P(doom) Records

King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard (KGLW) are an Australian 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), Cook Craig (guitar, keyboards, vocals), Joey Walker (guitar, vocals), Lucas Harwood (bass, vocals), and Michael Cavanagh (drums, vocals). They are known for exploring multiple genres, staging energetic live shows, and building a prolific discography.

The band's early releases blended surf music and garage rock and were released on their label, Flightless. They released several psychedelic and progressive rock albums in the early 2010s, and incorporated a broader range of musical styles later in the decade, such as jazz fusion on ''Quarters!'' and the folk-inspired ''Paper Mâché Dream Balloon''. In 2016, they generated more mainstream attention with ''Nonagon Infinity,'' which won the ARIA Award for Best Hard Rock or Heavy Metal Album.

Noted for their prolific discography, in 2017 the band fulfilled a promise to release five studio albums within the calendar year, and also marked the beginning of a trilogy of microtonal albums with '' Flying Microtonal Banana''. Subsequent releases integrated heavy metal, synth-pop and progressive rock, and feature lyrics that address environmental themes and a connected fictional universe termed the "Gizzverse" by fans.

In 2022, the band once again released five studio albums in one calendar year, with three being released that October. Their 27th and most recent album, ''Phantom Island'', was released in 2025.

History

2010–2012: Formation, early releases, and ''12 Bar Bruise''

The band members all grew up and went to school in the Deniliquin, Melbourne, and Geelong areas of Australia. Stu Mackenzie and Cook Craig were in a high-school band called Revolver & Sun while at the same time Ambrose Kenny-Smith and Lucas Skinner were in a band named Sambrose Automobile. Additionally, Mackenzie, Skinner, and Michael Cavanagh were also simultaneously in a band called The Houses. Some songs eventually released by King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard originated during this time period, such as "Crying" from '' Oddments'' being a Revolver & Sun original.

Mackenzie, Moore, and Walker met studying the music industry at RMIT University, and the other members were mutual friends. The band started off with a fluid lineup of members, fluctuating from the original three of Mackenzie, Walker, and Moore to up to 11 members, however, the lineup eventually became Mackenzie, Walker, Moore, Kenny-Smith, Cavanagh, Craig, and Harwood. Kenny-Smith was the last to enter the band in 2011. Mackenzie stated in a 2017 interview that the band's name is purposefully nonsense as while the band and its lineup was still fluid in its early years most members considered the band "not an important group" and as the "band we started to not really mean anything" and regularly experimented with "weird names" with King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard being "the one that was the most absurd, and I guess for that reason it was just the one that stuck." Melbourne artist Jason Galea has created all of the band's album art and the majority of their music videos.

The band's first releases were two singles in 2010, both self-released: "Sleep / Summer!" and "Hey There / Ants & Bats". The band's next release, 2011's '' Anglesea'' (named after Anglesea, Victoria, Mackenzie's home town), was released as a four-track EP on CD. These releases did not become available digitally until the ''Teenage Gizzard'' compilation in 2020.

''Willoughby's Beach'' was released by Shock Records on 21 October. ''Beat Magazine'' described the nine-track garage rock EP as "filled to the teeth with consistently killer hooks".

The band's first full-length album, ''12 Bar Bruise'', was released on 7 September 2012. The 12-track garage rock album was self-recorded, and several tracks used unconventional recording methods; for example, the vocals for the album's title track were recorded through four iPhones placed around a room while Mackenzie sang into one of them. ''12 Bar Bruise'' would win Best Independent Hard Rock, Heavy or Punk Album at the AIR Awards with the band receiving a $50,000 grant which allowed them to continue making more albums.

2013–2014: ''Eyes Like the Sky'', ''Float Along – Fill Your Lungs'', ''Oddments'', and ''I'm in Your Mind Fuzz''

The band's second full-length album, ''Eyes Like the Sky'', was released on 22 February 2013. Described as a "cult western audio book", the album is narrated by Broderick Smith, Kenny-Smith's father, and tells the story of outlaws, Native Americans, and other figures of the American frontier. It was written collaboratively by Smith and Stu Mackenzie. Mackenzie said the album was inspired by Western films and ''Red Dead Redemption'', among other things, and was written as a response to being typecast in their previous releases.

