Virgil Howe (23 September 1975 – 11 September 2017) was a British musician best known for his work as a member of

Little Barrie Little Barrie is an English rock group consisting of Barrie Cadogan (vocals, guitar) and Lewis Wharton (bass, vocals). Virgil Howe contributed drums and vocals from 2007 until his death in 2017. Their sound has drawn from a mixture of influen ...

. He was the son of

Steve Howe Stephen James Howe (born 8 April 1947) is an English musician, best known as the guitarist in the progressive rock band Yes across three stints since 1970. Born in Holloway, North London, Howe developed an interest in the guitar and began to l ...

, guitarist and long-time member of Yes.

Career

Born in London, Virgil Howe was the second son of guitarist

. He played on several of his father's projects: he performed on keys, alongside his half-brother

Dylan Howe Dylan Lee Howe (born 4 August 1969) is an English drummer, bandleader, session musician and composer. The son of guitarist Steve Howe with whom he has sometimes collaborated, Dylan is also noted for his work with rock band the Blockheads (bot ...

on drums, for the Steve Howe solo albums '' The Grand Scheme of Things'' (1993) and ''

Spectrum A spectrum (plural ''spectra'' or ''spectrums'') is a condition that is not limited to a specific set of values but can vary, without gaps, across a continuum. The word was first used scientifically in optics to describe the rainbow of colors ...

'' (2005). He was in Steve Howe's Remedy band, who released an album ''

Elements Element or elements may refer to: Science * Chemical element, a pure substance of one type of atom * Heating element, a device that generates heat by electrical resistance * Orbital elements, parameters required to identify a specific orbit of o ...

'' (2003), toured the UK and then released a live DVD. He wrote and performed on a piece on his father's 2011 release ''

Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, t ...

''. He also plays drums on 11 tracks of Steve Howe's ''Anthology 2: Groups and Collaborations'' that were largely recorded in the 1980s. Under the name The Verge, Virgil Howe produced the ''

Yes Remixes ''Yes Remixes'' is a remix album featuring the songs of progressive rock band Yes and was released in 2003. Taking material harking back from 1970's ''Time and a Word'' to 1980s ''Drama'', Virgil Howe a.k.a. "The Verge" (and son of Steve Howe ...

'' album, released 2003. Howe was in The Dirty Feel, with Kerim 'Kez' Gunes (bass, vocals) and Nick Hirsch (guitar, vocals; died 2012). A debut single, "Get Down and Love In", had a limited UK release in 2004. They were signed to DirtE. In 2005, the band took part in

MTV MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...

's ''A-Cut'' amateur band competition. In 2005, Howe formed a related band The Killer Meters with again Gunes on bass and Hirsch on guitar, with Karime Kendra (vocals), Henry Broadbent (keyboards) and Stephen Wilcock (saxophone). They released a tribute album to The Meters and then signed to Breaking Bread records in 2008, releasing an original album. Howe also worked for a period with

psychedelic Psychedelics are a subclass of hallucinogenic drugs whose primary effect is to trigger non-ordinary states of consciousness (known as psychedelic experiences or "trips").Pollan, Michael (2018). ''How to Change Your Mind: What the New Science o ...

group Amorphous Androgynous, fronted by

Garry Cobain Garry Cobain (sometimes styled as Gaz Cobain) (born 16 May 1967) is a British electronic musician, and one half of the Future Sound of London. Background Cobain was born on 16 May 1967 in Bedford. He left Bedford for Manchester in his late teens ...

The Future Sound of London The Future Sound of London (often abbreviated FSOL) is a British electronic music duo composed of Garry Cobain and Brian Dougans. They have been described as a "boundary-pushing" electronic act, covering techno, ambient, house music, trip h ...

. Howe produced under his own name, having previously produced under the name "Sparo", under which he released the album ''Sparo Worlds''. He also played DJ sets in London, and a regular radio show for

Soho Radio Soho Radio is an independent online radio station that broadcasts over two channels, Soho and NYC + Culture. The studios are based in Soho, London, and on Lexington Avenue in New York It was founded in 2014, with the New York branch opening in N ...

. In 2008, Howe joined band

as a drummer. Between 2009 and October 2010 the band wrote and recorded their third album ''King of the Waves'', working again with

Edwyn Collins Edwyn Stephen Collins (born 23 August 1959) is a Scottish musician, producer and record label owner from Edinburgh, Scotland. Collins was the lead singer for the 1980s post-punk band Orange Juice, which he co-founded. After the group split in ...

, Seb Lewsley at the controls and Shawn Lee mixing. Chris Potter mastered the album. The first single off ''King of the Waves'' was "Surf Hell". This track was featured as the theme tune to the 2011 Channel 4 series ''

Sirens Siren or sirens may refer to: Common meanings * Siren (alarm), a loud acoustic alarm used to alert people to emergencies * Siren (mythology), an enchanting but dangerous monster in Greek mythology Places * Siren (town), Wisconsin * Siren, Wisc ...

