Billy Howerdel of 'A Perfect Circle'

Billy Howerdel has been putting the finishing touches on his debut solo album. A preview from the forthcoming collection was shared last month with the release of “Poison Flowers”. BBC Rock Radio 1’s Daniel P. Carter said: “If you’re a huge fan of A Perfect Circle, you’re gonna love it hands down. Has shades of A Perfect Circle in there but also a lot of his early influences really coming through like The Cure, Depeche Mode, Echo & the Bunnymen. Solid!” Loudwire said “Howerdel paints a haunting visual with a dark palette,” Guitar World commented that “the A Perfect Circle man has channeled his early influences… which treads a line between Pink Floyd and Nine Inch Nails,” and Revolver described the five-and-a-half minute song as “an ethereal, brooding and intensely stark creeper with gothic vocals and oodles of atmospheric textures.”

Billy Howerdel has perhaps one of rock music’s most well-rounded and interesting resumes. Growing up in West Milford, New Jersey, he spent hours listening to WLIR emanating out of Long Island, New York. Lying in bed, he would scribble down playlists and then scout out the records he loved in stores, among them The Cure, Echo and the Bunnymen, Dead Kennedys, and Elvis Costello. However, it was the experience of seeing Pink Floyd at Giants Stadium that triggered his lust for finding a way to work in the music industry. Howerdel initially racked up experience in stage lighting, working for almost any band or theater production that would ask, while at the same time devoting the rest of his free time to practicing guitar. A few years of work led to a chance meeting with Fishbone, a move west and quickly becoming a sought-after road and studio tech, working with David Bowie, Guns N’ Roses, Nine Inch Nails, and oh yeah, being roommates with Tool’s Maynard James Keenan. It was that friendship that birthed the multi-platinum alternative rock supergroup, A Perfect Circle.