Xavier:
Hi, my name is Xavier Brooks. I’m currently manning this interview on behalf of KCR College Radio. And I am here with Howells — or, I think you’re the frontman for Howells, right?
Howells:
You think right. That is me.
Xavier:
Do you want to say a little bit about yourself or introduce your…
Howells:
Sure. Yeah, my name is Benjamin. I sing and play guitar for the rock band Howells, based in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. And yeah, we just put out an EP and, uh, looking forward to having a little chat with you, man.
Xavier:
Hell yeah. Well, we are pretty happy to have you. And, um, obviously, like you said, you just dropped that new EP — and I actually did just listen to it over the past few days, I’ve quite liked it. Can you tell us a little bit about what it was like to work on that project?
Howells:
Yeah, for sure. It was actually different than all the stuff we had done previously, because we had introduced a new band member shortly before we started writing that — our guitarist Dylan. We were a three-piece prior to that, and then we added him into the mix, and that album became the most collaborative piece of work we’ve done to date. Primarily, I have been the songwriter in the past, but we actually spent a lot of time in the room together writing those songs. I still was sort of tasked with doing most of the arranging and the production and stuff, but it was really cool to actually write with the boys. I feel like it gave us a more fresh piece of work to kind of release into the world as a result, so I’m hoping to do more of that for the next EP.
Xavier:
Yeah, that sounded like a lot of fun. And that actually was one of the questions I was going to ask you — what it was like, or kind of like what your songwriting process was like for this particular project.
Howells:
Yeah, man. It was different, like I mentioned, because Dylan joining the band is a very creative guy. And for the first time, I had someone else in the band coming in with new ideas. Like, for example, our song The Pressure — which was the first track we ended up releasing from the album — was written just right behind me in this room. Our drummer was in the bathroom, and the guitarist, just Dylan, he was just laying on the ground. He started playing some nonsense, and I was like, “Dude, keep playing that.” And we started jamming it, and that literally became The Pressure. So it was really like an organic writing process for some of those songs, which was sick.
Xavier:
That is crazy. I was listening to that song earlier, and I would not have imagined that that was the inception process for that one.
Howells:
Yeah, it was very nonchalant.
Xavier:
So, in the same vein of songs, but I guess kind of going outside of your guys’ work — do you have any particular music or artists that inspired this EP?
Howells:
Yeah, for sure. I seem to be unable to escape my influences. If you could see around me right now, I have some posters from my big influences growing up and stuff. But I grew up in the 2000s and, as a result, I find that a lot of the post-hardcore and metalcore and rock bands from that time really influenced our sound. Bands like My Chemical Romance, Avenged Sevenfold, or early 30 Seconds to Mars really became part of my musical DNA when writing with the band. I feel like in our latest EP, Fade Into Being Part One, it’s really noticeable — which I was kind of surprised by, because you don’t ever really go in with an intention to sound like a particular band. But then at the end of the project we got all the songs back and I was like, “Oh yeah, I’m just a product of my generation.” But I honestly think that’s pretty cool.
Xavier:
I feel like your guys’ sound is unique — I could see the inspiration, but I feel like you did something original with it. I enjoyed it.
Howells:
Thank you. Yeah, we definitely had more modern influences as well. Like, The 1975 really influenced me, and they’re like a pop band too, so it does span the gamut. But for sure those bands — Alexisonfire, all those guys — had a big input.
Xavier:
Glad to see that some of my inspirations are also inspiring other people. I guess kind of pivoting here — on this EP, I know you guys worked with other artists. I think Astrology Girl and Folded Hand?
Howells:
Yeah, that’s right.
Xavier:
So what was it like working with different artists, I guess, in the space?
Howells:
Yeah, it was really great to have the opportunity to not only collaborate more with the band, but with people outside of the band. Astrology Girl, who’s from the southern part of my province, had been making waves in our regional music scene for about a year. There’s a lot of local bands, and it’s not always that one comes along and makes you go, “Whoa, who are these guys?” And I noticed them because I went to a show and I was looking around, and there were like 50 kids just yelling their lyrics back at them, which you don’t see for local bands a lot. So they were immediately on my radar, and I ended up checking out their EP they had released. I was like, “Wow, these songs are really, really cool.” And I made buddies with Casper and Blake — Casper sings in Astrology Girl — and yeah, it was really cool to get to work with those guys. They’re very chaotic and super sharp. The type of songwriting you can’t fake. But it was pretty funny just having them show up at my studio and be like, “All right, let’s write a song,” like not knowing those guys at all. They’re good buddies now. But it was a very different experience compared to working with Folded Hand, who are very intentional. Like… Folded Hand is like a rapier, and then Astrology Girl is like a big broadsword. Tyler, who sings in Folded Hand, is so talented — he’s like a music school guy, really knows what he’s doing. And I learned a lot working with both those artists. And actually, if it wasn’t for Astrology Girl, we wouldn’t have met and linked up with the producer who produced our entire album and also the next album that’s coming out in October. So yeah, it was so great meeting both those guys and sort of getting more deeply connected with our regional music scene, and having a solid piece of music to live in infinity to go along with it.
Xavier:
It’s actually really cool how you mentioned that, because they sound very different in the way you’re talking about them, and the songs themselves did sound different. So it’s funny how they both coincided to make an appearance on that.
Howells:
It was really cool. Yeah, they’re very authentic to themselves, which is a big reason I wanted to bring them onto the album. And I am so stoked about those songs.
Xavier:
Being authentic to yourself — you can give me an honest answer here. Do you have a favorite song on the EP that just came out?
Howells:
I think Overflow is my favorite, because of the memories I have attached to writing that song with those guys. And because of that being the first step into the friendship that I now have with Casper
and Blake from Astrology Girl. I love all those songs in different ways, of course, but that one definitely holds a special place in my heart. It was a lot of fun writing that tune.
Xavier:
Yeah, that one is also — I think — probably my favorite from that.
Howells:
Is it? Cool.
Xavier:
Yeah. And actually, from that song, there was a lyric that stuck out to me. I have it written down. I’m pretty sure it’s from Overflow — “I have ash in my veins, run away from the pain.” Can you tell me what inspired that line? Because I’ve never heard that term of expression before and I was curious about it.
Howells:
Yeah, absolutely. I sat down to write that song with Casper and Blake, and Casper has a very colorful past. He struggled with addiction in a very real way when he was a younger man. And I wrote that song initially with the idea of talking about your vices and losing yourself to your vices. So I wrote that chorus, and that line actually became basically the foundation for the rest of the song and the lyrics for the rest of the song. The idea was like, “I’ve got ash in my veins” — pick your poison, everybody’s got one. But for me, it was smoking at the time, and you become your vice over time if you lose yourself to it. So that’s where that lyric came from.
Xavier:
Oh, that’s really cool. Thank you for elaborating on that a bit. And then there was another one, also in 8-fold Fence — another of my favorites, probably my second favorite. “Is 11 years not long enough to solve this” — I think is how I heard it. Could you tell me about what that one meant?
Howells:
Yeah, so I wrote that song about a girl that I knew for a very long time. And the general theme of that song is being unable to communicate to the world outside of you, and what happens when you feel like you can’t be yourself. You start wearing a mask, and then over time you kind of become the mask — and you feel like nobody actually knows you, because you’re never being yourself. That line was probably the most specific line to me in that entire song. It was because I had been in a relationship with this girl for 11 years, and I still sometimes felt like I didn’t know her and like we couldn’t communicate with each other. And that’s exactly where that entire song came from.
Xavier:
Yeah, I had no idea. I had a feeling it was something, because it just sounded so specific and unique.
Howells:
You picked up on a couple of very important lines in both those songs.
Xavier:
Yeah, those were my favorites — they were strong, in my opinion. Going more towards live music outside the EP — do you have any plans for local shows or a tour in the area that you’re in?
Howells:
Yeah, absolutely. We’ve got a couple of shows coming up. I actually have an acoustic show on June 12th, but we’re doing full band shows on both July 4th and August 15th here in Calgary where we’re based. And we’re looking at doing a provincial tour hitting all the main cities, and we’re actually looking at doing an international tour next spring. We’re hoping to go over to Asia, which is obviously not local, but that’s actually a little fun.
Xavier:
Would you say the most important or most exciting thing about the tour is going out, or do you have other elements of it that you look forward to?
Howells:
Yeah, I think the best part about being a performer is getting to meet the people that come as a result of the performances, and you only get to do that when you go out to play.
Xavier:
Yeah. Heading out and having a bundle of shows that you’re about to take on is super exciting. To me, that’s also the most nerve-wracking, you know — the excitement and anxiety are very closely related. But I think those are the most important parts about being in a band and being an artist and a performer: getting to actually meet the people that are willing to come out and see you. I mean, it’s exciting making the music and stuff too, but that’s a very special part of performing.
Xavier:
To pivot once more to some of your past works — I was looking on your Spotify before the interview started and I found some old songs. The oldest ones listed are XX and Marionette. I actually listened to them — they’re both very, very catchy. And I was wondering how you would describe the change in your music since… I think the earliest was 2022 that those came out?
Howells:
Yeah, you got it. So prior to this album cycle, we were — not struggling, but we were not decided on a particular sound. I had been running this project on my own, and then I brought in Kweisi Krips on bass and Edison Grove on drums. That evolved our sound a little bit more, and then, like I mentioned, when Dylan came in it became what it is now — which is a little bit more satin alternative rock, or post-hardcore alternative metal, that sort of vein of things. But, like you noticed, XX is very different, and even Marionette is quite different. When I had written XX, I was listening to a lot more dance music, and funk had just become a huge genre — I think thanks to TikTok and stuff. So I was listening to a lot more electronic music, which is why there’s like a LinnDrum — like, electronic drums — on that tune. But I always had the heart of post-hardcore and rock in me, which is of course why I kept the guitar and everything else that’s in that track. But I was flirting with a lot of
different genres at that time and was having a lot of fun exploring. And same with Marionette — we were a little bit closer to what we are now at that time, but still maybe a little bit more pop-leaning. We also collaborated with the Toronto-based pop punk outfit called Nerima on that song, which sort of changed its DNA a little bit as a result too. And yeah, it wasn’t until probably a year, year and a half ago that we had really settled into our sonic identity.
Xavier:
And I’ve seen on some writings— I think on your website or on YouTube — that you describe yourself as Halo-Core. I’ve never heard that term before. Could you explain what that means?
Howells:
Yeah, absolutely. Our music is designed to try to give people that feeling of catharsis that you can get when you’re at a concert, or when you hear or see a piece of art that really connects with you — when you’re just sort of present and observing or listening to the music, you’re not thinking too much, you’re just being present and you’re there with that piece of art being affected by it. That’s sort of the most valuable thing that I’ve had out of being involved in the arts, and my favorite artists and my favorite concerts have all given me that experience. When we design our music, we play a lot with dynamics — we’ll have really soft, intimate sections, and then we’ll try to lift people up and then break them down into these really massive choruses or really heavy breakdowns. And I ultimately am hoping to give people what feels like a religious moment. And that’s where the term HaloCore comes from.
Xavier:
So going a little bit backwards again to XX — there was a pretty interesting music video on the YouTube channel about what seemed to be an insomniac and some strange sleeping pills. Could you describe the message or the inspiration behind that music video?
Howells:
Yeah, absolutely. So XX was written a little bit about temptation and how temptation can change you into somebody else. And the concept for the video — which originally was supposed to be two parts, and I have still yet to make the second part, which may be part of the videos coming out for our next EP in October — the concept was this character, Insomniac Jack, who is plagued by his dreams.
And as a result, he can’t sleep properly. But it becomes a vicious cycle, because he then develops a dependency on the sleeping medication, which exacerbates his terrible dreams. That was inspired by my own life, because I’ve had really crazy — the whole male side of my family has a really crazy relationship with sleep. We all have insane dreams. I’ve got a ton of sleep paralysis. And that’s sort of where the inspiration for that came from. But yeah, that’s the whole concept of the video, and that was actually our first proper music video that we had made.
Xavier:
And going with the music videos — I know you also came out with one for Overflow, right? Howells:
Yeah.
Xavier:
Was the creative process really different for making a music video for that song than it was for XX? Like, have you guys evolved your sort of production for that at all?
Howells:
It was, actually. We made music videos for every song on our recent EP Fade Into Being, and we did it completely differently. For these sets of songs, what we did is we filmed one day doing a performance version for each of the songs — performing through each of them. We actually already have our second EP recorded, and we did performance videos for all those songs as well. But additionally, we then filmed a separate narrative style or world-building video to splice in between the performance sections of the song. So for Overflow, I set aside a day separate from the performance day to meet with our videographer, David Hurd, and the singer for Astrology Girl, Casper. And we set up a shoot that reflected the heart of what we were talking about in the song — regarding addiction and your vices — and aesthetically reflected the subject matter in the song, and also featured me and the Astrology Girl singer.
Xavier:
And one of the things that stood out to me from it was the sort of recurring image of what seemed to be just a black figure with a mask in the background. Based on what you said, I’m guessing that’s kind of the vices that you’re talking about being present in the song. I guess my question is sort of like, what led you to represent that antagonist in that way?
Howells:
Yeah, so — it’s funny you bring it up — because the first time that character came about was while filming the XX video, and that character didn’t make a full debut in the video, but you do see things like its hand and things that allude to a dark presence being there. And I wanted to bring that character back because I felt like it really fit and represented the idea of the vice well. And more so, we are very focused on the world-building aspect of our music and our band now. And we’re building recurring characters and recurring themes that will come back in our future videos as well.
Xavier:
That’s pretty cool. I do like the idea of having that. Because it’s funny, the XX video is like two or three years old at this point. So people go back and they see the subtle imagery. That would be kind of a cool little Easter egg.
Howells:
Yeah, exactly.
Xavier:
Pivoting from the music videos — you have a vlog on your channel called “Being in a Band,” and in that video we see you taking care of some plants in the beginning. How are the plants doing? Are
they still alive?
Howells:
Oh, the plants are doing great. They keep multiplying. I have honestly like the maximum amount I can have without them starting to die. I think I have like 26, or some preposterous amount, but they’re doing great. I had a few almost die recently and I saved them, so the plants are good.
Xavier:
Good on you for taking care of them. For the last question about your guys’ musical past — do you have a favorite live show that you’ve done? Anyone that sticks out from memory?
Howells:
We did a show on March 3rd of 2025 that was really special. It was at our favorite venue here in Calgary, a venue called The Rec Room. I love those guys because they never charge me a room fee and they always let me run the whole show — I get to do all the ticketing and hire all the crew, so I always know everything’s taken care of. And we played with a Vancouver-based band called Tiger Really, who are doing really well now. I think they actually were just down in the States recently playing, and they came through town, so it was really fun to get to host those guys. And it was also our first show with Astrology Girl, which was awesome. We had some other great bands on that bill — a band called 90s Winona, and we also had Folded Hand, who’s the other band that featured on our EP. And it was just a great turnout. I think we had over 200 people there, and it was just a really fun night. It was one of those nights where there’s tons of energy in the crowd, which gives the bands tons of energy to feed off of. So everybody performed above and beyond as a result. We got some great video, we met some really cool people, and it was just one of those nights where there was just something in the air. So that was up there for sure.
Xavier:
That’s really cool. I kind of wish I was there for that.
Howells:
Yeah, I wish you were too.
Xavier:
Okay. So to finally wrap up here — from what I can recall, or from what you’ve said, what we have of Fade Into Being is just part one. When are we seeing part two come out? And is there anything you want to kind of tease, or themes you want to talk about for that side?
Howells:
Absolutely. So Fade Into Being Part Two will be fully released in October. We’re actually going to start rolling out singles next month — the first single comes out next month. And there is a definite shift between Part One and Part Two. They’re recorded at the same time, so they’re definitely of the same ilk, but we separated them because we had two sets of songs that sort of were saying their own message, and we wanted to highlight that with their own album artworks and a separate
release. We are going to be rolling that first single out next month, which I’m really excited about, and just continuing to release videos and trying to make more cool stuff.
Xavier:
What is going to come after Fade Into Being Part Two?
Howells:
So our main goal — and the reason why we waited so long to release Fade Into Being Part One between that release and our previous release — was because we wanted to make sure we had enough stuff in the pipeline that once we started releasing, it was never going to stop. So we’ve got, like I said, the next EP complete, which will be coming out in October. And by the time that is done, our next release is also going to be complete. And these EPs are going to be growing with each release. So the release that comes post Fade Into Being Part Two is probably going to be our first full length, and that’ll be coming out in the spring of 2027.
Xavier:
Okay, do you have anything else? Any parting words you want to say to the audience?
Howells:
Pursue art and pursue peace. Everything else is going to fade away.
Xavier:
Wise words. Okay, thank you so much, Ben. I really appreciate it. This was a fantastic interview and you had very insightful answers.
Howells:
Yeah, I’m happy to do it, Xavier.
You can listen to Fade Into Being (Part 1) on Howells’ Spotify or Youtube channel:
www.youtube.com/channel/UCDMv3ZWABWedg1U7Rs-ZY2Q