Howe Gelb

Building momentum over the last thirty years, Howe Gelb has continued sharing his experimental lo-fi rock breaking all the so called rules of music. Throughout his career Gelb has managed to combine a multitude of genres from jazz to gospel to punk. Not one to aspire for commercial success, Gelb has built substantial followings from his stand-out performances. With over twenty albums worth of material, Gelb has no problem playing two hour spontaneous sets where all concert protocols are thrown out the window. There are moments of complete silence where Gelb utters a reflective stream of consciousness under hushed tones accompanied by eerie guitars before progressing to heavy riff laden rock melodies. One thing is clear, Gelb commands the full attention of the crowd as he continually pushes the boundaries with artist to audience interaction. One thing you’ll never feel watching Gelb’s performances is apathetic, he forces you to think and pay attention evoking some kind of emotion whether or not you want to feel that way whilst on some level cleverly disengaging with audiences. Gelb is very much like marmite, you either love him or you don’t but one thing that remains constant is Gelb performs with pure honesty and with him there are no limits to musical expression.