Billy Howerdel
Billy Howerdel is the founding member, guitarist, songwriter, and producer for the bands A Perfect Circle and Ashes Divide. He has recorded three acclaimed studio albums with the former, and in 2008, Ashes Divide released their debut album, Keep Telling Myself Its Alright.
Howerdel was born in New Jersey. He attended high school at West Milford High School in West Milford, New Jersey. He played some sports but took an interest in a television production class and was very active in an extracurricular audio program. This program gave Howerdel the foundation for his posthigh school audio technician pursuits and eventually led to his high profile guitar technician positions. Stephen Porcello, the high school teacher who was the adviser for this program took Howerdel into New York City and helped him select his first electric guitar. Howerdel cites attending a Pink Floyd concert as a youngster as the catalyst for wanting to be involved in music. He spent several years sound engineering for New Jersey bands and further worked as a guitar technician for numerous others, which before forming A Perfect Circle included Faith No More, Fishbone, David Bowie, The Smashing Pumpkins, Nine Inch Nails, Guns N Roses, and Tool.
Source: Wikipedia