Chunky Shrapnel – 7th Level Music

King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard announce 2023 U.S. residency tour and theatrical release of “Chunky Shrapnel” concert film.

King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard are one of the greatest and most ambitious working rock bands today. This year alone, they’ve released six incredible albums and played sold-out shows all across the world (including three nights at the iconic Red Rocks Amphitheatre and a packed show at New York’s Forest Hills Stadium), earning themselves an insatiable following. Today, they announce a 2023 North American residency tour, which will be their only shows stateside next year, plus cinema screenings of CHUNKY SHRAPNEL, their full-length concert film directed by John Angus Stewart and distributed to cinemas by Abramorama. The band will play three consecutive shows in select cities, and then will cap off with a 3-hour marathon show at Los Angeles’ Hollywood Bowl. As pointed out in their encompassing SPIN feature, it doesn’t matter if the band is playing “in the California desert, an amphitheatre carved into the Rocky Mountains, or a tennis stadium in Queens, the Australian sextet is blowing more minds than ever, one fan at a time.” Tickets are on sale this Friday at 1pm ET.

CHUNKY SHRAPNEL is a feature length live music documentary from King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard, directed by John Angus Stewart. Literally bringing the audience onto the stages of their 2019 tour across Europe and the UK, CHUNKY SHRAPNEL offers a uniquely immersive experience never before captured on film, a musical road movie dipped in turpentine. Screenings will largely take place one night only on December 7th. A full list of cities and dates can be found here.

TOUR DATES (new dates in bold)
Sat. Dec. 10 – St. Kilda, AUS @ The Palace Foreshore
Thu. Dec. 29 – Tauranga, NZ @ Wharepai Domain
Sat. Dec. 31 – Wanaka, NZ @ Rhythm & Alps
Wed. Jan. 4 – Auckland, NZ @ The Matakana Country Park
Fri. Jan. 6 – New Plymouth, NZ @ Bowl of Brooklands
Thu. Mar. 2 – Paris, FR @ Zenith
Fri. Mar. 3 – Amsterdam, NL @ Gashoulder – SOLD OUT
Sat. Mar. 4 – Tilburg, NE @ 013 – SOLD OUT
Mon. Mar. 6 – Malmo, SE @ Plan B – SOLD OUT
Tue. Mar. 7 – Stockholm, SE @ Munchenbryggeriet – SOLD OUT
Wed. Mar. 8 – Oslo, NE @ Sentrum Scene
Thu. Mar. 9 – Copenhagen, DK @ Den Gra Hal
Sat. Mar. 11 – Warsaw, PL @ Progesja – SOLD OUT
Sun. Mar. 12 – Prague, CZ @ Lucerna Velky Sal
Mon. Mar. 13 – Vienna, AT @ Gasometer
Wed. Mar. 15 – Milan, IT @ Alcatraz
Thu. Mar. 16 – Zurich, CH @ X-Tra
Fri. Mar. 17 – Lausanne, CH @ Les Docks
Sat. Mar. 18 – Wiesbaden, DE @ Schlachthof
Mon. Mar. 20 – Brussels, DE @ Cirque Royale – SOLD OUT
Wed. Mar. 22 – London,UK @ Brixton Academy
Thu. Mar. 23 – London, UK @ Brixton Academy
Thu. Mar. 30 – Sydney, AUS @ Big Top Luna Park
Thu. Apr. 6 – Byron Bay, AUS @ Tivoli
Fri. Apr. 7 – Byron Bay, AUS @ Byron Bay Bluesfest
Thu. June 1 – Grundy County, TN @ The Caverns Underground
Fri. June 2 – Grundy County, TN @ The Caverns Underground
Sat. June 3 – Grundy County, TN @ The Caverns Amphitheater
Wed. June 7 – Morrison, CO @ Red Rocks Amphitheatre
Thu. June 8 – Morrison, CO @ Red Rocks Amphitheatre – EARLY SHOW
Thu. June 8 – Morrison, CO @ Red Rocks Amphitheatre – LATE SHOW
Sun. June 11 – Chicago, IL @ The Salt Shed
Mon. June 12 – Chicago, IL @ The Salt Shed
Tue. June 13 – Chicago, IL @ The Salt Shed
Fri. June 16 – Carnation, WA @ Carnation Farms
Sat. June 17 – Carnation, WA @ Carnation Farms
Sun. June 18 – Carnation, WA @ Carnation Farms
Wed. June 21 – Los Angeles, CA @ The Hollywood Bowl – 3 HOUR MARATHON SET

Keep your mind open.

