King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard

The band members all grew up and went to school in the Deniliquin, Melbourne, and Geelong areas of Australia. The band started off as a group of friends jamming together, before a mutual friend asked them to play at a show. The band's name was created "last minute". Mackenzie wanted to name the band "Gizzard Gizzard" while another band member wanted Jim Morrison's nickname "Lizard King". They eventually compromised with King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard.[5] Melbourne artist Jason Galea has created all of the band's album art, and a majority of their music videos.

The band's first releases were both singles: “Sleep”/“Summer” and “Hey There”/“Ants & Bats”, both self-released in 2010. The band's next release, 2011's Anglesea, was released as a four-track EP on CD. It is named after Anglesea, the coastal town where Mackenzie grew up. These early releases didn't became available digitally until the inclusion of their tracks on the Teenage Gizzard compilation in 2020.

The band's second release of the year, Willoughby's Beach, was released by Shock Records on 21 October 2011.[6] Beat Magazine described the 9-track garage rock EP as "filled to the teeth with consistently killer hooks."[7] In December 2011, the band appeared at the Meredith Music Festival for the first time.

The band's first full-length album, 12 Bar Bruise, was released on 7 September 2012.[8] 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.[9]

King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard's second full-length album, Eyes Like the Sky, was released on 22 February 2013.[10] Described as a "cult western audio book",[10] the album is narrated by Broderick Smith and tells a story of outlaws, child soldiers, Native Americans and gun fights, all set in the American frontier. The album was written collaboratively by Smith and Stu Mackenzie. When asked about the album's influences, Mackenzie said: "I love Western films. I love bad guys and I love Red Dead Redemption. Oh, and I love evil guitars".[11] Stu also stated, in a 2020 Reddit AMA, that Eyes Like the Sky was written as a response to being typecast in their previous releases- a reaction that "irks" him to this day.

The band's third full-length album, Float Along – Fill Your Lungs, was released on 27 September 2013.[12] King Gizzard shifted from garage rock to a more mellow folk and psychedelic sound on this eight track album.[13]

Float Along – Fill Your Lungs was followed by Oddments, released on 7 March 2014.[14] Over the course of this 12-track album, the band takes a more melodic approach, and Mackenzie's vocals are more prominent.[15] Oddments has been described as being "recorded through a woolen sock in an adjacent room".[16]

The band's fifth full-length album, I'm in Your Mind Fuzz, was released on 31 October 2014.[17] The 10-track album touches on elements of fantasy[18] 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.[19] Pitchfork described the album as "open[ing] with a sprint" and ending "with some of their best slow jams."[20] In 2019, I'm In Your Mind Fuzz came at no.6 on Happy Mag's list of "The 25 best psychedelic rock albums of the 2010s".[21]

Mackenzie performing in 2016

Quarters!, King Gizzard's sixth full-length album, was released on 1 May 2015.[22] The album features four songs, each running for ten minutes and ten seconds,[23] 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" and as "an album more likely to get your head bobbing and hips shaking as opposed to losing footwear in a violent mosh".[24]

Later in the year, on 13 November 2015, the band released its seventh full-length album, Paper Mâché Dream Balloon.[25] This "concept-less concept album" features only acoustic instruments and was recorded on Mackenzie's parents' farm in rural Victoria.[25] The album features "a collection of short unrelated songs"[25] described as "mellow, defuzzed psychedelia".[26] The band released a music video for the song "Trapdoor".[27] It was the band's first album to be released in the United States via ATO Records.[28]

2015 saw the band launch Gizzfest in Melbourne, a two-day music festival that has since been held annually and toured Australia, featuring both local and international acts.[29]

