COURTESY OF ALO
The ALO Core: Zach Gill with the accordion, bassist Steve Adams and guitarist Dan Lebowitz.
Zach Gill and his bandmates are firm believers in that ol' George Clinton adage to "free your mind and your ass will follow." That's why they initially called their band ALO, "the Animal Liberation Orchestra, the liberation of the human animal through music." ‘ALO’-ha jams
By Gary C.W. Chun
gchun@starbulletin.com
But, as the group's Web site says, they also have a lot of ALO-ha in their collective groove, and the Bay Area jam band is wrapping up a near-monthlong trip to the islands with two weekend sets at Wave Waikiki.
Where: Wave Waikiki, 1877 Kalakaua Ave. ALO
When: 9:30 p.m. today and tomorrow; local band Enbious opens today, Missing Dave tomorrow
Admission: $10; must be 21 and over
Call: 941-0424
The club mentioned in its press release that the band will be hooking up with Jack Johnson, who's back home before co-headlining a summer tour with Ben Harper. The Wave is also hoping that Johnson will sit in with the band on an impromptu jam.
ALO is part of a jam band revival popular west of the Rockies, and he and his bandmates Steve Adams and Dan Lebowitz (drummer David Brogan rounds out ALO) attended the same Santa Barbara college as Johnson. "The three of us have known each other and played together since the age of 12," Gill said.
"We've always gotten along like brothers," Gill said. "We love to play together, we grew up in the same town and met in junior high. We all got accepted to UC Santa Barbara and we even lived in the same dorm."
The friends continued to perform together -- even after their collective move up to San Francisco -- in various incarnations, bringing their training in Arabic music, gospel, jazz and bluegrass to the table. Gill, Adams and Lebowitz became the core of ALO in 1998. "Prior to that, we had a bunch of different names, experimenting with different kinds of music."
Things turned around when they learned some James Brown material and awoke to the power of funk and soul music. Through various connections, they were able to come face-to-face with the Godfather of Soul.
"We've met several times and talked," Gill said, "and we even followed him and his band through a tour of the South in the summer of '96," Gill said. "The man's definitely a taskmaster. At one time, we were a nine-piece band for a short time, and here he was managing his own band three times bigger, traveling to crazy, out-of-the-way places like Libya."
EVEN THOUGH ALO doesn't tour often because of Gill's devotion to his 2-year-old daughter, the band always tries to make Hawaii a regular stop-off. Gill stayed on Kauai for two weeks last June.
The island influence is evident on the group's latest CD "Time Expander." It's easy to hear the strong and easy chemistry the band shares, and one song refers to a chance encounter with a mysterious fan. "The name of the song and the guy is 'Kolomana,' who we met in Arizona.
"He (claimed he) was a mystical shaman from Hawaii and, during our stay here, we keep thinking we're going to run into this guy sooner or later!"
Whether or not that happens, ALO at least got a song out of it, one filled with such whimsical rhymes as "Kolomana ... molten lava ... marijuana ... and who's your momma?"
That fun sense of wordplay also translates to their live shows. "Different things can happen on stage," Gill said. "Certain places are more conducive to some of the more theatrical things we do sometimes. I have a background in musical theater, so sometimes we wear animal costumes or wield magic wands.
"The whole idea is to make people as happy as possible when we play -- especially during these tumultuous times, when the power of loud music can bring people together in song and dance has been never more necessary and important as today."
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