Join B. Davis Taylor on a deep dive into his obsession with King Gizzard as he sees his first two shows in Boston and Portland.

Four years ago I was reborn into music.

Now, I was never a big “music guy” like many of my friends. I had always enjoyed music, sure: Pearl Jam, Nirvana, Pavement, Frank Black were early teenage favorites, and I would put in serious time checking out new stuff at the Tower Records Listening Station when I was in high school. Classic rock lived permanently on my parents’ radios; I went through your usual white upper-middle class kid progressions of digging The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Bob Dylan, and so on (in fact, Dad was–and still is–a bit of a button-down Deadhead). I had childhood lessons on the violin, clarinet, and trombone, and once a year or so my parents would use a couple of their LA Philharmonic @ the Hollywood Bowl season tickets on me and a sibling to expose us to live professional orchestras. So there was always a basis of music appreciation and once I found local alt-rock station KROQ, I’d do the thing where I wait for new songs I like to play so I could hit Record on the tape machine of my hi-fi. I liked finding and diving into new music–but I was never truly a Music Guy. I thought tapers and tourers were a bit kooky and while I supported friends in bands, I was never interested in that myself. I never bought a kickin’ stereo system. My CDs would all get scratched.

And now… I cannot get enough of King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard. I am all-in on these savants. My first Gizz concerts came on this tour… and I want to share my journey into the Weirdo Swarm.