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By Martin Kielty ( Metal Hammer ) published 11 June 22

A Perfect Circle guitarist Billy Howerdel recalls “trial by fire” as a stage tech

As guitarist and producer with A Perfect Circle, among other projects, Billy Howerdel’s career is fairly secure.

But it wasn’t always like that. He’d started out as a stage tech, preferring to keep away from performing himself – then an important early job with Fishbone became a “trial by fire.”

Howerdel told Metal Injection about the first show he worked on with the ska-funkers. “They were already on tour. They’d just fired their tech and they said, ‘Oh, by the way, the pedal board, somebody spilled a whole beer on it and it doesn’t work.

“And this is a custom Bradshaw switching system that’s a one-off. You can’t go to the store and buy it. So talk about nerve-racking!”

He was also brain-racking for a solution. “There was a strip bar next door,” he said. “So I went next door and asked the girls if I could borrow a hair dryer. And I’m sitting there with circuit boards spread out all over the floor trying to do the rice trick and trying to get the show to work. So it was definitely a trial by fire.”

Howerdel’s first-ever role had also started badly, he admitted. “I’m fresh out of high school by a week. I just turned 18. I can still remember. I handed this guy a guitar with the wrong string on it.

“Like, I think it was supposed to be the A string and I put like the D string on. He’s like, ‘I don’t know what the fuck’s going on here!’ He just hands it back to me and I remember being mortified – like, “Oh my God, I'm fired!”

He reflected how influential his years with Fishbone turned out to be. “I wound up really enjoying the tech part of things, so I liked working in service to a show,” he said. “As I worked for bigger and bigger bands and learned what to do and what not to do, that was invaluable. I made a lot of acquaintances and connections, including Maynard with Tool, because they were an opening band for Fishbone.”

Howerdel just released his debut solo album, What Normal Was. 

Not only is one-time online news editor Martin an established rock journalist and drummer, but he’s also penned several books on music history, including SAHB Story: The Tale of the Sensational Alex Harvey Band (opens in new tab) , a band he once managed, and the best-selling Apollo Memories (opens in new tab) about the history of the legendary and infamous Glasgow Apollo. Martin has written for Classic Rock and Prog and at one time had written more articles for Louder than anyone else (we think he's second now). He’s appeared on TV and when not delving intro all things music, can be found travelling along the UK’s vast canal network.

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