The band's eighth full-length album, Nonagon Infinity, was released worldwide on 29 April 2016.[30] Described by Mackenzie as a "never-ending album", it features nine songs connected by musical motifs which flow "seamlessly" into each other with the last track "linking straight back into the top of the opener like a sonic mobius strip".[31] On 8 March the band released a video for the first single, "Gamma Knife".[32] It contained a riff from the song "People Vultures" which was premiered on 4 April[33] with a music video released on 6 May.[34] The album received high praise from critics, with Pitchfork's Stuart Berman writing it "yields some of the most outrageous, exhilarating rock 'n' roll in recent memory."[35] The album also received glowing reviews from numerous other publishers, Happy Mag's Maddy Brown described it as "an intensely striking, ferocious sound that gets the blood flowing and heart racing,"[36] while NME's Larry Bartleet wrote that "If you wanted to, you could listen to it forever in one unbroken melody."[37] The band earned its first ARIA Award when Nonagon Infinity won the 2016 ARIA Award for Best Hard Rock or Heavy Metal Album.

The band's ninth full-length album, Flying Microtonal Banana, was recorded in the band's own studio[39] and released on 24 February 2017.[40] Originally conceived as a record to be played on the Turkish baglama (a stringed instrument with movable frets), Flying Microtonal Banana has been described as "a soaring take on microtonal music".[41] Three tracks were issued in advance: "Rattlesnake,"[42] the opening track, in October 2016; "Nuclear Fusion" in December 2016; and "Sleep Drifter" in January 2017.[43][44] The band released a music video for "Rattlesnake", directed by Jason Galea,[45] a video which Happy Mag 's Luke Saunders described as "a masterclass in hypnotism."[46]

Another full-length album, Murder of the Universe, was released on 23 June 2017.[47] Described by the band as a "concept album to end all concepts",[48][49] it is divided into 3 chapters: The Tale of the Altered Beast; The Lord of Lightning vs Balrog; released 30 May 2017; and Han-Tyumi and the Murder of the Universe released 11 April 2017. The Spill Magazine explained that the album "describes the impeding doom of the world in a dark fantasy genre kind of way."[50] It is narrated by Leah Senior[51] for the first two chapters, and a text-to-speech program for the final chapter. The band made their international television debut on 17 April 2017 performing "The Lord of Lightning" on Conan on TBS in the United States.[52]

King Gizzard's next full-length album, Sketches of Brunswick East, a collaboration with Alex Brettin's psychedelic jazz project Mild High Club, was released on 18 August 2017.[53] 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 a jazz-improvisational album. Mackenzie described the record as "perhaps representing greater changes that are happening in the wider world, and (this is) our attempt to find beauty within a place that we spend so much time", referring to the constant changes in their neighbourhood.[53]

Polygondwanaland, the fourth of the band's five 2017 albums, was released into the public domain, inspiring many independent labels throughout the world to issue unique versions of it.

King Gizzard's twelfth studio album, Polygondwanaland, was released as a free download on 17 November 2017. The band encouraged fans and independent record labels to create their own pressings of the album, stating that "Polygondwanaland is FREE. Free as in, free. Free to download and if you wish, free to make copies. Make tapes, make CD's, make records . . . Ever wanted to start your own record label? GO for it! Employ your mates, press wax, pack boxes. We do not own this record. You do. Go forth, share, enjoy."[54] The album was promoted with the release of the first track, "Crumbling Castle", on 18 October 2017. The track received better reviews than their preceding releases of the year, with The Needle Drop describing it as "one of the most epic, multi-faceted, and mystical tracks the band has delivered thus far." A music video created by Jason Galea accompanied its release on YouTube.[55] As of April 2018, 159 different versions of the album have been released by independent labels around the world, and it has been called "the ultimate vinyl release".[56]

Mackenzie confirmed in early December that the fifth and final album of 2017 would be coming "very, very late in the year".[57] Two singles were digitally released less than a week later: "All Is Known", which had previously been performed live; and "Beginner's Luck", an entirely new song.[58][59] These singles were followed by two more, "The Last Oasis" and "Greenhouse Heat Death", both released on the 20th. On 30 December, the band posted on Facebook that Gumboot Soup, their fifth and final album of the year, would be released the following day.[60] Mackenzie explained in an interview that the songs on Gumboot Soup are "definitely not B-sides or anything. They're more songs that didn't work in any of the rest of the four records, or they didn't fit into any of those categories that well, or they came together slightly after when those records came together."[61]

