The New York Howl have only been together as a band for a little over two years, but have been individual artists and musicians in their own right for far longer.

They"ve got insightful ideas about their art and ways of life. Here, they speak on traveling the world and spreading their brand of soul-punk-shoestring-revival rock n" roll.

We sat down with them and picked their collective brains, and they served us up a good meal in the form of weighty conversation on music, art, cultural differences in the appreciation of real musicianship, and the importance of being genuine amidst today"s trend of stylized, categorized, and subsidized artists.

After snapping some photos of them during their sound check before the show, we were invited backstage. We took full advantage of the meeting—sizing them up before launching into a batch of questions that would open them to us like a can of worms. We expected either resistance, or for them, to come up with the same canned answers you read everywhere nowadays, but we were pleasantly surprised by just how candid, open, and funny they were.

Brian (guitar, keys, vocals) stood the most unassuming of them all, dressed down and bearded...blinking behind his glasses. Andrew (guitar, lead vocals), the tallest (at 6’6) and most relaxed of the lot, lit a cigarette and crossed his long legs, waiting for the start.

Stefan (baritone sax), the most eager to speak, has his own style, dressed like he’d just hopped off a bus bringing him straight from a gig in New Orleans. And we could tell Adam (drums), the little guy, was the most observant and introspective. The first thing we had to know is why this gaggle of young men calls themselves: The New York Howl.

Brian: All the good band names were taken. All the ones we tried…

ACED: Is there a registry or what?

Brian: Well like on MySpace all the ones we wanted were taken.

Adam: We were The Howl for a while, but that was taken, so we’re The New York Howl now. You know, simple.

ACED: Speaking of: on your Myspace you describe your sound as “Otis Redding meets Iggy Pop in a fist fight.” Care to elaborate?

Brian: Iggy Pop would obviously win because he’s alive—

Andrew: I don’t know about that, are you kidding me?

ACED: Otis Redding could take Iggy.

Andrew: Otis Redding would kick Iggy Pop’s ass. Iggy would be a scrappy motherf----r, but I think in the end Otis would win.

ACED: But why do you describe your sound like that? What does it mean?

Andrew: The descriptions are tough, but the soul thing is obviously a big influence. We also do a bit of twisting and freaking out more like a soul singer.

ACED: So, hence Otis Redding (soul) and Iggy Pop. Do you think that your music is punk music? What is punk music these days anyway?

Adam: We’re not (strictly) a punk band.

Stefan: We get influences from all different types of music.

Adam: The description boxes on MySpace like to just put you in a category. As a musician I like to take as many influences as I can from anywhere we go around the world. From MacDougal St. hearing Arabic music, to Brooklyn hearing hip-hop in my neighborhood. We take as many influences as we can and mix it all together.

Andrew: Really what it is, is that we’re really trying to be ourselves. Just follow our inspirations. We’re big fans of music. I think with MySpace, whenever you try to label any kind of art…your job is just to be oneself as much as you can be, as frightening as that is. You’re forced to compare yourself on those things. Hopefully, in time, people will say we sound like us.

ACED: So you guys are basically music lovers in a band. What’s your writing process like? Who contributes the most material in the group?

Stefan: Brian and Andrew share initial composition credits essentially. And both of them are extremely gifted and prolific songwriters…

Andrew: I don’t know about gifted.

ACED: Brian and Andrew mostly then? Stefan and Adam just sit on their asses?

Andrew: Adam and Stefan both write music, but I think Brian and I have such a backlog of stuff…Stefan writes music for his band Gato Loco. Adam writes all kinds of music, and it’s just a matter of time until we start rocking their tunes.

Adam: I also take the job as accompany player 100 percent seriously. I respect my part 100 percent to try to make everything sound better. I’ve been playing with my father my whole life and that’s how he’s taught me. So that’s pretty much my job right now at this stage in my life, but in the future, who knows?

Andrew: Another important part of this story is that any one of us could pursue a solo career as a songwriter or musician. Brian and I bring the songs to the band and they completely take on a life of their own with the four of us put together. It becomes its own thing.

