{"id":148467,"date":"2010-08-01T15:42:47","date_gmt":"2010-08-01T15:42:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/socancom100stg.wpenginepowered.com\/howes-he-do-it\/"},"modified":"2010-08-01T15:42:47","modified_gmt":"2010-08-01T15:42:47","slug":"howes-he-do-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/uat.socan.com\/fr\/howes-he-do-it\/","title":{"rendered":"Howe\u2019s he do it?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Les traductions pour les articles avant l\u2019automne 2013 ne sont pas disponibles pour le moment.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Brian Howes <\/b><\/strong>covers more bases than the Blue Jays infield. Formerly a successful rock singer and guitarist, the Vancouver resident now focuses his considerable energies on songwriting, producing, operating a recording studio (Van Howes Studio) and heading his own record label (Van Howes Records) and publishing company (Nobody Home Publishing)<\/b><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m a Gemini,\u201d Howes explains. \u201cUnless I\u2019m juggling 10 balls at once, I\u2019m not happy. I believe it\u2019s also called having a short attention span or ADD, and that\u2019s something that affects most artists.\u201d<\/p>\n

ADD or not, when Howes turns his hand (and ears) to something, it\u2019s generally a commercial success. His office must be overflowing with plaques from platinum sales of songs he has written and albums he has produced, plus multiple BMI and SOCAN awards. One award of which he is particularly proud is the 2007 Juno for Producer of the Year, a category in which he beat out fellow B.C. superstar producers Bob Rock <\/b><\/strong>and David Foster. Howes recalls that evening as a huge confidence and career boost. \u201cI had just spent three months in Chicago with my engineer, Jay Van Poederooyen<\/b><\/strong> (JVP), producing an album for a Christian rock band, Skillet [the Grammy-nominated, gold-selling Comatose<\/i><\/em>]. I went to Saskatoon ready to party. Bob Rock is one of my idols as a producer, along with Bruce Fairbairn<\/b><\/strong> and Mutt Lange, and I just assumed Bob would win. My wife never swears, but when they announced I\u2019d won, she went, \u2018Holy ####!\u2019 It was an absolute shock, but it was really nice.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Juno reflected the huge success Howes found with the first two albums he produced: the self-titled debut of Vancouver rockers Hedley (multi-platinum sales in Canada) and Extreme Behavior<\/i><\/em>, the first album from Oklahoma hard-rock band Hinder (over four million copies sold worldwide).<\/p>\n

Howes\u2019 role in the success of those two records went far beyond his production work. He co-wrote seven of the songs on the Hedley record and even added guitar, keyboards and backing vocals. He has continued to work closely with the band, writing and producing tracks on its new album, The Show Must Go<\/i><\/em>, including the hit singles \u201cCha-Ching\u201d and \u201cDon\u2019t Talk to Strangers.\u201d<\/p>\n

The success of Hinder was also highly gratifying. \u201cI was involved in creating that CD from scratch,\u201d Howes says. \u201cThe guys were fans of my band, Closure, and they approached me. I brought them up to Vancouver and we did everything with them, including developing their image. The guitarist was really overweight, so I trained him, giving him a little Richard Simmons action. He lost 50 kilos in a year. When people come to work with me, they get the full-meal deal,\u201d he laughs.<\/p>\n

Two Howes co-writes, \u201cBetter Than Me\u201d and \u201cLips of an Angel,\u201d became major hits for Hinder, both winning BMI Pop Awards. \u201cLips\u201d became an international No. 1 song, and Van Poederooyen says, \u201cWe knew it was an absolute smash. When I heard the final mix, it gave me goosebumps.\u201d Howes and JVP also worked on Hinder\u2019s second record, 2008\u2019s gold-selling Take It to the Limit<\/i><\/em>.<\/p>\n

Given his past as a dues-paying rock \u2019n\u2019 roll road warrior, Howes didn\u2019t take his initial success for granted. \u201cI did think, \u2018Wow, I should have switched to writing and producing years ago.\u2019 Writing in punk-rock bands for no money, eating in Subway every day, or this? I realized what I was meant to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

Born in Los Angeles, Howes was adopted by Canadian parents and raised on Vancouver Island. He clearly inherited some musical genes, given that his biological great-grandfather was an opera singer and his grandfather, Payton Legare, was a saxophonist in the Benny Goodman and Louis Prima big-band orchestras. Songwriting came naturally to Howes. \u201cI was writing songs even before I could play guitar. I\u2019d pick up a guitar without knowing any chords and just start humming a melody and writing lyrics down. I\u2019d always get into trouble in school \u2018cos I\u2019d be writing lyrics in math class.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

He may have failed math, but Howes became a student of what he terms \u201cthe math of songwriting. I\u2019d take songs that were hits and find out what made them work. What made them hooky? I really studied the structure. In writing, there\u2019s the creative and inspirational part that comes from the heart, then there\u2019s the math part, especially for pop-radio songs.\u201d<\/p>\n

