In the midst of a major tour supporting their recent studio release, ALO continues to impress with their upbeat blend of soulful rock and roll. We spoke with the band’s guitarist, Dan “Lebo” Lebowitz, a prolific musician who has worked with everyone from Phil Lesh to members of the James Brown Band. He’s also a staple of the ever-exciting Jam Cruise series (tickets are available here), and the band couldn’t be happier about having some new music to energize their efforts.
See what “Lebo” had to say to our own Rex Thomson in this new in-depth interview:
L4LM: So, Animal Liberation Orchestra’s new album, Tangle Of Time, was just recently released. How excited are you?
Dan Lebowitz: Yes. I’m so psyched. It’s awesome having a new album. You know, it’s fun for the band. All these new tunes to rally around, and we head out…I mean, basically we play the day after tomorrow, and then head out on a tour of the East Coast and the Midwest, so we’re jumping right in. It’s real exciting to have it all kind of happen at once. You know, album, new songs, tour, all that.
L4LM: So about the writing process, do you guys do it all together, or bring songs to each other and workshop them? How does that work for you guys?
DL: As a band, I’d say historically we do it every which way. (Laughs) Different albums lean on different methods, but you know, the sort of three kind of categories that I would do it would be the — there’s songs where er get in a room and we just start messing around and try to record just out of nothing. Someone comes up with a riff and then we sort of co-create a song together.
Another variation on that would be when we do that, a lot of times what we’ll do these sessions for like a day or two where the whole purpose is to just play. We just like press record and play and don’t really reflect on it at all and just have hours of music. We all listen through to it, and if something like resonates, then someone will turn it in to a song…maybe write some lyrics to it or start arranging it out.
Then the third thing of course is the more traditional…someone brings in a song that you know they’ve already written the words, and melodies, and chords and everything. Everything goes through the ALO process, though. Just to further elaborate, this album, we did a lot more of the “Bringing In” songs. Everyone brought in their tunes that they had written. And again, we went through the process together. We never do it where someone brings in a song and hands out six parts for everyone to play or anything like that. It goes through the process of the band and people kind of find their ideas and offer any suggestions.
L4LM: In the past, you’ve recorded albums in Hawaii and San Francisco, which sounds like a pretty sweet deal. Does the surrounding scenery affect the way the music comes out or are you sequestered in the studio the whole time?
DL: Absolutely. Yeah, you know, that’s an interesting question. I think wherever we’re recording, there’s some reason to do it that way, be it a logistical reason or because it’s a place where we all want to be. But I’d say the goal of it is to try to do it in the way that brings the best out of the band. Sometimes, that’s a scenery thing, like Hawaii, and sometimes it’s a logistical thing.. You know, where it’s like, “This makes the most sense in all our lives right now.”
We do try to spend time…as a band, we try not to do the thing where we go in for a couple of days and then leave and then come back two weeks later and go for a couple of days. We did our first album that way, and it took so long to get it done, because every time we would get back in there, there was this starting over period that sort of felt like it wasted time. So we always try to get at some point like a good solid two-week block, where we’re just living together. In this case, we rented a house in St. Anselmo. I still lived in San Francisco, but even just that commuting back and forth every day sort of takes you out of it. We had a couple of weeks where we just lived together, and we tried to do 90% of it in that chunk.
You start second guessing things if you start spreading too much over time, just because the nature of art is that you’re going to change. Nothing is ever concrete, so it’s like, you can be all in to something, and then we found out if we start spreading things out over weeks and months and maybe six months down the road, you don’t even like something you did before. With four people working on it, that’s four opinions, so there’s a lot of potential for that sort of thing.
L4LM: I understand that, logistically, it’s probably hard sometimes for bands to be able to take a couple of straight weeks off, but what you were saying was very interesting. It’s got to be hard to keep the artistic spirit fresh from that moment, drawn out over time.
DL: Yeah, it is, because every time you’re starting and stopping. It’s hard to get yourself back in there, and if you’re just in it for chunks of time, I just think it’s more efficient. But it is hard to find the time, because we spend time on the road, too. And everyone has families and stuff, too, so it’s definitely a balance. But this last year, to be honest, was relatively light for ALO, so it really made it so that time was there. I mean, we were all really busy. I was kind of crazy busy last year, just with all the other things, but the ALO calendar was lighter last year, so that kind of sets us up this year to do more ALO. You’ll have your touring this year.
L4LM: Well, more ALO is a good thing.
DL: Yeah.
