This song contains subject matter that may not be suitable for all readers as it deals with the topic of self harm/suicide.
King Gizzard releases a ton of songs, and with that volume of output comes many that will be neglected. Some may see a few appearances then fade away “The Hungry Wolf of Fate”, while others may never see time on stage to begin with “Superposition”. Then you have the real oddities: covers of songs like “Open My Eyes” and material left as b-sides such as “The Wholly Ghost”. A tier under this, however, are songs that for some reason have nothing to their name. Maybe a performance or two has been documented but as far as release history goes, they’re lost media. One of those songs was “Life Is Cool,” a fuzzy garage rock tune with a catchy riff and some gruesome lyrics. For years the track was lost, though it remained within the band’s circle with occasional mentions. It finally reappeared during the COVID-19 pandemic as the closer to the band’s official bootlegger compilation, Teenage Gizzard, ending a ten year period of silence.
The story of “Life Is Cool” begins in 2010. A performance from 2010-10-29 at the Kaleide Theatre at RMIT University features the band playing the song with a slow groove. A month later on 2010-11-25 the song was reportedly played again. At some point in 2011 the studio version was recorded somewhere in Carlton at a faster pace than the previous renditions. This was placed on a hard drive then never heard again. “Life Is Cool” was added to the ASCAP ACE Repertory before the release of Float Along — Fill Your Lungs in 2013 and was referenced in a Facebook post on October 29th, 2013. In September of 2014, the band created LIFE IS COOL PTY LTD, a private limited company which the band controls to this day. The song was finally included as part of the compilation Teenage Gizzard which was released on Christmas Day, 2020.
The main vocal melody is very similar to the highly recognizable melody from the 2010 hit “Chelsea Dagger” by The Fratellis. At the time, the band’s songwriting technique was based heavily in mimicry: “Just waiting for the new Oh Sees record to come out so we can try and write some more songs.” This one was a prime candidate for their house party vibe at the time.