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[Thanks to Jacob at Pitch Perfect PR.]

Review: King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard – Chunky Shrapnel

The cover of King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard‘s “first” live album (not counting the three live recordings they released earlier this year to benefit Australian wildlife charities), Chunky Shrapnel, features an image of a seven-headed hydra (the same number of guys in the band) surrounded by speakers hooked up to analog equipment to produce weird digital images signifying their already tremendous output of albums and songs, such as Infest the Rats’ Nest (bottom middle), “People Vultures” (bottom right), and even the cyborg Han-Tyumi from Murder of the Universe (second down from the top on the right).

It’s a neat image because it not only tells you what’s in store for you on this great live album, but also a nod to the blending of music and modern technology. The band released a Chunky Shrapnel concert film in a limited stream earlier this year. A full-blown theatrical / wide streaming release is in the works, but this album is a great taste of what to expect from it – and any live KGATLW show (which never disappoint).

The album is sprinkled with studio instrumentals (“Evil Star,” “Quarantine,” “Anamesis”) and the rest is stuffed with live tracks recorded in Luxembourg, Madrid, Manchester, Utrecht, London, Brussels, Milan, Berlin, and Barcelona) over the course of their 2019 world tour. The first live track is a wonderful, jazzy version of “The River.” It’s a neat choice to open your live album with a mellow track (that blooms into an epic jam around the three-minute mark) to get the listener grooving. “Wah Wah” gets the Madrid crowd chanting and jumping. “Road Train” is a nice, crazy follow-up, and the trippy “Murder of the Universe” lets them jam at will as Han-Tyumi’s vocals echo around them from some unseen machine.

The version of “Planet B” unleashed on the London crowd is downright dangerous, somehow sounding twice heavier and faster than the album version (which is already damn heavy and fast). “Parking” is a fuzzy two-minute drum solo that leads into the blazing “Venusian 2” and “Hell” that threaten to incinerate and / or flatten the Milan venue.

The bluesy, swaggering “Let Me Mend the Past” gets the Madrid crowd whooping and hollering. “Inner Cell” brings back a bit of menace. “Loyalty” and “Horology” both flow well together and ease us back down before nineteen minutes of “A Brief History of the Planet Earth” pieced together from four different shows. The song ebbs and flows, being manic one moment and euphoric the next. It’s full of noodling jams and more fuzz than a koala bear. There’s even a moment when they pass a beer through the crowd to their sound man accompanied by frenzied riffs.

It’s another great, stunning album from KGATLW – who by now are obviously unstoppable.

Keep your mind open.

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King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard to release documentary film and double LP, “Chunky Shrapnel,” April 17th.

King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard have announced Chunky Shrapnel; a feature length music documentary film and accompanying Double LP to be released in April 2020.

The album will be released digitally on April 24th with vinyl pre-orders available on April 10th. The film will premiere online April 17th.

WATCH TRAILER & BUY FILM TICKETS HERE

“Chunky Shrapnel was made for the cinema but as both concerts and films are currently outlawed, it feels poetic to release a concert-film digitally right now. Get the loudest speakers you’ve got, turn ‘em up and watch Chunky on the biggest telly you can find. Get heaps of snacks and convert your lounge room into a cinema.” Stu Mackenzie

A musical road movie dipped in turpentine, Chunky Shrapnel is a point of view/on stage experience from the perspective of King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard. Once a song begins, just like the band, you’re stuck in the adrenaline fueled quick sand that there is no escape from. The film’s contention is clear from the outset, it’s going to be a “journey” not a “lecture”, an incurved experience rather than a linear one.

The band, nor the film-makers were interested in making a self congratulatory “behind the scenes expose” film. It was a direct decision to keep the inner workings of the band’s personality at arms length, it is the music they were interested in exploring. The approach was taken that the film’s protagonist should be the “on stage” performances, that was the focus. With this, they abandoned multiple cameras and cross cutting during performances, turning the camera into a vehicle for the audience to experience the show through, rather than placing them in a crowd or side of stage. At 96 minutes, Chunky Shrapnel more than earns its length. At times gently holding your hand and at other times smashing a bottle over your head and dumping your body in a heaving crowd. There is an inevitability to the film, a driving, ever accelerating spiral that climaxes in a 15 minute medley that spans four countries.

Chunky Shrapnel is directed by John Angus Stewart and scored by Stu Mackenzie.

Keep your mind open.

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[Thanks to Flightless Records for this press release.]