Brian: We do a lot of stuff outside the band as well. I’ve been playing trumpet for a while and I followed Stefan to a couple of his gigs and was permitted to sort of sneak in. We’re always trying to push and expand…

Adam: Brian plays in a Gospel Church on Sundays, so there’s a lot of influence from that.

Stefan: The band constantly gets together and just does spontaneous jams—in front of audiences too. There are no boundaries. It’s a means of having fun and expressing ourselves. Just enjoy it.

Andrew: We want the songs to become everybody else’s too. That’s the idea. You know, when you’re writing a tune you’re just sort of ‘tuning in’. You’re just a vessel for…I call it God…but it’s just sort of coming through you. Once it’s out, it’s everybody’s.

In other words, these lads are extremely sincere in their desire to affect, infect and reach into the very souls of their audiences. They pull out all stops during their time on stage, imploring their fans to join in on their fun and have as good a time listening to the music as they have making and playing it. In that respect they are servants to their people, to their art, to their music.

They’re into The White Stripes, riding bicycles and holding impromptu jam sessions with one another. They got their start busking both on and underneath the streets of New York (on the A line, to be exact) for pennies. They work odd jobs, but their music remains their primary occupation, though they are as they put: flat “f---ing broke.” They aren’t complaining, however, and we like that.

ACED wanted to know about the grind---all the work involved in being a struggling band, and asked them what they want to have accomplished before their set is over at any given gig.

Stefan: The goal is to completely lose ourselves on stage. We’re as much apart of the audience as they are. We’re just watching it happen in almost like a meditative state. We get into a vibe where the four of us are just locked in…It’s almost simple and sort of spontaneous.

Adam: We’re just four guys on stage that are just enjoying playing music. It’s a simple as that. While we’re on stage, it’s not like going to work. We’re completely ourselves and it’s a natural thing for all of us...a way for us to express ourselves honestly…For me, when I’m on stage and I’m playing, it’s just me being the most honest I’ve ever been and enjoying the moment.

Andrew: Also, another important thing is that we’re all poor as dirt. We’re broke as f--k. All four of us are just really average Joes. We’re all working different jobs trying to make an honest dollar and just be good people.

ACED: So you’re not in a band for the booze and the women?

Andrew: We’re not Mormons or Jesuits or anything! But we’re here because we love to do it, right? I look forward to this. It’s the greatest thing in my life. The best thing I got going is this band and my bicycle. Those are the two things that keep me human more than anything else. I can’t afford a therapist, you know? The whole idea is to lift ourselves and the people in the crowd with us above...

Adam: Above the normal everyday New York grind.

ACED: Your audience needs you as much as you need them.

Andrew: Sure. We’re trying to get to a higher place and bring as many people as we can with us.

ACED: Do you have a favorite song to perform?

Brian: We like all our stuff. But “Black Stallion” is sort of like the ritualistic freak out song. That’s the one, for some reason, the people know it. Depending on where we are and what frame of mind we’re in, it could be radically different from one night to the next. There’s just as much room in that song for it to be light years different every time we play it.

Stefan: The thing to mention is that we never really plan our sets. We just got back from a tour (in the UK) where we were playing in front of a large number of people and we didn’t even have a set list. The goal of that is to let every show be natural. What moods we’re in, what moods the audience is in…

Adam: I love this one song called “Now We Are Strange”. I think whenever we play that it’s always a hit. I know the audience likes it and for me, whenever we play it, it always gets my blood flowing.

Andrew: Man I can’t wait to play dude! (ACED is endeared to this sort of giddy outburst)

It’s quickly becoming quite clear that The NY Howl are just cool dudes—plain and simple. As easy going and laid back as any other normal bunch of mismatched, cigarette smoking, church going, chicken-finger-eating boys can be. But they aren’t being hailed as Rock n’ Roll’s Second Coming…yet.

It stands to reason that they’d retain their humility, even after having had the experience of playing a swath of sold out, big arena shows on a recent tour of the UK with one of that countries biggest acts, Jamie T.

