Weirdo Swarm: King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard Has Colorado Spellbound

Music is a peculiar art form. For the artist, there's always the lingering question of how to maintain an evolution of sound without losing your signature. "No man steps in the same river twice, for it's not the same river, and he's not the same man," wrote Heraclitus, the Greek philosopher. Essentially, change is fundamental to life.

No musical act has embodied this as much as King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard.

The six-piece is one of the most innovative and prolific contemporary groups in the world right now, having established a reputation for its quicksilver style since forming in Australia in 2010. Over the last two weeks, Coloradans may have heard the band's name more often than usual (and for some, probably for the first time): Gizz was here not just for a tour stop, but to debut a music festival brimming with psych rock, revelry and drag.

When we caught up with frontman Stu Mackenzie before the tour reached Colorado Springs, the vocalist and guitarist said his brain has been preoccupied by a hierarchy of three things: his wife, his kids and Eurorack. He admitted he's become obsessed with the modal production equipment, which King Gizzard has employed at live shows for intermittent rave sets. "It's just so deeply addictive and dense and endless, it is an absolute ocean with what you can do with that stuff," he says. "I still love guitar, but it reminds me of how I felt about playing guitar when I first started playing as a teenager. It just feels so brand-new...and we're definitely doing things that I don't think Eurorack was designed to do."
This is just one of the latest musical innovations the group has tackled as it's explored multiple genres through an impressive oeuvre of 27 studio albums. The most recent, Phantom Island, introduced yet another expansion of sound with atmospheric, dreamy forays, and the supporting tour saw the band performing alongside the orchestras based at each stop, including the Colorado Symphony at the Ford Amphitheater on August 8. A week later, King Grizz was in Buena Vista for Field of Vision, a three-day festival that included a drag night and a psychedelic-themed yoga class led by member Ambrose Smith's mom.

"I love Colorado," Mackenzie told us. "It's obviously incredibly beautiful, and it's funny — as an Australian, I feel quite at home there. It's weird because we don't have the mountains like you do, but I think we share an outdoorsiness. There's a synergy there where I've always felt very at home in Colorado."
The festival was even livestreamed for free for fans, dubbed the Weirdo Swarm — an investment King Gizzard makes during its tours, as well. At least, when venues allow it to. "It's actually a ton of work," Mackenzie said. "It takes quite a lot of people to make that happen, and it's not necessarily cheap to put on, either. And a lot of people have said to us, 'That is the worst idea you've ever had,' and some of the venues freak out, too, actually, because they're like, 'Well, if you're going to stream for free, then people aren't going to buy tickets.'

"My personal sort of equation, I guess, to the whole thing is, well, we sell enough tickets to pay the bills and everything like that, so let's put a little bit of that aside and stream the show so more people can tune in and just be involved in it. Let's make this kind of feel like a big family. It feels so deeply worth it to me; so, so worth it."
Unfortunately, that big family suffered a tragedy at this inaugural festival. On August 15, the first evening, a fan named Matt Gawiak suffered a cardiac arrest during King Gizzard's set. According to a Reddit post written by Gawiak's brother, Chris, medics attempted to stabilize Matt for two hours before he was declared dead en route to the hospital. He had "a very complicated medical history" that included childhood cancer, Chris said, emphasizing "there were no drugs involved." A GoFundMe has been started by Matt's wife, who called him "the kindest, most genuine person"; his passions included "playing guitar, camping, skiing, traveling, cooking, live music, and above all else, sharing those experiences with the people he loved."

Matt Gawiak's family tuned into the livestream for Sunday's set, and his brother wrote another post extending thanks to the band and its following. "I know it's going to be a long and painful road ahead," he wrote, "but tonight gave me something to believe in...you guys.

"We're all beyond words at how the Swarm came together for my brother. At one point my mom leaned in and said, 'I can see why you guys love this band so much,'" he said. "Hearing everyone chant his name brought all of us to tears. 'Float Along Fill Your Lungs' was his all-time favorite closer, and it's still one of mine. Hearing Stu pronounce our last name correctly meant more to us than you can imagine. No one ever pronounces it correctly, and it was an incredible feeling, knowing he'd taken the time to get it right....

"The band and the community have brought some light into an extremely dark and painful situation, and we're all thankful beyond words for your support," Chris continued. "I'm proud to be part of this community, and will be forever thankful for the support you've given us. And I think it goes without saying that Matt was proud to be part of this, too."
Live music isn't just about having a good time, but the communal experience. That was underscored by the response to Matt Gawiak's death from both the Weirdo Swarm of fans and the band itself: Mackenzie, Joey Walker, Lucas Harwood, Michael "Cavs" Cavanah, Cook Craig and Smith. Musicians caring about their community as much as their music is rare, but this tragedy underscored the importance of it. And as Mackenzie said, it's worth it.

We tend to trick ourselves into thinking that there's always an "artist of a generation," a Bob Dylan-style archetype that makes a true revelatory impact outside of soulless pop music or music industry-built groups. But when it comes to King Gizz, there's no trick — we're bowing down.

Enter the Gizzverse! Read our reviews of the Phantom Island show in Colorado Springs and the Field of Vision fest. Now keep reading for more photos of Field of Vision: