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Howie Day

Sound the Alarm Several years after releasing his commercial breakthrough album Stop All The World Now, singer and songwriter Howie Day breaks his silence with his long-awaited third studio album Sound the Alarm. The album is a stunning collection of the kind of emotionally resonant, melody-minded pop-rock gems that have earned Day a legion of devoted fans over the past 10 years. Sound the Alarm comes after more than a decade of touring, during which the Bangor, Maine, native self-released his 2000 debut Australia and became a full-time traveling musician. He became known for his powerful one-man shows, connecting with audiences through his charm, humor, the strength of his songwriting, and a warm tenor voice that “soars into fluttering, high registers, but also grates with real, pleading grit,” as one critic put it. After selling nearly 50,000 copies of Australia on his own, Day, then 21, signed to Epic Records. Epic re-issued the album, which went on to sell 300,000 copies. In 2003, Day released his major-label debut, Stop All The World Now, and hit the road to support it. The constant touring paid off big-time: Stop was certified gold in the U.S. and spawned two Top 10 radio hits: “She Says” and the platinum smash hit “Collide.” “Collide” became inescapable; it was featured in scores of TV shows, including Grey’s Anatomy and Scrubs, as well as in a variety of films. The track became Epic Records’ first platinum single, eventually selling 1.5 million downloads. But despite all of this success, Day’s demanding touring and promotional schedule took a heavy toll. “I was just physically and mentally burnt out,” Day says. “I toured for five years straight before Stop All The World Now came out, then for three years non-stop after it was released. Around the same time the album was becoming successful, my family was struck with tragedy. It was a period of clearly defined extremes, which plays with your head a bit.” Day decided to take some time off, during which he sorted through his emotions by writing songs, many of which have made their way onto Sound the Alarm. “The new album very obviously echoes my own life, in all of its highs and lows, but not all of it is explicitly autobiographical,” Day says. “Some of the songs draw inspiration from people and places I've observed, and then bits of my own experiences find their way in. People often ask me what certain songs are about, and it’s like, Well, I don’t know, it’s a story that just happened subconsciously. I didn't resist it or fight it. In a simple way, the album is a post-coming-of age story about that dream-like period of your early 20s, when you’re trying to figure out how grown up you actually want to be. But in the process of all of that moving around during the recording, the album became a diary of those experiences as well.” The sound of the album beautifully underscores its emotionally complex spirit. Bold, textured arrangements — flush with acoustic and electric guitars, keyboards, strings, and samples — capture a range of moods from upbeat and playful (first single “Be There,” “Undressed”) to introspective (“40 Hours,” “Everyone Loves To Love a Lie”) to atmospheric (“So Stung,” “Counting On Me”) to downright heartbreaking (“Sound the Alarm,” “No Longer What You Require”). “Initially, I wrote a bunch of pretty sad songs about loss and relationships gone wrong, and then realized I didn’t want to put out an entirely depressing album because that’s no longer where I’m at,” Day says. “So I deliberately threw a few in the mix that were a bit more light and up-tempo, like ‘Weightless’ and ‘Undressed,’ I think if there are too many similar songs on an album all in a row, they lose their identity because there's no contrast." But even Sound the Alarm’s heaviest songs build lyrically and musically toward uplifting conclusions. “Be There,” which addresses the struggle to remain in a relationship, ends with the optimistic urge to give it a go, while the title track, a song about deep loss, concludes with the hopeful refrain: “I know we’ll make it right / We’ll be all right…” To get the range of sounds and moods he was looking for, Day recorded in a variety of locations, including Los Angeles, New York, London, Minneapolis, and Bloomington, Indiana, between the spring of 2006 and fall of 2008. “I wanted to bring a sense of different places thematically and emotionally from one track to the next, and physically moving everyone around during the tracking process accomplished that,” Day explains. He also collaborated with several musicians and producers, including Martin Terefe (Jason Mraz, KT Tunstall), Mike Denneen (Aimee Mann, Fountains of Wayne), Mike Flynn (The Fray, Augustana), and Better Than Ezra frontman Kevin Griffin — each one of them an expert in pulling superlative performances out of the artists they work with. Sound the Alarm retains and builds on the appeal of its predecessor, showcasing an artist who has dealt with a lot in his past and is focused on moving forward. “This new album represents the end of one era and the start of another,” Day says. “It’s about tipping your hat to the past, living in the here and now, and looking optimistically toward the future."

Latest bulletin 09.29.09

Be There Video - Free Itunes download of the week!!

Hi everyone,

Howie's new video for Be There is the ITunes Free video download of the week.

http://bit.ly/2ydVWc

Please feel free to repost the link in status updates, twitter posts, etc to help spread the word.