ACED: Speaking of the UK, we were wondering if during the two tours you’ve done there you’d noticed at any time, distinct differences between their audiences verses American ones.

Andrew: Absolutely! Yes.

ACED: Good or bad?

Stefan: Good.

Andrew: The Brits are completely obsessed with music. There’s a certain kind of New Yorker that’s obsessed with music to where it’s just tearing at their brains. But when we went there (to the UK), the whole place is just teeming with people who are just crazed with music.

Adam: And just the music, not the style. Not the haircuts, not the eyeliner…

Andrew: Though there’s plenty of haircuts and eyeliner there…

Stefan: There’s that stuff all over the world, but it just also seems like people in England really enjoy going out and seeing live music, and as a New Yorker, I don’t notice that with any other New Yorkers I know…no New Yorkers I know would go out and go see a band that they don’t know.

I don’t know what the reason is, but as someone who’s been to England and was born and raised in New York I noticed a drastic change and I really enjoyed playing anywhere in England. We also played in Scotland. It was awesome.

ACED: Do you think the fans in the UK take music more seriously?

Stefan: No, you know, I think the ‘scene’ does. The stereotype, or whatever. We’ve met great people here in New York. And that’s a testament to how we all came about…and there’s still a really good strong scene of really good honest people in New York that really love music and love going out to see music. But it’s still a little overshadowed.

Well that’s a little better, at an rate. But we don’t blame them for their blatant Anglophilia, as we harbor some pretty strong feelings for the Brits here at ACED as well. Andrew goes into his theory about why New York-based indie bands have a slightly harder time of it Stateside.

Andrew: This is one of the media capitols of the world, and there’s always going to be some big ass thing or other overshadowing the little people.

Adam: I think it’s absurd as an artist to crunch the numbers. To play that game.

ACED: What are you gonna do if you do hit it big, and that is the game you have to play?

Andrew: Well we’ll play it, but we’ll do it by our own rules that we set up for each other. We’re trying to be as humble as we f---ing can.

Brian: I’m humbler than you are.

ACED: He looks humbler than you.

Andrew: Right…wait, well Brian has four more shakes of humility than I do. Like I could shave my head and become a monk, but Brian would still be the fore-runner in the humility race.

So far, what they’re telling us is, that when creativity calls them, they obey the summons, no matter where they are or what the circumstances. Everything outside of their lives as musicians affects their creative process, making them raw, real, and honest.

Honesty is important to them. Realism: presenting themselves as they are, who they are, and nothing more is practically their credo. Who needs an image? Who needs skinny jeans, eyeliner and a carefully coiffed bed head?

Brian, Andrew, Stefan and Adam are almost jumping to get this point across, talking over each other—waxing on fervently about their distinct lack of image. They don’t have time for any of that nonsense. They’re too busy creating. For them, there isn’t even a real difference between performing for dozens against performing for hundreds. Going on stage and not giving 110 percent is not an option for them.

ACED: You’ve played large venues in England...do you prefer smaller venues with a more intimate audience?

Stefan: We played Shepard’s Bush in England where there was like 2,500 people there. It’s just different. We got flown down there and we knew that it was gonna be different, but it was still great.

ACED: Was it daunting at all?

Stefan: The problem was that we had short sets and we really like to stretch out and feel the vibe. But we were sort of shoved into this thirty-five minute set.

Brian: It was big show business. We felt we were kind of being shoehorned into this thing where…it was us verses this like big time showbiz machine. It was our big London show, and everybody was kind of freaking out about that. But I feel like maybe when we’re ninety and are at Tina Turner level, and everybody knows who we are, that’s fine, but we’re not in a hurry.

Andrew: I also think that the great thing about performing is that every time it’s got to be fresh. I just saw The White Stripes at Madison Square Garden…talking about playing big arenas…and they work their asses off for two hours. It’s like you can’t rest on your laurels and anybody that does that, you don’t wanna go see them; they’re dead.

You gotta bring it every time, whether it’s in front of one or a hundred or a thousand. We were arena ready in that respect. We’re like The Who. We’re just gonna go out and do what we do and it won’t be a problem.