Songwriting took a back seat when Howes hit the road with DDT, the band he fronted in the \u201990s. Its explosive mix of punk, ska and rap earned critical kudos and a record deal with TMC\/Elektra, the label launched by Metallica\u2019s Lars Ulrich. \u201cWe weren\u2019t concerned with writing radio songs. We just wanted to come up with something innovative. We travelled all across the world doing punk-rock shows but when we got signed, the label tried to structure us into writing radio songs. That was the beginning of the end.\u201d<\/p>\n

Post DDT, Howes put together a demo of original material. \u201cI was trying to get a publishing deal so I could do this for a living, and a bidding war started. I put Closure together, but after a couple of weeks on the road, I realized this was not for me. I really wanted to be writing and creating in the studio.\u201d<\/p>\n

Reflecting on his performing career, Howes says, \u201cI\u2019ve fallen into every pothole there is \u2014 bad managers, terrible publishing deals, you name it. I can hopefully help others avoid the pitfalls.\u201d That background as a hard-working rocker also gives Howes credibility with bands and singers who want to utilize his writing and production skills. Van Poederooyen, who is co-owner of their thriving Vancouver recording studio, has witnessed this first hand. \u201cThere\u2019s a respect level when people come in. They know he\u2019s a great guitar player and singer and that raises the bar a little. They want to show him \u2018I\u2019m good, too.\u2019 Also, it\u2019s not unusual for someone to say, \u2018Hey, Brian want to try getting this part?\u2019 and he\u2019ll throw it down.\u201d<\/p>\n

His rock \u2019n\u2019 roll past helped lead Howes to a lucrative collaboration with American Idol<\/i><\/em> star Chris Daughtry. \u201cChris had been in touring bands and he wanted band guys, not professional songwriters, to come in,\u201d says Howes, who has co-written multiple songs (including the massive hit \u201cOver You\u201d) for Daughtry\u2019s strong-selling albums. Other Idols have also become commercial threats thanks to Howes co-writes. One was \u201cLight On,\u201d a U.S. platinum single for Idol David Cook. It was a co-write with hard-rock legend Chris Cornell of Soundgarden, Howes says. \u201cWe originally did that song for a solo record for Chris, and we really hit it off. He said, \u2018I love how you produce my vocals,\u2019 and considering I see him as the best singer since Robert Plant, that really meant something. We\u2019ll continue our relationship.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the studio, Howes is both friendly and firm. \u201cAs a producer, your job is to make the artist comfortable, but you also want to push them outside their comfort zone so we can get something exceptional, especially vocally.\u201d Van Poderooyen believes Howes\u2019 musical ability is a prime asset as a producer. \u201cHis ears are so good. He can pick up on things right away and he knows how to fix anything that doesn\u2019t quite seem right.\u201d<\/p>\n

Other prominent CV entries include work with U.S. hard rockers Puddle of Mudd (including co-writing and producing the No. 1 rock-radio hit \u201cFamous\u201d), emo pop-rockers Boys Like Girls (he produced their hit duet with Taylor Swift, \u201cTwo Is Better Than One\u201d) and Rev Theory, who are now signed to Van Howes Records. On the Canadian front, he has recently begun working with top punk-pop band Simple Plan, while his writing credits include songs cut by Serena Ryder<\/b><\/strong>, Faber Drive, Social Code, Bif Naked<\/b><\/strong>, State of Shock and The Veer Union.<\/p>\n

As a songwriter and producer, Howes has covered a diverse musical terrain, from hard and alternative rock to pop and punk and now, country. \u201cI took my first trip to Nashville recently and just got my first hold on a country song.\u201d This eclecticism comes quite naturally, he says. \u201cI\u2019ve always loved so many kinds of music. Even in high school, I listened equally to Def Leppard and Van Halen and Fugazi, plus I loved Roxy Music and The Cure. I just love great music, no matter what the style.\u201d<\/p>\n

Howes frequently jets to L.A. and other cities for songwriting sessions, but much of his production work is now done out of Van Howes Studio. \u201cPeople try to get me to move to L.A., but I tell them, \u2018I\u2019m going to stay in Vancouver and commute.\u2019 The quality of life is great here, plus I can\u2019t get any hockey games on TV there.\u201d Spoken like a true Canadian, and one the industry here will indeed be keen to keep.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Songwriter, music producer and publisher Brian Howes successfully juggles his multiple roles<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[97],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-148467","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-non-categorise"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/uat.socan.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/148467","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/uat.socan.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/uat.socan.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uat.socan.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uat.socan.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=148467"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/uat.socan.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/148467\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/uat.socan.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=148467"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uat.socan.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=148467"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uat.socan.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=148467"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}