A PERFECT CIRCLE Guitarist Discusses ASHES DIVIDE

After three A PERFECT CIRCLE records with TOOL's Maynard James Keenan, Billy Howerdel is set to embark on his own journey with the brand new outfit ASHES DIVIDE. A few weeks back MetalSucks was fortunate enough to be able to speak with Billy. He told the site about the long writing and recording process for the new record "Keep Telling Myself It's Alright" (due April 8 via Island/DefJam),the personal battles contained therein, working with a slew of guest musicians, and stepping out on his own from underneath Maynard's shadow. An excerpt from the chat follows:

MetalSucks: Do you feel any pressure, since this doesn't have the PERFECT CIRCLE name, so it's a whole different thing, but do you feel like without Maynard in the mix, that the casual fans aren't really gonna be aware of the project? Or do you feel you have a certain standard to live up to in that regard?

Howerdel: Uhh I think I understand. Generally, I understand. I know there are gonna be Maynard fans who wanna hear his voice who are gonna be horrified.

MetalSucks: Let me clarify. A PERFECT CIRCLE fans know that you were the dude behind the whole thing all along and that Maynard was kind of just the voice on it.

Howerdel: I wouldn't say that though, I think that's always been a misconception. I mean Maynard had a lot more to do with it than that opinion would state. We were definitely collaborating on it. I came in with this body of work for "Mer De Noms" that was pretty complete, I mean, things were still underway when he was there, but he was a huge contributor. To me it was 50/50 I wrote the music and he wrote the words and most of the melodies. The more I'm doing now and I wouldn't even say this before but I have a more solidified opinion now in doing everything myself that there was certainly I mean I don't know, it's funny that he didn't get as much credit. It's almost like people are rooting for me 'cause I'm the underdog in a way. And Maynard went out of his way, at least on the first record, to give me as much credit for things as possible, and then I think it kind of ran away from him and that people started running with that a little bit too far. But to be honest, and set the record straight, I think Maynard had a lot more to do with it than people give him credit for.

MetalSucks: So was it tough doing some of the stuff you hadn't previously done on your own?

Howerdel: Very. It was tough, anyway. I mean, I was writing all the music, and producing and engineering. And that's more than a full-time job. And trying to go into something I had never done and didn't have a comfort level with, like singing and writing lyrics well, writing lyrics mostly. The singing part's not the hard part, it's just writing the lyrics and trying to stand behind that. It's not just like Maynard had pretty good lyrics; he had amazing lyrics, and I think a lot of people agree. To come out of the shadows, where he was, or is, that's a huge hill to climb, so that can certainly keep you in writer's block for a while. It's almost like that sophomore effort where you're stumped on what to do. I felt that three-fold with this. The first record from my band, but there's a lot of expectations that are gonna go into it. But then again there's a lot of work to be done because a lot of people aren't gonna know what it is. It's a brand new band, so nobody knows who ASHES DIVIDE are and it's gonna be a long time 'til people do.

Read the rest of the interview at www.metalsucks.net.