A self-described “97X listener/scenester/scruffy little punky New Wave dude,” Howard started playing in bands as a teenager and has never stopped rocking. His current band, Cereal Killers, played their first gig at Sudsy Malone’s on Short Vine in 1989, and their current set list consists predominantly of songs that graced the 97X airwaves back in the day: punk, New Wave, garage rock… We chat with Howard about dropping The Village People for Generation X, college parties and car wrecks (they go together), what 97Xposure meant to his bands, the Modern Rock 500, and his side hustle as a jingle singer/voiceover artist.
Cereal Killers at their most recent gig, at MadTree Brewing in Oakley. [Photos from this gallery by Joe Simon for the Cincinnati Enquirer]
If this jingle has ever gotten stuck in your head, blame Howard (and Rob Fetters)
Howard’s day job is Field Sales Rep for Great Lakes Brewing Company, Ohio’s oldest and largest craft brewery. (He’s on furlough at present.) In 2018, Great Lakes announced an Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP), making every employee a shareholder.
Howard is an avid, voracious reader and has volunteered for several Books by the Banks events. (Read more in this Soapbox Cincinnati feature from 2011). In this short bonus clip, he suggests a couple of recent books that may be of interest to 97X fans.
For this episode of the podcast, as well as all recordings done since March, Dave and Damian have been practicing safe social distancing. Here’s Dave at his home set-up:
And here’s Damian’s janky set-up in the Party Dungeon.
Note the books (and cat litter bucket) used for the mic stand.
This is a trip down memory lane for me as well as Howie, I am the frontman he took over from with the Cereal killers (then ME262). I was at that first Killers show at Sudsy’s. We played there a number of times from ‘87 to the time Howie took over as frontman. We played some great originals that Matt & Jay wrote, as well as some very good collaborations between myself & Matt. The other stuff we covered in my wheelhouse along with the Clash & Elvis Costello were the Sex Pistols and Dead Kennedy’s songs. ME262 were Matt, his brother Tom on drums, and Jay on bass. Envied Howie taking my shirt, but he’s wearing it well. It’s great to see the Cereal Killers still gigging, they’re great. I have my own band now, the UnXpektd, threatening to release our debut disc… 30 something years in the making… play a track on 97x from the link below will ya…!
Cheers!
Glad you enjoyed the episode, Johny O, and hope to see you at a Cereal Killers (or an UnXpektd) show soon!