Photo by Peter Geromini |
Jeff Howell began his bass playing career as a teenager in upstate New York. He played in several bands throughout his teen years and in the 80's, progressed to the Binghamton, NY based band, Acts. This was a very polished professional band that toured the entire east coast and consistently packed every venue played. They also recorded an album, "Fear of Swimming", on which Jeff wrote and co-wrote songs. Jeff considers Acts his college band, because it really honed his stage and playing charisma. Over the years, Jeff managed to excel to bands of notoriety. When Jeff left Acts, he hooked up with Kim Simmonds, AKA, Savoy
Brown. At that time (1986), Kim was playing with some very good hard rock musicians under the heading "KSB".
The band was doomed before Jeff joined. No
one in particular's fault, generally, everyone
was disinterested.
Nevertheless, Jeff managed as always, to
find degrees of enjoyment in it. Parting
ways, Jeff ventured to the state of Vermont.
There, he started a band called,
The Law. For about a year and a half, he
played every major and non-major club and
piss hole from Brattleboro
to Nova Scotia to Newfoundland. It was a
good band, but Jeff grew tired of the grind
and returned to New  York.
After returning home, Jeff's agent called to say that Foghat needed
a bass player. So, off to Boston he ventured
in a van with no heat (Dec. 87). Long
story short, Jeff beat out approximately
30 other musicians and
got the gig with his preparedness,
incentive and exceptional
abilities. This is where Jeff met his mate, Roger Earl, "a real class act", states Jeff. "Roger and I got along very well. Every show was euphoric." Jeff toured every state several times with Foghat, including Alaska and Hawaii. "I headlined so many shows I can't remember, but I have video tapes for souvenirs." While with Foghat he recorded an album that was never released. Once again, all good things come to an end..
Shortly
after leaving Foghat, Jeff
coincidentally rejoined
Savoy Brown and left on a European tour. "It
was incredible", commented
Jeff. "When
we got back from Europe, we left
for Hawaii and then a mainland tour. It
was a lot of fun, but it too ended." It
was then that Jeff moved to Lake Tahoe. "One
day while soaking up the sun (the
sun shines just about every
day there), Roger called and asked Jeff to come
back to Foghat. Jeff rejoined
Foghat for an Alaskan continental tour.
During the tour,
he played
with Carlos Santana in Salt Lake City, UT
in front of 80,000 people. "You'd have
to see it to believe it."
As
time marched on in Tahoe, Mickey
Mulcahy, (Foghat's former tour manager
and at the time, The
Outlaw's current tour manager), called
to see if Jeff was interested in playing
for The
Outlaws.
Off to Florida Jeff embarked. Two
days of rehearsal and
out
on tour he went. "The next thing
I knew, three years went by". While
playing with The Outlaws, Jeff recorded three
albums. The Outlaws disbanded in 1996, so
Jeff occupied himself working as a studio
musician at Muscadine Studio in Macon, Georgia,
where he then resided
In 1996, Jeff returned to New Your with his family. In the process, putting his professiona career on the back burner. He pacified his desire to play by putting together several quality club bands, and recording on other artist's projects. One of which being, David "Rock" Feinstein (Elf, [Ronnie James Dio], and the Rods). He played the Wacken Festival (pronounce Vawkin), in Hamburg, Germany.
The latter portion of 2009, and majority of 2010, Jeff recorded Foghat's blues CD, Last Train Home, and toured throughout the US and Canada
Jeff continues to play with the same enthusiasm he had decades ago, and looks forward to the next chapter of his musical career. Mainly, Jeff has stayed true to his passion by writing and recording his own ideas and has compiled an innovative collection of songs
Jeff
also gives bass instruction at various
establishments in the Southern Tier of
New York. Hickey's
Music, Ithaca, Music Depot, Horseheads and Big Time Studio, Interlaken. Shoot
him an email, if
interested in taking lessons, or
having him instruct at your establishment.
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