L4LM: It would seem like the savvy move would be to try and record all your albums somewhere awesome, though. Can I suggest Brazil, during Carnivale? (Laughs)
DL: (Laughs) Yeah! Let’s do it! I’m game. I always definitely thought the Hawaii one was cool, but that was sort of logistical, too, because the producer has a studio out there, and he was like, “Man, yeah, I’d love to produce your guys’ record, but I don’t really want to leave home. Do you guys want to come to me? I’ve got a studio.” We’re like, “Yeah, sure, that sounds good.” (Laughs) So it’s funny that even that had it’s logistical elements to get to business.
L4LM: So ALO partnered with Pledge Music for this release, and you offered some really exciting pre-order goodies for the album.
DL: Yeah… the management sort of presented it to us. We’ve never done anything like those Kickstarters or anything, and in this case, same thing. We had already done the album. It was already done and paid for and everything, but we were just kind of intrigued by it as an idea that’s sort of like, you know…it’s kind of two-fold. It’s an opportunity to get stuff to people who are really on board with it, to give them a little something extra, you know what I mean, since they’re going to get the album. So that’s what all of those little things are, and then for us it was fun, too, because it actually gives us a little opportunity to interact with our fans, especially the more core fans. We can interact with them on a more personal basis, which is cool, because there was lessons on there. I’m doing guitar lessons, and dinners with the band, and make special versions of things. So it’s cool.
L4LM: I noticed was that there might be guitar lessons from you. That’s a lot of pressure to teach, right there. You can’t have somebody going out bragging that they were taught by you, and then having them kind of suck. (Chuckles)
DL: Yeah, I know, right? (Laughs) I better do good. Hey, that’s on them, though. That’s not on me. I’ll show them whatever I can. (Laughs)
L4LM: Sweet. So you guys are out, like you said, promoting Tangle Of Time. How much of the new album are you incorporating in to your set list?
DL: Well our first show, with the album coming out, is on Saturday — or Sunday, rather, so we’re going to do at least four of the new ones there, two which have never been played live, two of which we were kind of experimenting with on our last tour, but the plan is to do right as soon as we’re on tour. We’re going to be bringing these tunes into the set every show, because we’re just real psyched about having the new tunes, and we want to get them all done, so it’s great.
L4LM: You have ROAR!, which was formerly Yojimbo coming out with you on some of these dates. Any chance you guys will bring Carly Meyers out for a song or two?
DL: Oh, absolutely. Yeah, I’m sure we’ll be doing that. I think the first time I met her was on Jam Cruise. W e ended up in the Jam Room together one night, and I was like, “Wow! She’s great!” Then after that, she was in town, playing at the Boom Boom Room, when were at the Filmore in February, and she came and sat in with us, and it was one of the real highlights of the night. So then the idea came up, we were thinking about who we were going to bring on tour to do the shows with us, and we really like to bring a band with us. We like that much more than do the different opener in every town. We always prefer that, because we can sort of get a whole thing going. So that’s what we went for, and then once found out that they were available, we were like, “No way. Let’s do it!”
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L4LM: So you guys are back on one of our favorite musical experiences, Jam Cruise.
DL: Those are the best!
L4LM: The boat’s like rock ‘n roll fantasy camp. Do you guys enjoy being trapped for five days with the fans? (Laughs)
DL: (Laughs) Yeah. It’s something I look forward to every year. I love the whole thing. I love the people that run it. I love the people who go to it. It’s cool. You know, I can’t say enough about it. I look forward to it every year. I’m already looking forward to it.
L4LM: So besides Jam Cruise, you guys are doing stuff, like you mentioned, the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival, but you’re there twice. You’re also out with the Doobie Decibel System.
DL: Yeah, the Doobie Decibel System is a fun gig. I just got back from tour…it’s kind of crazy. We played an 8:00 p.m. show, last night in Philadelphia, and I got to sleep in my own bed last night. It was crazy! So we’re doing that, and then we’ve got some more shows coming up later in the year, too.
L4LM: So do you feel like you’re just hogging all the fun at the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival? (Chuckles)
DL: (Laughs) It is a pretty good festival! No, it’s great! It’s fun! I mean, I love going to festivals!
L4LM: I just interviewed Roger McNamee last week, and his story was amazing. When the inevitable movie about him gets made, who do you want to see play you? (Chuckles)
DL: (Laughs) Oh, my God! I don’t know. That’s too heavy of a question. I’ve got to think about that for a minute.
L4LM: ALO’s got a pretty classic back story, with three of you guys being friends since, practically, childhood. What’s that like, just basically friends for life?