The band's third full-length album, '' Float Along – Fill Your Lungs'', was released on 27 September. King Gizzard shifted from garage rock to a more mellow folk and psychedelic sound on the eight-track album. It also saw Eric Moore start playing drums after previously playing theremin and keyboards. ''Float Along – Fill Your Lungs'' was largely made possible due to the $50,000 grant the band had earned from ''12 Bar Bruise'' which was largely spent on professional studio time. According to the liner notes from the album, this album is the first time they started to experiment with odd time signatures, which they would use on many songs going forward.

'' Oddments'' released on 7 March 2014. On this album, the band is more melodic, with the vocals being more prominent. The album's mixing style led to it being described as "recorded through a woollen sock in an adjacent room".

The band's fifth full-length album, ''I'm in Your Mind Fuzz'', was released on 31 October. The album touches on elements of fantasy, and lyrically delves into the concept of mind control. This was the first time the band took a "traditional" approach to writing and recording an album: the songs were written, the band rehearsed together, and they recorded the songs "as a band" in the studio. ''Pitchfork'' described the album as "open ngwith a sprint" and ending "with some of their best slow jams". In 2019, the album came at #6 on ''Happy Mag'' list of "the 25 best psychedelic rock albums of the 2010s".

2015–2016: ''Quarters!'', ''Paper Mâché Dream Balloon'', Gizzfest, and ''Nonagon Infinity''

2015 saw the band launch Gizzfest in Melbourne, a two-day music festival that was held annually and toured Australia, featuring both local and international acts.

''Quarters!,'' King Gizzard's sixth full-length album, was released on 1 May 2015. The album features four songs, each running for 10 minutes and 10 seconds, making each song a quarter of the album. Drawing upon jazz fusion and acid rock, the album's more laid-back sound was described as "unlike anything they've released before" by '' Tonedeaf'' magazine.

On 17 August, King Gizzard released the title track "Paper Mâché Dream Balloon" as the lead single for the album with the same name. The second single, "Trapdoor", had a music video released on 10 November. On 13 November, the band released its seventh full-length album, ''Paper Mâché Dream Balloon''. It features only acoustic instruments and was recorded on Mackenzie's parents' farm in rural Victoria, and features "a collection of short, unrelated songs" described as "mellow, defuzzed psychedelia". It was the band's first album to be released in the United States via ATO Records.

The band's eighth full-length album, ''Nonagon Infinity'', was released worldwide on 29 April 2016. Described by Mackenzie as a "never-ending album", it features nine songs connected by musical motifs that flow "seamlessly" into each other, with the last track "linking straight back into the top of the opener". On 8 March, the band released a video for the first single, "Gamma Knife". The song "People Vultures" was released on 4 April, and its music video on 6 May. The album received high praise from critics, with ''Pitchforks Stuart Berman writing that it "yields some of the most outrageous, exhilarating rock 'n' roll in recent memory". ''Happy Mag'' Maddy Brown described it as "an intensely striking, ferocious sound that gets the blood flowing and heart racing". The band earned its first ARIA Award when ''Nonagon Infinity'' won the 2016 ARIA Award for Best Hard Rock or Heavy Metal Album.

2017: Five albums in one year

The band's ninth full-length album, '' Flying Microtonal Banana'', was recorded in the band's own studio and released on 24 February 2017. The album was recorded using custom instruments adhering to 24 TET based on the Bağlama. It was described as "a soaring take on microtonal music" by ''Guitar World''. Three tracks were issued in advance: "Rattlesnake" (the opening track) in October 2016, "Nuclear Fusion" in December, and "Sleep Drifter" in January 2017. The music video for "Rattlesnake", directed by Jason Galea, was described by ''Happy Mag''s Luke Saunders as "a masterclass in hypnotism" and features a scrolling 3D-animated desert background with the band playing in front of it.

