King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard have released their concert film Chunky Shrapnel for a 24-hour period.
The film combines concert footage from the band’s 2019 European tour with documentary style-filmmaking of King Gizzard behind the scenes. It was released today (4/18) at 8 a.m. and is available to rent on Vimeo for 24 hours.
Chunky Shrapnel was originally intended for a wide distribution after a premiere this month at Melbourne’s Astor Theatre, but that was canceled by the Australian government due to COVID-19. Now, the film documenting the band’s tour in support of its 2019 album Infest The Rats’ Nest is available online. The 97-minute picture captures 16 songs as the band travels Europe and the United Kingdom, sometimes switching venues during the same song. While Chunky Shrapnel does also document the band offstage, the film’s director, Josh Angus Stewart, said that it prioritizes music over personalities.
“With documentaries about musicians or even about filmmakers, a lot of the time, to give it a narrative thread, they pry into artists’ personalities or whatnot, trying to extract this deeper narrative to make it feel like a three-act film,” he said in a recent interview with NME. “But to me, I think [King Gizzard’s] performance and their music is so fuckin’ interesting that you don’t have to do that. And in the end, they’re really interesting guys. They’re all really intelligent, really switched-on and super empathetic. But at the same time, what I find the most interesting about them is their music and how they play it. And that is what people should see.”
The accompanying Chunky Shrapnel live album is available April 24th across all streaming platforms. The film, however, is only available until Sunday (4/19) at 8 a.m. ET on Vimeo. Stay tuned to the band’s website for more info, and read the whole interview with Chunky Shrapnel‘s director here.