MUSIC PREVIEW – Iron Butterfly lands in Hermosa Beach

The iconic rock band Iron Butterfly, celebrating its 50th year, play Saint Rocke Thursday night. Photo by Jennifer Fisher Photography
The iconic rock band Iron Butterfly, celebrating its 50th year, play Saint Rocke Thursday night. Photo by Jennifer Fisher Photography

The iconic rock band Iron Butterfly, celebrating its 50th year, play Saint Rocke Thursday night. Photo by Jennifer Fisher Photography

One of the more mundane memories Michael Green, member of the band Iron Butterfly, recollects of Hollywood in the late-1960s happened at the record store, Wallichs Music City, on Sunset Boulevard and Vine Street.

“I remember going into the store and spending hours at a time there,” he recalls. “You could pull any record it had and listen to it inside a booth. When I now look back at those early years in Los Angeles, I say to myself, ‘It was magical.’”

Wallichs shuttered like so many other locales synonymous with the Los Angeles music scene of the ‘60s and ‘70s, including Pandora’s Box, a nightclub turned epicenter of the 1966 Sunset Strip riots sparked by the enforcement of a 10 p.m. curfew. Fliers were distributed in town, asking people to protest the ordinance, and the effort drew about 1,000 rock fans, along with actors Jack Nicholson and Peter Fonda. (Police handcuffed Fonda, but later released him, since he was only there filming the incident.) The crowd objected to the closure of nightclubs like Pandora’s Box and eventually tussled with police. Stephen Stills, then-member of the band Buffalo Springfield, wrote the song, “For What It’s Worth,” partly about the melee.

These are the memories Green has of Los Angeles, and like Wallichs and Pandora’s Box, Iron Butterfly, celebrating its 50th year, boasts a history steeped in L.A.’s music past.

“I lived in The Valley, but when I first got out there, I spent a lot of time in Hollywood,” recalls Green, who moved to Los Angeles at 18. “In the beginning, I was more of a listener of the scene than a player in it. And the scene was what one would imagine and expect, especially everything that was going on in Hollywood. The town smelled like incense with bikers and hippies walking the streets—it was a very psychedelic scene.”

Green grew up in Miami and started on the drums as a teenager, later transitioning to percussion. He joined a band less for the music and more to meet girls.

“I played at a club called The Place, where the musicians got paid five bucks and a hot meal,” remembers Green.  

After relocating to L.A., Green joined Blues Image, a group that eventually became the houseband at the Whisky A Go Go. Blues Image occasionally opened for Iron Butterfly and that’s how Green met the original members.

In 1968, Iron Butterfly released its debut album “Heavy” after signing with  ATCO. The group subsequently hit the road to promote it with the likes of The Doors, Jefferson Airplane, The Grateful Dead, Traffic, The Who and Cream. Iron Butterfly followed up with the famed, “In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida,” an album showcasing the popular title-song that spans more than 17 minutes. “In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida” has sold more than 30 million copies.

Personnel changes aside, Iron Butterfly hasn’t changed much, stilling playing the rhythmic, spacy, ethereal  psychedelic rock from the 1960s.

“Our shows will bring you into that period of time, and people who remember the ‘60s, they are crazy about it,” explains Green. “Some of the songs are a little corny, like ‘Flowers and Beads,’ yet people love it. If you listen to the lyrics though, they are almost bubble gum, but at the time they were not and our fans want to be transported back to that time, so they fit right in with the theme of our show.”

Sharing the stage with Green: Eric Barnett (lead guitar and vocals), a member of Iron Butterfly for the past 10 years; Dave Meros (bass and vocals), member of the band Spock’s Beard who has played with Eric Burdon, Simon Phillips and Glenn Hughes; Ray Weston (drums), a longtime member of Wishbone Ash who joined the houseband Viva Cabaret with Tom Jones; and Phil Parlapiano (keyboards and vocals), who has toured with John Prine and recorded with Rod Stewart, Grant Lee Buffalo, Johnny Rivers, Tracy Chapman and Social Distortion.

Iron Butterfly recently signed with Cleopatra Records, and one can naturally conclude that the band might have some new music for its fans, Millennials and Baby Boomers alike.

Iron Butterfly (Andy and Renee of Hard Rain) plays 8 p.m., May 12 at Saint Rocke, 142 Pacific Coast Highway, Hermosa Beach.  www.saintrocke.com.

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