Earlier this month, the ever-restless King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard announced their 26th album, Flight b741, out August 9th via their own p(doom) records. Today, the group shared their new single, “Hog Calling Contest,” and announced a mini-documentary about the making of the album, “Oink Oink Flight b741: The Making of…”
Directed by Guy Tyzack, the mini-documentary captures the band’s creative process on 16mm film, which restricted Tyzack to shooting about five minutes of film per day, waiting for the right moment while sitting discreetly in the corner. “We were tasked with capturing the band make an album from scratch in two weeks, they purposefully didn’t prepare much for the recordings so it was very difficult for me to plan what to film,” Tyzack says. “I just knew they’d be in one room and three of them might drop out at any moment because they were expecting babies. The room looked brown and boring so I painted it like the sky to match the theme of the album in one 17hr stretch with three friends and a slab of mids.”
WATCH “OINK OINK FLIGHT b741: THE MAKING OF…” MINI-DOC
Regarding the inspiration for the “Hog Calling Contest,” the band explains, “While recording Flight b741, we occasionally had these ultra-inspired tune-up/warm-up jams. Of course, we were never actually recording during these moments though. Lost to time. Except one time; This time. We learnt to record these moments; ‘Daily Blues’ came together this way too. But ‘Hog Calling Contest’ retains a unique unhinged-ness that only comes when you’re fooling around with your mates and you don’t think you’re being recorded. Happy in mud!”
LISTEN TO “HOG CALLING CONTEST”
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.
Additionally, with a run of South American, European and U.K. dates already behind them in the first half of 2024 and an extensive U.S. tour to follow later in the year which includes 2 nights at the Forest Hills Stadium in NYC where they’ll be playing their 3-hour marathon sets and 3 shows at the Red Rocks Amphitheater, King Gizzard have announced a European Residency Tour for early summer 2025. The EU residency dates are as follows:
Sun May 18, 2025 Lisbon, Portugal @ Coliseu do Recreios
Mon May 19, 2025 Lisbon, Portugal @ Coliseu do Recreios
Tue May 20, 2025 Lisbon, Portugal @ Coliseu do Recreios
Fri May 23, 2025 Barcelona, Spain @ Poble Espanyol
Sat May 24, 2025 Barcelona, Spain @ Poble Espanyol
Sun May 25, 2025 Barcelona, Spain @ Poble Espanyol
Thu May 29, 2025 Vilnius, Lithuania @ Lukiškės Prison 2.0
Fri May 30, 2025 Vilnius, Lithuania @ Lukiškės Prison 2.0
Sat May 31, 2025 Vilnius, Lithuania @ Lukiškės Prison 2.0
Wed June 04, 2025 Athens, Greece @ Lycabettus Theatre City of Athens
Thu June 05, 2025 Athens, Greece @ Lycabettus Theatre City of Athens
Fri June 06, 2025 Athens, Greece @ Lycabettus Theatre City of Athens
Sun June 08, 2025 Plovdiv, Bulgaria @ Ancient Theatre
Mon June 09, 2025 Plovdiv, Bulgaria @ Ancient Theatre
Tues June 10, 2025 Plovdiv, Bulgaria @ Ancient Theatre
Tickets for the Lisbon shows are available HERE, Barcelona HERE, Vilnius HERE, Athens HERE and Plovdiv HERE. The dates of their extensive U.S. tour can be viewed HERE
Be the first to comment