This Friday, the ever restless King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard will release their 26th album, ‘Flight b741’, via their own p(doom) records. The group shares the final preview of the album with the biker-rock-indebted, Field of Vision.
Talking about the track, King Gizzard’s Stu Mackenzie said: “I remember Joey sending me a voice memo of him playing that main riff on acoustic guitar. From his couch to mine. The arrangement was a bit more complicated originally, I think. Perhaps it was closer to the “I lied to god” bridge that came together in the end. Anyway, I don’t think I really understood it or felt the groove, but once we were recording in the studio with the others, it grooved hard. The verse and chorus changes came together quickly and in real time, and we had a tune on our hands. Joey’s baby, this song. And Joey likes to do it right.
Joey called me a couple of weeks after the sessions, saying we gotta cut the track “‘cos it’s shit”. What a bummer. And a surprise. Myself and Amby (who loved it) spent the next two days in the studio laying down our vocal parts and overdubs, trying to save it. We dubbed in the guitar-solo-type-section with parts chopped up from outtakes and added a blown out guitar solo. It was a $100 harmony acoustic guitar played through some outboard gear that it was definitely not designed to be used with ha ha. Studios are fun. I hoped he liked it. We printed the tape and sent it to him with a note saying, “pleeease man, this has gotta be on the record”. Joey obliged (but not until after he redid all of his parts). Groove restored.
We hope you dig it. Love stu xoxo”
The band have previously shared Hog Calling Contest and Le Risque along with ‘Oink Oink Flight b741: The Making of…’, a mini-documentary about the making of the album directed by Guy Tyzack, which captures the band’s creative process on 16mm film.
As the band’s first release on their own newly minted p(doom) records imprint, ‘Flight b741’ showcases a remarkable change-of-pace, swapping the big picture ambition for the intimacy of six good friends enjoying each other’s company and collaborating on perhaps the warmest, most bonhomie-laden set the group have yet committed to wax.
With a recent run of expansive and conceptual albums behind them, which have spanned from a thrash-metal epic dealing with the current climate crisis to a Moroder-esque pre-digital synth album of proto-Kraftwerk bangers, ‘Flight b741’ sees King Gizzard ditch all the high-falutin’ scheming in favor of irresistible country-fried rock’n’roll and the kind of effortless songwriting that comes as second language when you’ve been playing music together 24/7 for almost a decade-and-a-half. The concept this time is ‘no concept’.
All hopped-up on early Steve Miller Band and the infinite wonderfulness of The Band, King Gizzard laid down the riffs, the grooves, the choogle. Once it was time for the vocals, however, they took a brand new tack – passing the mic, leading to what has become the most collaborative record in the group’s expansive discography.
Field Of Vision IS OUT NOW
‘Flight b741’ is released on 9th August – PRE-ORDER / PRE-SAVE HERE
Thanks to Virgin Music Group
