Biography
Jay Watson, drummer for Pond and Tame Impala, shapes the shape-shifting neo-psychedelia that defines GUM. The project's opening full-length, Delorean Highway, surfaced in 2014. Across the years that followed, GUM pursued an eclectic path that stayed hallucinatory yet veered at times toward heavy fuzz, mechanical synth pop, or punchier rock textures before settling on synth-boosted psych-rock for the tighter fourth album, The Underdog, issued in 2018. The palette-shifting yet persistently cosmic Out in the World and Saturnia arrived in 2020 and 2023. A year after that, Ill Times emerged as a grief-centered but still vivid full-length partnership with Ambrose Kenny-Smith of King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard and the Murlocs.
From Western Australia, Watson launched self-produced GUM recordings in 2011; the alias shortens his nickname Gumby. Spinning Top Music released the first album, Delorean Highway, in 2014. Glamorous Damage followed the next year, while the synth-hook-laden Flash in the Pan appeared in 2016. Keeping synthesizers in place, a leaner psych-rock approach marked The Underdog, which Spinning Top Music put out in 2018. Balancing continued Pond activity with live duties for Tame Impala, Watson delivered GUM's fifth album, Out in the World, in 2020.
After Pond issued their ninth album, 9, in 2021, Watson resurfaced as GUM in early 2023 with the joint single "Minor Setback" b/w "Old Transistor Radio" alongside Ambrose Kenny-Smith of King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard and the Murlocs. Later GUM singles included "Race to the Air," taken from Saturnia, which arrived on Spinning Top in September 2023. Although it moved among guitar-driven, synth-centered, propulsive, and expansive tracks, the record's cosmic atmospheres extended the atmosphere of its predecessor.
Ill Times became GUM's next album, a complete collaboration with Kenny-Smith. Issued on King Gizzard's P(Doom) Records in mid-2024, the set preserved the projects' playful energy while addressing loss and contained a cover of the Impressions' soul ballad "Fool for You."
From Western Australia, Watson launched self-produced GUM recordings in 2011; the alias shortens his nickname Gumby. Spinning Top Music released the first album, Delorean Highway, in 2014. Glamorous Damage followed the next year, while the synth-hook-laden Flash in the Pan appeared in 2016. Keeping synthesizers in place, a leaner psych-rock approach marked The Underdog, which Spinning Top Music put out in 2018. Balancing continued Pond activity with live duties for Tame Impala, Watson delivered GUM's fifth album, Out in the World, in 2020.
After Pond issued their ninth album, 9, in 2021, Watson resurfaced as GUM in early 2023 with the joint single "Minor Setback" b/w "Old Transistor Radio" alongside Ambrose Kenny-Smith of King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard and the Murlocs. Later GUM singles included "Race to the Air," taken from Saturnia, which arrived on Spinning Top in September 2023. Although it moved among guitar-driven, synth-centered, propulsive, and expansive tracks, the record's cosmic atmospheres extended the atmosphere of its predecessor.
Ill Times became GUM's next album, a complete collaboration with Kenny-Smith. Issued on King Gizzard's P(Doom) Records in mid-2024, the set preserved the projects' playful energy while addressing loss and contained a cover of the Impressions' soul ballad "Fool for You."
Albums
Saturnia
2023
Out In The World
2020
The Underdog
2018
Flash in the Pan
2016
Glamorous Damage
2015
Delorean Highway
2014
Vox Bits
2011
Singles
