Their EP and first two albums, Willoughby's Beach (2011), 12 Bar Bruise (2012) and Eyes Like the Sky (2013), primarily blended surf music and garage rock, and were released on the band's independent record label, Flightless, founded by Moore in 2012. Their third to eighth albums—Float Along – Fill Your Lungs (2013), Oddments, I'm in Your Mind Fuzz (2014), Quarters!, Paper Mâché Dream Balloon (2015) and Nonagon Infinity (2016)—expanded their sound, including elements of film music, psychedelic rock, progressive rock, folk, jazz, soul and heavy metal.
In 2017, the band fulfilled a promise to release five studio albums within the year: Flying Microtonal Banana in February; Murder of the Universe in June; Sketches of Brunswick East, a collaboration with Mild High Club, in August; Polygondwanaland, which was released into the public domain, in November; and Gumboot Soup in December. The band released its fourteenth album, Fishing for Fishies, on 26 April 2019, followed by a fifteenth album, Infest the Rats' Nest, released on 16 August that year.
On the 19th of April they released their first feature-length film, concert movie "Chunky Shrapnel". Named after a lyric from the band’s 2017 song Murder Of The Universe, The film combines concert footage from the band’s 2019 European tour with documentary style-filmmaking of King Gizzard behind the scenes. While Chunky Shrapnel does also document the band offstage, the film’s director, Josh Angus Stewart, said that it prioritizes music over personalities.
Chunky Shrapnel was originally set to premiere at Melbourne’s Astor Theatre, before the Australian government closed cinemas nationwide to stem the spread of the coronavirus. The film was eventually released and finally available for 24 hours only on vimeo.
In all, throughout 2020, the band released several live albums, a concert film, a double compilation of demos, K.G. , their 16th studio album and a compilation of early singles and all the tracks on the Anglesea EP called Teenage Gizzard . In August, Eric Moore (the band's second drummer and manager) left the band to focus on running his record label, Flightless. In February 2021, the band released L.W., their third microtonal album, which was followed by the synth-based dream pop album Butterfly 3000 in June. These albums were released independently rather than on Flightless. The band's twentieth studio album, Omnium Gatherum, was released on 22 April 2022.
On 24 January 2023, the band released the official live bootleg Live at Red Rocks '22. The 86-track, eight-hour release documents the band's three-night run at the titular Red Rocks Amphitheatre. Several independent labels have created physical releases of the bootleg, including a 12-vinyl boxset and a CD/cassette run.
On 4 March of the same year, the band debuted a new song "Gila Monster" during a live performance in Tilburg in the Netherlands. Following that, on 7 May, the band announced their upcoming 24th studio album, PetroDragonic Apocalypse; or, Dawn of Eternal Night: An Annihilation of Planet Earth and the Beginning of Merciless Damnation via Instagram. According to bassist Lucas Harwood, PetroDragonic Apocalypse will be one of two upcoming albums that will have a "Yin and Yang" concept, stating that they are "going to be very different sounding to each other, but we're going to try to make them complement each other". The album's first single, "Gila Monster", was released alongside a music video an hour before the album pre-order opened on May 16 and the second single "Dragon" was released on June 6 with its music video. The band then went on tour throughout the United States to promote the album before its release by playing songs from the album other than the singles. One such performance on 3 June was at the Caverns in Tennessee where the band dressed in drag to celebrate Pride Night after a judge turned down a law that intended to ruled drag unlawful. Joey Walker told the crowd, "This ain't no protest, baby. This is a celebration!" PetroDragonic Apocalypse was released on 16 June.
Their 25th album, The Silver Cord, was released on the 27th of October 2023.
Their 26th and latest album, Flight b741, was released on the 9th of August, 2024 - it is their first album released on their new record label, p(doom) Records.
The band members all grew up and went to school in the Deniliquin, Melbourne and Geelong areas. 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 & The Lizard Wizard. The artist Jason Galea has created all of the band's album art, and a majority of their music videos.
No Body
King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
And for the first time
I could relax and unplug
My friend, it felt good
To shuffle off this mortal coil
To rise like oil in water
To have no soul
To have no body
I woke to an eye-adjusting fright
Baptized in the light
And found myself in purgatory white
Dead again in the void
What was the lesson, God? (No, no, no, no body)
Are you real or not? (No, no, no, no body)
In death I know
Life was a hallucination
These lyrics explore the themes of transcendence, mortality, and existential questioning. The song begins with the line "I floated up, and for the first time, I could relax and unplug." This could be interpreted as the singer experiencing a moment of detachment from their physical body, a sense of liberation from the constraints of their mortal existence. The phrase "To rise like oil in water" further emphasizes this feeling of floating and being untethered.
The next lines delve deeper into this idea of being detached from the physical realm. The singer expresses the sensation of being "not real" and "having no soul." These lines suggest a temporary disconnection from their personal identity and a departure from the conventional notion of existence as a material being.
The lyrics then take a turn as the singer awakens from this detached state, described as an "eye-adjusting fright" and finding themselves in a "purgatory white." This abrupt shift in tone and imagery portrays a sense of confusion and disorientation upon returning to reality. The repetition of the phrase "Dead again in the void" adds to the haunting and introspective atmosphere of the song.
The following lines pose a series of questions, directed towards a higher power or an existential force. The singer wonders what lesson they are meant to learn from this experience and questions the existence of God or any definitive truth. The repetition of the phrase "No, no, no, no body" serves as a mantra, possibly reflecting the singer's attempt to reconcile their transient experience with their understanding of the world.
The lyrics culminate in the statement, "In death, I know life was a hallucination." Here, the singer suggests that their encounter with detachment and the subsequent return to reality has led them to question the nature of existence itself. The line implies that life, as commonly perceived, might be an illusion or a construct of the mind.
Overall, these lyrics convey a sense of otherworldly exploration, existential pondering, and the human desire to understand our place in the universe. It invites listeners to contemplate the nature of reality and the potential for transcending our physical bodies.
Line by Line Meaning
I floated up
I ascended
And for the first time
For the initial occurrence
I could relax and unplug
I could unwind and disconnect
My friend, it felt good
My companion, it felt pleasant
To shuffle off this mortal coil
To discard this earthly existence
To rise like oil in water
To ascend effortlessly
To be not real
To lack existence
To have no soul
To lack a spiritual essence
To have no body
To lack a physical form
I woke to an eye-adjusting fright
I awakened to a terrifying shock
Baptized in the light
Immersed in an illuminating sensation
And found myself in purgatory white
And discovered my presence in a white realm of uncertainty
Dead again in the void
Once more deceased in the emptiness
What was the lesson, God? (No, no, no, no body)
What was the instruction, divine entity? (No, no, no, no physical form)
Are you real or not? (No, no, no, no body)
Do you possess actuality or not? (No, no, no, no physical form)
In death I know
Through demise I comprehend
Life was a hallucination
Existence was an illusion
Lyrics © Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd.
Written by: Stuart Mackenzie
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind