: I feel like nothing has changed we’re still the same goofy dickheads.
J: When it comes to “fame”, it doesn’t feel like we're famous. We don’t notice the fame. We’ve received a lot of recognition and support, and that’s what we take it as. From the people who come up to us on the street, to friends who comment and like and share our posts. It feels like support, not like our fans. We still have a long way to go, too.
We don’t wanna let the clout go to our heads, because we’ve still got our own dreams to pursue, and fame isn’t everything. We’re just three guys who enjoy creating and it just so happens that people fuck with our content.
You’ve done a lot in your career so far. You have collaborated with brands such as Converse, Adidas, Factorie, JD Sports, Samsung and more. Growing up, did you ever expect to be getting these opportunities, and what would you say has been the highlight of your career?
C: When we first started, we aimed to work with big brands because we saw that was the light at the end of the tunnel for content creators at the time. And we’ve just been very blessed that some of these brands see our work and they fuck with it.
M: I agree! Personally when I was younger I never really saw myself working with these brands. It was something I could only dream of especially being a young person of colour, it was hard to imagine myself working in these sorts of spaces. As we grew older and progressed in our work we saw it was possible and something we could strive for. Now it’s sick that we can do it and make our younger selves proud.
Now this magazine is titled “Homebody” What makes you boys feel most at home?
C: Having my pants and socks off. And my shirt off.
J: My Dog
M: My parents’ cooking. Home-cooked Filipino food.
J: The boy’s parents cooked food.
What dish or food reminds you of home?
J: Pasta
M: I think for me and Chris, it’s always going to be Filipino food.
Any specific Filo dish?
C: Sinigang
M: Adobo
J: Tocino
Now you’re notorious for creating trends that people have created worldwide. How does that feel?
C: Oh man, that shit is so cool. I remember when it first happened, we were all tripping out. It leaves us speechless.
M: It’s cool to see different people around the world take what we’ve created and put their spin on it. Like a few weeks ago a reel popped up and it was an AI animation of Godzilla and Kong recreating one of our videos, shits wild.
J: It’s quite surreal, it puts a smile on our faces every time.
You’ve got thousands if not millions of fans worldwide, what advice would you give to them if they want to pursue a career similar to yours?
M: Be Delusional. You have to be your own biggest believer and supporter. Even if you feel crazy sometimes.
C: You gotta just see the idea through, I guess. And stick with it.
J: Just send it. Just enjoy the process; the outcome doesn’t mean much.
Where does Gnomeboys hope to be in five years?
J: GNOME-MEN
C: Hopefully, we’re on Netflix or something.
M: We would love to be deep into filmmaking.
What can people expect to see from Gnomeboys in the coming months?
We are in the process of creating a short film, so in the next few months it should be coming out!!
