Cincy Groove Magazine

January 16, 2009

Interview by Scott Preston

Drawing from their training in the classics, jazz, pop and funk, the four members of Animal Liberation Orchestra strive to make creative, upbeat, ever-evolving music. Their feel-good California vibe and their quirky, engaging live shows have made ALO a rising star in jam-band circles.
Cincy Groove: Didn't ALO just get back from Jam Cruise 7?

Steve Adams: Just about a week ago, still trying to get my land legs back. It was a great lineup and we had lots of close friends to pal around with. Lots of fun jam sessions. Its pretty much a festival on a boat, except the musicians can't go anywhere once they're done playing. So you really get to meet people you might not otherwise get to meet.

Cincy Groove: I understand that ALO took most of the year off last year (2008). What was everybody up to?

Steve Adams: Everybody was involved in various side projects. Zach spent part of the year touring and recording with Jack Johnson and also managed to put together his own solo release. Dave also put out a solo album and did some touring with his own group. Dan and I played together a bunch in different formats. I did a good chunk of dates with our friends Tea Leaf Green and also joined a yound cool band, Big Light. The break from ALO really opened the doors and let the four of us explore a lot of different things. All in all, I think ALO only played about 10 shows in 2008, but each of us kept very busy. Over the last 7 years we probably averaged about 100 shows per year, topping out at about 140 shows one year. I think 100 shows is more than plenty once you've built a nice foundation.

Cincy Groove: Has ALO done any recording lately? any solo projects?

Steve Adams: In the middle of the Summer, ALO recorded an original song called "Christmas Time" for the Brushfire Records holiday album, "This Warm December". Before that, we had recorded a track called "Strange Days" for a 1% For The Planet compilation CD, which I think should be out sometime real soon. One Percent has a cool set-up where you donate 1% of your yearly profits to them, and then they help take that and distribute to the non-profit/charity groups of your choice. The folks at Brushfire introduced us to them.

I personally did a bunch of recording in 2008 as well. Teamed up with lots of local musicians - Tim and Nicki Bluhm, Big Light, Forest Sun. On Forest's records, I played some upright bass and electric as well. We set out to make this record and were just on a roll where we kept saying "That's good, that's good" after each track, so we kept going. By the time we were done with the record, Forest asked if we wanted to keep going and we were like "Sure". So we did a whole second record in just a couple more days time. I think they turned really cool.

Aside from recording, I also did a handful of dates with Tea Leaf Green and a few with The Everyone Orchestra. Trevor from Tea Leaf and I were in a band together in high school so we go pretty far back. Tea Leaf's bass player left about a year ago and they picked up Reed Mathis to be their guy. But Reed had a bunch of dates with Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey throughout the year, so I would fill in on bass when Reed couldn't be there. One pretty memorable gig that involved both Tea Leaf and The Everyone Orchestra was up in Bend, OR at the Four Peaks Music Festival. It was pretty wild. There were two stages set up right next to each other, where they would have bands alternate performing during the day. Somebody came up with this idea of using both stages at the same time for the EO set. Matt Butler said "Let's do it!". So he ended going out into the audience and standing on top of a truck and proceeded to conduct both stages with full bands on each. I think they called the band on the second stage the Everyone Else Orchestra. It was like nothing I had ever done before. Matt actually had different musicians from each stage playing at the same time with each other.

Cincy Groove: How did ALO end up getting together?

Steve Adams: Zach, Dan, and myself grew up together. I remember being at the 7th grade talent show where Zach had put together a band. There was a drummer and a keyboard player, and he played guitar. They did a couple songs and I remember thinking how cool it was. I went up to him afterwards and told him that he needed a bass player in the band. He said "Really?" and I said "Yeah I'm pretty sure all bands have bass players" (laughing). I went out right after that and bought a bass and joined the band. We had also heard Dan had taken guitar lessons back in the 5th grade but had put his guitar away. But I remember thinking, I bet he can play. So we got Dan in the band to play guitar and that's basically how it all got started. We played all through junior high, high school, and went on to college together.

Cincy Groove: Was the band's name always Animal Liberation Orchestra?

Steve Adams: No. Actually, the first name we chose was One Percent Away. But we pretty soon figured out that Zach was really meant to be a keyboard player. So we broke up the band and reformed as Django. That was the name we used all through high school and college. Half way through college the drummer who had been with us up to that point decided to leave. By random chance, Dave (ALO's current drummer) walked by our house one day in Isla Vista and saw that we had a big garage. We had seen Dave play many times with the band Evil Farmer and we all loved his style and looked up to him a lot. He asked if he could store his drums in our garage, and we of course said yes. And then, because his drums were already there, we ended up jamming a bunch at the house. So when Matt left, Dave was the obvious fill-in. We played that whole Summer, which took us out to Augusta, GA and back, and then Dave decided to move to Seattle. We formed some other bands with other names into the end of college. And then, right at the end of college we formed The Animal Liberation Orchestra & The Free Range Horns with our jazz band director on drums and a five-piece horn section. That same year, Dan, Zach and I finished college and moved back home to San Francisco, and after playing with a few drummers around town, eventually came back around to Dave and have been playing together again ever since.

Cincy Groove: When does ALO play next?

Steve Adams: On February 7th we'll be kicking off a 2-week tour through California that we call The Tour d'Amour. Its the third annual, its becoming a tradition every February. It's always a benefit tour. The first year we did it for Katrina relief. Last year we did for Music in Schools Today and we are doing it for them this year again. They are a charity here in San Francisco that helps generate funds for music education in schools. Our first show will be in Oakland at a newly-renovated venue called the Fox Theater. It'll be the grand opening and we'll be playing with another great Bay Area band, Spearhead.

"Roses and Clover" music video by ALO (Animal Liberation Orchestra), from their Brushfire Records release "Roses & Clover"

Upcoming Animal Liberation Orchestra tour dates:
for show details visit http://www.alomusic.com
* 02/07/09 Fox Theater Oakland, CA
* 02/08/09 Van Duzer Theatre Arcata, CA
* 02/11/09 SOhO Restaurant and Music Club Santa Barbara, CA
* 02/12/09 Belly Up Tavern Solana Beach, CA
* 02/13/09 The Troubadour West Hollywood, CA
* 02/14/09 Moe's Alley Santa Cruz, CA
* 02/15/09 Mystic Theatre Petaluma, CA