Isolated Tracks Episode 3: Honey by King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard

In this episode of Isolated Tracks we talk to Stu Mackenzie from King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard. KEXP Audio Producer Julian Martlew attempts to keep up as he explores the sounds that make up the song "Honey" a single released in 2020.
To watch the video and hear the full song: • King Gizzard & The Liz...
@King Gizzard And The Lizard Wizard
kexp.org

[@eviljames]

stu cheryl dynamic is so cute, good to see the queen back

[@drifterdogs]

ERIC IS OUT! CHERYL IS IN!

[@bowser8817]

@@drifterdogs thank god She should drum for them now

[@ghouby342]

@Rico Fittano you're annoying

[@SlaughterEngine]

cheryl is the best, love her so much. she is just as entwined in the gizzverse as any past of present band member or character they sing about.

[@AAAAAA-tj8xf]

I remember when Cheryl had to take a break last year because of cancer but she's looking so healthy now, I'm so happy for her :)

[@kaeruuuu_]

Cheryl is the best!

[@SuperDdou]

@@kaeruuuu_ we need a King Lizzard's song about her! :)

[@dws49]

Didn't even know about that...What a warrior. And a queen. A warrior queen.

[@whydidhechangehisname608]

Who's cheryl?

[@saturatedneowax]

why did he change his name legend

[@gustavoroman2214]

He looks like he's really comfortable and extremely uncomfortable at the same time

[@Shiniiee]

Stu's always like that hahaha

[@tanet]

Hard to talk to music nerds... Always have to explain how lofi your stuff is actually and it just sounds great so who gives a fuck... I love how aussies are so comfortable or maybe naive about it

[@IgBtac0]

Man's put a lot of acid in his body

[@SKATE87410]

Me

[@Sixpakbee-lb3dm]

Thats just Stu hahaha

[@Barncore]

This vid is an absolute schooling in imperfection. 😂 Perfectionism is my biggest problem with making music and so this was sooo so refreshing and humbling to witness. Fun facts: -The acoustic guitar in this song was recorded with his iphone lol. -He uses mostly stock Ableton plugins. -He considers most of the recordings to be "really bad" but clearly it doesn't stop him from soldiering on lol. -The bass part was frankensteined together from takes from different bass guitars. -The vocal harmonies are just exact duplicates of the main vocal but pitched, he said he was probably meaning to sing it later but never got around to it. 😂 -He spent a day recording sounds/textures for the song but only used a handful of them, in the end deleted 20-30 of them and just used the simple ones. -The percussion/bongos/etc is finger drums on an iPad. I love it. This shows that it really is all about the song. You don't need to acquire every single plugin and edit a snare for 3 years. Get out of your own way and let it fly. It's about the process and having fun doing it

[@eloyseverino]

dont forget the flutes are in the drum buss 😂

[@odrithingamajig]

This quote by Aphex Twin is not quite the same thing, but I feel it's a worthwhile thing to keep in mind: "My favourite tracks are the ones that I can't remember making. I didn't think about them."

[@Barncore]

@@odrithingamajig Love it

[@n__rtu8324]

@@eloyseverino that one really got me, Stu's quite embarrassed, for a second hahah

[@asmahism]

Oooooooo pop p I polo😊Smiley

[@XxidiotXxBosses]

“what are you nerds doin?”

[@AndresinhoRM]

Stu is a modest, cool yet gracefully-awkward genius. Love his work.

[@hassannordin]

True that. Listening to him explaining all that stuff was really interesting. He seems excited to tell all his works when he keeps saying "im just gonna bring some stuffs in".

[@alexxxisbatman]

@@nanutpicaboo I love this description. It’s a mark of his genius in my opinion

[@FabianSalomonsson]

As someone who loves to record music in my bedroom this stuff is so inspiring. To hear that my favorite band sometimes records with an iPhone is so refreshing, no snobbery at all. Basically anyone can record their own music with really basic tools so go do it!

[@peteytwofinger]

none of this " you are doing it wrong" none of this " you have to have a .... "just do it . so much of what i see on the social media is gear fetish and bitching about digital , what i dont see in that scene is original music . beware internet guitar player syndrom

[@kaeruuuu_]

@@peteytwofinger Hell yeah your right. I try to avoid gear-related channels as much as I can. In my opinion its more important to improve your musicality, technique and songwriting (if you like that). I only have two acoustics, one electric, a bass and a keyboard and I basically need nothing more and try to work with what I have

[@MbfLproductions]

Exactly.

[@rome8180]

It also depressed me how much better his recordings sounded than mine despite using comparable (or worse) gear.

