King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard: A Brief History
Australian rock band, King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard, formed in 2010 originally consisting of Stu Mackenzie, Ambrose Kenny-Smith, Cook Craig, Joey Walker, Lucas Harwood (previously Skinner), Michael Cavanaugh, and Eric Moore. The group started as school mates and friends who jammed with one another but officially formed after booking their first show in 2010.
The group has always experimented with their earlier releases having more garage and psychedelic rock influences to incorporating a jazzier sound in 2015. In 2015, the group also began their own take on a music festival entitled Gizzfest. In line with the band’s experimental nature, the group famously released five albums in 2017. The first explored microtonal tuning followed by a concept album, a jazz influenced venture, an album completely free to listen to and redistribute, with the year culminating in their final album consisting of the songs that couldn’t find a place with the previous projects. In 2018, the band produced their last Gizzfest with the guitarist Joey Walker citing, “Gizzfest is never happening again,” squashing any hope of an eventual revival. In April 2019 the group released one studio-recorded album which brings the group to the Chunky Shrapnel era. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the group had to post-pone multiple performances in 2020 and 2021 and postpone the premiere of their concert film chronicling their 2019 Europe/UK tour, Chunky Shrapnel. 2020 also saw the departure of Eric Moore, one of the group’s drummers, to focus on running his record label. Since 2020, the band has continued to release seven more albums with their 24th album set to release later this year.
Chunky Shrapnel will be shown at Woodward Theater on June 19.
Doors open at 7:00 for a 7:30 show.
Buy tickets here: https://www.cincyticket.com/eventperformances.asp?evt=6247
Sarah Sheffer is a student majoring in public relations at the University of Cincinnati and an intern at MOTR Pub and the Woodward Theater. She is president of the Public Relations Student Society of America on campus and hopes to have a career in entertainment post-graduation.