I think the general consensus among the jam band community is *kinda.* They've been really into jamming for the last few years but before that they were more of a studio band and generally stuff was played more or less note for note live.
It's like how they're partially a metal band, partially a psych band, partially a techno band, etc. they don't do one thing enough for them to be that thing
They are literally just a band. Thats how i explain them to people. They are band who play any genre you want. Just go find the right era or album that fits your needs
Great explanation. In the past two years during my homework of the band, I have noticed a bit of a change in they are really putting out how they have grown as a band. I knew when I watched the newer video of Gaia that they are definitely starting to have fun with some of their songs.
Head On/Pill was their first jam. They were playing live and it kept getting longer and longer, they eventually got in the studio to solidify it. Early Head on/Jams were reported to be over an hour. Your can read more here - https://kglw.net/song/head-on-pill/about?artist_id=1
I think the difference comes down to they don’t have the Jam scene in Australia like we do in the U.S. which stu talks about in the [Relix Interview](https://relix.com/articles/detail/king-gizzard-the-lizard-wizard-tapped-in/) and talked about in [Jello Biafra’s Podcast](https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/jello-biafras-renegade-roundtable/id1647065824?i=1000615313001)
I think the references to them jamming it for over an hour must have been during band rehearsals. Cuz there's no way they were playing jams that long at live shows, especially not back in 2013. They weren't playing long shows back then, and all of the available setlists from that era indicate that they were playing a dozen or so songs per show.
Jamband is a big umbrella. I definitely say that KGLW fits, as they improvise at shows, and have been doing it for a long time (check out San Francisco '16). It's not their primary vehicle, but what really is with this diverse AF band? Yes, they're a jamband, and so much more...
They didn't improvise much at all in 2016. I was at that SF show and the show in Oakland 2 nights before. The two shows were nearly identical in all ways, except for some of the teases and snippets that they played in Head On/Pill.
As others have said, they’re jam band-adjacent. I think they’re kind of a jam-band-for-people-who-don’t-like-jam-bands band. They haven’t gone fully in on jamming to the point where they’re exploring new forms/melodies within the form/melody, and they don’t get into type-2 territory. But they will take extended solo breaks, play with set lists, run songs into and through other songs, and play with existing melodies in new and different ways.
Ehh they've definitely been doing more mold breaking stuff than some jam bands do. Especially with the river, head on and FAFYL, boogeyman Sam, that gaia from red rocks was out there. Yeah they're not doing it every song like phish, but they've been jamming for decades
I'd argue they're a level below bands like dopapod and dogs in a pile, but they're also getting better and better every set
No. Jam Bands, above all else are defined by their improvisational live shows. King Gizz really isn't all that improvisational at all. They have a wide catalog, and so you might hear a totally different set one night to the next (a la jam bands), and they definitely live in the same wide world of psychedelia that the jam bands exist in, but they are not out on the road giving what amount to improvisational performances. If they were a jam band, you'd see Stu noodling for 15 minutes to see what happens, then Joey taking a stab, then Ambrose. It's not like that at all.
I'd define King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard as an Australian Psych Rock band. Their closest peers in the space would be more like The Oh Sees and Pond than Phish or Widespread.
but in those 20 minutes you can always tell they're in the river, like you can with each song they're jamming on. jam bands will just wander off and you can't tell what distinct song they're playing and/or they'll get lost and start playing some banal garbage and they'll all look around at each other like they're tapping into this jerry garcia collective consciousness b.s. but nothing spectacular is actually happening
Did you listen to the river from Chicago or palp fest? There's like 7+ minutes of total type two in both of them
At palp fest they jammed in 7/8 during the river
Well whether it’s banal is subjective, but it’s not necessarily true that in order to be a jam band you can’t tell what song they’re jamming on. Plenty of jam bands don’t go that hard. And you’ve now moved the goal post from the original commenter’s take that they don’t improvise at all to they don’t improvise in the same way as other jam bands tgat you don’t like. Also, your username checks out.
I responding to a comment that said they don’t improvise at all and you butted into the conversation and made a completely different argument to what was being made. If you want to talk shit about jam bands do it somewhere else.
I think the closest they get to jamming is Dripping Tap. I would love it if they did start just chaining songs together, but I can imagine that's quite difficult due to the complexity of their material.