DL: It’s awesome, man! We know each other so well. That’s a big part of how we can do this whole thing. There’s a lot of stress in there, you know. We’ve been through it all together since seventh grade, you know. That’s a long time. We’ve seen it all, and it’s cool. (Laughs) Those guys are my brothers, you know, bands can get so crazy, with touring, and everyone’s needs, and all this kind of stuff.
But when you’ve got that kind of trust, I mean, that’s what makes the whole thing flow. At the end of the day, I would never have a question that those guys don’t have my back, and they know the same about me, that I’ve got their back. So it’s a big part of what ALO is, is that relationship. That’s actually most of what ALO is. The music is secondary to us, I would way, in all truth.
L4LM: So you’re saying that your friendship is the core of the band?
DL: Yeah, totally! We were all just seventh-grade friends. We wanted to start a band! I had a guitar, but I didn’t know how to play it. It was just in the closet at my house. I was like, “I’ll go learn how to play guitar!” Zach played some guitar, and we had his friend that played keyboards at the time, and we had a drummer, and we were friends with Steve. On MTV, we would see these four-string guitars, you know, we were like, “What’s that? I think we need one of those.” So we went down to the music store, and Steve was like, “I want one of those four-stringed guitars.” “Oh, you mean a bass?” (Laughs) We were like, “Yeah, sure! I guess that’s what we need for a band, don’t you?” You know what I mean? We were friends before we were a band, before anyone played music, you know. We were friends.
L4LM: You know, it’s interesting. I’ve talked to a bunch of bands, and some bands seem to, you know, like each other, but be ready to get away from each other as soon as they get off the road, but I get the feeling you guys are still going out and having dinner together every night.
DL: Oh, yeah! We hang, for sure. I mean, Zach lives in Santa Barbara, so I see him less, but…he’s right in the Bay Area. The truth is, when ALO is not happening, we are all out of town all the time, so it’s actually pretty rare that Steve and I are even in town at the same time. Either we’re on tour together, or one of us is out of town gigging. But we definitely hang, absolutely, whenever — yeah. That’s part of it, you know, the hang part of it.
L4LM: So besides playing with those regular folks, like we mentioned, you also have some side stuff. Do you find you enjoy the differences, there?
DL: Yeah. I tell you what is so cool about all the side stuff is that, like, we all learn a lot doing the side things. You know, like, if I go out and do this gig with the Everyone Orchestra or the DDS, it’s like guaranteed I’m going to pick something up on that gig. Do you know what I mean? And then it’s like “Let’s take back to the hole.” The same thing…if Zach’s out with Jack Dawson, you know, the same thing. Whatever we’re all doing…and I think we’re all real open to the idea of all of us…we all value that for ourselves, so we all encourage each other to pick a lot of other stuff too. And again, I think that takes a little bit of the pressure off ALO, too, because we all obviously have a lot in common, but we don’t have everything in common.
We have other things that we’re in to that don’t necessarily fit in to ALO, and I think a lot of bands, when you’re just doing your one band, it’s like everyone is trying to get their full musical satiation by that one band, chances are you’re going to be dragging people to do things they don’t want to do. So what’s cool for this is, we all have these other things, so then when we do ALO, ALO can — you know, I wouldn’t suggest that ALO do something that isn’t ALO, you know. Even though it might be something that’s representative of me, and likewise, the other guys. So this way, we can stay in the common ground area. And doing side things, we can totally keep that. When we were on the road all the time, all together, it was actually kind of hard, because everyone is trying to, like, cram their whole musical being in to ALO, and it’s not very healthy, I don’t think.
L4LM: That’s an interesting point. I had never really thought about that. But yeah, if you’re in a band, and you write a song, you want to bring that song to the band, but this keeps you from getting frustrated if the song doesn’t fit the band or whatever.
DL: Yeah, exactly. That, I think, is a very common thing with bands.
L4LM: Speaking of the differences of playing with unfamiliar faces and keeping it original, there’s nothing more original than the Everyone Orchestra, which you play with often.
DL: Yeah. That’s great.
L4LM: How does the all-improvised feel of that concept appeal to you?
DL: Oh, it’s so great. It’s so unique. It’s really like nothing else. The Everyone Orchestra is like…I mean, gosh, I don’t even know how to put it. It’s just such a unique thing, and Matt (Butler) does such a good job with, like, assembling cool bands and putting cool projects together, so you know, it’s always something different. And I’ve met, actually, a lot of musicians through the Everyone Orchestra that I have later ended up interacting with on other levels. That’s always, I think, a really cool thing, too.
L4LM: I did a little research, and apparently you have the coolest-sounding degree I’ve ever heard of, “Ethnomusicology?”(Chuckles) I don’t even know what that means, and I wish I had one.
