Broken guitars thing of past for A Perfect Circle
Have you ever wondered what happens to all those broken guitars that rockers smash onstage? A lot of them get fixed, as crazy as that sounds.
Guitarist Billy Howerdel is the co-creator of A Perfect Circle (performing Saturday at Planet Hollywood Resort). But he used to be a guitar tech for Nine Inch Nails.
And as a guitar tech, he repaired the “completely and deliberately smashed” instruments of Nails’ Trent Reznor.
“The only way I’ve seen (a broken guitar) is Trent hauling the thing 30 feet in the air, hitting the lighting truss, doing a triple pirouette into the stage and just shattering,” Howerdel says.
“I did buy new guitars constantly. I think the number was 137 Les Pauls, working for Trent.”
After a while, Howerdel started fixing those broken necks, because Trent was demolishing as many as eight guitars a night.
“You learn how to fix them and save the tour some money,” Howerdel says.
“He let me take a couple of guitars at the end of the tour, and I took the best-sounding of the 137. That’s my main guitar!”
Howerdel’s career story is quite the motivational poster.
He began as a guitar tech for Faith No More, David Bowie, Smashing Pumpkins, NIN and Tool.
Then he and Tool’s Maynard James Keenan collaborated on A Perfect Circle.
Howerdel has been so successful in A Perfect Circle and his other band, Ashes Divide, that he recently started selling old music gear on eBay just to make space for new equipment.
Yes, that is unusual for a revered guitarist in a big band to publicly eBay stuff – without even trying to increase the price with advertised autographs.
“We’re about to put a lot (more) stuff up” on eBay, he says. “We’re in rehearsals, and I’m redoing my rig and upgrading to some new stuff.
“I’m pretty much selling everything except my main guitars and my two main amps.”
It’s good to clean house a little bit, he says. When buyers ask him to autograph eBay gear, he does. But he doesn’t offer autographs upfront. That would be cheesy.
A Perfect Circle hasn’t played all year. So Saturday’s Vegas gig is a warm-up for next year’s tour of Australia and South America.
Such warm-up shows are exciting for Howerdel, because he’ll have to stay alert to get back into a tour groove.
“You get nervous before you get back into rehearsal, after not playing for a year, and (song memories) come back pretty quick.”
Howerdel’s roots lie at the feet of new wave bands and classic metal – an unlikely but inspired combination.
For instance, a decade ago, A Perfect Circle played a cover version of two songs at the same time – a mash-up cover of the Cure’s “Lovesong” with Ozzy Osbourne’s “Diary of a Madman.”
“I was a big Randy Rhoads fan, the guitar player on Ozzy’s first two records. And certainly a huge part of who I am as a guitar player was figuring out his style as best I could.
“When I realized I couldn’t do that, I went back to the music I listened to more – Brit new wave or Brit dark wave stuff – The Cure, Echo and the Bunnymen, and the Smiths.
“That’s the melting pot that became my musical DNA,” Howerdel says.
As revered as Howerdel is, he downplays his skills.
“I don’t think I’m a great guitar player. I think my strength comes in not being a great guitar player, but for me to struggle to find the notes in my head and not landing on them – happy accidents.”
Happy accidents are important in music, especially when you’re writing alone, he says.
“If you’re collaborating with yourself, you better be on point on one side of your brain – and completely chaotic and random on the other side.”
For his next Ashes Divide album ( summer 2013), he has written 11 songs mostly on piano, for once, instead of guitar.
“It’s been a really nice change. I can see how it would be really addictive to learn how to play and never stop” on piano, Howerdel says.
“You can be a one-man band and sit and bore yourself to tears in a closet somewhere.”
Doug Elfman’s column appears Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays. Email him at delfman@reviewjournal. com. He blogs at reviewjournal.com/elfman.
