Billy Howerdel Talks New Perfect Circle Album, Reflects On Malcolm Young, Chester Bennington
A Perfect Circle is winding down their current North American tour, which has given fans a preview of what to expect from the band’s highly-anticipated new album.
That album, the band’s first since 2004’s Emotive, naturally came up when WRIF’s Meltdown spoke with Billy Howerdel recently, but Howerdel was keeping his cards very close to the vest:
“Putting out a new record next year. Shooting for the spring…second quarter. I’ll be all accountant about it…It’s not quite finished, but that’s…I’m working on it, or we’re all working on it on the road in between all the duties of being on the road.”
Howerdel did, however, open up about the recent passing of AC/DC’s Malcolm Young and what the iconic rhythm guitarist meant to him:
“My sister gave me ‘Back In Black’ when it came out. I was around ten years old. Before that, I had to steal her AC/DC records or 8-tracks or whatever they were. It’s a shame. What will always be incredible about Malcolm’s sound is the simplicity and the plotting and the jugernaunt forward, unapologetically beautifully simple. AC/DC is one of those bands you start off playing, and you can look at it like, ‘Oh, it’s a little bit easier or less challenging to play.’ But then you come back to it when you can play most anything and go, ‘God! The beauty and simplicity!’ It’s Einstein equation beauty.”
Howerdel also discussed the death of Linkin Park’s Chester Bennington and how it affected him:
“The Chester thing hit me really hard. I haven’t talked about it publically at all, but I liked that guy a lot. He was a friend, not a good friend but…he was the guy that would check in. He was that guy that would text once in a while and just say, ‘Hey! Checking to see how you and your family are doing.’ And with no benefit to himself. He was just that kind of person that was always reaching out.”
To listen to this interview in its entirety, head over to WRIF.com.
Erica Banas is a rock/classic rock blogger that loves the smell of old vinyl in the morning.
