Interview with Howard Leese (Part Seven)
This podcast episode is the seventh and final installment of my recent interview with guitarist Howard Leese is support of his excellent new solo record Secret Weapon. In this segment we discuss “Somewhere” from Secret Weapon; Howard’s new guitar that actually appeared on the soundtrack to West Side Story; the untitled “hidden” track at the end of Secret Weapon, recorded in 1968 when Howard was seventeen; art vs. commerce and the expectations created by the commercial success of Heart vs. the artistic freedom of working on an independent solo project; reviews for Secret Weapon; Howard leaving Heart behind and then seeing the band re-group with another guitarist; would Howard ever play with Heart again? What the future holds for Howard Leese, including another solo album and more live dates with Bad Company.
Thanks once again to Howard Leese for this interview!
Howard Leese was the virtuoso of Heart’s early days even though Fisher gets the credit. Some of the phans think just because they changed styles that Leese couldn’t handle doing what Fisher did. Truth be known he did all the work and Fisher took the credit. The same can be said with Nancy Wilson, she gets a lot of credit for guitar playing and what she can play is sloppy at best. Their changes in direction was always Ann and Nancy Wilson’s choice. Howard chilled out and went along for the ride while making them look good.
HOWARD,
HAS ALWAYS BEEN A GENTLEMAN, 1ST CLASS ALL THE WAY, HE KNOWS IN HIS HEART WHO HE IS AND WHAT HE STANDS FOR, AND SO DID LES PAUL…THERE WILL NEVER BE A NOTHER HOWARD LEESE…THIS MAN IS A TRUE MAN FROM THE WORD GO…I KNEW HIM BACK IN THE DAY WHEN HE WAS PLAYING WITH HEART AND HE WAS IN ATLANTA, PLAYING A THREE DAY GIG….THAT’S WHERE WE MEET, WE WERE BACK STAGE, MY BEST FRIEND’S UNCLE WAS THE PRODUCER…AS HE INTRODUCTED HISELF ..HE JUST SAID HELLO MY NAME IS HOWARD,HE NEVER SAID YES I’M THE GUITAER PLAYER FOR HEART …HE JUST ASKED ME QUIETLY, AFTER WE HAD SPOKEN TO EACH OTHER FOR AN HOUR, COULD YOU PLEASE WAIT FOR ME I HAVE SOMETHING TO DO BUT I’LL BE BACK ASAP, NEXT THING I KNEW CAMERA CREWS WERE RUNNING BACKWARD S AND HOWARD GRAB MY HAND …PULLED ME ACROSS THE STAGE, AND PRETTY MUCH PLAYED QUITE ABIT OF THE CONCERT LOOKING AT ME…AND LOOKING FORWARD WHEN HE HAD TO SING. HE VERY SELDOM LOOKED AT HIS GUITAR, HE KNEW EVERY SINGLE CORD EVER LITTLE MOVEMENT WAS A NATURAL TO HIM AS BREATHING WAS TO THE REST OF THE WORLD..I WILL NEVER FORGET MY FIRST TIME MEETING HOWARD AND STILL TO THIS DAY I GET AN HI SHELIA HOW ARE YOU? FROM HIM WHEN HE’S NOT GOING A THOUSAND MPH..THANK YOU HOWARD FOR BEING MY FRIEND I AM TRULY BLESSED!!!!