The album will be released on March 3.
Today, marking a full circle moment and kicking off a very special 25th anniversary, California rock band ALO announce their first full-length studio LP in eight years and ninth overall studio release, Silver Saturdays due out March 3, including a limited run of vinyl, via Brushfire Records and available for pre-order now.
Alongside the announcement, the band shares the first taste of the forthcoming project with lighthearted track and video "Hot Damn" out everywhere now. Plus, ALO will hit the road this spring on the Tour d'Amour XVI around the Western U.S. with support from Rainbow Girls on several dates, and other dates featuring Hot Buttered Rum, ORGŌNE, Ron Artis II and The Moore Brothers. Tickets are on sale now.
Silver Saturdays isn't just another album. This is the rock 'n' roll dream made reality. Best friends since childhood who form a band, buy a van and embark on an adventure out of the lush valleys of the Golden State that's still flourishing a quarter of a century later.
ALO show what happens when a band doesn't break up and instead enjoys the fruition of their life long camaraderie and brotherhood. As such, the music hinges on the near-telepathic cohesion of four master collaborators at the peak of their craft individually and collectively after all of this time.
Silver Saturdays celebrates an ongoing journey that began in Saratoga, California in the late eighties when Dan "Lebo" Lebowitz (guitar/vocals), Zach Gill (keyboards/vocals) and Steve Adams (bass/vocals) met in grade school. It stands out as the first full-length studio release featuring drummer/vocalist Ezra Lipp-a fixture in the Northern California creative scene where he cut his teeth with the likes of Phil Lesh, Sean Hayes and countless others.
Meanwhile, the title nods to the band's recent penchant for silver attire at their Saturday shows, which became a costume theme amongst their fan base and an acknowledgment of their silver "25th" anniversary.
Today's release, "Hot Damn," is a feel-good track that alternates between moments of lush instrumentation, fluid fret-simmering guitar leads, and a hypnotic high register-inflected hook perfect to sing along to with the windows down (and funkified enough to move and groove to!).
It highlights both their musical intricacies and downright undeniable knack for a chorus. Keyboardist and vocalist Zach Gill explains, "'Hot Damn' is the eureka moment, the soulful epiphany, the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. As we behold our respective treasures, be they love, wisdom or an actual chest full of gold, we say to ourselves "Hot Damn!"
Animator and Director Deren Ney (Tom Petty, Grace Potter, Marcus King) delivered a video to accompany the song's release and adds, "The song explores the theme of digging around for the good stuff in life, so we reimagined the ALO origin story as a Goonies-style suburban adventure where the kids discover the greatest treasure of all: the power of rock and roll."
Recorded at Sun Machine studio-nestled in the hills of northern Marin County, CA-the album is a fully collaborative effort written by the band and co-produced alongside longtime engineer David Simon Baker. For Gill, Lebo, Adams and Lipp the session was both a return to their roots and a new beginning - a chance to reconnect and immerse themselves in the creative process.
"There's always a moment in the making of an ALO record when we ask ourselves, "Why make another record?" Gill reflects, "For me, the answer comes in waves over time. It has to do with the spirit of musical adventure and the rhythms of laughter. It's about the sweet release of a Lebo guitar lead over an Ezra drum beat as Steve and I weave the bass and keys around each other. Call it a jam, call it a song, call it a feeling, but it has to do with connection. For me, it feels like coming home."
Lebo adds, "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. 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!"
The result is ten new original songs, recorded mostly live, that pay direct homage to the journey and the artistic process and further refine ALO's singular and self-ascribed "jam-pop" genre-which Lebo fondly describes as "human music for humans."
The subject matter is specific and deeply personal while also universal and accessible, and the musicianship follows suit. There is no pretense, no pomp, and not a note wasted. There's no bulls; this is just great players delivering a masterclass in the art of serving the music.
The sounds captured on Silver Saturdays are fresh and mercurial, but they are also fun, thoughtful, dreamy and articulate. All four members lend their distinctive lead and background vocals throughout. Their concise, meticulously-crafted songwriting and storytelling is interwoven with Lebo's soaring, seemingly effortless leads as he draws impossible, ever-evolving tones from his signature acoustic-electric guitar.
Gill's tasty comping on keys and Adams' bass groove perfection provide deep pockets sewn by a lifetime of mutual experience, and Lipp's jam-informed rhythmic flourishes breathe new energy into the mix while also maintaining stylistic continuity with ALO's earlier body of work.
Following the album's arrival, the band dons their best silver and sets out on the Tour d'Amour XVI - to support the release and celebrate 25 years together - with good friends Rainbow Girls, Hot Buttered Rum, ORGŌNE, Ron Artis II and The Moore Brothers joining on various dates.
The Tour d'Amour XVI kicks off on March 10 & 11th with two consecutive dates at Crystal Bay Club in Crystal Bay, NV. The band will then make its way through California for six dates including Belly Up in Solana Beach and The Fillmore in San Francisco. At the end of March, the band will play Portland, OR's Doug Fir and complete the tour in Seattle, WA on April 1st. Tickets are on sale now here.
ALO's "Hot Damn," out everywhere now, encourages one to hang on tightly to joy, wherever one may find it. Silver Saturdays, the ninth studio album from the band, is due out March 3, along with a limited run on vinyl, and is available for pre-order now via Brushfire Records.
Hear the new music and longtime fan favorites as ALO put on their best silver suits and celebrate 25 years on the Tour d'Amour XVI across the West Coast this spring with tickets on sale now. Connect with ALO on Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube to stay up-to-date with much more to come.
Watch the new music video here:
Videos