'' and an advert for

Rimmel Rimmel (commonly known as Rimmel London) is a British multinational cosmetics brand, now owned by parent company Coty, Inc. The House of Rimmel was founded by French-born British cosmetics entrepreneur Eugène Rimmel as a perfumery 20 February 1 ...

"scandal eyes" mascara; it was also playable on the multi-platform video game "Rocksmith". The album was released in the UK on 27 June 2011 and in the US on 28 February 2012. After touring with Charles Bradley in Spain, Little Barrie was invited onto his North American Tour in early 2012. The band went on to do the theme music for the TV series ''

Better Call Saul ''Better Call Saul'' is an American crime and legal drama television series created by Vince Gilligan and Peter Gould. Part of the ''Breaking Bad'' franchise, it is a spin-off of Gilligan's previous series, '' Breaking Bad'', and serves as a ...

''. Howe worked as a session musician on the

Pet Shop Boys The Pet Shop Boys are an English synth-pop duo formed in London in 1981. Consisting of primary vocalist Neil Tennant and keyboardist Chris Lowe, they have sold more than 50 million records worldwide, and were listed as the most successful duo i ...

album ''

Fundamental Fundamental may refer to: * Foundation of reality * Fundamental frequency, as in music or phonetics, often referred to as simply a "fundamental" * Fundamentalism, the belief in, and usually the strict adherence to, the simple or "fundamental" idea ...

'' and for

Demis Roussos Artemios "Demis" Ventouris-Roussos ( ; el, Αρτέμιος "Ντέμης" Βεντούρης-Ρούσσος, ; 15 June 1946 – 25 January 2015) was a Greek singer, songwriter and musician. As a band member he is best remembered for his work in ...

. ''Nexus'', released 17 November 2017 on InsideOut, is a joint album by Virgil & Steve Howe. Steve described the album: "Most of the credit goes to Virgil on this; it's Virgil's bed and melodies but I've come in to add a little bit more."

Personal life

Howe married fashion model Jen Dawson in 2007 and they had a daughter, Zuni, in September 2012. They separated in 2015. Howe died unexpectedly of a heart attack in September 2017 at the age of 41, shortly before Little Barrie were scheduled to embark on a tour for their fourth album, ''Death Express''.

Discography

Main projects

*The Verge/ Yes: ''

'', 2003 *Virgil Howe: "Someday", 2009 (single) *Virgil Howe & Malcolm Catto: "B-Boy Bounce", 2010 (single) *Virgil Howe & Mark Claydon: "The Claydon Break", 2011 (single) *Virgil Howe & Shawn Lee: "Electronic Brain Break", 2011 (single) *Virgil & Steve Howe: ''Nexus'', 2017 *Virgil & Steve Howe: ''Lunar Mist'', 2022

The Dirty Feel

*"Get Down and Love In", 2004 (single) *''Talk in the City'' (EP)

As Sparo

*''Geniac'' *''Sparo Worlds'' (mix CD) **"Astroscience" (single) **"The Falling" (single)

The Killer Meters

*''A Tribute to the Meters'', 2005 **"Dance Move Shake!", 2008 (single) **"Freak" (single) *''Breakin' Out!'' **"Rainbow of Love", 2017 (single)

Little Barrie

*''King of the Waves'', 2010 **"Surf Hell", 2011 (single) **"How Come", 2011 (single) *''Shadow'', 2013 **"Fuzz Bomb", 2014 (single) **"I.5.C.A.", 2016 (single) *''Death Express'', 2017 **"Produkt", 2017 (single) Also appear on: *''

—Original Television Soundtrack: Season 1'', 2015

Steve Howe

*'' The Grand Scheme of Things'', 1993 *''

'', 2005 *''

'', 2003 *''Remedy Live'', 2002 (DVD) *''

'', 2011 *''Anthology'', 2015 (compiling previously released material) *''Anthology 2: Groups & Collaborations'', 2017 (plays on 11 previously unreleased tracks) *''Nexus'', 2017 *''Homebrew 7'', 2021

Production

*'' Kitsuné Maison Compilation 15'', 2013

Remixes

*Marc Hype & Jim Dunloop: "Al Naafiysh: The Remixes", 2010 (single) *

Syd Arthur Syd Arthur are an English psychedelic rock band, formed in Canterbury in 2003 by brothers frontman Liam and bassist Joel Magill, drummer Fred Rother and violinist Raven Bush. Raven Bush is the nephew of singer Kate Bush. Rother was officially r ...

: ''A Monstrous Psychedelic Bubble'', 2014

Sessions

: ''

'', 2006 *Mareva Galenter: ''Happy Fiu'', 2008 *

: ''Demis'', 2009

References

External links

Little Barrie

The Dirty Feel
{{DEFAULTSORT:Howe, Virgil 1975 births 2017 deaths English rock drummers British male drummers Musicians from London