Howie Day is an American singer-songwriter.
Born January 15, 1981 in Bangor, Maine, Day started playing piano as a kid, before moving on to the guitar.
He released his debut album, Australia, independently in 2000 and toured extensively opening for numerous artists and bands the like of Remy Zero and David Gray. This exposure eventually got Day a record deal with Sony, which re-released Australia in 2002. "Ghost" was released from the album and got some airplay on modern rock radio.
In April 2003 Day released Madrigals EP, and in October he released his second full-length album, Stop All the World Now. "Perfect Time of Day," the first single from the album didn't chart, but the next single, " Collide" made it into the Top 20. "She Says" was released soon after.
Howie Day has developed a fan base throughout the years due to his solo shows. Unlike most solo performers who perform mainly with just an acoustic guitar, Howie Day uses various foot pedals to enhance his playing and "loop" chords. This "looping effect" allows him to build up a song by playing rhythm guitar, lead guitar, bass guitar, and even tap on his guitar to produce a drum sound. When the whole process is complete, it sounds as if a full band was on stage. Howie Day also uses this process on his voice, harmonizing with himself. The whole process is done in front of the audience in real time as opposed to pre-recording--a common misconception among audience members seeing Howie Day for the first time.
Howie Day also has built a huge fan base by, like John Mayer before him, allowing his concerts to be audio recorded. Fans then go to websites such as http://www.thehdtb.com (the Howie Day Trading Board) and trade shows or request shows that they would like to have. Fans will notice that, though Howie Day usually plays similar set lists, every song is played differently due to Howie's creative looping. Audio recording has been allowed as long as shows are not sold for profit. Fans are very protective of these shows as to not reduce their quality to MP3 format or quickly contacting ebay when shows are attempting to be sold at auction.