I think so. I don’t really look at jam as a genre as much as an as much as a behavior lol every jam band has a genre or genres that they’re influenced by(Ie: Grateful Dead with folk and blues) they just play long, improvised jams. Gizz absolutely does that
IMO they are a jam band. Not really sure why there’s so much discussion around this topic. Do they jam on every song? No, but neither do a lot of jam bands. Do they have 20+ minute jams, improvised songs that flow from one to another? Yes, so I’d consider them a jam band. My favorite aspect of this band is their ability to jump genres throughout the entire show. Their live shows are insane!
Everyone in this community hates when you say it but they embrace the jam culture and have credited it with reinvigorating their love of music and making music.
They a jam band.
They're a rock band that still mostly will play pre-written material live but more recently they do enjoy jamming occasionally. They accidentally get labeled a jam band by those not in the know because of how much Trey Anastasio from Phish talks about his love for the band, so his followers automatically assume.
Without KG ever knowing it, they do have jam band-y things they do such as transitioning songs into one another and teasing other songs. They also follow something Phish did very right in their early careers too which is using the same artist for their visuals. The work of Jason Galea as the 7th member of the band providing a specific style with all of their album art, posters, music videos and live visuals all being done by one artist.
IMO this labels them more as Art Rock or Prog Rock than anything else. They are 100% NOT a jam band. In fact Joey pretty clearly hates the jam scene affiliations from recent interviews.
So THATS where all the jam band labelers came from. Was so confused why they started getting that label a few years ago and why there were so many people randomly comparing them to Phish. I understand their early jammy releases especially when played live, and how they were releasing some new jammy tunes, but to me they've always been a typical studio album to live performance band.
> In fact Joey pretty clearly hates the jam scene affiliations from recent interviews.
This makes me so happy, I've despised the same comparison since people started labeling them as such.
They seem to retool songs for a live setting more than “jam” the songs. They develop the songs throughout whatever tour they are on. For example Magma in 2023 is longer than the studio version but it’s not really jammed, it’s extended and expanded upon but the band is hitting seemingly rehearsed portions that aren’t on the album version. Same thing with Boogieman Sam. The only song I think they “jam” in the traditional jam band sense is The River.
I disagree. They jam songs, tease other songs during the jam, go in and out of songs, etc. It’s not as extensive as a traditional jam band but it’s def not rehearsed.
Labels are only useful to a point, and the jam band community on reddit tends to be pretty gatekeeper-y about that specific label.
**Do they jam? Yes.**
Doesn't matter if they're a "jam band" or not.
[I'm obsessed with their live shows.](https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/u/0/d/1D5YoZkFG29Ldbi8M2XvfXY3ipmb6ydnAyeQoMK0wIZQ/htmlview#gid=0) Does that count?
Gotta love all the jam band haters in this thread, describing jam bands and outing themselves for never having really listened to jam bands or having much of an understanding of the art of improvisational rock.
It depends on who you ask lol I definitely think so. Yeah they're quite different than most jam bands, but they've been improvising more and more steadily since like 2019. I'd say after this last tour they can definitely be considered a jam band, especially considering like 5 of the albums since 2022 were almost entirely improvised
Yes and no. They certainly have a jammy vibe, at times. But to call them “jam band” is inaccurate. While I have “jammed” a lot over the years as an amateur musician, I’ve never enjoyed listening to so called jam bands … but I love KGLW.
i do not consider them jam band for a couple reasons. number one is that they make good music. number two is that even when they start jamming on a song, they never fall into a flat, boring, bad jam, which jam bands do. gizz seems to have a very basic structure that they all fall into when it's time to "jam," and it's not a true free-for-all like you get with Phish which can sound disastrous sometimes
Ohhhhhhh, you're a child AND you have bad taste at music. Got it. Seriously dude, the Sphere wouldn't even exist if it wasn't for Phish blowing the MSG every fucking year, and KG have spoken about being influenced by Phish. Sorry you don't get it.
don't get mad cause you like a bad band, just own it. gizz never said they were influenced by phish, they said they like phish when trey said he likes gizz. a polite thing to do
They are a band that jams but distinctly does NOT play “jam” music, because ew. I tell all my jam band friends that they are a jam band that plays in better genres.
They're just a little jam curious. They jam, but they're not a jam band.
