Stu Mackenzie, the singer and guitarist at the head of Australian psychedelic rockers King Gizzard And The Lizard Wizard, shudders when he thinks back to the global events of 2020 that brought the planet to a standstill.
"Your whole existence is called into question when something like this happens," he says from his home in Melbourne. "It was an existential threat, because it was like, 'What is my purpose if not to go play music for other human beings?""
Given the prolific nature of the band - they'd released a total of 15 albums in the seven years since their 2012 debut, 12 Bar Bruise - it's hard not to sympathise with their predicament. But King Gizzard And The Lizard Wizard are nothing if not hardy souls and so, despite Melbourne experiencing some of the toughest lockdown restrictions in the world, they set about overcoming the dilemma of not being able to make music together. Harnessing the power of digital communication, the band met daily via Zoom to exchange ideas, riffs and concepts to “make a record, which sounded like a live band, because that was the thing that we couldn’t do”. Of course, this being King Gizzard And The Lizard Wizard, the band remotely made an eyebrow-raising two albums in the shape of KG (2020) and LW the following year and, in the process, upped their studio skills.
“It was like, ‘How do we record a drum kit and make it sound like there’s other instruments in the room, and we actually jammed and played together?’” says Mackenzie.
"In trying to do that, we actually had a lot of fun writing songs, and came up with a lot of things that were happy accidents." He adds: "I mean, this is all I've known how to ever do and I just love making music; I love recording music and I love touring. I really, really do."
This story is from the Issue 139 edition of Prog.
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This story is from the Issue 139 edition of Prog.
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