Another full-length album, '' Murder of the Universe'', was released on 23 June. It is a concept album divided into three chapters: ''The Tale of the Altered Beast'' and ''The Lord of Lightning vs. Balrog'' (released on 30 May), and ''Han-Tyumi and the Murder of the Universe'' (11 April). ''Spill Magazine'' explained that the album "describes the impeding doom of the world in a dark fantasy genre kind of way". It is narrated by Leah Senior for the first two chapters, and a text-to-speech program providing the voice of Han-Tyumi for the final chapter. The band made their international television debut on 17 April, performing "The Lord of Lightning" on '' Conan'' on TBS in the United States.

The album ''Sketches of Brunswick East'' was released on 18 August. It is a collaboration with Alex Brettin's psychedelic jazz project, Mild High Club. Taking inspiration from Miles Davis' 1960 album ''Sketches of Spain'', as well as the band's base recording location of Brunswick East in Melbourne, it is an improvisational album. Mackenzie described the record as relating to the constant changes in their neighborhood, and trying to finding beauty in the location.

The album ''Polygondwanaland'' was released as a free download on 17 November. The band encouraged fans and independent record labels to create their own pressings of the album, stating that it was "free to download and if you wish, free to make copies". The first track "Crumbling Castle", was released on 18 October. A music video created by Jason Galea accompanied its release on YouTube. As of August 2023, 363 different versions of the album have been recorded on the physical music database Discogs, and it has been called "the ultimate vinyl release" by ''Louder than Sound''.

''Gumboot Soup'', the fifth and final album of 2017, was released on 31 December. Mackenzie explained in an interview that the album consisted of songs that didn't work in, or came after, the other 2017 records, but that they were not b-sides.Gwee, Karen (6 December 2017)
"Band of the Year King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard Can't Stop, Won't Stop, and Don't Need to Stop"
''Consequence of Sound''. Retrieved 31 December 2017. They had intended to release ''Changes'', but it wasn't finished yet.

In December, ''Consequence of Sound'' named King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard Band of the Year, praising both the quantity and quality of their releases that year.

2018–2019: ''Fishing for Fishies'', ''Infest the Rats' Nest'', and reissues

Throughout 2018, King Gizzard continued to perform live shows, but did not release any new material. Instead, they re-released five older records—''Willoughby's Beach'', ''12 Bar Bruise'', ''Eyes Like the Sky'', '' Float Along – Fill Your Lungs'', and '' Oddments''—on CD and vinyl. They also released an official pressing of ''Polygondwanaland''. The 2019 Gizzfest did not take place. After the Gizzfest event in 2018, the band announced the cancellation of the festival on their official Instagram page. Some fans believe this was due to their extensive touring schedule.

In January 2019, the band announced that new music was in the works. On 1 February, they released a new single, "Cyboogie", as a 7-inch single backed with "Acarine". A week later they announced another North American tour, as well as a show at Alexandra Palace in London, which they stated would be their "biggest show ever".

In March, the band announced the album ''Fishing for Fishies'', with a release date of 26 April. A day later, the band officially released a music video for the title track on YouTube. Later that month, the band released another single from the album, "Boogieman Sam", and on 24 April, the band dropped a final single, "The Bird Song". Two days later, the album was released.

On 9 April, before the release of ''Fishing for Fishies'', the band released a music video for their new song, "Planet B". On the 30th, Mackenzie confirmed that the band's next album (featuring "Planet B") was in the works, and had no release date yet. The album was later revealed to be titled ''Infest the Rats' Nest''. Mackenzie also announced that Gizzfest would be held outside of Australia for the first time that year. ''Infest the Rats' Nest'', which was released on 16 August, featured an entirely different style – thrash metal. At the ARIA Music Awards of 2019, it was nominated for the Best Hard Rock or Heavy Metal Album.