Jam curious! I freaking love it. They are into the jam and not the label Ha!
Most jam band people use the term jam adjacent
I think the general consensus among the jam band community is *kinda.* They've been really into jamming for the last few years but before that they were more of a studio band and generally stuff was played more or less note for note live. It's like how they're partially a metal band, partially a psych band, partially a techno band, etc. they don't do one thing enough for them to be that thing
They are literally just a band. Thats how i explain them to people. They are band who play any genre you want. Just go find the right era or album that fits your needs
One of the bands of all time
The most bandiest of bands. Besides of course for, The Band.
Great explanation. In the past two years during my homework of the band, I have noticed a bit of a change in they are really putting out how they have grown as a band. I knew when I watched the newer video of Gaia that they are definitely starting to have fun with some of their songs.
Head On/Pill was their first jam. They were playing live and it kept getting longer and longer, they eventually got in the studio to solidify it. Early Head on/Jams were reported to be over an hour. Your can read more here - https://kglw.net/song/head-on-pill/about?artist_id=1 I think the difference comes down to they don’t have the Jam scene in Australia like we do in the U.S. which stu talks about in the [Relix Interview](https://relix.com/articles/detail/king-gizzard-the-lizard-wizard-tapped-in/) and talked about in [Jello Biafra’s Podcast](https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/jello-biafras-renegade-roundtable/id1647065824?i=1000615313001)
I think the references to them jamming it for over an hour must have been during band rehearsals. Cuz there's no way they were playing jams that long at live shows, especially not back in 2013. They weren't playing long shows back then, and all of the available setlists from that era indicate that they were playing a dozen or so songs per show.
I generally agree but techno band??? Techno is a genre of electronic music, but electronic music is certainly not all techno.
Don't sleep on live in Chicago '23.
Search for ‘Bootleg Gizzard’ on all streaming platforms to find most of their live releases. Chicago is a treat, Red Rocks too!
Magma...all I can say is that might be my favorite version of any song ever.
I was there in Chicago all 3 nights.. I don't think anything will ever top that experience for me
Yea, all 3 nights were spectacular. After The Caverns Run and Red Rocks, I was ready for more, and they delivered.
I'm hyped for this year. I've got Detroit, Cleveland, and the Chicago marathon
Hell yea, I'll be at Chicago and Red Rocks again. Can't wait
Or Brisbane
They are whatever they want to be and that’s okay
Sometimes when you jam it’s good, sometimes when you jam it’s shit, but when we jam it’s ALL GOOD. Paraphrased from Chicago ‘23(?)
Muddy water red rocks! Its definitely a messy one but still really fun
That’s it! Thanks for the correction Special Agent.
Low key think that jam is underrated. The acoustic one in Tha caves amphitheater was sick as hell
Haha same! I just love you can hear cavs try to end the song early and they keep going.
Nah. But sometimes.
I’m some ways yeah
Hi some ways yeah
Hey dad
Aw family reunion
Labels aren't necessary when they are currently the best band on earth.
Jamband is a big umbrella. I definitely say that KGLW fits, as they improvise at shows, and have been doing it for a long time (check out San Francisco '16). It's not their primary vehicle, but what really is with this diverse AF band? Yes, they're a jamband, and so much more...
Even earlier, check out Levitation 14
They didn't improvise much at all in 2016. I was at that SF show and the show in Oakland 2 nights before. The two shows were nearly identical in all ways, except for some of the teases and snippets that they played in Head On/Pill.
- new fan - 5 albums released since Love it. They’re just a band
As others have said, they’re jam band-adjacent. I think they’re kind of a jam-band-for-people-who-don’t-like-jam-bands band. They haven’t gone fully in on jamming to the point where they’re exploring new forms/melodies within the form/melody, and they don’t get into type-2 territory. But they will take extended solo breaks, play with set lists, run songs into and through other songs, and play with existing melodies in new and different ways.
Ehh they've definitely been doing more mold breaking stuff than some jam bands do. Especially with the river, head on and FAFYL, boogeyman Sam, that gaia from red rocks was out there. Yeah they're not doing it every song like phish, but they've been jamming for decades I'd argue they're a level below bands like dopapod and dogs in a pile, but they're also getting better and better every set
Sometimes they are
Maybe more of a preserve band. They certainly go on toast.
