Iron Butterfly

Iron Butterfly are a historic psychedelic band, remembered above all for the legendary suite that gave its title to their second album, "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida" (1968).

The band was formed in San Diego in 1966: a quartet made up of Doug Ingle, Jack Pinney, Greg Willis and Danny Weis, later joined by Darryl DeLoach. When the lineup relocated to the Los Angeles megalopolis, Jerry Penrod and Bruce Morse took the place of Willis and Pinney. Morse also left, due to family issues, and was replaced by Ron Bushy. It was a troubled couple of years, '66-'68, which nevertheless led the band to its long-awaited debut, with the prophetic title "Heavy" (1968). It's a murky work, offering mostly psych-rock tracks with blues inflections. Two elements stand out: Danny Weis's guitar, especially on "Gentle As It May Seem" and "Look For The Sun"; and Doug Ingle's organ, especially on "Stamped Ideas". But the record is remembered above all for the epic "Iron Butterfly Theme", a guitar distortion that could steal the scene from early Black Sabbath, co-starring in a visionary instrumental track alongside the organ, prominently featured in the central solo. The earth-shaking finale is one of the most brazen displays of power rock had ever offered up to that point. The entire lineup, except Ingle and Bushy, left the band after the recording sessions, with DeLoach and Weis going on to join Rhinoceros. Erik Brann (sometimes credited as Braunn) came in on guitar and Lee Dorman on bass, supporting the debut tour and later becoming the protagonists of the album for which Iron Butterfly went down in history.

The second album, "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida" (1968), is in fact one of the earliest examples of heavy-psych, a style that combines a hallucinated bent with a passion for hard, jagged sounds dominated by towering guitar riffs. A stylistic shift immediately on display in "Most Anything You Want", the ideal fusion of psychedelic songwriting and hard-rock power. However, "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida" would never have gone down in the history books were it not for the title track, one of the most definitive psychedelic ravings of all time. The legend begins with the eccentric title, which according to one amusing story is a "mind-altered" mangling of the more comprehensible "In The Garden Of Eden". Then, after the title, comes the song itself: 17 minutes of instrumental orgy, built on the pretext of a brief musical theme laid out at the start. In under 3 minutes the song has already turned into an incendiary jam with loose rules, which, pared down to a more essential form around the sixth minute, makes way for a long, tribal drum solo, then a liturgical organ, and finally a violent return of the main guitar motif, closing with a feverish tribal dance. Together with Blue Cheer, Steppenwolf and a few others, Iron Butterfly became the founding fathers of psychedelia's harder side with this torrential track. A simplified version of the sprawling "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida", stripped of the solos and clocking in at just 2:53, unexpectedly became a hit. The album became the first platinum record in RIAA history, later adding three more equivalent awards over the following years: the staggering figure of 30 million copies sold places "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida" among the all-time bestsellers.

The task facing "Ball" (1969) was not an easy one: following up an album that was both crucial to rock's historical evolution and a massive commercial success. Let's say it right away: they don't even attempt to replicate the torrential track. The haunting, gloomy mix of hard-rock and psych-rock on "In The Times Of Our Lives" and the similar but sunnier "It Must Be Love", together with the odd-time dance of "Her Favorite Style", mark the first part of the record, which also flirts with several more old-fashioned, decidedly less heavy moments. The "Iron Butterfly Theme" finds an heir in "Filled With Fear", while traces of the jam spirit only resurface in the closing "Belda-Beast". After the fireworks of "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida", though, this one feels like an unusually timid and subdued work.

The following year, the American band had to deal with the departure of guitarist Erik Brann, but still released the album "Metamorphosis", with Larry "Rhino" Reinhardt and Mike Pinera on guitars. The album only managed to secure one of the lower spots on the national Top 20, and in 1971 the band broke up for the first time.

Iron Butterfly reformed in 1974 at the hands of two members of the previous lineup, Brann and Bushy. Philip Taylor Kramer was brought in as bassist, while Howard Reitzes was hired as keyboardist (later replaced by Bill DeMartinez). With this new lineup, the group recorded two albums ("Scorching Beauty" and "Sun And Steel") before breaking up again in 1976. Two years later, an attempt to reunite the band sadly fell through due to the death of the bassist hired for the occasion, Keith Ellis, who was found dead in his hotel room.

The group would later reform in 1988, only to split up in 1993, and finally reunited for a second time in 1998, led by Dorman and Bushy.

Former guitarist Larry "Rhino" Reinhardt died on January 2, 2012, while bassist Lee Dorman passed away on December 21, 2012.

The band split up once again in 2014. Bassist Greg Willis died on November 11, 2016. Former keyboardist Larry Rust passed away on November 25, 2016.

The survivors reunite once again in 2020 with the following line-up: Eric Barnett (guitar, vocals), Dave Meros (bass, vocals), Bernie Pershey (drums, percussion), Martin Gerschwitz (keyboards, vocals), with occasional guests or musicians such as Ron Bushy (drums, percussion), Ray Weston (drums, percussion) and Michael Thomas Franklin (keyboards).