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NEWS Dec 26, 2005
Howie's update: We had our newest weapon along for the ride this time in one Mr. Peter DeWint, our soundman who also gave us background vocal help from behind the board. Yes, he does a very slow soundcheck (zzzzzz) but made the band sound HUGE. It was good seeing alot of old friends from the Tamplin days in Germany...Chris Bauske, Thomas Gamper, Guido, both Dirks, etc. Very strange to be back in Witten, which is another place I swore I would never go to again! Some of the clubs we played were a little smaller than what we are used to, but we did our best to put on the best show we could. I got a bad case of bronchitis on this run, and actually had a doctor come to the hotel in Greece to write me a prescription. And then of course I gave it to everyone else in the band and crew. Gotta give big props to the aforementioned Chris McCarvill. He stepped into some big shoes and filled them quite admirably. Playing guitar, bass, acoustic guitar, acoustic bass, and singing all that new material is not an easy job, especially for a guy who doesn't live his life immersed in cover songs like the rest of us do. And you have to love it when he signs his autographs "The NEW Gary". Dave Dzialak was there again as well and what can you say about him? On to South America. I see Jeff has already written a report on that tour, so in the interests of being lazy I will just cut and paste what he wrote right here:
Hi all, by popular demand, I've been asked to give a little report on the
South American
tour as there was little mention on the net compared to the European tours
I've done. I'll
keep it brief as that keeps it more interesting!
Howie & I left to Buenos Aires first as I had a few days of press before
the others joined us.
En route & connecting through Dallas, Howie & I got a quick bite before
boarding our
connector & ran into the guys from Adler's Appetite, Steven Adler's GNR
tribute who were
en route to play some shows in Buenos Aires. Howie has a buddy in the
band & when on
the plane, he asked the guy sitting next to him if he would switch seats
so he could hang
with his bud, the guy was more than keen so Howie went back to get his friend,
no sooner
did he mention he had an exit row seat, Adler jumped up & exclaimed `I'll
take it!!' to both
guys' surprise. Within minutes of takeoff, Adler had taken a potent sleeping
pill & the site
sitting behind the 2 was more than amusing the entire 10 hour flight!! Adler
kept `leaning'
into Howie who was borderline throwing him off every few minutes…this went
on until just
before we landed, better comedy for me than the inflight movies!
I had a press conference that went really well that night…our poor translator
got pulled
through the wringer as she misquoted quite a few names during mine & Howie's
answers.
I answered a question about Neal `Schon' which she translated as Neil `Young'…there were
other things that were quite funny for us but I think she was more than embarrassed. The
rest of the guys came in the next morning & we set out later that afternoon for Brasil, well
all of us except for my drummer Dave who `assumed' that because Howie & I had 5 year
visas for Brasil from our trip last year that his was too good for 5 years. His was only good
for 90 days from the day he received it which means it expired last year & Dave got left
behind in Argentina to deal with getting a quick visa. Timing could not have been more
against him as our President, George W. Bush, had arrived that day for a summit meeting,
greeted with much protest & aingst from the locals. Later that day, people were rioting &
looting in the streets by the thousands….right outside Dave's hotel window, what a way to
start the tour!
Since Chile had been canceled, we had about 5 days off in Sao Paolo while Dave dealt with
his visa issues. I had a lot of press to do though, but for the most part, we endulged every
night on the local churrascarias (Brasilian BBQ) & the amazing Caipiroskas, our favorite
vodka drink.
Dave finally joined us the night before our 1st show south of Sao Paolo in a town called
Curitiba. We did a great instore & the show went great, good crowd & all!
The next few shows were in Sao Paolo, 2 of them opening for a new local artist named
Renato Tribuzy who had special guest artists joining him for his set, including Bruce
Dickinson from Iron Maiden. They were shooting a video on night 2 & originally I was
offered for my show to be filmed but all the organizers & financiers decided against it last
minute. The whole event was a disorganized mess & I just wanted to get through it
without putting my fist on someone's head! It was great to see my old high school pal, Roy
Z who produces & plays for Bruce, there & he came up did You Really Got Me at the end of
my set on night 2.