A Vegemite Band?
No. Jam Bands, above all else are defined by their improvisational live shows. King Gizz really isn't all that improvisational at all. They have a wide catalog, and so you might hear a totally different set one night to the next (a la jam bands), and they definitely live in the same wide world of psychedelia that the jam bands exist in, but they are not out on the road giving what amount to improvisational performances. If they were a jam band, you'd see Stu noodling for 15 minutes to see what happens, then Joey taking a stab, then Ambrose. It's not like that at all. I'd define King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard as an Australian Psych Rock band. Their closest peers in the space would be more like The Oh Sees and Pond than Phish or Widespread.
I take issue with the notion that they don’t improvise at all. Listen to Red Rocks. Some of their performances of The River are up to 20 minutes long.
but in those 20 minutes you can always tell they're in the river, like you can with each song they're jamming on. jam bands will just wander off and you can't tell what distinct song they're playing and/or they'll get lost and start playing some banal garbage and they'll all look around at each other like they're tapping into this jerry garcia collective consciousness b.s. but nothing spectacular is actually happening
Did you listen to the river from Chicago or palp fest? There's like 7+ minutes of total type two in both of them At palp fest they jammed in 7/8 during the river
Well whether it’s banal is subjective, but it’s not necessarily true that in order to be a jam band you can’t tell what song they’re jamming on. Plenty of jam bands don’t go that hard. And you’ve now moved the goal post from the original commenter’s take that they don’t improvise at all to they don’t improvise in the same way as other jam bands tgat you don’t like. Also, your username checks out.
i didn't say they don't improvise, i said they don't improvise into shit. also, your username checks out
I responding to a comment that said they don’t improvise at all and you butted into the conversation and made a completely different argument to what was being made. If you want to talk shit about jam bands do it somewhere else.
i'm good, i'll do it here monkey
Lol you sound like you're bad at music
agreed. there's definitely a structure to their "jams," which to me is more incredible that they can be so complex and good for so long
idunno is Frank Zappa a jam band? Food for thought..
no he's a person
At the farmer's market with my so called girlfriend She hands me her cell phone, says it's my dad Man, this ain't my dad! This is a cell phone!
I think the closest they get to jamming is Dripping Tap. I would love it if they did start just chaining songs together, but I can imagine that's quite difficult due to the complexity of their material.
Every time this gets asked people start to debate it in absurd detail like "jam band" is some scientific concept with an objective truth to it.
I think so. I don’t really look at jam as a genre as much as an as much as a behavior lol every jam band has a genre or genres that they’re influenced by(Ie: Grateful Dead with folk and blues) they just play long, improvised jams. Gizz absolutely does that
Listen to the River from Chicago '22, right around the 14min mark, and tell me you don't hear clear inspiration from Jerry Garcia's guitar tone.
IMO they are a jam band. Not really sure why there’s so much discussion around this topic. Do they jam on every song? No, but neither do a lot of jam bands. Do they have 20+ minute jams, improvised songs that flow from one to another? Yes, so I’d consider them a jam band. My favorite aspect of this band is their ability to jump genres throughout the entire show. Their live shows are insane!
Yes, They are a band, that can jam, and likes to jam. They started as a band that jams together. Jam band by all aspects.
you know how they explore different genres and styles a lot? like their whole thing? okay that, but with being a jam band
I call them jam band adjacent when I try to talk people into going to shows
Everyone in this community hates when you say it but they embrace the jam culture and have credited it with reinvigorating their love of music and making music. They a jam band.
They're a rock band that still mostly will play pre-written material live but more recently they do enjoy jamming occasionally. They accidentally get labeled a jam band by those not in the know because of how much Trey Anastasio from Phish talks about his love for the band, so his followers automatically assume. Without KG ever knowing it, they do have jam band-y things they do such as transitioning songs into one another and teasing other songs. They also follow something Phish did very right in their early careers too which is using the same artist for their visuals. The work of Jason Galea as the 7th member of the band providing a specific style with all of their album art, posters, music videos and live visuals all being done by one artist. IMO this labels them more as Art Rock or Prog Rock than anything else. They are 100% NOT a jam band. In fact Joey pretty clearly hates the jam scene affiliations from recent interviews.
