An Early Morning Spent with the Frontman for the Animal
Liberation Orchestra
It’s 9:15 a.m., and I am knocking on the door of a tract home
adjacent to the Ellwood mesa. It’s an early morning for what was a
late night of watching magicgravy perform on SOhO’s stage at the
Santa Barbara Music Phreaks holiday party. 
Gill, who sat in with the band on keys, opens his door dressed in
what must be his pajamas: velvety blue sweatpants (the same ones,
incidentally, he wore when trying out to be Beck’s keyboardist) and
a pale blue shirt that says “Jamaican Sunset” backwards because
it’s inside out .
“Oh man,” says Gill, wiping the sleep out of his eyes. “I forgot
about you.”
As the frontman for the Animal Liberation Orchestra, or ALO as they’re
internationally known, Gill runs a busy life: he’s a husband,
father, constant songwriter, and go-to keyman for friend Jack Johnson. His
band, which also includes Seattle-based drummer Dave Brogan and his
childhood buddies Steve Adams on bass and Dan Lebowitz on guitar,
tours constantly to sold-out crowds. 
studio in the Santa Barbara foothills, they cut the songs that will
be on their forthcoming album. It will be ALO’s first big-time,
fully produced CD and is slated for an April release on Johnson’s
Brushfire
Records.