BILLY HOWERDEL (A PERFECT CIRCLE) RELEASES “FREE AND WEIGHTLESS”
WHAT NORMAL WAS (ALCHEMY RECORDINGS/RISE RECORDS/BMG)
ARRIVES JUNE 10
PRE-ORDERS AVAILABLE NOW: https://billyhowerdel.lnk.to/WhatNormalWas
NORTH AMERICAN TOUR BEGINS JUNE 11
“If you’re a huge fan of A Perfect Circle, you’re gonna love it hands down. Has shades of A Perfect Circle in there but also a lot of his early influences really coming through like The Cure, Depeche Mode, Echo & the Bunnymen. Solid!” – Daniel P. Carter (BBC Radio 1)
Billy Howerdel, the A Perfect Circle co-founder/multi-instrumentalist who recently announced the June 10 arrival of his solo debut album, What Normal Was (Alchemy Recordings/Rise Records/BMG), has released a second single from the forthcoming collection, sharing the song “Free and Weightless” (https://youtu.be/Hc6Wpx9KWnk) this morning.
“‘Free and Weightless” stood on its own as an instrumental demo for a year before I cracked the code on the vocals,” explains Howerdel. “It was built out of a rolling collage of loops, which isn’t something I would normally do. Thematically, everything on this record is pointed at personal relationships. The songs are a combination of a few conversations happening in a split-screen point-of-view. No one story is ever completely singular. It’s like patchwork.”
The self-produced, 10 song album is one of 2022’s most highly-anticipated rock records, with Revolver including the collection in their annual anticipated album rundown. In the days following the release of “Poison Flowers” (https://billyhowerdel.lnk.to/PoisonFlowers), Guitar Worlddescribed the early preview as “treading a line between Pink Floyd and Nine Inch Nails,” while Loudwire said Howerdel “paints a haunting visual with a dark palette” and Consequence said “trip hop and electronic influences peer through… beneath ethereal guitar passages.”
Howerdel also recently announced an extensive North American tour in support of the forthcoming album, with the six-week trek kicking off on June 11 in Ventura, Calif. and including two dates with his APC bandmate Maynard James Keenan’s Puscifer: June 12 at the Greek Theatre (Los Angeles) and July 1 at Meadow Brook Amphitheatre (Rochester Hills, Mich). Tickets, and VIP packages, for all headlining dates are on-sale now, visit www.billyhowerdel.comfor additional info.
What Normal Was album pre-orders and pre-saves, which include an array of limited-edition vinyl variants, and other physical formats, are available now (https://billyhowerdel.lnk.to/WhatNormalWas).
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
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 belies 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. 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.
About Alchemy Recordings
Alchemy Recordings was founded in 2020 by veteran concert promoter Danny Wimmer (Welcome to Rockville, Bourbon & Beyond, Aftershock and more) of Danny Wimmer Presents, the biggest independent promoter in the U.S. and Dino Paredes, President of Shelter Music (A Perfect Circle, Crowded House, Puscifer) and former American Recordings A&R executive. The label, distributed by BMG, is home to Puscifer, Billy Howerdel, The Black Queen, The Neverly Boys and more.
