Billy Howerdel releases his eagerly-awaited debut solo album, What Normal Was, on June 10 via Alchemy Recordings/Rise Records/BMG.
The A Perfect Circle co-founder/guitar player has simultaneously released a video for “Poison Flowers” with the Rizz (from VOWWS)-directed clip offering both an aural and visual preview of what’s to come on the 10-song, self-produced collection.
“This is me stepping back into my early teen self and making the record I would’ve made if I had the means and the knowledge when I first picked up a guitar—just in 2022,” Howerdel explains. “It’s that moment as a kid when you hear a record, close your eyes, and go somewhere else. That was the time I found my lane, so to speak.”
The news is accompanied by the announcement of a Summer tour, kicking off on June 11 in Ventura, Calif. The six week trek includes an appearance at Milwaukee’s Summerfest and two shows where Howerdel finds himself on the same bill as his APC bandmate Maynard James Keenan, who will be performing with Puscifer: June 12 at the Greek Theatre (Los Angeles) and July 1 at Meadow Brook Amphitheatre (Rochester Hills, Mich). Tickets for all headlining dates are on-sale this Friday, April 29 at 10 am local time. For tickets and ticket info, including VIP packages, please visit www.billyhowerdel.com.
Tour dates:
June 11 Ventura, CA Ventura Music Hall
June 12 Los Angeles, CA Greek Theatre *
June 14 Solana Beach, CA Belly Up
June 15 San Francisco, CA The Independent
June 16 Roseville, CA Goldfield Trading Post
June 18 Portland, OR Wonder Ballroom
June 19 Seattle, WA Neumos
June 21 Salt Lake City, UT Metro Music Hall
June 22 Denver, CO Gothic Theatre
June 24 Minneapolis, MN Fine Line Music Café
June 25 Milwaukee, WI Summerfest
June 26 St. Louis, MO Delmar Hall
June 28 Chicago, IL Cabaret Metro
June 29 Columbus, OH Newport Music Hall
July 1 Rochester Hills, MI Meadow Brook Amphitheatre *
July 2 Toronto, ON Axis Club
July 3 Montreal, QC Café Campus
July 5 Allston, MA Brighton Music Hall
July 6 New York, NY Gramercy Theatre
July 8 Philadelphia, PA Theatre of the Living Arts
July 9 Baltimore, MD Baltimore Soundstage
July 10 Charlotte, NC The Underground
July 12 Atlanta, GA Masquerade
July 14 New Orleans, LA House of Blues
July 15 Houston, TX White Oak Music Hall – Inside Downstairs
July 16 Dallas, TX The Echo Lounge & Music Hall
July 17 Austin, TX Emos
July 20 Phoenix, AZ Crescent Ballroom
*-w/Puscifer
What Normal Was tracklist:
Selfish Heart
Free And Weightless
Ani
Beautiful Mistake
The Same Again
Poison Flowers
Follower
Bring Honor Back Home
EXP
Stars
Pre-save What Normal Was here. Album pre-orders for the June 10 release will be available soon.
New Jersey-born and Los Angeles-based vocalist, multi-instrumentalist, producer, and composer Billy Howerdel has quietly asserted himself as an alternative music auteur whose knack for massive hooks believes a keen emotional understanding and sonic acuity. Devoting his life to music after witnessing Pink Floyd live, he acted as something of a behind-the-scenes journeyman, working as an in-demand touring and studio tech for the likes of David Bowie, Guns N’ Roses, and Nine Inch Nails. Striking up a friendship with Maynard James Keenan when Tool opened for Fishbone (for whom Billy served as a tech), he occupied a room in a North Hollywood cottage with Maynard. Billy founded A Perfect Circle with Maynard in 1999. The group’s seminal full-length debut, Mer de Noms, went platinum and made history as the “highest Billboard Top 200 bow for a rock band’s debut.” They followed it with the platinum Thirteenth Step [2003] and gold Emotive [2004]. The group made their return with 2018’s Eat The Elephant, marking their fourth consecutive Top 5 debut on the Top 200. In between, Billy’s music has also appeared in video games and on the big screen. During 2008, he made his first solo statement under the moniker Ashes Divide with Keep Telling Myself It’s Alright. In the next decade, the album quietly pervaded as a cult favorite with millions of streams and the odd sold out “reunion” show. On his 2022 proper full-length solo debut, What Normal Was [Alchemy Recordings/Rise Records/BMG], he inhabits a space that’s reverent of his past, present, and future all at once. After all of these years, songs, and shows, Billy is ready to introduce himself.
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