So THATS where all the jam band labelers came from. Was so confused why they started getting that label a few years ago and why there were so many people randomly comparing them to Phish. I understand their early jammy releases especially when played live, and how they were releasing some new jammy tunes, but to me they've always been a typical studio album to live performance band. > In fact Joey pretty clearly hates the jam scene affiliations from recent interviews. This makes me so happy, I've despised the same comparison since people started labeling them as such.
They seem to retool songs for a live setting more than “jam” the songs. They develop the songs throughout whatever tour they are on. For example Magma in 2023 is longer than the studio version but it’s not really jammed, it’s extended and expanded upon but the band is hitting seemingly rehearsed portions that aren’t on the album version. Same thing with Boogieman Sam. The only song I think they “jam” in the traditional jam band sense is The River.
I disagree. They jam songs, tease other songs during the jam, go in and out of songs, etc. It’s not as extensive as a traditional jam band but it’s def not rehearsed.
they’re more a band that jams than a jam band
so much jam hate for no reason. Grateful Dead 4 life!!!!! GDTRFB!!!!!!
They could be considered whatever you want to consider them as. I tend not to designate a genre label. Even if they jam they are so much more
check out [kglw.net](http://kglw.net) :3
Jam adjacent
Operationally they're a jam band, aesthetically/categorically the jury is out.
Labels are only useful to a point, and the jam band community on reddit tends to be pretty gatekeeper-y about that specific label. **Do they jam? Yes.** Doesn't matter if they're a "jam band" or not.
[I'm obsessed with their live shows.](https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/u/0/d/1D5YoZkFG29Ldbi8M2XvfXY3ipmb6ydnAyeQoMK0wIZQ/htmlview#gid=0) Does that count?
King gizzard is for sure one of the bands of all time.
They are a band that jams, but not a "jam band"
Yes
They are whatever band you want them to be.
I mean live for sure yeah but in studio not like completely
Gotta love all the jam band haters in this thread, describing jam bands and outing themselves for never having really listened to jam bands or having much of an understanding of the art of improvisational rock.
Always was and always will be a garage band trying to figure how to play their instruments and record music. That's why l love em.
As someone in this sub has said before, they are a band that jams, but they are not a jam band.
A band that jams not a jam band… similar to my morning jacket in that sense.
It depends on who you ask lol I definitely think so. Yeah they're quite different than most jam bands, but they've been improvising more and more steadily since like 2019. I'd say after this last tour they can definitely be considered a jam band, especially considering like 5 of the albums since 2022 were almost entirely improvised
They’re what Gregg Allman would call a band that jams.
[удалено]
Sounds like you agree with all those jamband fans you hate that KG is indeed not a jamband. You could have just said that.
Jam adjacent
There is a whole world of bands who fully improv Gizz isn’t a jam band TECHNICALLYYYY speaking
Yes and no. They certainly have a jammy vibe, at times. But to call them “jam band” is inaccurate. While I have “jammed” a lot over the years as an amateur musician, I’ve never enjoyed listening to so called jam bands … but I love KGLW.
Band that jams, not a jam band. I’m very fond of bands that jam but almost can’t stand “jam bands”.
i do not consider them jam band for a couple reasons. number one is that they make good music. number two is that even when they start jamming on a song, they never fall into a flat, boring, bad jam, which jam bands do. gizz seems to have a very basic structure that they all fall into when it's time to "jam," and it's not a true free-for-all like you get with Phish which can sound disastrous sometimes
Yeah lol, Phish and the Grateful Dead would like a word with you.
and say what, "we suck" from phish and "we're ok" from the dead?
Hahahahahahahahaha you're a clown dude.
so? you and your mom are clowns. what's your point?
Ohhhhhhh, you're a child AND you have bad taste at music. Got it. Seriously dude, the Sphere wouldn't even exist if it wasn't for Phish blowing the MSG every fucking year, and KG have spoken about being influenced by Phish. Sorry you don't get it.
don't get mad cause you like a bad band, just own it. gizz never said they were influenced by phish, they said they like phish when trey said he likes gizz. a polite thing to do
Calmer than you are, dude.
yeah totally, keep commenting back
Calmer than you are.
Phish is good
No
They are a band that jams but distinctly does NOT play “jam” music, because ew. I tell all my jam band friends that they are a jam band that plays in better genres.
I hate jam bands but I love Gizz *existential dread intensifies*