[@larsbouwmeester5022]

If I remember right, I think their second album was completely recorded with iPhones, but you probably knew that already lol

[@grantritchey2334]

I would love to see an isolated track of Crumbling Castle

[@MDHDH-iy7nm]

Oh yes. Pleaase lol... Thats maybe their greatest single track in the entire discog

[@edenvincent4527]

@@MDHDH-iy7nm It's definitely my all time favorite Gizz track. Microtonal Banana and Polygon are just so great. I love much of their other stuff but those two are just on another level for me personally

[@stewwalker1498]

Dude, that would be incredible!.... I really hope they do more of these.

[@kq8923]

Stu said he lost the original multitracks for all of Polygondwanaland so I don't know if that would ever be possible :(

[@Marcelo-ms4od]

"I'm an honorary member of the band" Cheryl Waters 2nd drummer confirmed

[@FyJonas]

3rd?

[@SuperUBii]

@@FyJonas you don't read newspapers?

[@Cece-Cece]

@@FyJonas eric is leaving the band to work on their record company if you havent heard

[@ice6erg76]

they need a second drummer, i like the little open hihat and closed hihat details, things i couldnt do on a drumkit unless i had 4 arms and 4 legs

[@benoldham8682]

20:29: "there's a bunch here that I haven't used, sorry amby" did amby lose his harmonica privileges?

[@rytovanatoly1409]

Oh gosh, i hope not. Eric lost his band privileges after his drum privileges, I hope this doesnt happen to Amby too

[@pillcovlog2927]

@@rytovanatoly1409 what do you mean eric lost his privileges

[@seizuresalad3565]

Pillco Vlog it’s a gizz inside joke, watch the “Peeling the Microtonal banana” video, Eric didn’t have his kick drum for that album, he jokingly said that he had his drum privileges taken away

[@Magere-Kwark]

@@pillcovlog2927 Besides that, he announced to step away from King Gizzard to focus more on Flightless, his record label.

[@alejandratorriani432]

nOoOoOoOOoOoOoO, That's how it started with Eric :(

[@jacobsanchez6924]

Please get Stu on to do more of these! Even an album breakdown would be great. This was a great idea.

[@speedomatt10]

Couldn't have clicked faster when seeing King Gizz and KEXP

[@ZuluWebMaster96]

Sick band man

[@fladoodleflamy]

Fr

[@jacksonregan1167]

ik bro

[@Svellgarm]

This is probably the most energetic i’ve seen stu in an interview style setting

[@Solid_Brownies]

He gets so pumped talking about music haha

[@DUFMAN123]

Stu is such a sweetheart, honestly what a lovely and sincere man!

[@drewbocop]

I'm a man but i was upset when I saw he got married jk

[@somethingdiscreet]

I don't know a thing about DAWs or music production, but I could easily watch one of these for every King Gizz track out there. It's so fascinating to see Stu in his element and be able to explore his/King Gizz's creative process.

[@maxarceneaux5678]

I'll go to war for Sheryl Waters

[@szlobadicsky]

eeyup!

[@legodayne]

eeyup

[@kucklaman]

I always thought their music is 100% analog. It's really inspiring to see stu using mostly stock plugins in this song. Great Episode

[@joshuaallgood7030]

They use both. It varies depending on the record. Flying Microtonal Banana was all analog but Fishing for Fishies was all digital.

[@danielsommariva]

"The groove matters more than anything else". If only everyone understood this. I am so damn proud of these guys. They have lived my dream and destroyed conventional concepts and industry snobbery on how popular music should be. They aren't uber pop commercial but they will be remembered.

[@Ty91681]

They're absolutely incredible. Best band on the planet!

[@facundomouly9446]

Stu seems like such a cool guy to hang out and have a couple of beers with.

[@rinagamer4807]

Yeah

[@rinagamer4807]

I LOVE YOU

[@pedrovitor1242]

Or an acid trip :p

[@KermitTheFud]

met him after the Glasgow gig last year, really great and genuine guy

[@cynical8330]

Or six

[@apothecurio]

king gizz is king of "you don't know its there until it isn't"

[@unclefreddy2009]

I would love to see this for the entire nonagon infinity album

[@Madmetalmaniac42069]

They have so many interesting sounds in their songs, I’d listen to Stu talk about this stuff all day if I could.

[@bartoszmaciejmuszkat40]

Bob Dylan and Stu MacKenzie - two living legends together

[@rachelweekdays6539]

I’d love to hear all the versions with the previous lyrics. To see that progression would be really spectacular.

[@humbertosandoval55]

The first take that sounded heavier sounds so cool hope he brings out the demos later on

[@seanlangaker1]

King gizzard has strangely, unexpectedly, turned into one of my favorite bands. Strange, powerful, genre concepts...... add ms waters? I’ll click

[@nathanmaoah4906]

The thumbnail is amazing, fantastic video!