DL: Okay. So what it is is, it’s world music. It’s a music degree, but it’s…within a music degree, whenever you, or anyone gets a music degree, you have an emphasis. It can be guitar performance, or a performance on an instrument, or it could be musicology, which would be like, history, Western music, or music theory, or whatever, and I chose Ethnomusicology…basically the study of world music. So that was my emphasis. It was awesome. It was a ton of fun. You know how I ended up doing it, though, which is kind of funny, is that in Santa Barbara, where I went to school, they have a really awesome music program, but it’s definitely more tilted on the classical thing. So jazz was in the Ethnomusicology department, and I was like, “I want to take jazz.” That’s how I was drawn to it, but then because of that, I ended up just getting in to all of this really cool stuff that I don’t think I would have found otherwise.
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L4LM: So a lot of people I know get degrees, and they don’t ever end up using them, but it looks like you, at least, have managed to make yours pay off.
DL: Yeah! It’s cool. And you know, Ethnomusicology is interesting. This is probably more information than you want to know, but it’s not that old of a subject. I think it was probably in the 70’s that it started to actually become a thing that people studied at universities. So it’s funny because in the very beginning, they didn’t know where to put it, because at its root, it’s the study of culture. They were like, “Well, this could go in anthropology or music,” and there was a lot of debate. Some schools were putting it in the anthropology department and other schools were putting it in music. And it got settled, though, that it needed to be a music thing, because you’ve got like, the fundamentals of music, reading music, ear training, all that kind of stuff…you can’t do Ethnomusicology without that, you know. But all of it’s anthropological elements, could be taken care of in a music department. Two of us in ALO did that. Steve Adams, the bass player, he also got a degree in Ethnomusicology. It was cool, man. We got to play in, like, Middle Eastern ensembles, and study all sorts of cool Hawaiian music, and Cuban music. It was lots of fun.
L4LM: Do you think all those different music you were exposed to helped expand your range?
DL: Oh, absolutely. Without a doubt. Especially the Cuban stuff that I really latched on to. I definitely don’t play Cuban music, but elements of studying that are definitely present in the music that I make, you know? Rhythmic things and things like that, the approaches. Yeah! Especially with music, you are kind of like, most songs are just some sort of an amalgamation of all that you’re exposed to. That definitely was a big one for a few years, there. I dug deep in to that.
L4LM: Like I said, we are just about done, but the question is: In this new era of modern, digital surveillance and heightened awareness of potential threats, do you think you would name your band, the Animal Liberation Orchestra?
DL: (Laughs) That’s a great question. You know, I’ll tell you the thing with our name. The answer to that is no, and the reason is — it’s not because of all this digital stuff or any of that stuff. The reason for that is because, you know, me, and Zach, and Steve had been playing together since were were little kids, and we would all trip — you know, we had a band name in high school, and then when we graduated high school and moved on, we started a new band name then. You know, then we changed drummers from our drummer then, and got another band name.
We had all these different band names over the years, and then, you know, ALO, Animal Liberation Orchestra, that just happened to be the name of our band at the time things started taking off. So if things hadn’t started moving for us, I’m sure within another year, we would have been on to another band name. You know, something would have sort of changed, stylistically or personnel-wise, between the three of us, and it probably would have been called something else. So it’s kind of funny. We had a whole bunch of other band names. It could have been any of them. I mean, I’m glad it wasn’t the Ivy Dogs.
L4LM: You know, I felt bad about asking you about your names, because that’s one of the things I try and avoid, because I know you guys get those kind of questions all the time.
DL: Yeah. But that was a very original…no one’s never asked that. So kudos to you, man, because it’s true. The name thing, as I’m sure you found out with bands, like so many people ask, “So what does your name mean? Where does your name come from?” Stuff like that, and it’s cool, you know, but I’m always like, “Aw, man, there’s hundreds of interviews out there that have that information in it,” but you asked me a great question.
L4LM: See, what I try and do is, I try and read as many of your other interviews as possible, and one of the things I’ve been doing is asking you guys how many times you’ve been asked the same questions. Just out of curiosity, percentage-wise, how many interviews would you think have asked you about your name?
DL: Oh, so many. Probably a little bit more, earlier on, but I mean, I can’t even put it in numbers, there are so many. Yeah. I don’t even know. A big percentage. I’d say, you know, 75% have asked that question.
L4LM: Well, thanks, Lebo. We’re looking forward to the new album. It sounds great, and I can’t wait to see you guys soon.
DL: Yeah! I can’t wait either.
[Photos by Chad Anderson]