 Howie Simon
Alcatrazz, Jeff Scott Soto Band, Talisman, Graham Bonnet, Alchoholica
Howie began playing guitar at age 6 in his hometown of Buffalo, New York. His earliest influences were Elvis Presley and KISS. In 1989 Howie joined the East Coast regional touring hard rock act "Ice Water Mansion" where he performed over 300 live shows in 10 different states during a 2 year span.
Howie was also a winner at the 1989 Buffalo Music Awards in the Best Hard Rock Guitarist category. Howie then continued to tour in the Northeastern U.S. playing hundreds of shows with his own band "Storm Warning" until his move to Los Angeles in February of 1994. Beginning in 1995 Howie amassed 6 European tours covering 5 different countries. This included various guitar clinics and a live TV appearance in Germany. 1998 saw a promotional tour of Japan which included a live radio interview.
In the summer of 2000, Howie's Metallica tribute band Alcoholica went on the Napster sponsored "Back To Basics" U.S. tour with Limp Bizkit and Cypress Hill.
2002 was the start of Howie's association with hard rock vocalist Jeff Scott Soto (ex-Yngwie Malmsteen, Eyes, "Rock Star" movie soundtrack) with an appearance on JSS's "Prism" cd. This included a cover of Sly and The Family Stone's "I Want To Take You Higher" that also featured Glenn Hughes (Deep Purple, Black Sabbath).
Appeared at the "Gods Of AOR" festival in the U.K. with Jeff Scott Soto in 2002. This show was recorded and filmed for a live CD/DVD released in early 2003 entitled "Live At The Gods".
2003 saw Howie joining JSS again for 2 treks to Europe…the 2nd being a 2 month, 9 country tour. A major highlight was a 2 ½ hour performance at the international Queen fan club convention in Wales in front of over 3000 die hard Queen fans. This show was filmed and recorded for a cd/DVD release later that same year entitled "The JSS Queen Concert - Live At The Queen Convention 2003"
In 2003, Howie also joined JSS in his Sweden based hard rock band Talisman, and 3 of their shows were recorded and filmed for a live cd/DVD release in 2005. The cd is titled "Five Men Live" and the DVD title is "The World's Best Kept Secret". Highlights of the tours were an appearance at the Sweden Rock Festival with 10,000 people and the Lokerse Festival in Belgium with 17,000 people.
2004 had Howie writing and recording with JSS on his "Lost In The Translation" cd that also features guest guitarist Neal Schon (Journey) on one track. Preceding the album was a short mini tour of the UK and the 2nd appearance in a row at the Queen fan club convention. This was followed in autumn with a 2 week, 5 city Australian tour, 2 live appearances in Brazil, and then a 7 country European tour.
2005 was a continuation of the "Lost In The Translation" tour with 10 European countries visited. The JSS band then went on a 3 week South American tour with shows in Brazil, Argentina, and Peru.
Since 2003 Howie has performed numerous Southern California concerts with hard rock singer Graham Bonnet (ex-Alcatrazz with Yngwie Malmsteen and Steve Vai, Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow, Michael Schenker Group, Impellitteri). Howie and Graham also appear together on the track "Not Dead Yet" on the 2006 release "Project Moonstone – Time To Take A Stand" from Italian guitarist Matteo Filippini.
Howie began teaching guitar at age 17 and currently has 20-25 private students every week.
Howie lists his guitar influences as: John Sykes, Yngwie Malmsteen, Gary Moore, Vinnie Moore, Paul Gilbert, and Michael Schenker.
His guitar playing has appeared on various movie and TV soundtracks as well as television commercials, and he has guested on numerous cds.
Current endorsers include D'Addario Strings, DiMarzio Pickups, Jim Dunlop Accessories, Nady Wireless Systems, Groove Tubes, and L.R. Baggs Acoustic Pre-Amps.
|
