Subject to confusion with a crowded waiting room full of instrumentalists named Joe Howard, this bassist associated with the psychedelic revival movement in the Pacific Northwest has moved through a series of bands. According to journalists covering this scene, highlights of his career so far consist of the early days of the Sky Cries Mary band, overlapping with a Dave Allen project loosely named Elastic Purejoy, and involving an almost equally loose cast of characters, followed by taking over the bass position in the Posies.

Howard was there for Sky Cries Mary's efforts on the French New Rose imprint in 1989, as well as follow-up titles as instructive as Don't Eat the Dirt, as directional as the 1993 A Return to the Inner Experience. A bassist named Juano took over after that, eventually going on hiatus with the rest of the group from 1999 through reunion action in 2004. Meanwhile, Howard became part of Allen's ambitious venture involving his own World Domination record label. Howard's former band had begun as a noise and/or industrial unit and then had evolved psychedelic textures. With Allen, Howard took over even more territory with his basslines for a style that has been described hopefully as progressive indie rock. ~ Eugene Chadbourne, Rovi