Watch King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard Talk Phish, ‘Lovely Person’ Trey Anastasio, Goose, Next Album & More
“We met Trey recently and he was a lovely, lovely person.” — Lucas Harwood
By Scott Bernstein Jun 23, 2023 • 10:09 am PDT
Fresh off their biggest U.S. show yet, King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard multi-instrumentalist Joey Walker and bassist Lucas Harwood appeared on yesterday’s episode of Office Hours Live with Tim Heidecker. Walker and Harwood spoke with host Tim Heidecker, producer Matt Carlin and guests/listeners to discuss their band, the recently concluded U.S. Tour, Phish, Goose and other topics.
The conversation initially started with Joey and Lucas talking about playing the Hollywood Bowl on Wednesday. Heidecker told the audience he was familiar with King Gizzard and that he was pitched to have the band appear on Office Hours. Frontman Stu Mackenzie and drummer Michael Cavanaugh bowed out of the visit to Heidecker’s show despite initially signing up. Walker explained what led his bandmates to bail on the interview.
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Walker and Harwood spoke about the band’s creative process and tendency to jump between genres. The duo went on to sing an impromptu song with Tim featuring lyrics regarding the Hollywood Bowl concert. Joey and Lucas also discussed how King Gizzard puts together setlists for each shows and the evolution of that process over the years. The host read the pair some KG&LW stats and quizzed them on the album certain songs are featured on. Both members quickly answered despite having released a whopping 24 albums in a little over a decade.
The 25th King Gizzard album is “90% done” according to Lucas. Walker said it will be “different” but didn’t share much more. “It’s very electronic,” Harwood added. “Joe got his modular synthesizer out for the album, we can say that much.”
Joey and Lucas interacted with fans brought on via Zoom to ask questions. King Gizz devotees asked the guys to play “Intrasport” and “Vegemite,” the former yet to be performed and the latter shelved since 2016. Walker and Harwood made it clear “Vegemite” is a jokey song that won’t see action anytime soon. The pair added they are expanding their electronic capabilities to bring “Intrasport” to the stage.
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Heidecker stirred the pot by asking Walker and Harwood if King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard had any beef with other bands specifically bringing up Goose. “Would you meet Goose behind/in a dark alley and fuck them up?,” the host added. “Goose requested a Green Room at our Red Rocks show,” Joey revealed. “What do you mean they requested a Green Room? For them to congregate?,” Heidecker responded to which Walker said “Yeah.” The caller who Zoomed in noted “Trey didn’t even ask for one” leading Joey to joke “Fuck Trey Anastasio.” [Update 6/23/23: “Goose never requested any green room,” wrote AEG Presents Rocky Mountains Co-President/Talent Buyer Don Strasburg in a comment on Instagram after stating, “[W]hen I was told the goose guys were coming I asked to sort for passes and access primarily vip area to watch.”]
“Hats off to the Phish boys,” Walker noted when Heidecker asked if they were big fans of the Vermont-based quartet. “The Venn Diagram of the King Gizzard and the Phish fanbase [has a] heavy overlap,” Joey continued. The pair said they haven’t dug deep into Phish and the jam scene. “We met Trey recently and he was a lovely, lovely person,” Lucas Harwood added. “We’re his favorite band,” Walker stated.
“He says that to everybody,” Heidecker responded. “He said that to Toad The Wet Sprocket.” Harwood chimed in with “We could tell that he meant it.” Joey and Lucas then discussed the trend of fans following King Gizz from show-to-show a la the Grateful Dead, Phish and jam acts. “It’s crazy,” Walker noted of the devotees many of whom are American fans.
An Office Hours viewer called in and asked Walker and Harwood which musician they’d most like to collaborate with. They responded “Tim Heidecker,” an answer that pleased the host. They added they would be open to work with an outsider producer like Brian Eno or Rick Rubin though it’s not Stu Mackenzie’s “bag.”
Watch the full episode below:
All 13 King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard 2023 US Residency Tour concerts will be broadcast on nugs.net. The livestream marathon begins tonight, Friday, June 23 and continues through July 5. Head to nugs.net to watch.
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