originally published: 11/18/2023
Percy Howard, a NorCal based singer-songwriter and product of the New York no-wave avant-garde, has performed and or toured with members of Living Colour, King Crimson, Swans, Guns N’ Roses (Buckethead), Oxbow, Henry Cow, This Heat, and Brand X. Percy has also shared European festival stages with Brazilian music legend Caetano Veloso and ambient pioneer Stephan Micus.
Percy is the generator of the Meridiem project, which has included collaborative input from Bill Laswell, Vernon Reid, Charles Hayward, Trey Gunn, Fred Frith, Robert Rich, Buckethead, Jarboe, Happy Rhodes, and Jill Tracy, amongst others. Percy's Genre-defying mix of rock, jazz, soul and classical influences have drawn critical attention and praise from all over the planet. Percy has recently started the record label Necessary Angel, which he sees as an archival entity whose sole mission is to spread as much sonic beauty across the world as possible.
Influenced by the Laurel Canyon Sound, Bowie, Steely Dan, Richie Havens, and Scott Walker, but created in the context of my own experience, Percy’s new album “The Stars and The Well” is unabashedly nostalgic, consumed with Romance and unafraid of the fragility of love. It’s a retrospective of the impact of love in my life, in all its forms… From the heights (The Stars) to the depths (The Well).
Please listen with your ears, mind and heart open. The album is available for purchase online.
Produced by Joe Chiccarelli at Sunset Sound, Los Angeles, CA. October 2022
COLUMNS
Rock On! This Week's Sound Bites...7/10/25
"Well, I certainly hope so, it seems like it is," laughed Blues Traveler bassist Ben Wilson as he discussed what the band has been up to and their preparations before they hit the road once again for a Summer tour. "The band has been quite active over the years through touring and we managed to continue to record some records. We've done two kinds of covers records, the first one was a blues record which actually got nominated for a Grammy which was pretty cool and the next one, we did some soul covers. That one wasn't quite as well received but it was sure fun to make. So, it's been really cool; you have this massive success for a decade or so and then you kind of dip below that cultural Gestalt line where you're just kind of bubbling below the surface and you can do just fine there even though you're not on the cover of "The Rolling Stone" and that's kind of what we've been doing. We've had a good run, it has been fantastic and these summer tours where we get together with these other kind of bands of similar eras with similar kinds of hits; we're very fortunate as kind of a neo-hippie jam band from that era that kind of bucked some of the trends that were going on at the time but we were lucky enough to have a couple of hits and that has allowed us to have kind of a different career than just the straight jam bands do; not that that wouldn't be awesome as well because obviously many of them are doing just fine but it's just a slightly different road but it has been wonderful. We didn't rehearse a whole lot because we've been playing together for 38 years but things are good and we're stoked for this upcoming tour."