Thanks

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May 05, 11:58 AM

New EP "Be There" Out Today!

Hi everyone.....

The new Howie Day EP, "Be There" is finally here! You can buy it from itunes here, or stream it at AOL all this week. Howie had this to say about the new songs:

"These 3 songs represent a few moods you'll hear on my new album, and I wanted to give you a little preview of what's to come. The EP features a mellow, string drenched acoustic song we recorded in my home studio entitled "40 Hours", a more up-tempo, fun rock track- "Be There", and a moody atmospheric wonder- (also one of my favorites) "Counting On Me". I wanted to have a little taste of everything as a prelude to the full album which comes out August 25th. See you on the road later this summer!"

Lastly, check out Howie's new myspace skin, follow him on Twitter, or join Howie's Mailing list.
May 01, 02:29 PM

Hi From St Louis......

Hey all,
We're in St. Louis tonight for a show at Blueberry Hill. Guess it's pretty legendary around here. Looking forward to seeing you there! Also, keep your eyes peeled for 3 songs being released next month! Be There, 40 Hours, and Counting On Me are all coming! Be There will be the first single... Can't wait to see all of your reactions to the new stuff. It's been a long time coming!

I'll check in with more details soon!
Oh yeah... I'm on here now... www.twitter.com/howiekday
HD
Feb 06, 12:34 PM

Another New Howie Song!!!

As promised last week........Howie wanted you guys to be some of the first to hear another new song from the upcoming record....... Head over to www.howieday.com/download Fill in your info and we will email everyone a free mp3 download of the new song "Counting on Me" next week..... Check out the tourdates, as Chicago sold out in 30 minutes, and a few of the other shows are getting close.....so dont wait on getting your tickets!! Shawn
Jan 30, 09:00 AM

New Tour Dates!!

Hi everyone.....

I know it seems like it has been a long time coming, but the new Howie album is finally finished and will be coming out later in the Spring.

In the meantime Howie is heading out on the road for some long awaited live shows this spring, playing new stuff, old stuff and everything in between.
We hope you guys will join us in these intimate venues as Howie brings his
captivating solo acoustic performances back to these smaller, more personal
venues. Tickets will be available for fan pre-sale on Friday at
www.hdtickets.musictoday.comand more extensive show info is available at
www.howieday.comnbsp;

As a thank you for all the time you guys have been waiting, Howie wanted to
give everyone a little taste of another new song on the album. We will be sending out a link early next week for you guys to get a free Download of another new track from the album "Counting on Me" before everyone else......so keep an eye out.....

Tour Dates
3/6 - Fox Theater - Boulder, CO
3/7 - Bluebird - Denver, CO
3/11 - Waiting Room - Omaha, NE
3/12 - Redstone Room - Davenport, IA
3/13 - Varsity Theater - Minneapolis, MN
3/14 - The Rave - Milwaukee, WI
3/16 - House of Blues - Cleveland, OH
3/18 - The Ark - Ann Arbor, MI
3/19 - The Basement - Columbus, OH
3/21 - Lake Shore Theater - Chicago, IL
3/24 - Blueberry Hill - St Louis, MO
3/25 - The Record Bar - Kansas City, MO
3/27 - House of Blues - Dallas, TX
3/28 - tba - Austin, TX

We will announce more dates for the East Coast, Pacific Northwest and West
coast in the coming weeks as well as more album release info!

Thanks
Shawn
Apr 30 2008, 03:27 PM

What's up?

Just got off stage at MIT! Thanks to those of you who came out and screamed along. Just to give you an update, we've been hard at work on more tracks for the new album and everything is sounding really cool! I tested out one of the new songs (Counting On Me) at the show tonight, and it seemed to take somewhat....

Starting to get really psyched for the shows DOWN UNDER... Who's coming to my first Aussie shows?

Also... another crazy story. So we're recording this song "Longest Night" for the new album. There's a line in the song "Here with you on the 21st of June" that happens to be the summer solstice here in the U.S. of A. Well this was kind of bothering me, because the song is "Longest Night" and that would technically be the shortest night. But, you see, "Shortest Night" just doesn't have the same ring to it. So my good friend and producer Mike brings up, "Well, it's the longest night and the winter solstice if you happen to be in Australia..." I was elated with joy.

Australia here we come...
Mar 10 2008, 09:37 AM

Thanks

Hello out there! How is it? I want to thank everyone who came out to the shows the past few weeks... What an electric experience getting back on stage! Also huge thanks to Jay Clifford who joined me out there. I hope you all find his music as inspiring as I do.

I'm just enjoying a few moments off right now... preparing some new material for an upcoming studio session.... After that, it's off to Australia... wait, what? huh!?

Howie

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Howie Day

Latest bulletin 09.29.09

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