We’re not trying to make these guys sound like a bunch of enlightened profits in the guise of dirty New Yorkers with instruments. They’re modest and natural about it. It is what it is. Their music reflects their intense search for the truth through their art rather impressively.

And way beyond all that philosophical hullabaloo they are actually a damn good band. People Will Come To See Us Ride is a volatile and eclectic mix of punk rock, soul and jazz. Blending guitar, sax, bass, drum and keyboard rather seamlessly into a kind of smorgasbord of raw rhythm oft times reminiscent of some of the gritty big bands out of New Orleans.

This oddness weaves itself through the post punk guitar riffs, crashing symbols and booming bass lines that correctly identify them as a rock band rather nicely, tying it all together to make up a surprisingly fresh and satisfying listen. Though wary of titles that categorize them, The New York Howl succeed in pulling together an act that could easily rank among the most wholly unique and distinctly recognizable on the scene. Where do the ideas for this kind of musical blend come from?

ACED: Who are you listening to right now that influences you creatively?

Andrew: We love The White Stripes. They’re geniuses. I’m listening to a lot of Woody Guthrie. A lot of Kinks and Velvet Underground. One of our favorite English bands is The Screaming Tea Party. We think they’re just one of the greatest bands living today. They’re maybe my favorite contemporary act.

ACED: Lastly, are you content with the journey you’re on right now, or are you restless and ready for something else?

Brian: Both I think.

ACED: What are you restless for? Do you have an idea?

Stefan: Just to be able to play and record more. And to have more opportunities to do what we do. Not to ‘make it’ or get a record deal or anything like that.

Andrew: We’re always ready to go hit it. One of our biggest tests is patience. If it’s in the cards, I could do this for the rest of my life.

Brian: We’re all compulsive players. We’re always like ‘gotta go play, gotta go play.’ Everybody in the band is like that. That’s one of the biggest things that fuels and propels the band. Everybody’s got the same itch.

Andrew: We’ll spend our last fifty dollars to get to a gig even if we haven’t booked it, you know what I mean? We’ll hear ‘gig’ and it’s f---ing great! Sometimes we’ll get there and we’re not even supposed to play! Just because we hear the word gig.

Stefan: The first time we went to England we didn’t have a penny. We bought our tickets and that was it. We got there and we took the train down from London to Brighton and we were there playing this shitty open mic with like four people.

So we left and were walking around and we heard this band rocking and Andrew went there and was like ‘Listen we’re from New York, we flew three thousand miles to get here, we’ll rock your world, we promise.’ And we got in there and had one of the best nights.

Andrew: She was like ‘Really?’ I was like you’re so lucky we’re here man, we came to play! She believed it and then we killed it.

This story closed the interview. Our heads reeling, we went outside for some air to process all of the things we’d just been told. While out, ACED caught up with a friend and genuine fan of the bands and asked him to sum them up for us, just in case we were missing something.

David Figuereo of The Airthieves commented on their immense talent as musicians and reiterated the point of honesty they’d been trying to make all night. “Adam Amram the drummer, has a unique sound, and not many drummers can create that sound. Probably the best drummer I’ve ever seen live. As a band, they’re the best live act in New York. Out of all the bands I’ve seen I don’t care how big, they’re the ones that play honestly. When they say they’re honest, that’s true. Andrew is a master performer. He’s gonna blow up. Andrew’s gonna be one of the greatest presences on stage. Stefan’s a bad ass on saxophone. They’re just a f---ing incredible band.”

It’s hard to ignore the almost imploring sincerity pouring out of the dude’s guts while he talks about his mates. We believe him.

The members of The New York Howl are full of unchecked energy, have great chemistry and mutual respect for each other. There’s no doubt in our mind’s they’re going places, though they remain unbothered by talk of ‘making it big.’ For now, their ambition is just to create and play. If that’s enough for them, it’s enough for us.

* Check out more pics from the Going event New York Howl @ Crash Mansion by Mr Photog on Going.com.

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3.25 Copyright (C) 2007 Alain Georgette / Copyright (C) 2006 Frantisek Hliva. All rights reserved."