On 30 December, the band posted on Facebook that "Gumboot Soup", their fifth and final album of the year, would be released the following day. Mackenzie explained in an interview that the songs on "Gumboot Soup" are "definitely not B-sides or anything. They're more songs that didn't work in any of the rest of the four records, or they didn't fit into any of those categories that well, or they came together slightly after when those records came together." In December, "Consequence of Sound" named King Gizzard Band of the Year, praising both the quantity and quality of their 2017 releases. Throughout 2018, King Gizzard continued to perform live shows, but did not release any new material. Instead, they re-released five older records, the "Willoughby's Beach" EP (2011), "12 Bar Bruise" (2012), "Eyes Like the Sky" (2013), "Float Along – Fill Your Lungs" (2013) and "Oddments" (2014), on CD and vinyl. They also released an official pressing of 2017's "Polygondwanaland". On 21 January 2019, the band announced on their Instagram page that new music was in the works, with an image in a studio of Gareth Liddiard (The Drones, Tropical Fuck Storm) flipping the bird as members of King Gizzard play in the background, which led to some speculation as to Liddiard's possible involvement in the band's new material. On 1 February, the band put out a music video for their new single "Cyboogie" and released the song as a 7 inch single backed with "Acarine". A week later, they announced another North American tour and a show at Alexandra Palace in London which they promised would feature "a new set, new songs and a whole new visual experience", and described as being their biggest ever. In early March, details of the band's at-the-time announced fourteenth album, "Fishing for Fishies", were seemingly leaked onto webstores. The album title, cover and track listing were leaked, as well as 60-second previews and the entirety of the title track, and a release date of 26 April. The band then confirmed this leak on 11 March by officially announcing the album through their Facebook and Instagram accounts with the same release date on 26 April 2019. A day later, the band officially released and uploaded a music video for the title track to YouTube. Later that month, the band released another single from the album, "Boogieman Sam", and on 24 April, two days before the album release, the band released a final single, "The Bird Song".