ALO aims to expand fan base.

Byline: Carolyn Lamberson The Register-Guard

After a summer of touring with surfer dude, musician and old pal Jack Johnson, it seems only fitting that the Animal Liberation Orchestra would become part of the family.

Johnson's label, Brushfire Records, recently signed ALO and will release the band's most recent CD, "Fly Between Falls."

The record already has been released a few times. The band put it out independently in California in December 2004. It was released again Aug. 1, when the Jack Johnson tour started, as a "national release," ALO bass player Steve Adams said.

`And it was also released in Japan, probably in March, I think,' he said. "It was pretty much that they tried to time that right when Jack's record came out. And actually, our CD sales in Japan are pretty good.

`They positioned it next to Jack's record and said, `If you like Jack, you might like this band, too. And he's on one of the tracks.' '

Now, with Brushfire, it'll be released all over again, in January 2006.

`Fly Between Falls" is ALO's fourth album, but it's the first with drummer Dave Brogan, who had played in an earlier incarnation of the band before leaving for Seattle. He rejoined the group in 2002.

Some of the songs date back to 1996, the summer when ALO packed up for Georgia on a quest to meet James Brown. (They did.)

`Wasting Time" was a "song we'd sing about our college town while in Georgia, longing to go back or just thinking about it," Adams said.

Vocalist Zach Gill wrote "Possibly Drowned' in the shed of the backyard of their house in Georgia. The title refers to a memorial plaque posted at a nearby river.

"All the tunes on the record kind of span a number of years, because we've written so many songs over the years we oftentimes don't get chances to record them because we're already on to the next batch,' Adams said.

"So this was kind of like an album to pick our favorite ones we've written over the years and put them on a record.'

The core members of ALO have been playing together for years. Gill, guitarist Dan Lebowitz and Adams first formed a band in junior high school - more than 15 years ago, Adams said. The band coalesced at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

ALO are no strangers to Eugene. Over the years, the band played friends' house parties, the Oregon Country Fair and local bars such as Taylor's, Samurai Duck, Cafe Paradiso and Sam Bond's.

Today, the band will get their jam vibe on for an all-ages show it headlines at the WOW Hall.

The band is playing close attention to the "all-ages" tag. ALO earned some younger fans during Johnson's sold out summer tour, which played the Les Schwab Amphitheatre in Bend.

A WOW Hall show is "great for some of those kids who might want to come back and see us play again,' Adams said.

But he also hopes to see some older fans turn out to the WOW Hall, he said, because the band likes to see people really get into the groove and dance.

The level of "groove" on the Johnson tour was inexperienced, he said.

`Most of Jack's fans are younger,' Adams said, `so they're just getting used to dancing and expressing themselves in shows.'

CONCERT PREVIEW

Animal Liberation Orchestra

With: Taarka

When: 8 p.m. today

Where: WOW Hall, 291 W. Eighth Ave.

Tickets: $10 advance, available from TicketsWest and the WOW Hall, or $12 at the door

CAPTION(S):

The Animal Liberation Orchestra's latest CD has sold well in Japan, where it is positioned alongside Jack Johnson CDs.