Live Review: King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard, The Murlocs

The Murlocs kick off with their endearing brand of reverb-heavy, surf-garage rock. Questionable costume decisions by lead guitarist Mladen Lalić Milinković sees him dressed in red velvet pants, a stripy green t-shirt layered over rainbow-striped long-sleeved top plus a pair of clunky desert boots.

Bad fashion aside, The Murlocs deliver a self-declared “unprepared”-yet-charming set, which is distinguished by their harmonica-drenched sound, Ambrose Kenny-Smith’s shrill lead vocals and drummer Matt Blach’s evident troubles with a dodgy bass drum. Mega-languid last track Loopholes is a final highlight that leaves chicks in the crowd swaying with their eyes closed, totally lost in the offbeat.    

This is the first of four King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard Melbourne shows as part of their Sino-Australian tour. Stonefield lasses Amy and Hannah Findlay wander through the crowd and stand sidestage as King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard begin an hour of brutally manic rock. Thanks to double drum kits and two bass players, the beats blast relentlessly outward as punters’ hearts pound along with first track I’m In Your Mind. Drummers Michael Cavanagh and Eric Moore well and truly flog the guts out of both kits in tandem until the tone takes an unexpected turn when lead singer/guitarist Stu Mackenzie whips out a flute. He pipes out a bird-like riff on the introduction to much quieter track Hot Water, giving the drummers a few minutes to wipe their sweaty brows and remove unnecessary clothing.

Shared band member Kenny-Smith adds extra nasally vocals to the peppy track Hot Wax while dudes in the crowd go sick to the meathead anthem Footy Footy. Every fuzz-heavy track seems to last for a marathon seven or eight minutes, making Kenny-Smith grimace here and there with annoyed exhaustion, and sending Mackenzie to the floor to tip water on his head and fiddle with pedals for a break. Last tune Empty rises and falls in intensity and there’s a few fake endings thrown in to confuse punters. The Gizz finally fade the track out slowly to finish, immediately throw down their tools and stagger off the stage. They’re totally spent, leaving us rapt after the physical spectacle we’ve just witnessed.

Crazy encore requests are rightfully met with an obscene gesture from Kenny-Smith. Frenetic, intense and heroically energetic, King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard smash their first Melbourne gig like high-performance athletes of rock.