King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard, the unbelievably prolific, genre-hopping Australian band who can easily delve into psychedelic rock, garage rock, prog, jazz, thrash metal, microtonal music, synth-pop, are now proving they can dive head first into full-scale electronic dance music.
The six Gizz musicians who played Field of Vision II were Stu Mackenzie (vocals, guitar, keyboards, flute); Joey Walker, (guitar, vocals, keyboards); Ambrose Kenny-Smith (vocals, harmonica, keyboards, saxophone and percussion); Cook Craig (guitar, bass, keyboards and vocals); Lucas Harwood, (bass, keyboards and vocals); and Michael “Cavs” Cavanagh on drums and percussion.
Field of Vision is KG&LW’s own camping and festival sort of like the Gathering of the Juggalos, in that it's a way to have a whole weekend around fans who love one of the most unique bands of our time.
It all began at Meadow Creek in Buena Vista, Colorado, last year at this time where King Gizzard headlined all three nights, rocked for about nine hours of music over the weekend. Like other fests, other bands performed and there were many of activities to trip out on.
This year's sequel again put King Gizzard at the top of the bill performing every night. Fans also got to see other (very) alternative groups including Angine de Poitrine, Blood Incantation, Die Spitz, Folk Bitch Trio, La Luz, W.I.T.C.H., Upchuck, Earth Tongue, Etran de L’Aïr, Lisa Bella Donna and others.
A bonus came when Walker and Cavanagh also got to show off their side bands: Bullant and Cavs.
Field of Vision II was perfectly coordinated with the unannounced released of the band's 28th studio album, Alien Metal which dropped when the festival kicked off (8/14).
Phantom Island, their 27th, came out in June of last year making for an unusually long 14 months that passed between King Gizzard studio records. Does that explain the side projects? Regardless, Alien Metal contains eight tracks of techno, house, jungle and other forays within EDM.
The new tunes were spawned from the band’s live modular synthesizer setup they've been experimenting with since '24 known as The Table which is centered around their custom Eurorack system nicknamed Nathan.
"It’s quite challenging to write songs, in the traditional sense, with this equipment, and I don’t think it’s what it’s good at or built for, but that therefore became interesting [to us]," Stu told Billboard last week about the new record.
"Trying to figure out how to do six-person improvisational electronic music with [this] hardware — all the Eurorack stuff with f–king patch cables on the outside, just nightmare tech stuff — is all wrapped into the story as much as any of the [band’s prior] recording projects are," he continued.
"That context is what we arrived at Alien Metal with. It’s like, 'What are we doing here with this record?' That’s something that we are always trying to find when making a record: What’s its sort of personality, you know?
"That’s why naming a record can be so powerful early on, because you stop calling it 'it' and you start calling it Alien Metal. It takes on its personality, and you start to follow its footsteps. You start to follow its rhythm," he explained.
If you have been waiting to see Alien Metal appear in your Spotify, give up the hope. The band pulled nearly their entire catalog from the streaming system last summer as a protest of Spotify co-founder and then-CEO Daniel Ek’s controversial business dealings with Helsing, a European defense-technology company developing AI-powered military systems. He was also Helsing's chairman.
“Spotify CEO Daniel Ek invests millions in AI military drone technology. We just removed our music from the platform,” the band wrote, adding they hoped to “put pressure on these Dr. Evil tech bros to do better.”
Since The Gizz have been recording and releasing music on their own independent labels, they have the freedom to pull off such idealistic moves. Others are tied to major labels that don't allow such flexibility.
And yes, it is a flex.
On night one the Aussies gave live debuts to a pair of Alien Metal tunes: “Level 5” and “Rapid Alpha Decay.”
In that wacky King Gizz style of having an embarrassment of riches, despite having new tracks to unveil, the opening night also included the live debut for “The Land Before Timeland,” the 15-minute opening track from the band’s 2022 album Laminated Denim which had incredibly gone nearly four years without being played.
"Alright, it's time to jam," Stu said to the crowd. "Who likes to jam? Have you guys ever heard of jamming?"
The crowd cheered.
"One time we were jamming, and we just kept jamming," he said. Then they played the tune for 17 minutes.
Night one ended with the first two portions of “The River,” leaving the crowd with a sort of premature evacuation into the Colorado night.
But have no fear, on Saturday night the band kicked off the set with the third part of the song as if they'd bookmarked where they left off. Genius.
The second night also featured live debuts for “Kill for the Steel,” “Gliese 710,” and the title track of Alien Metal.
Sunday was a return to the rock for the most part, but it also delivered the live debuts of “Sapience” and “Superheavy, Supercritical," putting the total of premieres from the new LP at eight.
It is very tough to get tickets to King Gizzard shows. But they will be in New York from the 20th through the 23rd.
Get on the waiting list via their website.
King Gizzard 2026 Tour remaining dates
8/20 Forest Hills Stadium, Forest Hills, NY w/ Die Spitz, DJ Crenshaw
8/21 Forest Hills Stadium, Forest Hills, NY w/ Die Spitz, DJ Crenshaw
8/22 Forest Hills Stadium, Forest Hills, NY w/ DāM-FunK (RAVE)
8/23 Under The K Bridge Park, Brooklyn, NY w/ .VRIL (RAVE SHOW)
10/13 Anita's Theatre, Thirroul, NSW w/ Xiao Xiao
10/14 The Hordern Pavilion, Sydney, NSW w/ Xiao Xiao
10/14 Liberty Hall, Sydney, NSW (Late RAVE Show)
10/17 The Croxton Block Party, Melbourne, AU w/ B3lly, Babe Rainbow, Heavy Moss, Moktar, Shonen Knife, Stu Mackenzie, Techno666
10/18 The Croxton Block Party, Melbourne, AU w/ C.O.F.F.I.N, Glyconic, Gut Health, Moktar, ORB, Public Figures
