The Animal Liberation Orchestra Interview

Tim Baker: So what is the story behind the name?
Zach Gill: Well, the story behind the name was, we were in college and we wanted something bohemian and kind of out there but we also wanted something that reflected that, we had just been through music school, so we had a lot of academic musical training. At the time when we started The Animal Liberation Orchestra, our drummer was a professor, and we wanted something "orchestral" almost like a parody of some of the classical orchestra's we had been involved in. So that's kind of where we started with it and then we definitely liked the idea that it was definitely like a pretty wild funk band at the time, so we really liked the idea that people would get liberated on the dance floor, and turn into animals or vice versa. As time went by, we experimented with lots of different ways to present it, we used to wear animal masks and stuff like that, and then at some point we sort of just became ALO because it was nice and simple and kind of casual, you know - you don't want to wear animal masks for every show. Like, at certain times its fun -
Kyle Graham - But it may get to that point.
ZG - Well it may, in fact like lots of our late night stuff is when the creepy stuff starts to happen - like on the west coast, a lot of things happen, that don't maybe happen out here, just because not as many people know us, and a lot of times it seems like the fans now, especially on the west coast get a little "wilder" like they're wilder than us you know, but they kind of egg us on.
TB - That's always a plus when the fans are really into the music. And you were all classically trained in your instruments?
ZG - Well that's a relative term, we had some classical training.
Dan Lebowitz - Yeah, and had a lot of lessons. That's not really where it came from for us though, were all from more like - we started to play music when we heard music on the radio we liked, and wanted to figure out the songs, and I think from there, we kind of learned to play that way and there it kind of opened up our ears and then in high school as we got along, you know we have grown up since junior high together. In high school were like "Oh, there's a jazz band, lets go be in the jazz band, it would be fun to learn about" and then go to college.
ZG - Yeah, we always just wanted to learn about different styles of music.
TB - So how long have you guys (Zach and Dan) been playing together?
ZG - Well we have been playing together since we were twelve years old and I'm thirty-one now so we have been together almost twenty years.
TB - What really motivated you to do it - as far as being a musician for a profession?
ZG - You know what, I decided in like junior high that I wanted to be a musician on some level you know, like I just thought it would be a good job in comparison to other jobs in the world and I always thought it would a job I would like to do. I went to school and ended up not completely majoring in music and got a degree in history, but I just kind of always knew I wanted to keep doing music even when ALO wasn't happening and we all found ways to make money that still enabled us to keep learning. I used to accompany modern dance classes, play for musicals, like kept doing music at all costs.
TB - Whatever you can do.
ZG - Yeah, just all kinds of music cause for me you know I pretty much like it all, but some stuff if it's to loud I might not be able to expose myself completely to it.
TB - Really the only music I have a problem with is mainsteam because, it has lost all of its substance.
ZG - Yeah, a lot of it has, it's true.
DL - There's some good stuff in there too though.
TB - Like The Counting Crows are good.
DL - Yeah, for while there I was completely against mainstream and then I started to find what I didn't like about the mainstream actually wasn't the music, it was the way that they sell it, is just real cheesy, and then I started listening to some the bands that are real cheesy like -
ZG - Britney Spears.
DL - Yeah, and you like listen to the chords and the melody of the song and then what's cheesy about it is you see her all over the pepsi commercials and stuff like that. And sometimes I think you can take the coolest music and market it that way and it totally sucks.
TB - (laughs) ALO's Britney Spears album.
DL - (laughs) Yeah, she's sitting in on our next album.
TB - Speaking of which, I know you have incorporated a few new songs into the set, do you have any idea when the next album should be out?
DL - Fall, yeah were riding around in the bus right now selecting songs that will be on the next album.
TB - Touring always helps get the set tight before you go to the studio to record it.
