Biography
Forming the band (1989)
Childhood friends Lebowitz, Adams and Gill (aka, LAG) formed their first band in junior high school in 1989 with drummer Matt West. Originally called Django, they recorded their first album entitled "Contact" the summer before their senior year in high school, and then moved to Santa Barbara together to attend college. When West returned home after a couple years, music mentor Brogan filled in. In the summer of 1996, the band moved to Augusta, Georgia, to tour the South and meet James Brown, achieving both. Upon their return to Santa Barbara, Brogan decided to move to Seattle, Washington. A new band name and drummer followed in 1997 – Magnum Family, with Josh Yafa on drums. The band was short-lived but funky, and grew a modest following in Isla Vista, California, where UCSB students mostly lived.The birth of ALO (1998)
By 1998, the band evolved into the Animal Liberation Orchestra & The Free Range Horns, a nine-piece ensemble featuring a five-piece horn section and UCSB Jazz Band director Jon Nathan on drums. With their rousing stage shows and their home-made debut album "ALO vs. LAG", the band began drawing enormous attention in the Santa Barbara area. After finishing up their college degrees that summer, Lebowitz, Adams and Gill embarked on a U.S. acoustic tour with hometown friend Rob Binkley on percussion and called it "BLAG Across America". When LAG returned home to Saratoga, California, that fall to return to ALO, they stripped down to a quartet, first pairing up with drummer Shree Shyam Das. Shortening their name to ALO, this new line-up plugged themselves into the SF music scene and recorded continuously, releasing a couple of albums including "One Size Fits All" and "Time Expander", while archiving the rest. After Das left the band to pursue other musical interests, the band took a short break but soon returned in the spring of 2002 playing with a variety of new drummers including Matt Butler and Adam Goodhue. In the fall of 2002, Lebowitz, Adams and Gill reunited with Brogan and the current version of ALO was solidified.Current line-up (2002)
Between 2002 and 2005, ALO toured incessantly and grew a substantial live following within the western states, particularly in Utah, Colorado, Montana and Oregon. The band also started work on their first album together at Laughing Tiger Studios in San Rafael, California. Just days before their "Fly Between Falls" album release show at The Independent in San Francisco, the band rolled their van driving over an icy pass in Wyoming on their way to Salt Lake City, Utah. With just a few very minor injuries, the band returned home and was greeted with a supportive sold-out release show that marked a notable moment in its history. ALO's college friendship with singer/songwriter Jack Johnson also rekindled during this time. ALO supported Johnson at The Fillmore in Denver in . Gill started sitting-in with Johnson and his band more frequently and Johnson also made appearances at ALO shows and would join the band to play each other's songs. In 2005, Gill began playing more regularly in Johnson's band, adding a new flavor to his live performances. In the summer of 2005, Johnson invited ALO, along with Matt Costa, to support his North American "In Between Dreams" tour. The popularity of Johnson's music and concerts, and his inclusion of ALO in that, started to promote the band to a much wider audience. During that summer tour, ALO's song "Girl, I Wanna Lay You Down" proved to be a strong live hit with Johnson's fans. Sometimes the band would perform it in their set with Johnson guesting, and other times Johnson would perform it in his set as a duo with Gill on accordion. The song was originally recorded for a silent film soundtrack called "One Size Fits All" back in 1999 and was also re-recorded for the band's independent release of "Fly Between Falls" in 2004. However, the band wanted to record the version that had evolved live so they went back into the studio to do it again, this time with Johnson on additional guitar and vocals. Ezra Lipp (Phil Lesh & Friends, Stu Allen & Mars Hotel, Magic In The Other) replaced Brogan on drums for their most recent tour.Signing to Brushfire (2006)
That fall, Johnson offered to sign the band to his label Brushfire Records, which then re-released ''Fly Between Falls'' in 2006 with worldwide distribution. For the re-release, ALO recorded another live favorite, "Walls of Jericho", which was also included in Johnson's DVD release "Live at the Greek". In the spring of 2006, ALO and Matt Costa toured again with Jack Johnson, traveling internationally to England, France, Spain, Italy, Germany, Amsterdam and Japan. ALO also supported Johnson in Brazil. In June, ALO opened for Dave Matthews Band in upstate New York and North Carolina. On October 14, ALO sold out their first headlining concert at the venerated Fillmore Auditorium in San Francisco. Dubbed "The Abnormal Formal", the show encouraged funky flair and included supporting acts Mojow & the Vibration Army, Honeycut and Blue Turtle Seduction. Friends Brett Dennen and Jack Johnson also made guest appearances. ALO spent the rest of the year writing and recording music for their next album. They performed on New Year's Eve at Sea of Dreams in SF, then boarded a cruiseship to participate in the celebrated Jam Cruise Music Festival from January 2–7, 2007. On May 1, 2007, ALO released their first album recorded for Brushfire Records, entitled "Roses & Clover". Consistent with their gradual transition from experimental college music to radio-friendly popular music, the band took a much more mainstream approach in the writing and preparation for this release. Recorded mostly live in a barn nestled in the foothills of Santa Barbara, the band took two weeks to work on about 40 songs that were in various stages of completion, many of which had not even been performed live. Eventually, ten songs were chosen for the final cut. These songs were all performed live at their album release show on May 5, 2007, at the Fillmore, which again was sold out. To promote the new album, the band also reunited with Matt Powers to produce three music videos for the songs "Roses and Clover", "Try" and "Lady Loop". Brushfire Records also produced a video for the opening track "Maria", which picked up notable radio play on stations such as WXPN, WTMD, influential North Carolina Adult Alternative station WVOD and KBCO, among others. Throughout the summer, ALO played a number of festivals including Wakarusa, Harmony Festival,Discography
Albums
Extended plays
* ''Creatures Vol I: Spark (July 19, 2019)'' * ''Creatures Vol 2: Weave (January 24, 2020)'' * ''Creatures Vol 3 (2020)'' * ''Creatures Vol 4 (TBA)''Compilations
References
External links