We’ve all had gigs that we’d be better off if they’d never happened – and Yes, Asia, and GTR legend Steve Howe has proven he’s just like the rest of us by revealing his most embarrassing moment on stage
“I got my Gibson ES-175 in 1964. I cherished that guitar – it was totally gorgeous,” he reminisces in the new issue of Guitar World. “One day, I had a beer and was playing the 175, and I suddenly dropped the guitar, which landed on the jack plug and broke the socket.
Safe to say Howe was “horrified and heartbroken.”
He continues, “I took the guitar to be repaired. The one thing that came out of that experience was that I never got drunk again. Playing guitar and drinking – those things are stupidly incompatible. I had found out that playing guitar under the influence of alcohol was a complete and utter no-no.”
So it's natural that, if he had to give his two cents to his younger self, he would tell him, “Don’t drink and drop your best guitar!”
“Besides that, it’s to learn to be organized,” Howe adds of the advice he'd give. “I was quite lucky in that I got over the stage fears and worrying about that in a couple of different ways. Initially, I found a way of touring for years and years, where my personal preparation was completely secret and completely my own.”
He continues, “In 2001 that changed, where to get readyfor a show now became a ritual. It takes about 45 minutes or an hour, minimum, for me to get prepared.
“During that time, basically, you need to get out of my face,” he says matter-of-factly. “I don’t want to see you. I don’t want to see anybody; I just want to get myself ready.”
For more Howe, plus new interviews with Jake E. Lee and Steve Vai, pick up issue 601 of Guitar World from Magazines Direct.