In December, Consequence of Sound named King Gizzard Band of the Year, praising both the quantity and quality of their 2017 releases.[62]

Throughout 2018, King Gizzard continued to perform live shows, but did not release any new material. Instead, they re-released five older records, the Willoughby's Beach EP (2011), 12 Bar Bruise (2012), Eyes Like the Sky (2013), Float Along – Fill Your Lungs (2013) and Oddments (2014), on CD and vinyl.[63] They also released an official pressing of 2017's Polygondwanaland.[64]

On 21 January 2019, the band announced on their Instagram page that new music was in the works, with an image in a studio of Gareth Liddiard (The Drones, Tropical Fuck Storm) flipping the bird as members of King Gizzard play in the background, which led to some speculation as to Liddiard's possible involvement in the band's new material.[65] On 1 February, the band put out a music video for their new single "Cyboogie" and released the song as a 7 inch single backed with "Acarine".[66] A week later, they announced another North American tour[67] and a show at Alexandra Palace in London which they promised would feature "a new set, new songs and a whole new visual experience", and described as being their biggest ever.

In early March, details of the band's at-the-time announced fourteenth album, Fishing for Fishies, were seemingly leaked onto webstores. The album title, cover and track listing were leaked, as well as 60-second previews and the entirety of the title track, and a release date of 26 April. The band then confirmed this leak on 11 March by officially announcing the album through their Facebook and Instagram accounts with the same release date on 26 April 2019.[68] A day later, the band officially released and uploaded a music video for the title track to YouTube.[69] Later that month, the band released another single from the album, "Boogieman Sam",[70] and on 24 April, two days before the album release, the band released a final single, "The Bird Song". Two days later, Fishing for Fishies was released.[71]

On 9 April, the band released a music video for a new song, "Planet B", a thrash metal song regarding the environment and a distinct departure from the softer sounds of Fishing for Fishies. As this song did not feature on the track listing for Fishing for Fishies, it led to fans speculating it was a selection from a second album to be released in 2019 prior to Mackenzie's later confirmation.[72]

During a Reddit AMA on 30 April, Mackenzie confirmed that the next King Gizzard album was being made and would include "Planet B", but the band had not decided whether or not it would be released in 2019. The album was initially believed to be titled Auto-Cremate due to the band's ambiguous response to a question regarding the use of the title as their username in the AMA, but was later confirmed to be titled Infest the Rats' Nest. Mackenzie also said that the band planned to release a sequel to Eyes Like the Sky featuring a new story written by Broderick Smith and that their Gizzfest festival would be held outside of Australia for the first time in 2019.[73]

Almost a month later on 29 May, a week after a teaser on social media, the band released the music video for a new song, "Self-Immolate", which incorporates a thrash metal style similar to "Planet B".[74] On 18 June, the band posted a teaser on social media that confirmed their new album's title as Infest the Rats' Nest, which was officially announced three days later for a release date of 16 August.[75][76]

On 25 June, they released the single "Organ Farmer", another thrash style similar to "Planet B" and "Self-Immolate". Its music video included fans as extras.[77] Infest the Rats' Nest was later released on 16 August 2019. At the ARIA Music Awards of 2019, Infest the Rats' Nest was nominated for ARIA Award for Best Hard Rock or Heavy Metal Album.[78]

On 12 November, the band announced two 3-hour live shows for 2020 whose set lists will contain elements of their entire discography, the first of which was to be performed on 18 April at the Greek Theatre in Berkeley, California. The second marathon show would have been performed on 6 May at Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Colorado. The band however was quick to announce on 22 November that another marathon show would have been performed at Red Rocks on 5 May, a decision made shortly after the Red Rocks show sold out within four days of its announcement.

In January 2020, the band released three live albums as downloads on Bandcamp, pledging to donate 100% of the proceeds towards relief for the 2019–20 Australian bushfire season.[79] Live in Adelaide '19, recorded at Thebarton Theatre on 12 July 2019, and Live in Paris '19, recorded at L'Olympia on 14 October 2019, were released 10 January; while Live in Brussels '19, recorded at the Ancienne Belgique on 8–9 October 2019, was released 15 January. The albums' sales benefit Animals Australia, Wildlife Victoria, and Wires Wildlife Rescue, respectively.