2020: ''Chunky Shrapnel'', ''K.G.'', ''L.W.'' and Eric Moore's departure

In January 2020, the band released three live albums as downloads on Bandcamp, pledging to donate of the proceeds to charities helping wildlife affected by the 2019–20 Australian bushfire season.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the band postponed their Greek Theatre and Red Rocks three-hour marathon shows for later in the year. The band had also produced a film to be released, titled ''Chunky Shrapnel''; however, also due to the outbreak, the initial viewing was postponed for a later date, and then cancelled. It was directed by John Angus Stewart, and recorded during the band's 2019 tour in Europe. A live album of the same name was released on 24 April, featuring recordings from numerous shows on the tour along with three ambient studio tracks. The opening track "Evil Star" also features on the live albums released earlier in January.

In April, the band stated that during the COVID-19 lockdown, they had worked on new material for upcoming albums. Mackenzie reported that one will be "chill", another "kind of jazzy", and some of it microtonal. The band was also experimenting with electronic music and polymetres. When asked about more live recordings, Mackenzie said that the band had recorded almost every show they played in 2019, and may release them in a similar fashion to Pearl Jam's official live bootlegs. June saw the release of ''RATTY'', a short documentary about the making of ''Infest the Rat's Nest''. It was made available to rent online with all proceeds going to charities benefiting Aboriginal Australians. After $20,000 had been raised, it was then made free to watch on YouTube. Later that month, in celebration of Love Record Store Day, the band released a limited print of eco-friendly versions of 10 previous releases.

Again due to the pandemic, the band postponed the marathon shows and North American tour for a second time, with the new dates being for October 2021. However, they confirmed new tour dates, and that they band would release some new albums before said tour. On 25 August, Eric Moore announced his departure from the band (as both an active member and the band's manager) without citing any direct reason, though the band explained that he was stepping away from the band "to focus solely on Flightless Records".

20 November, the band released their 16th studio album, '' K.G. (Explorations into Microtonal Tuning, Volume 2)'', alongside the album's fourth single, "Automation". The band also included the files for the separate stems within the song for free on their website. They also released the video files for its music video, and asked fans to create their own video with them. All of these files require a torrent client to be installed on the user's device.

On 24 December, the band released their seventh live album, ''Live in London '19'', on Bandcamp. Performed at the 10,000 capacity Alexandra Palace on 5 October 2019, it was the group's largest show until their June 21, 2023 show at the Hollywood Bowl that had a capacity of 17,500.

In an interview with NME, Joey Walker said that 2021 would be a big year of output with some of their most divisive music yet, claiming: "Part of me thinks this is the best we've ever done. And part of me thinks it's the worst." He also talked about making a sequel to ''Chunky Shrapnel''. In 2020, King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard were listed at No. 47 in ''Rolling Stone Australia''s list of the "50 Greatest Australian Artists of All Time".

The album '' L.W. (Explorations into Microtonal Tuning, Volume 3)'', was released on 26 February, as "both a standalone work and a companion piece to" '' K.G.''

2021–2022: ''Butterfly 3000'', ''Omnium Gatherum'', and Gizztober

The album ''Butterfly 3000,'' was announced on 11 May, saying it would release on 11 June without promotion by singles. They announced five concerts at Sydney's Carriageworks, which would have different, pre-planned setlists themed around a different style of music. ''Butterfly 3000'' received generally positive reviews; reviewers commending the album on its "sonic adventurism" and "pop-oriented additions hatare a perfect pairing to their existing sound", while another said its "formulaic approach lacks surprise". The album had 10 tracks, and was built around modular synthesizer loops. The album art by Jason Galea featured a "cross-eyed" autostereogram. The remix album '' Butterfly 3001'' was released on 21 January, featuring 21 remixes of ''Butterfly 3000'''s songs; a music video starring Australian media personality John Safran was released for DJ Shadow's remix of "Black Hot Soup". In February, the band announced a three-hour marathon set in Melbourne on 5 March, named ''Return of the Curse of Timeland''. It coincided with the release of the album ''Made in Timeland''.

On 8 March, they released the 18-minute track " The Dripping Tap" as a single from the album ''Omnium Gatherum'', released on 22 April. On 15 March, they released a joint EP alongside Tropical Fuck Storm titled ''Satanic Slumber Party''. The EP originated during the recording sessions for ''Fishing for Fishies'', during which the two groups collaborated on a jam section titled "Hat Jam". Sections of both "The Dripping Tap" and "Satanic Slumber Party" were adapted from these sessions, and a special limited-edition 12" vinyl, ''Hat Jam'', contained both releases.