Night 3 was to be an acoustic show at a bar called Manifesto, I've been a regular there
since my 1st visit to Sao Paolo back in 2002, but the place has since expanded & at the
last minute, I changed the acoustic night to the electric set as I felt my fans were cheated
of seeing the `real' show as most did not opt to pay the enormous price at the Tribuzy
show just to see me do a support time slot. It was a fun night & we all got pretty tanked
on caipiroskas…especially Chris!!
The next show was in Peru, which took us 16 hours to get to from Sao Paolo…there are
direct flights that take about 4 ½ hours but they weren't available so we had to do the
`long haul' up through Panama & then back down to Lima…it was horrible but necessary.
The show went well & I was happy to break new ground in a place I had no idea people
knew of me! The flight back was worse as we had an extra leg up to Salvador which made
for a 20 hour travel day, arriving the morning of the show! That was at a huge club right
off the Atlantic Ocean, on the beach so the humidity & heat was ridiculous in the place, I
was sweating just from walking up the stairs to the dressing room! Great gig, about 600+
in attendance & they sweat with me through the night.
The next show was in Recife, about an hour flight the next morning, & the venue was very
old & not what any of us would traditionally expect to do a show at. As well, right by the
ocean, the heat & humidity factor was ridiculous but seem to always make for great shows
as the large attendance stayed with us the whole way.
We almost missed our flight to Buenos Aires as we had to be at the airport by 4am for a
5:30am departure, we checked in so late they held the plane until we all boarded, this
after no sleep & 2 shows in a row, heading straight in for the 3rd in a row & final of the
tour. I spoken to Virgil (Donati, Soul SirkUS drummer) before leaving the US about my tour
& he told me he was doing some workshops in South America around the same time.
Coincidentally, he was in Buenos Aires & had the night off the night of my show so of
course, I had to bring him on for once again, You Really Got Me, the song is becoming a
regular jam for me these days…in Sao Paolo during the 1st week, I jumped on stage with
Howie & Chris with a local band called Columbia Rock for the same jam. Virgil did an
amazing drum break down/solo after the guitar solo & everyone was left speechless. Great
way to end the tour!
That's pretty much it without all the glorious or gory details, it's best to use the
imagination to fill in the blanks!! There are talks I will be returning in June for another
jaunt, can't wait!!!
JSS
July 14, 2005
Howie's update: We are looking forward to playing in Greece and Russia for the 1st time! I am really psyched to be playing with our new bassist Chris McCarvill who I already had the pleasure of performing with at this past January NAMM show. Chris will definitely bring a new element to the sound of the band. Best of luck to Gary Schutt in his his future endeavors in music or if he decides to become an Eskimo seal trainer, or a Tibetan monk who delivers pizzas! As far as site updates, please look in the Miscellaneous folder on the SIGHTS page to see some pics from my Storm Warning reunion show this past April. The show was a complete blast to play with my old bandmates Chris Daley and Paul Scott and I want to thank Dave Dzialak for guesting on drums. Unfortunately we had no way to contact our original drummer David Joel... so if you're reading this David... send me an email! Remember, the Talisman cd and DVD are for sale right now so make sure you pick up a copy! Hope to see millions of you on tour!! Howie
APRIL 5, 2005
 March 7, 2005
Howie is featured as the "RIFF OF THE MONTH" artist at this location Howie is the top 2 clips on the left and you will need Quicktime Player to view these. Also - we have posted sound clips from the "LIVE AT THE QUEEN CONVENTION 2003" CD on the left side of the "sounds" page here: http://www.howiesimon.com/sounds.htm
March
5, 2005 Howie's
update- I
just wanted to let everyone know that I am still writing material for my as yet
unnamed solo cd. The songs are coming along slowly but surely. Glen
Sobel (www.GlenSobel.com) will be the drummer on this project and the drums
