Photo By: Vladimir Title: King Gizzard and The Lizard Wizard Source: Flickr License: CC-BY-SA 2.0
King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard got started in Melbourne, Australia in 2010 and are prolific – producing 23 albums over their 13 years plus an additional 14 live recordings.
The bandmates all attended school in the Melbourne area. Joey Walker and Eric Moore met while attending music school and they added the remaining members when they all played together as an informal jam band. The band has a reputation for exploring different genres and using innovative recording techniques. As an example, the group recorded vocals for one song on their debut full-length album by having the vocalist sing into an iPhone, with three other iPhones scattered in the studio to also record.
King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard have explored lots of different styles and formats with their many records. Early on the group recorded a ‘cult western audio book’ telling the story of outlaws, child soldiers and more set in the US west. The group also released an album with elements of fantasy and touches on the concept of mind control. Their Quarters album released in 2015 is appropriately named – consisting of four songs each 10 minutes and 10 seconds in length
In 2017 the band met a promise to release five studio albums in a single year and those included a sci-fi concept record, an improvised jazz record and an experiment in microtonality.
While the albums cover a wide range of topics, there are recurring characters, leading to the term ‘Gizzverse’ to describe the narrative running through their albums.