In the first months of the year, the trio of Stu Mackenzie, Joey Walker and Michael Cavanagh, who composed and recorded the material for King Gizzard's latest album Infest the Rats' Nest, teamed up with previous collaborator Leah Senior and others to create a new soundtrack for the classic horror film Suspiria by Dario Argento, with the previous soundtrack created by himself with the progressive rock band, Goblin. Later on 18 April, in an interview Stu Mackenzie reveal that the soundtrack would be released under the moniker, "Professor of the Occult".

In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, the band postponed their Greek Theatre and Red Rocks marathon shows for later in the year. The band had also produced a film to be released, entitled Chunky Shrapnel from a lyric of the song "Murder of the Universe", from the album of the same name; however, also due to the outbreak, the initial viewing had to be postponed for a later date. It was directed by John Angus Stewart, a friend of the band who does visuals for their live shows and who also directed the music videos for the singles from Infest the Rat's Nest. The band decided to stream the film (which was recorded during the 2019 tour in Europe) live for 24 hours from 17 April 6 PM to 18 April 6 PM (U.S. Eastern time zone). A double-live album of the concert film would also be released with physical pre-orders starting on 10 April and available for streaming on 24 April. The band released three different limited edition copies of Chunky Shrapnel for pre-order. One of the editions, the "Copper Nitrate" wax pressing edition, sold out on the Flightless website within three minutes of being posted. The other limited edition copies sold out within an hour.

In April, the band stated that, during lockdown, they had worked on new material for upcoming albums. Mackenzie reported that one will be “pretty chill”, another “kind of jazzy”, and “some of it is microtonal” with the possibility of a sequel to Flying Microtonal Banana, with the band also experimenting with electronic music and "messing around with some more polymetric stuff".[80] In the same interview, when asked about more live recordings, Mackenzie also said that the band had recorded every show they played in 2019, and may release them in a similar fashion to Pearl Jam's official live bootlegs.[80] June saw the release of RATTY, a short documentary about the making of Infest the Rat's Nest.[81] The film was made available to rent online with all proceeds going to The Australians for Native Title and Reconciliation (ANTaR), BlaQ Aboriginal Corporation, DJIRRA, and Indigenous Social Justice Association Melbourne. After $20,000 had been raised, the film was then made free to watch on YouTube. Also that month, in celebration of Love Record Store Day, the band released a limited print of eco-friendly versions of ten releases dating from between 2014 and 2017.

After releasing a snippet of a new song, the music video for "Honey" was released, incorporating an acoustic microtonal sound and themes centered around the COVID-19 pandemic.[82]

On July 21, Aaron Grech of music.mxdwn.com released an article about the band's upcoming events. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the band postponed the marathon shows and North American tour for a second time, with the new dates being for October 2021. A statement he received from the band confirmed the new tour dates and additional confirmation that the band will release some new albums before said tour.

On August 12, Jackson Langford of NME released an article about the band releasing new music. The band issued a statement on Instagram with the words “Midnight Thursday”, along with a picture with fiery text with the words “SOME OF US”, hinting at a new song on the 13th. The music video for "Some of Us” debuted on YouTube the next day, continuing the themes of the COVID-19 pandemic from “Honey” but having a more electronic feel to it than the previous acoustic tone. After the release, multiple sources mentioned a statement from the band that they have “made heaps of tunes lately”.

Moore left the band in 2020 to focus on running Flightless.

On August 25, Eric Moore announced via Instagram his departure from the band as both an active member and the band's manager without citing any direct reason,[83] stating he was "deeply saddened by the decision" and "[doesn't] have any regrets". The band further elaborated, also via Instagram, that he was stepping away from the band "to focus solely on Flightless Records."[84]

On August 28, the band, through the first instance of their Gizzymail, confirmed that an album will be released in 2020, alluded to the possibility of another live album in 2020, and announced their intent to release at least three studio albums in 2021.[85]

On September 15, the band released their third single for the upcoming album, "Straws In The Wind". Like "Honey", the single was another acoustic microtonal song with lyrical themes surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic, and many were quick to note that musically, the song transitions directly into the previous single "Some of Us". Tom Breihan of Stereogum, Scott Bernstein of Jam Base, and Calum Slingerland of Exclaim all published articles about the new single and music video on the same day it was released.

