Axeman Greg Howe with the guitar that appears on the cover of his upcoming album, High Gear, to be released this month. (Photo by Gregg Kirk)

September 1989, Big Shout Magazine
By GREGG KIRK

You could literally say that Easton, PA guitarist Greg Howe‘s music career has shifted into high gear since he first sent Guitar Player Magazine a demo tape in October of 1987. The 24-year-old guitar wizard, who didn’t even take playing the guitar seriously until he heard his first Van Halen record when he was in junior high, simply sent Guitar Player columnist Mike Varney a tape of six musical “pieces” that featured Howe’s guitar playing. Not only did Howe appear in Varney’s “Spotlight” column, which focuses on exceptional guitarists who send submissions from all over the world, Varney himself called Howe and asked him to record an album for his Shrapnel Records label.

“He called me a week after I sent the tape,” says Howe in a soft-spoken voice. “And he asked me if I’d be interested in doing an album with Billy Sheehan (former bassist with Tesla and David Lee Roth), and I said, “Sure.”

What followed was a whirlwind of songwriting and recording that lasted several months before the album titled simply Greg Howe was released.

“I worked on some songs for about a month,” says Howe. “That was in November, and we decided on which songs to use in December. I flew out to San Francisco after the holidays; Billy Sheehan and drummer Atma Anur and I rehearsed for about a week and a half, and I actually had to relearn some of the songs because they had been written so fast I forgot some of them.”

According to Howe, it only took approximately two and a half weeks to do all of the recording at Prairie Sun Studios located north of San Francisco, but the release date didn’t come until late August.

“It took about four days to do all of the rhythm guitar parts for the nine songs, and it didn’t take long for the bass and drums,” says Howe. “The only thing that took a little bit of time was the lead guitar work, and there weren’t any vocals because all the songs were instrumental. But then we mixed the record three different times, and I’m still not happy with some of the final mixes. By the time the album got out, it was time to write a new one.”

The record was mixed in time for one of the songs to appear on a sound page in Guitar Player’s July issue, which not so coincidentally was the issue that contained its annual reader’s poll ballot. Consequently, Howe placed second in the best new talent category for 1988.

The sound-page release was not the only fruit of Howe’s labors. Even while the album was being recorded, representatives from Fender Musical Instruments, who are not ordinarily interested in lone guitarists, visited Howe in the studio and offered him a full endorsement. He has now received 10 guitars, eight 4 X 12 Fender cabinets, eight amplifiers, a string endorsement, and a promotional poster bearing his image, which is currently being distributed to music stores throughout the free world as well as Russia.

According to Howe, Fender spent between $150,000 and $200,000 in advertising to promote the endorsement, and he was asked to appear as the headliner at the Fender booth for the 1989 National Association of Music Merchants (NAMM) convention. Actually the word “booth” is a bit misleading — Fender actually built a room the size of a small bar, where Howe and other endorsees showed their collective chops to those in attendance.

“Things are definitely more comfortable financially since the album was released,” smiles Howe. “The thing that really made the difference was when a company called REH Publications filmed me for an instrumental video, which is distributed in Europe, Asia, and the U.S. They gave me a decent advance for that. It’s also been a lot easier to get gigs.”

Maybe so, but Howe also notes that while he is widely respected in the music community, club owners treat him the same as the days when he and his brother Al did Van Halen covers in local bars. And perhaps the most ironic thing of all, Howe is till virtually unknown to those who frequent the Philadelphia-area music scene.

More than likely, this is all about to change with Howe’s newest release scheduled to hit record stores sometime between the 10th and 15th of this month. The album, appropriately titled High Gear, features Howe, his brother, and their band, Howe II.

“The new album is a lot more straight-ahead rock,” explains Howe. “The songs are still aggressive and hard-driving, but they are vocal tunes now that are very hook-oriented. You don’t have to be a musician to enjoy the music, but at the same time it’s not Wham!”

The consciously commercial approach is a departure for the nine-year-old Shrapnel label, who has discovered and recorded the likes of guitar heroes Paul Gilbert, Tony McAlpine, Vinnie Moore, and Yngwie Malmsteen. These artists have consistently recorded flashy guitar albums, long on instrumental pyrotechnics but short on commercial accessibility and air play.

When Varney initially called upon Howe to record the first album, this approach was deemed necessary by the record company president to better establish Howe as a formidable guitarist. Howe agreed, but when it came time to record a follow-up release, the young guitarist did everything in his power to, in his own words, “keep it a band thing.”

“I don’t think he (Varney) liked the idea at first,” says Howe. “But when he heard the demos, he liked the same songs we did. He went for the songs that we thought were the better-written ones.”

The finished product, which was recorded in 180 hours of studio time, shows how much of an influence early Van Halen still is upon the group, especially in Al Howe‘s vocal approach, which bears a striking resemblance to David Lee Roth. Brother Greg has definitely graduated from the Eddie Van Halen school of guitar, but he also creates a niche for himself in an impressive display of showy but not “hey-look-at-me” solos. The fire-and-brimstone drumming and bass work form a solid foundation for each tune, and the overall result is sure to please guitar freaks and hard rockers everywhere.

A video for the title track has already been taped at the State Theater in Howe’s hometown of Easton, PA and will soon be sent to MTV and to Europe for promotional purposes.

“We figure that if it gets any kind of airplay on MTV — even at two in the morning — then more people will see us than have in the last five years,” quips Howe.

It seems a long way from the days that saw Howe working on a mason crew or in the local Mobile chemical plant, but the immensity of world stardom and international fame doesn’t seem to weigh too heavily on him. He remains quiet and unexcitable in the midst of manager Cholly Bassoline‘s ramblings as to what new project is on the drawing board.

He’s not asleep at the wheel, though. As the driving force behind a new album, and as an impressive array of musical accolades come from several guitar magazines, Howe is fully aware that it is his own raw talent that has shifted his career into overdrive.