MusicThe insane rock band that has released 26 albums in 12 yearsGroup that has performed in Brazil relies on unorthodox composition methods, with several projects worked on at the same timetoday at 08:00

Rock has some of the most prolific artists in music history. However, one band is on its way to making history in this regard: King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard.

The Australian band has been around since 2010. Their debut album, 12 Bar Bruisecame out in 2012. Twelve years later, the group has already released 26 studio albums, five of them in 2017 alone, with five more in 2022. How is this possible?

Formed in Melbourne, the sextet manages to combine an enormous amount of material produced with an absurd diversity. Among the genres covered in the extensive discography are psychedelic rock, hard rock, progressive, heavy metal, jazz fusion, folk, electronic and so on.

One of the leaders of the venture is the vocalist and guitarist Stu Mackenziealso one of the band’s most restless. In an interview with Louderhe said that King Gizzard usually works on at least two different projects at the same time.

The rule is: don’t discard any idea completely. He, who completes the group with Ambrose Kenny-Smith (guitar and keyboards), Joey Walker (guitar), Cook Craig (guitar and keyboards), Luke Harwood (low) and Michael “Cavs” Cavanagh (battery), account:

We always do a lot of demos. And many of them are super vague. Sometimes I don’t even know if two of them will end up on the same record. Sometimes, I think that two will be on the same album and, in fact, they will be on two different albums. They can evolve in different ways.”

King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard’s unusual markings

Among the unusual brands in the studio King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizardit is worth highlighting the album Nonagon Infinity (2016), made to be played in a loop, without having a beginning, middle and end sequence. The following year — which had five albums —, Flying Microtonal Banana (2017) was made with instruments built by the band itself and recorded in a microtonal way, as the title indicates.

In 2023, a year after the band released five more albums, they had to take their foot off the accelerator and then “only” two albums came out: one thrash metal, the other electronic pop. The only one from 2024 (so far) focuses on blues and country rock.

The “modus operandi” and the shows

To achieve such productivity, the King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard does not follow conventions when composing. With the exception of a few albums — like I’m in Your Mind Fuzz (2014) —, all musicians take on any instrument while ideas are being worked on. There is no fixed vacancy. Furthermore, everyone contributes to the creation process: they add parts and join or separate sections.

And they are tireless. When they finished working on 2016’s “infinite album”, the idea was to take a break, but the ideas continued to flow. Stu Mackenzie explained, in an interview rescued by Far Out Magazinehow one thing led to another, until the sabbatical ended up turning into five albums in the same year:

We were experimenting with all kinds of different things: heavy, fast things that seemed linked to Nonagon, and then calmer jazz ideas that seemed to be from a totally different universe than that. Then it felt like we had these four different ideas to create four different albums, and then somehow it ended up becoming five (albums).”

A problem that may arise from working this way is in relation to the show’s setlist. Stu explains that, initially, the presentations of the King Gizzard They basically consisted of improvisations and excerpts. When the catalog got too big, they focused on learning how to play the songs.

Now, the group seems to have reached a middle ground, according to the frontman:

Now the sets are loose and free, changing every night. We chose from about 100 songs and played 16 to 18 a night. Every soundcheck, we go through songs that we have no idea how to play and try to remember the chords and stuff. So we’re seriously at the limit of what we can do on stage.”

An example of an unexpected setlist from the Australians happened recently in Brazil, at the 2024 edition of Lollapalooza (via website Igor Miranda). There were 10 songs, covering 8 albums, in a selection very focused on heavier material, which surprised those who expected a presentation more inclined towards progressive rock and psychedelic.

If the number of albums is large, so is the number of shows. In 2019, the Institute of Contemporary Music Performance placed the King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard in 21st place in a world ranking of the hardest working musical artists.

Between January 2018 and August 2019, there were 113 performances — an average of one every six days, relatively high if we consider that they continue to release a high volume of new songs when they are not on the road. Between 2016 and 2017, there were 188 live performances — an average of one to four days.

Collaborated: André Luiz Fernandes.