Creatures of Content -- King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard

By Connor Norris. January 6, 2018.

Every once in a while… Or more than every once in a while (if there is an adverb for that), I, as a rabid music fan with a drooling mouth for new content, check out a band I see the name of somewhere like on an Instagram ad, or on someone else’s phone, or in an article, or maybe they’re coming to town… By any means, I’ll listen to new stuff unafraid of being disappointed (as I have been too many times). I even have a list of “Bands on the listening list”, headlining it being bands I have heard the names of many times but I never bothered to listen to them probably because I never found the time for it or simply they never reached my ears. So many bands and names just bounce off of people’s minds because they just keep the mental image they have of these musicians and are satisfied with that (I’m not saying I haven’t done it either). Bands are often cooped into certain categories of the brain like the Beach Boys and that happy, early surf rock sound, even though Brian and Dennis Wilson have lots more to bring to the table (listen to the Cocaine Sessions by them two for a bootleg of a good time).

Where I am trying to get at is that even though I listen to countless numbers of these bands, I still am looking for more (mostly because I’m not really satisfied with what I’ve found). That’s why it is so rare that someone finds a band they actually enjoy before that band makes it big, because those bands people enjoy have the juice and they blow up socially so quick that everybody knows who they are (i.e. Greta Van Fleet, The Struts). I’m not in this fight alone for new content, but the lazy people are the people that start listening to the bands that blow up after they do get their names on the big screen.

Although the sounds of the first two paragraphs are slightly glass-half-empty, there’s still hope! Of the bands that I have found that successfully catch my attention… and the ones that don’t, I have found a constant in my research: Amount of content. It might have to do with work ethic of the bands or artists producing the music, generally speaking, the artists who actually become successful, are successful, and have been successful, they keep that content bar HIGH. They keep putting out new stuff because eventually, something’s going to hit the mark. And how is anybody ever going to find an artist that only has 2 songs? (The answer is they won’t). Unless you’re Finn Wolfhard of Calpurnia who already has a fan base and following (Because of his work in Stranger Things), no single is going to go big by itself. And that is not a shot at Calpurnia, because I actually do like some of the stuff they put out… And guess what? They kept their foot on the content gas while Finn Wolfhard was still relevant. The releases of their songs and marketing was timed flawlessly in terms of being successful. They released 2 songs and an EP with 6 songs on it and a Spotify Singles session with 2 songs on it all in 2018. They started in early 2018 after the release of Stranger Things’ 2nd season release in late 2017. The timing was right, and they kept that content coming, which is what we all want as the general consuming public.

To aspiring artists and bands; Picture us music fans as a big, fat baby shoveling in song after song into our belly, still whining and crying for more even when you give us a sufficient amount. We’ll settle down after an album or so, even if it’s not that good. Tour after the album, we get it. But come around 4 months after the tour ended and we don’t have any word or any content to hold on to, to touch, and we’re going to be whining and crying like we were just when that last album came out. By all means, don’t release the entire album (or all of its good songs) before you release the album itself (*cough cough* Greta Van Fleet’s Anthem Of The Peaceful Army *cough cough*). But give us something, an inkling of what’s to come. Take the Queens of the Stone Age’s teaser videos right before the last album, Villains. Perfect! We’re content with these videos. The big, fat baby is happy… for now. But all in all, the artist needs to find that balance. The balance between the mystery of being an artist and enough openness to where we don’t forget that you still exist. And, of course, bands and artists hate to hear this (as I hate to say it), but it’s the truth of the content crazy world we live in where if one doesn’t check their phone for one day, you’ve missed everything. You have missed everything if you do not check you’re phone for one day. Everyone that wanted to contact you thinks you’re dead and there’s nothing that would tell them otherwise. I mean, there’s no social media activity to give them any hint that you are alive, so this person might as well be gone, right? This is the exact same with bands… Perhaps even worse. Because if someone doesn’t check their phone for one day, they’re still okay. Even though people may think they’re dead, they’re not. Maybe that person went to work and was really busy and just forgot to check all day. Could happen, sure. But when people, especially FANS think that the band is dead from a lack of content, then that artist is S.O.L. The person who didn’t check their phone is still getting paid, still has a job. This is the artist’s job, their livelihood. And I’m not telling the artist or band to give a detailed description on what they’re up to… Just show something to us. We need it in this topsy-turvy world that we all live in.

Let’s take King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard, the relatively young band from Australia. These guys have somewhat mastered the art of thrusting themselves into people’s brains through content. Sometimes people think of an idea or a tune of their own and think, “I could make a song out of that,” or “It couldn’t be that hard to be a musician” (If people don’t do this, lord knows I do). These guys simply take that idea of "This sounds good", and they make a song of it, and they record it, and they release it. (Another great example of this method - or the likes of it - is another Australian band, The Chats. Don't even get me started on these guys. LOVE!)

The trap that tons of musicians fall into is that they get fixated on this idea that they are a musician and being a musician is this flowing, crazy experience where one must work super hard to translate the thoughts and ideas in their head to the notes and rhythms of their portfolio. In some scenarios, this is the case, but in many others, the artists (or the “artists”) are wildly overthinking the process. If you have a catchy line, use it and put lyrics over it. Feel good about it, but don’t overthink it. Roll with the music and roll with the rhythms. This is in a way what King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard did and does so skillfully and in a way that is so them. With no offense intended towards the band nor their fans, the singles of the band’s first album doesn’t immediately turn up on the radio. It’s different, and that’s good and it’s good (I like it), but that’s typically what doesn’t show up on the radio because the radio kinda sucks to be completely honest. (Without completely going off on a tangent here, the stuff that plays on the hits radio stations all sounds the same and stinks and I can’t stand it… Just to say a few things). Back on the topic, King Gizzard (to be short) either realized this or maybe they didn’t, but either way, they did something about it. They released their first album in late 2012. Followed by an album in 2013 and 2 albums in 2014. They made an album a year for 2 years… and then they got it. Either some other-worldly figure reached down and touched Stu Mackenzie (lead guy) or the band realized what I realized when writing this article: It’s all about content baby. The band released 5 albums in 2017. That got people’s attention if they hadn’t got it before. I mean, how can someone not pay attention when a band does something like this. There indefinitely is some good material in there when you put out 5 full length albums in one year. To the people that aren’t too familiar with the music world reading this (to get a scope of things), a band usually releases one (or two if they’re ambitious) albums and tour in a year and repeat that cycle the year after. By the way, King Gizzard still did shows in 2017 too. The point of this point where I point out King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard is that by releasing five albums including 73 songs in one year, someone is bound to like something in there. It’s up to fans of the band and radio people to actually listen to it and sort it out if someone doesn’t want to, but eventually we’ll all find out which songs are good. All in all, it’s simply much more probable, mathematically, that a band will get more listens with more songs. So what’s better to get more listens than 73 songs in one year? That’s about all you can do.

So if you’re an aspiring artist and or you’re in a band that is having trouble getting the wheels off of the ground, record. Record and record and record. Even if it’s bad and you think it’s bad, somebody will like it out there (I could name too many names of any bad bands that have too many followers…). The point is that those bad bands that do have too many followers released content, so much of it. They played gigs, they recorded, anything to jam their music into people’s heads even if those people did not want to hear it. If you hear something enough, you’ll start to believe it.