Lucas Harwood () is an Australian

bassist A bassist (also known as a bass player or bass guitarist) is a musician who plays a bass instrument such as a double bass (upright bass, contrabass, wood bass), bass guitar (electric bass, acoustic bass), keyboard bass (synth bass) or a low br ...

known for his role in

King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard (KGLW) are an Australian Rock music, rock band formed in 2010 in Melbourne, Victoria. The band's current lineup consists of Stu Mackenzie (vocals, guitar), Ambrose Kenny-Smith (vocals, harmonica, keyboards), Coo ...

as well as

Atolls An atoll () is a ring-shaped island, including a coral rim that encircles a lagoon. There may be coral islands or cays on the rim. Atolls are located in warm tropical or subtropical parts of the oceans and seas where corals can develop. Most of ...

and

Heavy Moss Heavy Moss is an Australian psych-pop quartet led by King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard bassist Lucas Harwood alongside Sam Ingles, Kyle Tickell, and Bec Goring. History Foundation Heavy Moss was formed due to a "spontaneous reunion" between Lu ...

Biography

Early life

Harwood is a native of

Geelong Geelong ( ) (Wathawurrung language, Wathawurrung: ''Djilang''/''Djalang'') is a port city in Victoria, Australia, located at the eastern end of Corio Bay (the smaller western portion of Port Phillip Bay) and the left bank of Barwon River (Victo ...

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Queen Victoria (1819–1901), Queen of the United Kingdom and Empress of India * Victoria (state), a state of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, a provincial capital * Victoria, Seychelles, the capi ...

. When he was a child his parents took him to

music festivals A music festival is a festival, community event with music, performances of singing and instrument playing that is often presented with a theme such as musical genre (e.g., rock music, rock, blues, folk music, folk, jazz, classical music), nation ...

such as the

Port Fairy Folk Festival The Port Fairy Folk Festival is an annual four-day music festival based in the historic fishing village of Port Fairy in Victoria, Australia. History The festival began on 2 December 1977 under the theme of "Australian and Irish Traditional M ...

and the

Queenscliff Music Festival Queenscliff Music Festival is a live music festival held in the town of Queenscliff, located on the Bellarine Peninsula, Victoria, Australia. The festival began in 1997 and is held annually on the last weekend of November. According to its web ...

which helped foster his love for music. Harwood had been in a

garage band Garage rock (sometimes called garage punk or 60s punk) is a raw and energetic style of rock music that flourished in the mid-1960s, most notably in the United States and Canada, and has experienced a series of subsequent revivals. The style is ...

before joining

, and said band kicked out their bassist, with Harwood transitioning from guitar to bass to pick up the slack.

King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard

Since 2010 Skinner has been the lead bassist for King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard. Although not a member of the original trio of Eric Moore,

Joey Walker Joseph William Quinn Walker (born 11 October 1988) is an Australian musician, singer, and producer who is best known as one of the three guitarists for the band King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard. Walker was previously part of the electronic duo ...

and

Stu Mackenzie Stuart Douglas Mackenzie (born 26 October 1990) is an Australian musician best known as the frontman of rock band King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard. He serves as singer, guitarist and multi-instrumentalist for the band and is recognized as its le ...

, Harwood would be with the band in its earliest form, joining as the fourth member as a student project for a

RMIT The Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (abbreviated as RMIT University) is a public research university located in the city of Melbourne in Victoria, Australia., section 4(b) Established in 1887 by Francis Ormond, it is the seventh-o ...

course on Contemporary Music Performance. Harwood said that his favorite part of being in the band is the freedom the band offers to pursue new musical styles. During the development of

Flight b741 ''Flight b741'' is the twenty-sixth studio album by Australian psychedelic rock band King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard, released on 9 August 2024. The album was announced on 1 July and was made available for pre-order eight days later. This album ...

Harwood stated that it was an intentional decision for the band to lean into 60's and 70's

classic rock Classic rock is a radio format that developed from the album-oriented rock (AOR) format in the early 1980s. In the United States, it comprises rock music ranging generally from the mid-1960s through the early-1990s, primarily focusing on comm ...

, as "It’s just you and your instrument. And it’s like, ‘What can I do without all the other bells and whistles that technology affords?’" Harwood also commented that the band was working on another album concurrently with Flight b741. As bassist Harwood uses a EarthQuaker Devices Special Cranker, and a

Big Muff The Big Muff Pi (π), often known simply as the Big Muff, is a "fuzzbox" effects pedal produced in New York City by the Electro-Harmonix company, along with their Russian sister company Sovtek, primarily for use with the electric guitar. It is ...

. Harwood stated that he liked it when the band tours in smaller cities, as "In places like that, the fans are so pumped and appreciative that you’re coming through their town." During live performances Harwood is placed on a riser alongside Michael Cavanagh.

Atolls

Skinner founded a band named

in 2011 as a side project between work for King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard recruiting Oli Grinter and Sam Ingles to bring some Demos he made that didn't fit with King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard's tone, to life. The band was noted for its "laidback" and "shoegazey" style and its high use of

distortion In signal processing, distortion is the alteration of the original shape (or other characteristic) of a signal. In communications and electronics it means the alteration of the waveform of an information-bearing signal, such as an audio signal ...

. After releasing two EPs; ''Hair Machine'' in 2013 and ''New Dreams'' in 2014 respectively, the band fell apart in late 2014. Near the end of the bands existence it was described as "criminally undervalued and perpetually overlooked."

Heavy Moss

When visiting his home in 2022 between tours for King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard, Harwood happened across Ingles. After reconnecting the pair formed a new band:

. As the pair were workshopping some demos Harwood made that didn't fit with King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard's style, they also brought on Kyle Tickell and

Bec Goring Rebecca Goring (born 9 June 1994) is an Australian guitarist, singer-songwriter and Australian rules footballer who played for the Geelong Football Club in the AFL Women's competition (AFLW). Personal life Goring grew up in Geelong, Victoria ...

rounding the band out to its four members. The first album by Heavy Moss was ''

Dead Slow ''Dead Slow'' is the debut studio album by Australian psych-pop band Heavy Moss, released on November 22, 2024. Development Heavy Moss' debut album, the band was formed in late 2022 after Lucas Harwood and Sam Ingles reconnected in their hometo ...

'', released on 22 November 2024 with Harwood and Mackenzie mixing half the album while on tour, while the other half was mixed by Michael Badger, who mixed ''

Nonagon Infinity ''Nonagon Infinity'' is the eighth studio album by Australian psychedelic rock band King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard. It was released on 29 April 2016 on ATO Records. The album is designed to play as an "infinite loop" where each song segues in ...

''.

Personal life

In 2019 following his marriage to Liza Harwood, Harwood took his wife's surname, becoming Lucas Harwood. His son, Ari, helped write a line in the Heavy Moss single " Treadmills". Lucas Harwood and his family run Dusky Tracks, an

Independent record label An independent record label (or indie label) is a record label that operates without the funding or distribution of major record labels; they are a type of small and medium-sized enterprise, small- to medium-sized enterprise, or SME. The labels ...

that occasionally collaborates with Gizzard side projects, such as Love Migrate. Harwood has a brother named Michael who fronted a band called Mallee Songs that collaborated with Stu Mackenzie.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Harwood, Lucas 21st-century Australian male musicians Living people Australian rock musicians Australian rock bass guitarists Psychedelic rock musicians Musicians from Geelong Microtonal musicians King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard members Year of birth missing (living people)