King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard – Flight b741

Fans in for a treat when King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard arrive. This Australian band‘s genre-spanning output has already garnered them worldwide acclaim and 25 albums are under their belts.

Gen Z stoners, Metallica and Tool fans eager for heavy riffage, and suburban dads longing for old school rock ‘n’ roll have been equally won over by jam bands over time.

The band

King Gizzard are making headlines around the world for their extraordinary rise to stardom as one of Australia’s premier psychedelic rock acts, featuring their trademark blend of aggression and transcendence live performance that resonates deeply with modern listeners who desire spontaneity in music.

Flight 741 continues this tradition across their extensive catalog – from beachy garage-rock albums and prog-rock concept records, all the way to full-length metal releases and everything in between. And their latest, Flight b741 doesn’t disappoint either!

Gizzverse by Stu Mackenzie is a journey into an obscure universe populated by people vultures, rattlesnakes, tetrachromats, trapdoors and garden goblins. Mackenzie recently discussed its creation.

Stu Mackenzie

King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard closed out 2017 by releasing five albums, culminating with Flight b741, their 26th record and still pushing boundaries with genre-defying psych-rock music.

Stu Mackenzie of The Polymathic Frontman describes how they went about creating their latest album. According to him, all members of the band generally enter into the studio with a common idea in mind when entering into production sessions.

This approach allows them to produce a cohesive record without feeling like they are just compiling an “all or nothing” release. He also discusses some of the special instruments and tunings used for microtonal music composition.

Ambrose Kenny-Smith

Gizzard boasts an expansive discography that spans from lo-fi garage-y jams and Krautrock through metal and prog. Additionally, they have experimented with non-Western microtonal instrument tunings and modular synthesizer-dominated electronic pop.

Add to that chaos is their tendency to throw everything against the wall and see what sticks. Ill Times is no exception – its songs combine soaring pop production with cutting social commentary in one energetic package.

Kenny-Smith is a keyboardist, harmonica player and saxophonist for King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard and their Flightless Records label-mates The Murlocs; in 2013 he also narrated their audio spaghetti western Eyes Like the Sky.

Cook Craig

After the success of Infest the Rats Nest (2019), fans eagerly anticipated a return to King Gizzard roots and heavy metal influences. What they got instead was an album that flows seamlessly from track to track, providing listeners with lo-fi garage jams, modular synthesizer-dominated electronic pop, non-Western microtonal instrument tunings and an atmospheric landscape filled with garden goblins, genocidal robots and organ farmers – perfect!

With every project, the band explores new concepts or sounds. Polygondwanaland is a prog rock journey featuring Dark Side of the Moon-esque song transitions, while Flying Microtonal Banana examines Eastern music using intervals smaller than Western semitones.

Joey Walker

Joey Walker plays both guitar and bass, in addition to recording techno releases under his moniker of Bullant. For vocal recordings on these recordings, Joey utilizes an EV 635a microphone.

Each album by this band tells its own unique tale, creating what the band refers to as ‘The Gizzverse’ – an imaginary universe full of fictional characters such as gamblers, cowboys, Australian Rules footballers, people-vultures, Balrogs and lightning gods who coexist within this chaos of parallel yet intertwined existences.

King Gizzard takes an uninhibited approach when creating their records, allowing them to explore various interests on record by record – like their tribute to 1980s/90s heavy metal with Infest the Rats’ Nest (2019), an instant fan favourite.

Lucas Harwood

Australian band The Gizzverse have gained an enormously devoted fanbase thanks to their revolutionary creativity, inspiring a series of shared continuities and cinematic universes in contemporary culture that mirror it quite closely – just with more twitchy eyed interpretation.

Lucas Harwood is an integral member of the band, often providing the glue that holds everything together live and in the studio. Join us as he discusses playing for this psych-prog-jazz-avant garde collective, their special US residencies, and much more!

Flight 741 marks their 26th album and showcases how looser than ever they sound, yet again. Give it a listen for yourself; it’s an exciting ride and makes a fitting end to an incredible tour.