Iron Butterfly | Artist
Iron Butterfly is an American heavy psych rock band formed 1966 in San Diego, California by founders Doug Ingle (vocals/organ), Jack Pinney (drums), Greg Willis (bass) and Danny Weis (guitar). Best known for the 1968 seventeen minute organ-driven acid rock opus "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida" (in the garden of Eden), they led the way towards the development of hard rock and heavy metal music. After the recording of their debut album Heavy, they underwent a major lineup change with only Ingle left from the founders, he was joined by Ron Bushy (drums), Lee Dorman (Bass) and 17 year old guitarist Erik Brann. It was this lineup that recorded their classic second album In-A-Gadda-Da-Vita in 1968. The 17 minute title track of the album was edited down to 2:52 minutes in the U.S. and became a hit. The album stayed on the Billboard charts for 140 weeks and ultimately sold over 30 million copies. With their rising popularity, the band had been booked to play at Woodstock in August 1969 but got stuck at New York City's LaGuardia Airport and never made it to the gig. The band underwent numerous lineup changes in the 70's but the quality of their recordings deteriorated after their fourth album Metamorphosis. Long term band members Larry Reinhardt (guitar) and Lee Dorman (bass) formed the offshoot band Captain Beyond, which released several albums including their classic self-titled debut from 1972. In 1978 Iron Butterfly tried a reunion tour and employed vocalist Jim Henderson and former Van der Graaf Generator bassist Keith Ellis to join them on the tour. However the tour ended abruptly when Ellis was found dead in his hotel room. The group has reformed several times since for reunion tours. In their lifetime, the band only recorded six studio albums plus one live album, but there have been some excellent archival releases released post-mortem. Their first four studio albums: Heavy (1968), In-a-gadda-da-vida (1968), Ball (1969), and Metamorphosis (1970) are worth investigating, as is the the archival release Fillmore East 1968, released in 2011. With their magnum opus In A Gadda Da Vida it is arguable that Iron Butterfly was responsible for spawning the whole metal genre. Along with the likes of Vanilla Fudge and Blue Cheer, Iron Butterfly was one of the heaviest of the Acid Rock bands to have risen out of the hippie counter culture movement of the 1960’s.
Artist Website: ironbutterflyband.com
Featured Albums: Iron Butterfly
Related Artists: Captain Beyond, Rhinoceros