ZG - Yeah well you know we kind of want to have a little more ah, I think we we're definitely thinking with this album, we want to just go in there with some stuff the way we play it live, but some stuff we just want to spend some time experimenting in the studio without like a real firm agenda, just kind of like laying down some stuff and seeing what happens, because sometimes you get in there and it's all this time and money business you know, it's like you got an idea and it's really hard you know you kind of get inspired but geez this could take me like hours to see if this really works, and in studio time that's hundreds of dollars.
DL - Thousands.
ZG - And you never know if your little idea is going to pan out into anything. I think we have all kind of opened ourselves up to the idea of allowing for some of that you know.
DL - Kind of like we got it set so we can go in and we have a chunk of material that we know is solid, but then with the album, basically give it time and do more songs than we need for the album so if some of the things that we allowed time to pan out, don't work then we can just ditch it and use something we know will work.
KG - And you play all the new songs at shows before you put it on a cd?
DL - In the past we did that but not as much anymore, like we have some new ones that -
ZG - We haven't played live intentionally so they will be fresh.
DL - Because sometimeS you play these songs live for a year or two and then go to the studio and go like "this is old stuff."
ZG - And sometime you feel like a song has a lifespan and fits in with a time and place, and so you'll start playing it when the album comes out and then by the next album your not really in love with that song anymore because it's played out. You got to be careful not to wear things out before they get a chance.
TB - So what have you been listening to in you downtime on the bus.
ZG - Yeah, you know I haven't listened too much, I bought a bunch of cd's on this trip. I bought the Raconteurs but I haven't gotten a chance to listen to it yet.
TB - With Jack White and Brendan Benson?
ZG - Yeah, I haven't listened to it yet but I want to check it. I bought some flaming lips stuff.
TB - Do you like the new one?
ZG - I do like the new one, I like it a lot.
DL - We have been listening to Gnarls Barkely.
TB - Yeah my ringtone is "crazy" right now.
DL - There's some good mainstream stuff.
ZG - Yeah, there's a lot of new music out there that, if it's good it will eventually become mainstream and then you have to make the choice whether to stick with it or get on the new thing that hasn't been discovered yet.
TB - Have you ever heard of Clap Your Hands Say Yeah?
ZG - I've heard of them.
TB - They(CYHSY) have a weird sound and it's really good but if they had gone to a record label, they (the label) would have changed it all around.
ZG - Yeah and see that's the thing, you know I suppose that's what's cool is when something kind of develops on it's own and it's got a long gestation period, and then when it gets to a label it's already what it is and then the label won't change it.
TB - So do you have any crazy stories from time on the road?
DL - Nothing to crazy really.
ZG - Yeah, this bus is pretty crazy when it starts moving. Definitely learning to sleep with all the stuff on the bus rattling around is kind of weird, but it's starting to feel all pretty normal now. There's always like a time, your getting use to it all. There hasn't been anything to crazy, usually there's something weird will happen but nothing on this trip has happened like that, it's all been pretty good. Oh yeah, we blew a tire but I slept through it though (laughs). And Brandon is driving the bus so it's been nice to have a driver so we can sleep and roll at the same time.
KG - How were the Dave Matthews shows, and what was the scene like?
DL - It was fun man, the crowd the crowd seemed to like what we were doing.
ZG - He was real nice.
DL - Yeah, real nice guy, we hung out with him almost every night.
ZG - He's got a lot of lights, and screens, and tons of stuff happening, which I thought was pretty cool.
TB - I know on the Jack Johnson DVD it showed you (Zach) and Jack Johnson playing ping pong, who do you think overall is the better ping pong player?
DL - You guys are pretty equal.
ZG - Well, Jack could beat me under most circumstances in ping pong but there are certain circumstances where I have the advantage. But it was funny, cause in the DVD he keeps trying to do this trick, trying to humiliate me, but he couldn't get it, which is pretty rad because normally he always can fake me out on it.
TB - So there was just like a random ping pong table at the venue?
ZG - Yeah, no we brought a ping pong table with us on tour.
KG - That's awesome.