will be done in Ken Tamplin's studio. I am still deciding who will mix
the final product but a couple of different people have been approached
already. I
have a couple of upcoming live shows to announce: *The
1st is a very rare acoustic performance with Jeff Scott Soto on Thursday,
March 24th, 2005 at Club Vodka (www.ClubVodka.com)
in Hollywood, California. We will start about 10:30 PM. This gig will be
just Mr. Soto and I playing songs from Jeff's whole back catalog up
to and including our newest release, Lost In The Translation which is out now. Please
email my webmaster at Darrell@HowieSimon.com
to have your name put on the discount list. Also, on Sunday March 20th, Jeff Soto and I will be appearing on
KNAC.com's DJ Will show at approximately 11:00 am PST. You can listen
live at www.KNAC.com . We will
probably perform one acoustic song in preparation for our Club Vodka gig, as
well as debut tracks from the new live Talisman CD, Jeff's Soul SirkUS project
with Neal Schon, and other stuff from our last few releases. *The
2nd show I want to promote will see me reunited with JSS Band drummer Dave
Dzialak. I will be playing Saturday, April 16th, 2005 at 10PM at
Desiderio's http://www.buffalobarfly.com/Desiderios/desiderios.html
in Buffalo, N.Y. This
will be a one time reunion show with my old band STORM WARNING, also featuring
singer Paul Scott and bassist Chris Daley. We will be doing one set co
-headlining with local band Strictly Hip. STORM WARNING plays metal cover
songs, a few original tunes, and a few surprises for JSS fans. If you
live anywhere in that area be sure not to miss this one time only event.
You can also see Dave's new website at www.DDDrums.com. Speaking
of the new Talisman - the DVD and CD will be released March 21st on
Frontiers Records throughout Europe. Andrew at MelodicRock.com put up
sound clips from the double cd at http://www.melodicrock.com/showcase/talisman-fivemenlive.html I
also want to announce that I appear in the new Fender Frontline 2005 guitar
catalog (There will be more extremely cool news regarding me and Fender in the
next couple of months so stay tuned!). This catalog can be picked up for free at most Guitar Centers in
the USA, but if you can’t find it, there is a new PRESS page here on the site
at http://www.howiesimon.com/press.htm
. This also features some other
magazines that I appear in (Man I put a lot of links in this news update!). Speaking
of more links, there are some photos of my January NAMM appearance with Chris
McCarvill at this location http://www.chrismccarvill.com/NAMM%202/index_4.htm Finally,
please look around the site since a few other pages have been updated recently,
and a few more will be updated in the next few weeks! Feb. 20, 2005
TALISMAN PRESS RELEASE
DVD1 Mondo
Recorded
live at Club Break
Your Chains; Color My Xtc; Fabric Recorded
live at Break
Your Chains; Color My Xtc; Fabric Bonus
Fe Multi-angle
Concert Videos: Mysterious; If You Would
Only Be My Friend; Outta My Way. Lyric
subtitles for Club Mondo concert DVD2 Retrospect
- The Movie - including: I'll
Be Waiting (Video); Just Between Us (Video); Mysterious (Video); Time After Time
(Live In Japan, 1993); Comin' Home (Live In Japan, 1993); All Or Nothing (Live
In Japan, 1993); Color My Xtc (Video); Here 2day, Gone 2day (Live At Sweden Rock
Festival, 2001); Body (Live At Sweden Rock Festival, 2001);
Fabric Bonus
Fe Discography;
Shred Video; Naked Bassplayer; DVD credits
(fe The double
DVD will be released worldwide in NTSC Region
Free format on Frontiers
Records while the release in
In addition to the DVD Talisman presents a double live cd recording "Five Men Live" including the two full live performances held at the Sweden Rock Festival and the Club Mondo gigs in the summer 2003. Tracklisting of the double cd is: Cd1: Break Your Chains; Color
My XTC; Fabric Cd2: Break Your Chains; Color
My XTC; Fabric Liner
notes of the cd have been written by Birgitt
Schwanke editor in chief of the German magazine Rock
It!
Happy New Year! I just want to let anyone attending the NAMM show in Anaheim next
week know, that I will be performing with bassist extraordinaire Chris
McCarvill (www.ChrisMcCarvill.com).
It's a short performance of Chris' material so try to stop on down.