On 28 September, the band announced via "Gizzymail" that they were releasing two things on "MEGA DIY" 2 October on Bandcamp, suspected to be a live-album, as they had asked fans for footage of their 2019 US tour for the preceding few months. They also announced they were building a new "studio/HQ".

On 2 October, the band released two albums via their Bandcamp once again. The first, Demos Vol. 1 + Vol. 2, includes 28 demos of songs spanning the band's entire career. Older songs like "Footy Footy" from 12 Bar Bruise, along with songs like "Straws in the Wind", which had only been released less than a month prior. The second album released was a live album of the same variety as the three released in January, Live in Asheville '19, recorded live at New Belgium Brewing Company on 1 September 2019.

On 20 October, the band teased the release of their sixteenth studio album K.G. and another live album, Live in San Francisco '16, with both albums released on 20 November. It was announced that some limited edition versions of the records would be available. Alongside this, the band released the fourth single from K.G., "Automation". This single was released for free on their website in a similar manner to their 2017 album Polygondwanaland. In addition to the raw audio files for the song as a whole, the band also included the files for separate audio channels within the song such as vocals, violin, clarinet and flute.[86] They also released the video files for the song's music video, of which the band states: "If you'd like to create your own music video for Automation, we have supplied you with the raw video files to do so."[87] All of these files require a torrent client to be installed on the user's device. Since the release of "Automation", there have been many remixes and music videos edited by fans and posted on sites like Reddit and YouTube.[88]

The band released a final single and music video on 19 November called “Intrasport”. K.G. and Live In San Francisco ‘16 were released the following day.

On 10 December, the band released a new single called “If Not Now, Then When?”, continuing the microtonal and electronica styles of K.G. Some fans have pointed out that the new single continues where “The Hungry Wolf of Fate” left off, with the band in a press release saying it was part of a bigger musical picture. Dr D Foothead (an animation director for shows on Adult Swim) who had previously directed animated music videos for singles by other psychedelic rock bands like Osees and Melody's Echo Chamber, had an interview with Live For Live Music in which he talked about the song saying, “the song made me consider how individual action or inaction effects the world” and put those feelings to form in the music video. Joey Walker also had an interview with NME, saying 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.

On 24 December, or "Gizzmas", the band released two new "bootlegs". Teenage Gizzard, a compilation of songs from the early years that included the early non-album singles, the tracks from Anglesea and a couple other rare tracks. The other, Live in London ‘19 is another performance during the Infest the Rats’ Nest Tour that was recorded on 5 October. With the release of these albums, the band launched the "bootlegger" program where fans and indie labels can create anything they want with the provided materials including the live albums released on Bandcamp, the compilations of demos and older songs and the free album, Polygondwanaland. If fans wish to sell any of the live albums or Teenage Gizzard, they must contact the band through a provided email so the band may sell a few copies on their merchandise site, Gizzverse.[89]

In 2020, King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard were listed at number 47 in Rolling Stone Australia's "50 Greatest Australian Artists of All Time" issue.[90]

On 2 January, a belated review for the most recent single "If Not Now, Then When?" was released by Kyle Cravens of music.mxdwn.com. At the end of the review the following statement reads, "the single stands idly as a singular inventive piece, with no mention of a future album in sight for the group, yet". Though in a previous "Gizzymail" back in late August 2020, the band said they would try to release at least three albums in 2021.

News about the seventeenth studio album, L.W., was discovered on elusivedisc.com. Information included the track list, names and numbers as well as the release date on 26 February. The album is set to be a direct sequel to the previous album K.G. and the third installment in the “Explorations into Microtonal Tuning” series.[91]