Black Brigade

Corporal Gander’s Fire Dog Brigade were a German outfit who recorded one album ‘On The Rocks’ in 1970 which featured a mixture of cover versions and originals. They then changed their name to Wind and released two further albums for the budget label Plus Records. Both Wind albums are now hugely sought-after and highly-prized artefacts.

Balancing breeziness with complexity, this ambitious Oakland, California-based avant-prog band led by Bill Wolter released its debut full-length, Rainbro, on AltrOck in 2012. Guitarist, composer, and Mills College music composition graduate Bill Wolter plays with various Bay Area bands, and formed this adventurous avant-prog outfit in Oakland, California around 2005. With a quartet lineup of guitar, keyboards, bass, and drums, Inner Ear Brigade self-released the four-song Belly Brain EP in the summer of 2005, citing such influences as Magma, Sun Ra, and Frank Zappa. With a change in bass players and the addition of a saxophonist, the band expanded to a quintet, remaining a five-piece until late in the decade, when Inner Ear Brigade grew even larger with vocalist Melody Ferris, saxophonist Ivor Holloway, and vibraphonist Ryder Shelly joining the band.

A Rock Oaklanders Inner Ear Brigade were founded in 2005 as a quartet by a guitarist / frontman Bill Wolter and his fellow musicians. Although their lineup has not been settled, basically they've utilized Hammond Organ, Fender Rhodes, Moog synthesizer, voices, vibes or a viola for their music experimentalism, obviously influenced by Sun Ra, Ruins, and especially Magma. Since 2009 they've expanded their formation into a septet, featuring voices, guitars, bass, drums, keyboards, saxophone, and vibraphone. In January 2012, Inner Ear Brigade released their first full length album "Rainbro" via an Italian independent label AltrOck Records and upon their bandcamp (as a downloadable material).