The following interview by Jonathan Lopez was originally published on the French music site Exit Musik on July 15, 2015. This English version was translated by KGLW.net team member Jamie.
At first, they didn’t really take themselves seriously. Hence the name, King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard; a bit ridiculous and hard to remember. But judging by the long list of journalists present on the day of the Paris International Festival of Psychedelic Music at La Machine du Moulin Rouge despite the scorching heat to interview Stu Mackenzie, a young Australian and above all singer-guitarist of the band, it seems the joke has become serious business.
King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard is a truly creative band and have produced a series of great albums in just four years, their latest concept album (Quarters!) being no exception. If Mackenzie acts like a man in a hurry when it comes to adding new entries to his discography, he knows how to be composed and affable when he’s bombarded with questions.
Let’s begin by talking about Quarters!. How did you come up with the idea for this album?
We’d just finished I’m In Your Mind Fuzz. They’re a little connected. We recorded them in the same studio, Daptone in New York, with the same gear, everything was fairly similar. But I wanted them to be different; they’re opposites in a way.