In June, the band won the inaugural Environmental Music Prize with their 2020 single "If Not Now, Then When?" They were awarded $20,000 in prize money, the entirety of which was donated to The Wilderness Society. Later that summer, the band stated their next two albums were "built from hours-long jams and then pieced together after the fact". In August, they cancelled the remaining 13 dates of their summer European tour so Stu Mackenzie could return to Australia for treatment in his battle with Crohn's disease.

On 1 September, the band announced that they planned to release three studio albums in October 2022. A music video for one of their new songs, "Ice V", premiered on the 7th, alongside the reveal of the titles, cover artwork, and release dates for the albums. They all released in October: ''Ice, Death, Planets, Lungs, Mushrooms and Lava'' on the 7th, '' Laminated Denim'' on the 12th, and ''Changes'' on the 28th. Fans nicknamed the month "Gizztober".

2023: ''PetroDragonic Apocalypse'' and ''The Silver Cord''

On 24 January, the band released the official live bootleg ''Live At Red Rocks '22''. The 86-track, eight-hour release documents the band's three-night run at Red Rocks Amphitheater. Several independent labels have created physical releases of the bootleg, including vinyl, CD, and cassette runs. In February, the band announced that they would no longer be performing at that year's Byron Bay Bluesfest in protest of the festival's booking of indie band Sticky Fingers; King Gizzard said Sticky Fingers represented "misogyny, racism, transphobia and violence".

In May, the band announced the album '' PetroDragonic Apocalypse; or, Dawn of Eternal Night: An Annihilation of Planet Earth and the Beginning of Merciless Damnation'' Lucas Harwood said the album would be one of two upcoming releases exploring a "Yin and Yang" concept. They would sound much different from each other, but complement each other. The album's first single, "Gila Monster", was released alongside a music video on 16 May, and the second single, "Dragon", was released on 6 June with its music video. The band then went on tour throughout the United States to promote the album. ''PetroDragonic Apocalypse'' was released on 16 June.

In a April 28, 2022, interview with ''The Guardian'' Joey Walker confirmed that the band produced 7 rap songs for an album, but decided not to release it due to optics, saying it looked bad being “six white idiot psych‑rock guys making hip‑hop.” Two of these songs would be cannibalized into ''Omnium Gatherum''; ''Sadie Sorceress'' and ''The Grim Reaper''. On 22 June, 2023, while giving an interview to the ''Office Hours Live'' podcast, Joey Walker and Lucas Harwood confirmed that a rap album was "in the pipeline" and "almost" completed, but it got shelved indefinitely. During World Tour 2024 Ambrose would add an additional verse as a transition between ''Sadie Sorceress'' and ''The Grim Reaper'' dubbed ''Torture Chamber'' which is believed to have been part of one of the scrapped songs.

In July, the band confirmed that they had been uploading albums from their bootlegger program onto streaming services under the name "bootleg gizzard". In September, they announced a series of marathon tours in the U.S. for 2024, and said that the album accompanying ''PetroDragonic Apocalypse'' is "synth-y".

In September, they announced '' The Silver Cord''. Three singles ("Theia", "The Silver Cord", and "Set"), and a music video released on 3 October. The album was released on 27 October.

2024–present: p(doom), ''Flight b741'', and ''Phantom Island''

The World Tour 2024 in support of the new album ''The Silver Cord'' consisted of 64 shows overall across South America, Europe, United States and Canada. Each show in Canada and United States was recorded, live-streamed, and released for bootleggers to freely download.

On 6 May 2024, the band announced the creation of their new record label, p(doom). The first album released on p(doom) was ''III Times'', a collaboration between Ambrose Kenny-Smith and Jay Watson, a touring member of Tame Impala, which released on 19 July.

''Flight b741'', the 26th studio album and their first released on the p(doom) label, was released on 9 August. Each song from the album was debuted live during tours in 2024.

