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‘IF NOT NOW, THEN WHEN?’
by KING GIZZARD
and the LIZARD WIZARD

 King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard
win world first $20,000
Environmental Music Prize

Nidala Barker awarded a newly created prize for ‘Emerging Environmental Songwriter’ announced in partnership with Byron Writers Festival.

The 24 finalist music videos aimed at inspiring action for climate and conservation were celebrated by environmental groups and received over 7,500 votes from 58 countries.

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Nidala Barker awarded a newly created prize for ‘Emerging Environmental Songwriter’ announced in partnership with Byron Writers Festival.

The 24 finalist music videos aimed at inspiring action for climate and conservation were celebrated by environmental groups and received over 7,500 votes from 58 countries.

Today the Environmental Music Prize is thrilled to reveal ‘If Not Now, Then When?’ by King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard as the inaugural winner of the $20,000 publicly-voted award. The announcement follows an incredible outpouring of support for the Environmental Music Prize – a global first that aims to amplify the voices of artists who inspire action for climate and conservation.

King Gizzard And The Lizard Wizard are known for their psychedelic rock which links concepts, character, and themes of climate change and futurism. ‘If Not Now, Then When?’ is a warped rhetorical groove set in a post-eco apocalypse time. It questions the inaction of our leaders and calls for immediate action on climate.

Not only have King Gizzard created a body of work that has encouraged millions of fans to reflect on environmental issues – they are going even further and will donate their prize money to The Wilderness Society to further conservation and climate action in Australia.

Stu Mackenzie, the band’s singer and main songwriter says: “We’re so humbled to have won the inaugural Environmental Music Prize! It’s fantastic and deeply important for initiatives like this one, to help build community around the fight against the climate crisis.

I’ve written quite a few songs about climate change, but after the black summer bushfires in 2019-2020, shit started to feel dire. It still feels dire – more dire. We need actual, real, tangible action from our leaders, otherwise what are they there for? Why are we not doing everything we humanly can to right our wrongs? When we’re literally on fire, why not now? If not now, then when?

This song is part of a larger idea, a thread and a collection of narratives that extend through all of our music. Exploring themes of climate destruction and what that might look like, is an important exploration for us. A window of what reality could be, if we fail to take real action.”

The animated music video, directed by Dr D Foothead, focuses on the travels of a person who attends a concert and stumbles upon an all-powerful orb, absorbing anything and everything they happen upon.

The graphic artist explained how the single informed the video concept for his psychedelic clip: “The song made me consider how individual action or inaction affects the world. What happens when our repressed pain, darkness and confusion manifest and influence our surroundings and relationships?

I wanted to explore the journey of a character who has neglected their inner shadow, and how this energy manifests physically and becomes a force of its own.”

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Environmental Music Prize Founder, Edwina Floch says of the winner: “Music has the power to capture our imagination, touch us deeply, and enable us to dream big.

The incredible engagement of talented musicians, fans, climate concerned citizens was amazing and I’m so delighted that the Environmental Music Prize resonated so strongly and received such strong high level support in year one. We’ll be building quickly from here to provide ongoing support, opportunity and reward for artists who are actively using their voice to advance environmental issues during this crucial decade.

Of course, I’m also extremely excited to see that the money I donated into the prize is now being re-donated back to fund frontline conservation work by The Wilderness Society… the multiplier effect in between has been massive!

Matt Brennan, CEO, The Wilderness Society says: “’If Not Now, Then When?’ Indeed! King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard’s Environmental Music Prize-winning song calls for action amidst the normalised calamity. The joyousness of the groove belies the urgent message for climate and nature. We congratulate them on the award and we are deeply grateful for their decision to donate their $20,000 prize to the Wilderness Society to act now. Congratulations to all of the artists who participated, music can surely change the world!”

Creation of a new prize for
‘EMERGING ENVIRONMENTAL SONGWRITER’

To support more climate-engaged artists, the Environmental Music Prize has partnered with Byron Writers Festival to create an additional prize for an ‘emerging’ artist actively using their voice both on and off stage.

Selected by Byron Writers Festival, the prize is awarded to Nidala Barker, a singer-songwriter and activist of Djugun (one of the Aboriginal peoples of the Kimberley) descent. She co-wrote and performed on the Environmental Music Prize Finalist piece ‘Our Song’ – a collaboration by the Tambah Project that sees royalties from streaming donated to Wild Ark – the story behind ‘Our Song’.

The upcoming Byron Writers Festival (26-28 August) will celebrate storytelling and ideas in all forms. The prize will see Nidala perform at a feature event, speak on a panel about writing music, and complete a 3 day writing retreat in the region.

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More about THE ENVIRONMENTAL MUSIC PRIZE

Environmental Music Limited is a philanthropically-funded and community-supported not-for-profit founded by Edwina Floch. Launched last year during the UN Climate Summit, the prize invited artists to create and submit powerful music videos that celebrate nature and encourage fans to defend it.

With over 200 entries, the 24 finalists were selected by environmental leaders, Music Ambassadors and industry experts – featuring a diverse range of musical styles and incredible artists including:

– songwriting legend, Paul Kelly
– pop idol, Jack River
– festival darlings, Lime Cordiale
– classical, Bowerbird Collective
– Sikh rapper, L-Fresh The Lion
– Indigenous rockers, King Stingray
– school climate striker, Sage Roadknight
– country boy, Rory Phillips
– carbon-neutral heavy metal band, In Hearts Wake
(+ more listed below – discover their music videos and stories)

With finalists announced on Earth Day by Former UN Climate Chief Christana Figueres on Outrage & Optimism, the public was invited to vote for their favourite songs until the weekend of the Australian election, with interest from around the globe with over 7,500 people voting from 58 countries.

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FINALISTS

Billy Otto – CAN’T TAKE THE OCEAN OUT OF ME
Briggs and Tim Minchin – HOUSEFYRE
Ciaran Gribbin – WHAT IF
Eskimo Joe – SAY SOMETHING
Holy Holy – HELLO MY BEAUTIFUL WORLD
Holy Holy – PORT ROAD
In Hearts Wake – WORLDWIDE SUICIDE
Jack River – WE ARE THE YOUTH
Jess Ribeiro – IN LOVE WITH THIS PLACE
King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard – IF NOT NOW, THEN WHEN?
King Stingray – HEY WANHAKA
L-Fresh The Lion – MOTHER
Lime Cordiale – ADDICTED TO THE SUNSHINE
Little Green – THE NIGHT
Paul Kelly – SLEEP AUSTRALIA SLEEP
Reverend Bones – THE SKY WAS BLUE (THE BUSHFIRE SONG)
Rory Phillips – THE TRUTH
Sage Roadknight – VOICES
Small Island Big Song – TA’U TAMA
Tambah Project – OUR SONG
The Boy Of Many Colors, featuring Emily Wurramara – WHEN A TREE FALLS
Virtual Choir by The Bowerbird Collective – WORLD MIGRATORY BIRD DAY
What So Not, featuring Evan Giia – MESSIN’ ME UP
William Crighton, featuring William Barton & Julieanne Crighton – YOUR COUNTRY

40+ values-aligned Impact Partners:

Green Music Australia, Greenpeace Australia, Wilderness Society, Ocean Impact Organisation, Australian Youth Climate Coalition, World Wildlife Fund, Australian Parents For Climate Action, APRA AMCOS, Universal Music Australia, Unified Music Group, NEXUS Australia, NEXUS Global, Australian Progress, Green+Simple, Future Super and Humanitix.

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AMNPLIFY – DB