We will be performing at the Peavey booth on Friday the 21st @ 3pm, and the
Music Sales booth on Friday @ 5pm, and Saturday @ 3pm. There might even be
some "special guests". Come check it out! Also- make sure to go to the
Fender Guitars room and pick up a copy of their new "Frontline"
magazine/product catalog. I will have my photo featured in there for the 1st time!
Finally, it's a bit late but I have had a small tribute to Dimebag on my
front page. I want to send out my condolences to the families and friends of
all who were affected by the completely insane, senseless tragedy. And if
that weren't enough, my thoughts go out to everyone who suffered loss in
the Tsunami disaster in Asia.
With that said, keep checking back for lots of cool news in 2005!
December 19, 2004
Here's An Update from Howie:
Well here we are, my birthday recently passed back on the 8th, and I really
do hate getting older!
The shows in Brazil were incredible, getting to hang with Richie Kotzen and his
band was a ton of fun, and the promoter Carlos from Animal Records could not have
been a better host. The fans in Brazil were amazing and we have never felt more
appreciated. I also learned how to make my new favorite drink - the Caipiroska!
The flights to get from Brazil to New York to London to Spain were un-believably
tedious, but I got to meet soccer legend Pele in JFK airport!
The concerts in Spain were, as usual, really great! Promoters Jose and Tanner
did their best to make us comfortable, even if our bus did totally suck. The
rest of Europe and the UK were also awesome, and I want to thank Mike Stone and
his whole band for the time we got to spend with them. It was a blast getting
up and singing a Whitesnake song with them, and they could not have been a better
bunch of guys to hang with. Similarly, the Tyketto gang were great fun as well,
even if the time we spent with them was short. Danny Vaughn has a great set of
pipes and I have found a vodka drinking brother in Brooke St. James.
Our crew (Frank,Tom, and Handbasket) were great as usual, even in the face of
adversity (vehicles breaking down, shitty PA systems, etc.).
So, I have up-loaded a boatload of new photos from the tour in the JSS
section (thanks to all the photographers who contributed), as well as tons
more mp3's. There is an exclusive live track of yours truly singing the
Doobie Brothers from one of our Sydney, Australia shows. For you Tamplin
fans, there is the un-released guitar solo from the track "Freedom" off
Wake The Nations. This was the original solo before we invited many special
guitar guests on the cd, and this solo was replaced by Kee Marcello of Europe.
There will also be more mp3's and pics up-loaded in the coming months, including
an "old school" section of me from my poofy hair days. Yes I know it's still
poofy now but wait 'til you see these.
I also did a couple of new interviews which can be found at:
It was great to see some of you on the tour, and I hope to see the rest of
you soon! More news in a few days....
Howie
From Howie: " Well I just flew in from Australia and boy are... my... arms...um...
yeah, thats pretty gay...sorry. I just want to thank all the cool Australian fans
that I met who came out and supported us. It was a small but mighty turn out at
the beginning that got bigger as the tour progressed and hopefully we have laid
the foundations to make it back down there soon to even bigger audiences!.
Melbourne was an especially great time and I also want to thank the all the
guys in our support act Teargas ( http://www.teargas.com.au/ )
Another cream recipient (!) who deserves heaps of thanks is Mr. Andrew McNeice
of www.MelodicRock.com.
Finally, thanks to everyone who helped us out along the way (Pete and Sandra, all
the sound engineers, and the rest) to make things go real smooth.
Next up for me personally is an LA show with Mr. Graham Bonnet on Friday the 24th
at Paladinos. You can see all the details below. Graham and I have exchanged a
few song ideas and hopefully have them demo'd up by the end of the year...
Then on the 28th its back with the JSS Band down to Brazil and then all throughout
Europe
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JULY 18, 2004
June 22, 2004 It has been awhile since the last update but Howie has been very busy as of late. He will be playing this Saturday June 26th with up and coming artist (and woman's long board surfing champion and model!) Daize Shayne at a private function on the CBS studio lot in Hollywood, CA. Howie has also completed an 8 song demo for Daize produced by none other than engineer extraordinaire Ken Tamplin.