[@majora603]

Holy ravioli is it satisfying to watch a master of their element passionately explain their magic

[@madinfects]

Being a musician, engineer, and a fan of king gizz, this was awesome. Hoping for more stu in the future with this series.

[@kylecourtney7232]

This is the one interview that I've seen with Stu where he doesn't look absolutely shitfaced. Great stuff

[@The1234philly]

love this new idea great to see a breakdown of one of the best psych bands out there songs: King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard Keep this up KEXP. Trying new things during this year

[@trayer9587]

Man they’re so sick

[@rinagamer4807]

Yeah they are

[@rinagamer4807]

I LOVE YOU

[@sliverbox271991]

I dont know, they all look pretty healthy to me

[@HHCforlife]

@@sliverbox271991 you make a good point

[@luis0323]

Seen Stu and Cheryl really puts a smile on my face :)

[@josiek5989]

I need many many more Gizz songs done this way. Especially Iron Lung

[@damo_climbs]

I would watch this for 24 hours non stop if you guys did it with more of Gizz their songs!🥰

[@lost6516]

Stu "Eye contact" Mackenzie

[@tasmaniandevil9054]

hahahahahha i feel

[@jstarrsounds]

this was awesome. can't believe how much of this was just simple iphone stuff! just makes me appreciate stu as a producer/composer even more

[@dcurry7287]

The trick around 24 minutes in about cutting then boosting before tape distortion is fiendishly clever, but I think what tickles me most about it is how similar it is to the way Dolby noise reduction works on real tapes. Absolutely brilliant!

[@shrudd]

kexp should do one of these with John Dwyer of Osees

[@plazmotech5969]

this is good shit I could watch a docu series on these

[@Sixpakbee-lb3dm]

Please do more of these with Stu!!

[@BenFreund]

FANTASTIC! Bonus: I can peer into how Stu uses ableton for my own knowledge :-)

[@plazmotech5969]

exactly why I love this!!! Learning so much :)

[@kebab_boi]

It’s so confusing tho, doesn’t he record on tape?

[@jstarrsounds]

​@@kebab_boi around 8 minutes in he talks about bouncing to tape, so likely he records in the DAW, then runs it to tape to get that saturated sound, then mixes it back in the DAW. As far as mastering I feel like they probably use analog too

[@Socrates_Nuts]

@@kebab_boi theyve been recording solely to ableton starting with Fishies, with most records before that being tape. Something about being held back by the technical & channel constraints of tape

[@BenFreund]

@@jstarrsounds he's also using an analog tape stimulator plugin later in the video to achieve essentially the same thing.

[@ryanventurino3578]

The subtleties on this are amazing, some stuff I would have never noticed. That and the low budget/improvised nature of a lot of the songs just make it so interesting sounding

[@marioamador1822]

Please do more of these with King Gizzard, so much interesting material in their discography

[@alibellule]

wish there was a video like this for each and every song they’ve ever recorded

[@emilianomarquez1629]

Duuudee, this is the show i wanted for a long time. I'm glad KEXP is doing this, I haven't listened too much of King Gizzard, but i loved watching his process. I did the iphone thing on some of mine once. Nobody noticed.

[@judereid3088]

I am praying that Stu does more of these, an album breakdown would be amazing

[@nocturnaloop]

I would love for these guys to do 2 sets live-one of super tight woven tracks from Rats Nest and Nonogon, and then a second set of improvisational jams built off from The River or Sleep Drifter or basically anything from Fishies. All their jamming on Chunky was SO GOOD and I wanna hear them just dive into it live

[@brianmathews2926]

Such a great window into the creative process. KEXP is the best, as always.

[@kevinagreer]

"You'll notice the motif in my work to do things badly" Yeah... I haven't noticed that at all yet.

[@paschwan]

Happy to see Cheryl doing well!

[@Justcozzz]

This is the best music education resource I've come across to date

[@JWSOLOMAN5000]

I love this stuff so much! I get the same buzz from listening to demo versions of music too, especially Ty Segall's! Nothing inspires me more to make music. Thanks KEXP

[@CharlieStickmanFilms]

Man I wish they’d stream more of their sessions

[@BenSchillaci]

Man, I feel such a kinship with how Stu puts these tracks together. There’s nothing like getting some iphone grit or old cassette warble and hiss in something’. Just throw down ideas when the pan is hot and make it work.

[@koenbierens5902]

I Hope KEXP releases one with mr Demarco!!! would be insanely cool to see n hear his writing and recording process

[@DuneDesormeaux]

These are sooooooo cooool I really love the insight into the process. Do one with Idles please??

