Greg Howe: the metaljazz.com review and interview

News:
11-07-2008:
A new web site to me, http://www.metaljazz.com/ The site provides an exciting review and interview with Greg Howe. Here's a couple of snippets for you...



The review

Howe comes on like a funkier Jeff Beck, shredding when he wants to kick up the energy but keeping both ears on melody and storytelling, his sound both slick and hard. The drums and bass of Gianluca Palmieri and Jon Reshard slam away just right to complement the sometimes complex structures, as on the Zappafied hesitation rhythms and rapidfire riffs of “Side Note.”

The interview

What’s your attitude toward technique?

“In the past 15, 20 years, so many guitarists have learned to do the things that at one time were considered to be outrageous techniques. Really, the things that blow me away about other guitar players almost never have anything to do with technical facility. It has to do with almost everything but that. So I really envy the guys who have the ability to move me that hard. I’d love to have that. There’d be a lot less training involved if somehow I could implement these other less tangible qualities into my playing. There are certain guys like Robben Ford, who can just floor me with three notes. And I know it sounds cliché, and it sounds old and corny, ‘cause we’ve all heard people say that, but it really is the truth. It just depends on what you consider to be technical ability. I think that it’s everything. We tend to think that it means the ability to run up and down the fretboard fast or whatever, but I think vibrato, and a lot of things that are more subtle . . .”

Who are some of the guitarists you’re talking about?

“Oh man, there are so many guys. Obviously Hendrix, Stevie Ray Vaughan, McLaughlin, Holdsworth. I went through a McLaughlin phase and a Holdsworth phase. And when I say I went through that phase, I don’t mean that I graduated from that -- I went through a phase of really listening to them constantly, and still return there sometimes. To me, Allan Holdsworth is in a league by himself, and the thing that he possesses as an artist -- and this is important to me -- he’s got his own thing. There’s no one really who competes with what he does, because there’s no one else that really does it at all. And that’s what I love about him, more so than how amazing he is, but what I love is that he is a true artist in the sense that you can’t get that across the street, you can’t get that anywhere else except from him. His whole musical package is a complete statement that will never be repeated or even emulated.”

and

“All the time. Every single day. A lot of times when people ask me about a lick or something that I did 12 years ago, I actually don’t remember what I did. And when I analyze it, I’m like, ‘Wow, I don’t do this anymore, I need to do this again.’ Because I’m always trying to evolve, and always trying to keep things feeling fresh for me. It’s really difficult for me to just hear myself sounding the same way that I sounded two years ago. That’s where things start to become sluggish and uninspired. I’m always reaching for new things.”

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