In a new interview with Kerrang!, Billy Howerdel revealed what A Perfect Circle song he's most proud of writing: "Orestes," from A Perfect Circle's platinum-selling debut album Mer de Noms.
"To me, it's the overture for A Perfect Circle. You get the picture of where we're coming from as a band," said Howerdel. "I'm particularly proud of that track, and it's the one song that my father, who passed away in 2000, commented on and said he liked. Getting accolades or acknowledgement, especially about music, from a hard-to-please dad seals the deal on that one."
Howerdel's overall list in Kerrang! is pretty impressive, including Nine Inch Nails' "Eraser" from The Downward Spiral. Howerdel told this story to the publication:
"I didn't know much about Nine Inch Nails before I worked on The Downward Spiral tour. I went to see them with Maynard [James Keenan] and Gene Simmons on that tour in Hollywood – how crazy is that? The show was such an assault. When I worked with the band it was full warfare – you could truly get hurt as there were broken parts from instruments and mic stands flying through the air.
"In the middle of the show, there was a screen that came down between the band and the audience. The crowd couldn't see through it, so when it came down it gave a chance for us techs to clear up the disaster that was the stage, which was covered in stuff. As I was cleaning up, Trent [Reznor] was lying on the ground with the wind knocked out of him. There was a digital clock on the side of the stage counting down to when the next song starts. The time kept ticking down and Trent was still on the ground. I shouted, 'Let's go, buddy' and it was down to about 10 seconds.
"So I said, 'Do you want me to play this?' and he quietly replied, 'Yes.' I knew all of his parts but never did I think I'd play them, but I started playing 'Eraser' in front of a sold-out arena of 15,000 people. Up until that point I'd only played in front of humans three times in my life. The production crew stood at the side of the stage thinking, 'What the fuck?!' that I'd lost my mind and had delusions of grandeur.
"Afterwards, Trent said, 'That was fun, let's do it every night,' so we did that song for the next two weeks of shows. That was pretty cool."
Howerdel released his debut solo LP, What Normal Was, on June 10. Howerdel said in a recent interview with Metal Injection about the album: "I'm terrible at sales, but this is probably a bad thing to say, but this is a record I couldn't have made until now. Like, just tech-wise I didn't know how to make a record like this ten years ago even. And I always wanted to. And it's like one of those things that's nice to dive back into being a kid and what sparked music in my heart from the beginning and try and just write the music that would impress my early teenage self. So this is kind of what I would want to listen to if it was available."
You can check out What Normal Was below, as well as a listing of dates for Howerdel's current summer tour.
6/18 Portland, OR – Wonder Ballroom
6/19 Seattle, WA – Neumos
6/21 Salt Lake City, UT – Metro Music Hall
6/22 Denver, CO – Gothic Theatre
6/24 Minneapolis, MN – Fine Line Music Café
6/25 Milwaukee, WI – Summerfest
6/26 St. Louis, MO – Delmar Hall
6/28 Chicago, IL – Cabaret Metro
6/29 Columbus, OH – Newport Music Hall
7/1 Rochester Hills, MI – Meadow Brook Amphitheatre (feat. Puscifer)
7/2 Toronto, ON – Axis Club
7/3 Montreal, QC – Café Campus
7/5 Allston, MA – Brighton Music Hall
7/6 New York, NY – Gramercy Theatre
7/8 Philadelphia, PA – Theatre of the Living Arts
7/9 Baltimore, MD – Baltimore Soundstage
7/10 Charlotte, NC – The Underground
7/12 Atlanta, GA – Masquerade
7/14 New Orleans, LA – House of Blues
7/15 Houston, TX – White Oak Music Hall – Inside Downstairs
7/16 Dallas, TX – The Echo Lounge & Music Hall
7/17 Austin, TX – Emos
7/20 Phoenix, AZ – Crescent Ballroom
