To celebrate the release of their second album, the self described ‘psychedelic western audiobook LP’ Eyes Like The Sky, King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard took to the main stage of The Corner Hotel on Saturday night to do what they truly do best.
Call them what you will, the seven-piece garage-punk-psychedelic-surf-rock outfit have established a decent reputation amongst both the local and national live music scene for which the words ‘riotous’ and ‘uninhibited’ care barely do justice to.
Kicking off proceedings, quite literally in fact, were the ever-so-charming Richie 1250 And the Brides of Christ. No sooner had the band taken to the stage did it feel like the entire gig was transported into a scene out of the Elvis Presley film Blue Hawaii.
Greeted by the lovely acoustic harmonies of the two female members of the band, and soon joined by the lei-adorned frontman, accompanying guitarists and drummer, the group launch into some 1950s influenced surf rock ‘n’ roll.
High kicks and vigorous twisting ensued as an enthusiastic maracas cameo joined the blues influenced American rockabilly guitar solos and rolling drum interludes. A couple begins jiving front of stage and the raucous tone of the night is set.
Redirecting attentions to the side stage of the Corner, crowds were greeted by mariachi punks The Puta Madre Brothers. Starting off with some questionable mic levels was of no bother to the self described ‘three-piece one man band’ as they powered through a fast paced set of Mexican inspired garage rock.
Bemused onlookers watched on as the group strummed and shook away in matching traditional Mexican folk attire. Densely layered instrumentals were broken up by enthusiastic choruses of shouting and whistling that were performed equally as much by the audience as by the band.
If anyone was initially unsure about what to make of the trio, all reservations were soon abandoned as The Puta Madre Brothers’ performance crescendoed into a dramatic finale followed by enthusiastic applause.
So it was to the slow-drawn, western inspired, psychedelic twanging guitars led by the eerily crackling spoken vocals of Broderick Smith that King Gizzard And The Lizard took to the stage. As if preparing for a good old fashion western showdown, the Gizzard boys took to their places like John Wayne lining up against a bunch of anarchic outlaws. The only difference being that unlike in any western, everyone was on the same side.
A yelp and a trudging barrage of fuzzed out guitars, joined by one hell of a ripping accordion, opened the set and not 10 seconds into the first tune did the onslaught of punters’ violently bouncing heads and flailing arms begin.
In a frenzy of shredded guitar hooks and vocals with enough distortion and delay to satisfy any Reatard or Segall fan, each track further drove the crowd into an increasingly chaotic and brilliantly uninhibited state of uncontrolled fervour.
‘Sea Of Trees’ sees frontman Stu Mackenzie impetuously jumping around, only anchored to the stage by his microphone, whilst drummer Michael Cavanagh seems to be furiously releasing any bottled up emotions he might have had on his drum kit.
‘Black Tooth’ sees the entire front half of the Corner Hotel flying into the air in a seamlessly synchronised fashion while ‘High Hopes Low’ forces the jumping turn into the most bizarre swaying, as if the entire venue was caught up in a swirling sea of reverb.
A quick mash-up of the track ‘Crookedile’ and Iggy Pop & The Stooges’ ‘I Wanna Be Your Dog’, followed by a seven-minute instrumental psych-jam, allowed for a quick few minutes to recuperate before a killer double encore.
Beer stained jeans, ripped shirts, and bruised ribs became the apparent closing uniform for the night for most of the crowd, albeit accompanied by ear-to-ear grins.
There’s nothing pretentious or egotistical about this seven-piece. They’re out to have a good time and they sure as hell know how to provide it. If you still haven’t seen King Gizzard And The Lizard Wizard live, one would not only be questioning your mental state but also the possibility of you living under the proverbial rock, so do so as soon as you possibly can, and be sure to leave your inhibitions at home.
