Billy Howerdel, former guitarist and songwriter with A Perfect Circle has carried on with a new musical direction with his latest project, Ashes Divide. Ashes Divide released their debut album, 'Keep Telling Myself it's Alright' in April and although the album showcases most every instrument being performed by Howerdel, it does features the legendary Josh Freese on drums, Devo Keenan on cello who is the son of Tool's Maynard James Keenan, Dean Menta, Concrete Blonde's Johnette Napolitano, Alkaline Trio's Matt Skiba and former A Perfect Circle bassist Paz Lenchantin.
Billy Howerdel has certainly taken some unorthodox steps to get where he is today as a musician and he's seen many different sides of the music industry. Before forming A Perfect Circle and even before being a guitar tech for bands like Faith No More, Fishbone, David Bowie, The Smashing Pumpkins, Nine Inch Nails, Guns N' Roses, and Tool, Howerdel was also a lighting designer and he knows what it takes to put on an entertaining show. We caught up with Howerdel just before beginning his tour with Ashes Divide in support of 'Keep Telling Myself it's Alright' to find out if he always had a desire to be onstage.
Watch video: Billy Howerdel On Wanting To Be Part Of Show
"I didn't have it back then. I didn't really have that 'I want to be on stage' kind of bug. I just wanted to be around this. You know like around, I can't imagine doing anything else. I'm sure one day maybe I will but I just always wanted to be around the show in one form or another. As I was a musician when I started doing lighting early on I just started playing guitar and just started writing songs. I always kept writing songs and eventually they got a little more solidified and then got the courage up to show them to other people and it brings me to today in a roundabout way. Meeting people or having, when you work for bands or are in a band you have access to other people and one things falls into place after another. It's a strange path to take to be a musician but it just organically happened the way it happened."
On the strength of the single "The Stone," Keep Telling Myself It's Alright debuted on The Billboard 200 Chart at #36 and in this day and age of digital downloads we wanted to know if charts mean as much to Billy as they used to.
Watch video: Billy Howerdel On Ashes Divide Chart Debut
"It's funny when the first Perfect Circle record when it came out we got hourly reports of what the sales where in this city and that city and then the next record was like you know a little less as people were stop paying for records more and more. And this time I called at like 4 in the afternoon, I called management 'So, what's up?' and he goes 'Well...' It's not the same thing as it was in the past when you were like looking at what it's going to be. This is more, this is my 18 month, start of an 18 month thing where I go on the road. It's just a whole different world than it was years ago."
Billy Howerdel held auditions for the touring lineup for Ashes Divide and he chose Jeff Friedl on drums, Matt McJunkins on bass, Andy Gerold on lead guitar and Adam Monroe on keyboards. Ashes Divide is set to hit the road for a run of small club shows beginning May 9th in Jacksonville, Florida as well as make an appearance at Rock on the Range May 17th in Columbus Ohio. Ashes Divide also booked for Linkin Park's Projekt Revolution 2008 tour as they will be opening the main stage at each stop. Joining Ashes Divide and Linkin Park on the Main Stage is Chris Cornell and The Bravery. On the Revolution Stage is Atreyu, 10 Years, Hawthorne Heights, Armor For Sleep, and Street Drum Corps. 2008's Projekt Revolution Tour begins July 16th in Mansfield, Massachusetts and extends until August 24th in Woodlands, Texas.
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