Photo Credit: Jamie Terry

GUM / Ambrose Kenny-Smith, consisting of Jay Watson (Gum, Pond, Tame Impala) and Ambrose Kenny-Smith (King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard, The Murlocs), have announced a collaborative LP, III Times, due on July 19 and doubling as the debut drop off of King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard’s newly-announced p(doom) records. As a preview of the impending set of new music, the duo delivered its official title track and adjoining music video. Watch below.

The pair’s convergence sparked in 2009 after Tame Impala performed at the Eureka Hotel in Kenny-Smith’s hometown of Geelong, Victoria. With the aforementioned player’s King Gizzard ascent in full effect, the duo’s bond bloomed after Watson recorded an instrumental that he loved yet didn’t fit for Pond or GUM. The song never left his train of thought, and eventually, Watson mentioned it in conversation during a festival that King Gizzard and Pond were both attending.

The next move came in the form of a direct message, which Watson sent Kenny-Smith with a link to “Mountain Jam.” “Jay said that was the vibe he wanted,” Kenny-Smith continues, “and I’m a big Eric Burdon try-hard, so I was into it.” While an initial idea was sparked, reuniting the pair would take more than a year and a forced holiday break. “I was excited to explore stuff our other bands hadn’t really touched on before,” Watson says. “Funk, soul… groove-based music.” 

Those sessions birthed the initial instrumental for III Times. The sonic intent reflected the rawness of life experience and the influential passing of loved ones as a source of inspiration; loss surfaced as a recurring theme. “I learned life is too short to live it in regret or a hole of depression,” Kenny-Smith explains, citing humor and wisdom as the emerging currents, two critical ingredients for balancing the hard times.

Ill Times is available for digital pre-order. Physical pre-orders will be live on May 10 at 8 a.m. ET via pdoomrecords.com.

Listen to the title track below.

Ill Times Tracklist
1. Dud
2. Ill Times
3. Minor Setback
4. Fool For You
5. Resilience
6. Powertrippn’
7. Old Transistor Radio
8. Emu Rock
9. Marionette
10. The Gloater