[@zachcunningham7607]

i prefer the cheryl waters

[@Snotboogie]

I PREFER THE CHERYL WATERS

[@xodiark10]

THE cheryl waters is THE best

[@slaps1]

3:45 the electric version of Honey sound so good!

[@kaeruuuu_]

It sounded awesome! But I still prefer the acoustic version

[@yourname267]

It means they will definitely do some electric heavier versions when they start doing shows again

[@User-xw6kd]

That's how it sounds live haha.

[@salsagal]

14:25 Maybe the fuzz is is just in your mind?

[@frankiesunswept]

So rad, love Stu & Gizz so much. Amazing he'd share some of their creative process. Very inspiring

[@legruntdu94]

It's absolutely amazing how my favourite song of the year so far was recorded with such non profesionnal tools. This is truly ispiring. You definitly just need an instrument to make music. And a bit of talent. And for god sake's they have some !

[@sixty-four]

stus got the timeland wallpaper

[@joshuapersian]

This is one of the coolest "how is was made" videos ever. Keep it up.

[@mustacheman9044]

Is there going to be an episode with the OhSees? :0

[@Aurichu]

Yeah something off Bug on Yonkers or Protean Threat would be siiick

[@MarwanAbdElghany]

Osees*

[@MarwanAbdElghany]

I mean thee oh sees

[@Aurichu]

@@MarwanAbdElghany You meant OCS maybe ?

[@SKATE87410]

Aurichu protean threat so many awesome sounds

[@MajicFreeman]

was most curious about gizzard drums, glad that's where they started haha

[@ricardoemidio7692]

Great job, I'm impressed with all the layers;

[@jaiseman5919]

I could listen to deconstructed king gizzard all the time, it’s so much fun hearing those layers!

[@jxrx4577]

Best show man. Let it run longer. Felt cutoff. Keep these up!

[@PepitoKawazaki]

You must ABSOLUTELY get the Lemon Twigs on this!!! I would lose my mind!

[@rezlets5017]

Mellotron Flute a quartertone flat is the Gizz Signature sound, finally I know :)

[@estevang.4693]

Cheryl always warms my heart! Thank you KEXP

[@yockinnottou]

The isolated melody at 18:13 is exactly the same (microtones aside) as “wasted” by my morning jacket. Purely coincidental but just cool being they are two of my favorite bands

[@levifath]

This is mad cool. Hope you guys do way more of these.

[@dust8027]

So cool to see all those subtle layers and the stories behind creating them! Inspiring stuff!

[@bisket2003]

These Isolated tracks are so golden!

[@User-xw6kd]

You can tell Stu doesn't like to stay put. He comes off like a workaholic to me haha. Always doing something. And that's obviously reflected in how prolific they are.

[@jacksonregan1167]

I LOVE YOU KEXP, THANK YOU FOR THIS CONTENT .PLEASE KEEP THIS SERIES GOING

[@rfc-793]

The hardest working guys in the biz. Love it.

[@Wompzalot]

the honey drift jams are something to behold. gizz tour is fun

[@ZuShin]

Great ! I will share this with my daughter. She is studying a Bach of Music Tech. Great info on the breakdown of making a song.

[@SeventhHeaven3434]

At 9:36 it sounds like a Spyro riff from the older games I love it

[@hazrel]

9:50 "Iphone Distortion" lol hahaha

[@MikeroBerst]

I frequently use iPhones for drum overheads. Super cool to see Stu utilizing the best selling piece of recording gear of 2020!

[@silentfilmdj]

Thank you guys so mutch, it was an interesting auditive journey 😮

[@uselessgeneral1299]

timeland album cover background a year before it released

[@johnnyflamevlogz8203]

God Stu is so cute

[@jusssip]

great stu ff!

[@coastercook]

This was great! Let's see more of these Isolated Tracks from other artists, please.

[@zack2zack215]

this is great thank you so much for all your music sharing!

[@Govlindrum3342]

GOD IS IN THE RHYTHMN

[@rajamcraja]

I take it as a masterclass

[@kaneallen8288]

Just proves it’s not the gear you have, it’s how you use the gear you have. If that makes sense.

[@brycedneal]

Please keep this series going.

[@charlescronin8000]

Genius 👍 love this track! And love the GizWiz!!

[@FlyoverStatePark]

This is what I come to KZbin for.

[@octaviof.g.7316]

such a great idea for content!!!! KEXP!!!! cant hold you down!

[@1964jazzbass]

Amazing content dude. Looking forward for #4 and #5, #6, and so on!...

[@ozbaz99]

Stu and the band are so talented and modest too.

[@jkf9167]

I love this. So simple and creative.

[@dariogodinez3082]

Is the first time i see this show and wow im mindblowing super buen video.