On 29 October, a single titled "Phantom Island" was released and announced to be part of the upcoming 27th studio album, comprising 10 additional songs written at the same time as those on ''Flight b741'', but with an orchestral section added. Additionally, they announced they would be going on a tour consisting of four Rock N' Roll shows and seven shows with a different 28 piece orchestra in each city. The tour will conclude with a three-day camping residency dubbed the ''Field of Vision''.

Their European Residency Tours started on 18 May and ended on 10 June 2025.

On 4 February 2025, the band contributed a previously unreleased version of "Exploding Suns (Demo 1)" to '' Good Music To Lift Los Angeles'' a compilation by various artists to raise funds in response to the Southern California wildfires. On 24 February, a retro-shooter named ''Ultrakill'' released an update, with several songs from the band added to the game's endless mode, the ''Cyber Grind''.

On 1 April, the band announced another European Tour consisting of nine rave and four orchestral sets.

On 9 April, the band announced the name of their 27th album as ''Phantom Island'', releasing its track list. " Deadstick" would be released on 15 April, followed by " Grow Wings and Fly" on 13 May. "Deadstick" and the album's cover art were previously prematurely released on the Japanese website ''ototoy.jp'' on 18 March.

On 20 May the band announced that they would be going on another tour later in the year, this time in their native Australia, as a mirror to the Phantom Island tour, consisting of both rock and orchestral shows. It is set to be the band's first performance in Australia in over two years.

In an 27 May interview with Rocking magazine, Ambrose confirmed that during the six month hiatus between their 2024 world tour and their 2025 European residency, that the band was in the studio "almost every weekday" with a focus on Eurorack synth and that the next album (after ''Phantom Island'') is a synth album, but that he is also concerned that the band is "getting lost in the whole synth thing." In this same interview Ambrose also opened up about the band's creative process, saying that Stu is the "captain" but the direction and genre the album goes is entirely up to whoever has the courage to become "first mate." On April 18, 2025, a Gizzard remix of the Electropop song SICKO by Confidence Man was released.

For the first time ever the band will be performing a residency at Bonnaroo, performing a different set during three different days of the festival from June 13 through June 15.

Musical styles and the "Gizzverse"

The band has explored a wide range of genres, primarily melding psychedelic rock, garage rock, acid rock, progressive rock, surf rock, krautrock, psychedelic pop, indie rock and neo-psychedelia. Several later releases have been in heavy metal styles, in particular thrash metal and stoner metal on ''Infest the Rats' Nest'' and progressive metal on ''PetroDragonic Apocalypse'', and also sludge and groove metal. Folk, jazz and Tropicália have also occasionally been integrated into their sound. The band wrote ''Butterfly 3000'' as a " synth-prog" album entirely in major keys, ''Paper Mâché Dream Balloon'' is dedicated entirely to acoustic music, and on ''Made in Timeland'' and ''Omnium Gatherum'', the band also explored rap for the first time. In describing their style, Chris DeVille of Stereogum wrote, "It's a rare group that can convincingly blur the lines between Phish, Neu!, King Crimson, and the Osees while never sounding like anything less than themselves."

Unusual in Western rock music, starting in 2017 with album '' Flying Microtonal Banana'', the band have experimented with microtonal music using custom built guitars in 24 TET tuning, as well as several other modified instruments. This was inspired by Middle Eastern and Turkish music, including Anatolian rock, and their customised guitars were modelled off the bağlama. Mackenzie described it as "kind of a Dorian mode with a half flat sixth and a half flat second, because that was the way my baglama was fretted". After ''Flying Microtonal Banana,'' the band went on to create two more albums utilising this scale – ''K.G.'' and '' L.W. –'' while also utilising it in other one-off songs. Many of the band's songs feature unusual time signatures, such as 7/8 and 5/4, and frequent time signature changes. Their albums ''Polygondwanaland'' and ''Butterfly 3000'' feature polyrhythms and polymeters.

The Gizzverse

Many of the band's releases are based on a unique concept yet share lyrical themes and feature characters that form a recurring cast, one of the most frequent being Han-Tyumi, a "confused cyborg

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