What is the Gizzverse?
In 2010, a group of eager Australian musicians came together to form King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard; little did they know they’d become one of the most prolific and impressive bands of the 21st century. Refusing to confine themselves to any one sound, KGATLW have worked in almost any genre you can think of, from thrash metal to neo-psychedelia. Yet, magnificently, you can always recognise one of their songs due to their distinctive tropes, from Stu Mackenzie’s vocal idiosyncrasies to their use of recurring instrumental motifs.
Due to the vastness (and brilliance) of their catalogue, the band have naturally gained a massive fanbase. However, as KGATLW began to release music more frequently (in 2017, they released five albums), fans began to piece together common themes suggesting that these records were all interconnected. Over the years, fans have taken to Reddit to discuss their wildest theories about the characters and worlds that form the basis of KGATLW’s music.
Mackenzie confirmed the existence of the ‘Gizzverse’ on tripe j, stating, “They [the albums] all exist in this parallel universe, and they may be from different times and different places, but they all can co-exist in a meaningful way. They’re being more and more connected.” The band have never confirmed a specific narrative, leaving the Gizzverse open to interpretation. However, it is widely believed that 2014’s I’m In Your Mind Fuzz was their first record to kickstart the theories.
The primary records at the centre of the Gizzverse, alongside the aforementioned album, are Nonagon Infinity, Murder of the Universe and Polygondwanaland. Throughout the band’s discography, they’ve frequently returned to themes of worldly destruction, with 2019’s Infest The Rat’s Nest exploring climate change. However, on these earlier records, the band take a rich sci-fi approach, inventing a cyborg character called Han-Tyumi, who destroys the universe with his vomit-producing machine, the ‘Soy-Protein Munt Machine’.
Although Han-Tyumi narrates the third act of Murder of the Universe, he is first introduced in 2016’s Nonagon Infinity opener, ‘Robot Stop’. Han-Tyumi’s voice (a text-to-speech program) also features in songs from Polygonwanaland and Sketches From Brunswick East, suggesting that his character’s presence connects the album’s themes in one united world. The cyborg is even featured on the cover of 2019’s Fishing for Fishes, with the song ‘Cyboogie’ referencing the character and his desire for vomit, “Cyboogie, lump in his throat/ Palpitations and nausea ensue,” Mackenzie sings.
There’s no way we could detail every aspect of the Gizzverse – after all, it’s made up of fan theories that are simply a bit of fun. Instead, it’s enjoyable to listen to the band’s music and piece together different themes, characters, leitmotifs and callbacks, making the KGATLW listening experience even more rewarding. Moreover, watching their music videos and analysing album artwork reveals clues to this mysterious Gizzverse that you could spend hours trying to connect.
However, at the crux of the Gizzverse is the band members’ love of sci-fi and storytelling, using their music as a medium to explore important social and environmental themes through fiction.