The new Jeff Scott Soto cd "Lost In The Translation" is finally done and should be released sometime this coming September on Frontiers Records. Everyone who has heard it so far agrees that it's one of the best JSS releases ever! The up coming LITT World Tour initial dates can be found here (http://www.hillockproductions.com/autumn2004dates.htm).
Keep checking back often as more and more dates keep getting added! Finally, the picture page has been updated in the JSS Band category with some cool shots from this past Spring 2004 UK mini-tour. More soon..... April 20th, 2004 Howie just sent this update in: "Hey everybody! I have been busy over the last few months getting ready for the JSS mini-tour of the UK starting on May 1st. You can see all of the dates HERE or check my TOUR page. I am looking forward to playing the annual Queen Fan Club Convention in Wales for the 2nd year in a row. We are also looking forward to playing with our new drummer Dave Dzialak from my hometown of Buffalo. I have known Dave since we were teenagers and he is a great musician and will be a driving force behind this band! I also just finished recording my track for the Moonstone Project with Graham Bonnet and can't wait to hear the final mix. By the way, check out photos of the last Graham gig March 11th in Hollywood at Club Vodka in the SIGHTS section (Thanks to Jeff Easton and Kazutaka Ohbuchi for the photos). You can also read a review of the show HERE. We will hopefully be doing more live dates this coming summer.
I have also been plugging away at the new JSS cd Lost In The Translation, and everything sounds AMAZING so far. Glen Sobel did a killer job on the drums and Jeff and I co-wrote 3 rockin tracks. I have completed all my rhythm guitar parts and have done 6 solos so far... one of which is a ballad that has some of the most soulful singing I've ever heard Jeff do. This disc is scheduled to be released in September with more live dates immediately following.
Finally, I have seen bits and pieces of the up-coming live Talisman DVD and it is going to be one of the coolest things I've ever been a part of. Talisman fans will be very happy when they get their hands on it, hopefully later this year. So I hope to see a lot of you when I'm over in the UK and stay tuned...!!!
Feb. 28th, 2004 Howie will be performing with vocal legend Graham Bonnet on Thursday, March 11th at Club Vodka in Hollywood, CA. Showtime is approximately 11PM. Go to www.ClubVodka.com for info and directions. They will be playing songs from Graham's entire career including Rainbow, MSG, Alcatrazz, and Impellitteri tracks. Hope to see some of you there! Feb. 9th, 2004 Howie was just invited and has agreed to appear on Moonstone Project..... which is the creation of Italian guitarist Matteo Filippini. The song Howie will appear on will also feature Graham Bonnet on vocals. Some other names involved in the Moonstone cd are Ian Paice (drums - Deep Purple), Glenn Hughes (vocals - HTP/ Deep Purple/Hughes-Thrall/Black Sabbath/etc.), John Lawton (vocals - Uriah Heep), and Tony Franklin (bass-The Firm/Blue Murder/Whitesnake). For more information on the progress of this cd check out......... www.Moonstone.it
Dec. 25th, 2003 Currently, Howie is performing regional concerts with vocalist Graham Bonnet (ex-Rainbow/Alcatrazz/Michael Schenker Group/Impellitteri) and they are working on booking European dates.
Howie has also begun writing material for the next Jeff Scott Soto studio album to be released in summer/fall 2004 and there are already set plans for European tour dates in the spring.
Howie will also be featured on the upcoming Talisman (as yet untitled)DVD which will feature the band's 2003 performances from Stockholm, the Lokerse Festival in Belgium, and the Sweden Rock Festival.
As well, Howie recently made a guest appearance on singer Rob Rock's (ex-Impellitteri/Driver/Warrior) 2nd solo cd produced by Roy Z. (Halford, Bruce Dickinson) released on Massacre Records worldwide.
He also regularly performs with his Metallica tribute act Alcoholica on the West Coast, does various session recording and live shows, and teaches 20-25 guitar and bass students every week.
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Check out the
photo here (yes, I know he looks like he's trying to get away from me but
just as the pic was being taken, somebody yelled his name and he went to shake
their hand).
There is an interview with Howie at