APC's Billy Howerdel Says He's 'Really Proud' of Covers Album

Thursday morning (March 21), it was announced that A Perfect Circle will release a brand-new song as part of The Sessanta E.P.P.P. Along with their upcoming Sessanta tour partners Puscifer and Primus, the EP features one new song from each band, all three co-written with Maynard James Keenan.

That same night, A Perfect Circle guitarist Billy Howerdel joined Loudwire Nights to discuss the new song, the upcoming tour and more with host Chuck Armstrong.

“We just ran through it for the first time two days ago,” Howerdel told Chuck about rehearsing A Perfect Circle’s new song, “Kindred,” ahead of the Sessanta tour.

“We are now finding our bearings quick. Usually we do a song, record it and we’ll have months to kind of digest it. This has been on the fast track, so it’s interesting. It’s very exciting, very unknown and exciting…for what I lack in guitar ability, I try and make up for in sound design — and textures and that stuff takes a long time. It’s harder than figuring out how to play notes.”

The Sessanta E.P.P.P. comes out on March 29, and A Perfect Circle will perform “Kindred” on the Sessanta tour, which kicks off on April 2 in Boston.

Billy Howerdel Reflects on A Perfect Circle’s eMOTIVe

In addition to getting the Loudwire Nights audience excited for new music from A Perfect Circle, Howerdel discussed his previous work — with A Perfect Circle, Ashes Divide and as a solo artist.

“I don’t think I would discard any of my musical children, so to speak,” Howerdel admitted. “I can stand behind it all.”

One album in particular stood out to Howerdel as he talked about A Perfect Circle: 2004’s covers record, eMOTIVe.

“[It’s] different, but we did our own take on other people’s songs, so it has a different position in my fondness for the things we did,” Howerdel said. “I’m really proud of it. I really liked them once we did them live. I think in the studio, that record was cracking the code, it was an interesting set of parameters we put ourselves within on eMOTIVe.”

He explained there was a bit of a time crunch with the album, too, which was a little different than Thirteenth Step and Mer de Noms.

“We definitely had more of a deadline we set, whereas before —we try not to go forever, but it was a little more open-ended,” Howerdel revealed.

“We got into the live sense of playing those songs in 2010 and 2011 when we went on tour and then recorded it for [A Perfect Circle Live: Featuring Stone and Echo]. That was really fun to look back on, and I think those things still hold up.”

What Else Did A Perfect Circle’s Billy Howerdel Discuss on Loudwire Nights?

What it’s like shopping for a birthday present for Maynard James Keenan: “I’ve had a couple things along the way, but you know, he’s got kids now, so I don’t think I can get everything I was thinking. It’s tough. I’ve got a couple of ideas.”
What inspired him while he was making his debut solo album, What Normal Was: “I had kids that were that age, 11 and 14, so I was trying to come up with what I was listening to at that time and kind of give them a snapshot of my influences of what made me elated, excited — what it was I was listening to.”
One thing he’s a little nervous about with the Sessanta tour: “I can’t even imagine playing on a Primus song at this point.”