A Perfect Circle released their debut album, Mer de Noms, in 2000. ![]() Howerdel, who had been composing songs for years, as well as working with bands such as the Smashing Pumpkins and Nine Inch Nails, became the band's chief songwriter and producer. The quintet rehearsed together but didn't announce the formation of a new band until performing for the first time on August 15, 1999, at a benefit concert at the Viper Room in Los Angeles. With Keenan on vocals, Howerdel on guitar, and Lenchantin on bass, the trio recruited ex-Failure and Enemy member Troy Van Leeuwen on guitar and ex-Vandals and Guns N' Roses member Josh Freese on drums. However, the opportunity didn't present itself until after the Freeworld settlement. Keenan was impressed and the two talked of collaborating in the future. Howerdel had been Fishbone's tech at the time and had played Keenan a few of his songs. Keenan had met Howerdel in 1992 when Tool opened for Fishbone. ![]() It was at this point that Keenan joined up with Howerdel and Paz Lenchantin to form A Perfect Circle. When the dust settled two years later, the band reached a 50/50 joint venture agreement for future recordings and, feeling a little burned out, decided to take some time off. While similar to Tool in intensity and melancholy, A Perfect Circle is less dark and more melodic, with a theatrical, ambient quality that incorporates occasional strings and unusual instrumentation.Īfter the release of Ænima in 1996, Tool found themselves in the midst of an extended legal battle with former label Freeworld Entertainment. While similarįormed by Tool vocalist Maynard James Keenan and former Tool guitar tech Billy Howerdel, A Perfect Circle is an extension of the alt-metal-fused-with-art rock style popularized by Tool in the early to mid-'90s. But I’d still prefer to tour, make a record, take a little break, then tour and make another record.Formed by Tool vocalist Maynard James Keenan and former Tool guitar tech Billy Howerdel, A Perfect Circle is an extension of the alt-metal-fused-with-art rock style popularized by Tool in the early to mid-'90s. “That frustrating, for sure, but maybe that contributes a little bit to the magic that can happen when we do get together-that feeling of not being predictable, not punching a clock. “When APC will reconvene is never exactly defined,” Howerdel admits. So when he writes these days, he keeps his options open for using the music in Ashes Divide, a film score or APC. A Perfect Circle will always be his primary gig, but he realizes-everyone else in the band has different priorities. Remaining fluid through such transitions has kept Howerdel grounded. In the interim, longtime friend of the band Greg Edwards (Failure, Autolux) will perform on the dates, which begin April 14 in Tucson, Arizona. Then, in typical A Perfect Circle fashion, Smashing Pumpkins announced their reunion, which prevented Iha-who remains a member of APC-from touring with the band until June. With the help of guitarist James Iha (Smashing Pumpkins), bassist Matt McJunkins and Puscifer drummer Jeff Friedl, Howerdel and Keenan finished Eat the Elephant in early 2018 and scheduled a tour. You’re left grabbing the reigns and trying to make this thing do your bidding, and that doesn’t always work. “If you go into a reverb pedal and then feed it into a distorted amp, you lose definition and you gain this wall of sound that’s hard to control. ![]() “Having reverb in front of the amp can create a lot of ambience,” he says. He toyed with other gear that was lying around the studio when he tracked the album with Dave Sardy and added a reverb pedal to his effect chain. When he was writing guitar parts for the demos, Howerdel reached for his Les Paul Classic 1960 reissue and plugged into a modified Marshall 1978 JMP Super Lead 100 or a smaller Super Goldtone GA-30RV. “And once I became a little better it allowed me to push my creativity instead of falling into a pattern.” “A few years ago I decided to dig fully into synths and keys, which I was very bad at,” he says. A Perfect Circle’s James Iha (left) and Billy Howerdel.
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