The stats on King Gizzard’s colourful career are stacking up fast: 15 albums in 7 years (including five in 2017 alone), 10 of them charting in the Top 20 in Australia, where they are now arguably the country’s most innovative, important and productive rock band. International critical acclaim. Headline festival appearances. And perhaps most importantly, a fervent worldwide fanbase who share endless memes, mixes, videos, graphics, theories and discussions, all through which they explore and expand what they have termed ‘The Gizzverse’.
King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard are an extraordinary band. Formed in Melbourne, Australia, by a group of friends in 2010, the band released 15 studio albums, producing a whopping 5 LPs in 2017 alone. Working at a feverish pace, the band has blazed through music genres, mooring their sound in the psychedelic rock explosion of the 1960s.
Each of the band's 15 albums follows a different and experimental path: from the garage rock-inspired EPs from 2011, jazz-rock cosmic tracks on EP "Quarters", counterpointed by the softer, acoustic pop sounds of " Paper Mache Dream Balloon" from 2015, and atmospheric blues to heavy, thrash metal tracks on "Planet B" from 2019. In 2016 King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard released "Nonagon Infinity", dubbed by the band "the world's first infinitely looping album". The album is considered to be one of the prime examples of the group's approach to psych-rock: one song loops into the next, creating a Möbius strip of musical experience.
In 2017, which was the most prolific year for the Australian musicians, the band explored microtonal tuning, which relies on intervals smaller than a semitone. The band's second album of 2017, "Murder of the Universe" is a more progressive rock-inspired conceptual release. It relies heavily on synths and spoken word narration to convey the story of the temptation in the post-apocalyptic world.
King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard. photo by Jamie Wdziekonski
The band's most recent releases are three live albums recorded in Adelaide, Paris, and Brussels in 2019. The proceeds from the sale of these three albums will go towards Australian bushfire relief, supporting the Animals Australia and Wildlife Victoria organizations.
The Aussie band records innovative and surprising music. Still, it is their live shows which are the most interesting sonic and visual experience. There are no holds barred when King Gizzard & Lizard Wizard play live. High-voltage, energetic gigs take the audience on a trippy exploration of different musical landscapes, unexpected sounds and surprising harmonies.
Band members: Stu Mackenzie – vocals, guitar, keyboards, piano, synthesizer, Mellotron, flute, bass guitar, saxophone, clarinet, sitar, zurna, percussion Ambrose Kenny-Smith – vocals, kazoo, harmonica, keyboards, synthesizer, organ, piano, guitar, percussion Joey Walker – guitar, keyboards, synthesizer, bass guitar, vocals, organ, sitar, percussion Cook Craig – guitar, bass guitar, vocals, synthesizer, keyboards Lucas Skinner – bass guitar, keyboards, piano, vocals Michael Cavanagh – drums, percussion, vocals Eric Moore – management, drums, percussion, Theremin, keyboards, vocals
