OK, yeah, Iron Butterfly wrote and performed “In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida” an epic 1968 psych-rock jam that basically upturned everyone’s idea of what a band could do. The 17-minute song took up an entire album side. Its baroque organ and heavy-as-anything riffage was a template for the rock that followed. On one level, it was a benchmark of incoherent bombast, but it was also irresistible. The song forced radio programmers and record company executives to accept that they had little notion of what was going on with popular tastes if such a slab of strangeness could be so popular.
But Iron Butterfly was way more than that era- and genre-defining hit. The Los Angeles band had elements in common with other California rockers like the Music Machine, Love, the Doors, and Blue Cheer, but they were their own thing all along. If you’ve never listened to songs like “Fields of Sun,” “Lonely Boy” and “In the Time of Our Lives,” seek out those deeper cuts for a sense of how the band mixed a strange touch of blue-eyed soul into their gothic rock. This lineup features musicians who have all played with the original members of the band.
See Iron Butterfly at The State House, 294 State St., New Haven, on April 6 at 8 p.m. Tickets are $18 to $22. statehousepresents.com
