ALO has released the band’s highly anticipated ninth studio album, Silver Saturdays, along with a new music video for “Growing Your Hands Back” directed by Fruition bassist Jeff Leonard.
Silver Saturdays celebrates ALO’s silver 25th anniversary and gets its title from the band’s recent habit of dressing in silver for Saturday shows, which has been adopted by fans. Recorded mostly live at Sun Machine studio in Marin County, CA, the album is the first to feature drummer Ezra Lipp alongside founding members Dan “Lebo” Lebowitz (guitar/vocals), Zach Gill (keyboards/vocals), and Steve Adams (bass/vocals), who first met in grade school in Saratoga, CA in the late ’80s. The group has come a long way since then, earning a prestigious position in the jam pantheon with a homegrown blend of buoyant compositions, superlative musicianship, and, perhaps most importantly, endlessly amusing live shows.
“It’s a palpable feeling when the four of us are in a room together creating music—having our individual sound waves collide as they transform and morph into one before even getting captured by the microphones,” said Lebo. “My hope for the listeners of ALO’s Silver Saturdays is that they get to experience a bit of this invigorating feeling—and better yet, that it stirs up some inspiration of their own!”
Watch a behind-the-scenes video about the making of Silver Saturdays below.
ALO – Silver Saturdays (Behind the Scenes)
Along with the new album, ALO shared a third and final single—following previous singles “Sparrow” and “Hot Damn”. “’Growing Your Hands Back’ is about losing your wherewithal and through a process of revelation and self-discovery, growing it back,” Gill shared. “The lyrics were partially inspired by an old folktale called The Handless Maiden. For me, the “hands” in this song are being used for clapping and playing musical instruments, for sharing drinks and giving hugs and high-fives to old friends, after a long time apart. It’s a song of finding your way back to the primordial campfire of joy and group revelry, after a long, hard time away.”
“Growing Your Hands” arrives along with a video featuring found footage of the band. “When making found footage videos, I’ve come to see the importance of not only finding clips that match the feel of the music, but also add another level of context to the lyrics, without being too literal,” explained the video’s director and Fruition bassist Jeff Leonard. “I especially loved using the clip of musicians gathered around a piano for the line ‘gathering ‘round a fire,’—the piano being a sort of hearth.”
ALO – “Growing Your Hands Back”
ALO will celebrate the release of Silver Saturdays by hitting the road next week for the Tour d’Amour XVI, with shows around the Western U.S. with support from Rainbow Girls on select dates, and other dates featuring Hot Buttered Rum, ORGŌNE, Ron Artis II, and The Moore Brothers. Tickets are on sale now via the band’s website.
Silver Saturdays is available now on all streaming platforms, and a limited run of clear 180g vinyl is on sale now here. Listen via Spotify in the player below. Scroll down to view ALO’s upcoming tour dates, and for more on the tour, head here.
ALO – Silver Saturdays
