Bryan J. Howard Blog

Hello All,
I wanted to say thnk you to those who were able to be there on May 25th for the first H.E.A.P. Project show. We had a great time. Here are some photos from that evening.
The line up of the band is as follows:

Bryan J. Howard - Bass & Vocals
Jeff Rieter - Bass
Marcus Gilley - Sax
Jeff Crouch - Trumpet
Diego Catalan - Percussion
Ian Werden - Drums


We hope to see you at future shows http://www.myspace.com/gaheap


All photos are by Cary Whitley
http://www.worldlooksred.com/

I will expand on some of these things later but here are some things that come to mind when I think about the first third of this tour:

Two great days in Amsterdam. We were very lost at one point and walked for over 8 hours. Watch out for the traffic in Amsterdam lots of trams, buses, cars & bikes.

Amazing food! I bought a wedge of cheese in Deventer which tasted great but made my room smell like a sewer. Stinky, stinky cheese

Great tour manager, Karen. She has been fantastic.

Aaron has been blending in very well. Played the first show with him ever in Hoorn.

Everyone has been very kind and generous.

My wife and I bought what we thought was red pepper paste for bread. We knew something was wrong right away. The tour manager later informed us what we had eaten was ground raw beef. I wish I could read Dutch!

We played in an old monastery after the Flamenco dancers finished upstairs. Interesting place.

The clock I bought is consistently 1 hour fast no matter how many times I set it. I really wish I could read Dutch!

Kevn is sounding great and the band has been having a blast.

I will reveal more after Queensday in Amsterdam.

BJH

Hello All,
For some time now I have had folks asking me when I am going to record a solo CD. Well, the time is here. Yesterday was a very special day for me as the recording sessions began. The CD is actually not a solo effort but will the first collection of songs from my brand new band, "Heap". I have the core group of musicians that will make up "Heap" and we have a few more spots to fill but I am extremely excited. Of course I have called on Ian Werden (Slackdaddy, Vinyl Strangers, Jackpot City) to fill the drummer spot and one of my favorite bass players here in Athens, Jeff Reiter (Diet RockStar, Baghouse, Hey Revolution, Count Kellam) to play bass. I will be playing a variety of instruments including but not limited to bass, saxophone, guitar and singing. I am very pleased and feel lucky to say that Bill Doss (Olivia Tremor Control, Sunshine Fix, Apples in Stereo) will be engineering and co-producing. I am hoping the CD will be out sometime this summer but I am not going to rush things
I also want to let you know that I am looking for horn players and a keyboard player. If you are in the Athens, GA area and are interested in joining Heap, please contact me by email slackdaddybj@yahoo.com. If you want to hear what direction the band will be taking, you can hear my very rough demo on my myspace page http://www.myspace.com/bryanjhoward
This is the beginning of a new era for me and I hope you all come along for the ride!
Thanks for your time and have a great day and prepare yourself for "Heap"!
Bryan J. Howard

My recent trip with the Violent Femmes was a big success. I had a great time. We did three shows. Started off in Kansas City, MO and then moved on to Council Bluffs, IA and ended with a sold-out show at the Blue Note in Columbia, MO. I really did have a good time hanging out with everyone. It was nice to meet their fans as well. The Violent Femmes were very influential to me (though you may not necessarily hear it in my playing). I discovered that record right after receiving my first electric bass (a white "P-Bass" copy made by a company called Bradley but more about that in a future blog) in 1986. My first band, The Morrish Idylls, which eventually became Slackdaddy, used to play a number of tunes by the Femmes; in fact, I heard a cassette recording of the Moorish Idylls playing some Femmes tunes at a house party (must have been recorded around 1989 or 1990). It was a great surprise to me that on mour way to my first show with Kevn that he told me Brian Ritchie was a friend of his from high school. So this was yet another opportunity for which I have Mr. Kinney to thank.

Hello All,
It has been a while since I have written in here. I will try to "blog" more often. I wanted to let all of you know that I will be out on the road with the Violent Femmes this week. I am extremely excited about this. I have been a fan of theirs for over 20 years and it is truly an honor to do some traveling and shows with them. I will be with them the 21, 22 and 23 of this month. I will let you all know how things go. Wish me luck!

Found my camera. I am no longer in the doghouse.

I hope you all had a great time the other night. Saw a lot of folks I had not seen in a while and met some cool new people. Unfortunately it looks like my camera is missing. I thought I would check and see if anyone found a canon digital camera there. I will be in the doghouse until I find that camera. Once again thanks to those who were able to make it the other night.