When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, the entire music industry stopped. While many had 2020 tours planned, the restrictions locked everyone in place. For artists who required touring to make a living (as streaming and album sales unfortunately don’t pay enough these days) the lockdown presented a threat. For the venues it was also a troubling time as their primary reason to exist was now no longer an option. How can you support a live business if there are no live acts? Everyone had to restructure and rethink how they were going about things and Gizzard was no exception. The band has essentially had to relearn how to make music during the pandemic as they couldn’t jam in person. There also must have been some writing on the wall that times were changing as drummer and manager Eric Moore left the band during the pandemic to focus on his own endeavors with Flightless Records. For a band that’s constantly working and on the move, the pandemic must have felt like hitting a brick wall.
“Oddlife” was not the first time the band covered the idea of touring. One of the band’s biggest songs, “Robot Stop,” was a reflection on the tiring struggle of being on the road. However there’s something about “Oddlife” that feels a bit more magical, though also a bit more candid. Stu sings that the rock and roll lifestyle is bad for him physically and poetically details the routine of touring while Ambrose raps about the confusion and exercise of it all. The ending thesis is that the band lives an odd life compared to most. In some ways it feels like a breath of relief to not be on the road, yet there’s also a bit of magic in there — there’s many people to meet and hallowed grounds to play on. The life of a musician in a rock band is exhausting, sure, but also a gift.

Based on the liner notes for K.G., “Oddlife” was recorded by Ambrose (vocals/percussion), Cavs (drums/percussion), Cook (synthesizer), Lucas (percussion), and Stu (vocals/guitar/bass/percussion/synthesizer/piano/keyboards) and was at least partially recorded in person. According to an interview with Ambrose for All Things Loud, “that song is about touring, or at least that was the vibe I got from reading the lyrics that Stu sent me. It became obvious to me that we still needed something going during that later part of the song, and Stu was slowly losing his love for the track. There’s been moments where he’s had that and I’ve stepped in to say, “nah, that’s sick, let me try!” So I went into the other room and quickly wrote those lyrics. The guys came back from lunch and then we banged it all out. The rest of the song slowly formed its shape, and we were all dancing around and laughing in the control room.” In another article for Consequence of Sound, he said: “We’ve always hit the ground running from the start. Everything moves pretty fast in the Gizzverse and touring has always been a massive part of it. 2020 put a stop to that, so this song turned into a nice reflection on all those fun times we’ve had over the years out on the road. We are so grateful for all these weird experiences and wouldn’t change a thing. Can’t wait to get back to it as soon as it’s safe to do so again!” It was released on November 20th as part of K.G.. It was later used in a video of Ambrose singing in the shower, posted for the launch of the band’s US Gizzverse store. According to a performance on 2022-10-11, it’s Cook’s favorite Gizzard song.