Animal Liberation Orchestra (also known casually as ALO) is a California rock band currently signed to Jack Johnson's Brushfire Records label. They have released four full-length albums for Brushfire, as well as a number of prior independent releases including a film soundtrack. ALO consists of Zach Gill (Keys/Vocals), Steve Adams (Bass/Vocals), Dan "Lebo" Lebowitz (Guitar/Vocals) and Ezra Lipp (Drums/Vocals).
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.