Keep Telling Myself It's Alright

"The Stone" is the first single from Keep Telling Myself It's Alright, the first album from ASHES dIVIDE, which arrives in stores April 8th on Island Records, a division of Island Def Jam Music Group. ASHES dIVIDE is the new band formed by lead guitarist, singer and songwriter Billy Howerdel - founder/producer of multi-platinum group A Perfect Circle, the band he led with Tool frontman Maynard Keenan through two platinum and one gold record.

Keep Telling Myself It's Alright, Howerdel's long-awaited first solo project, has been the subject of countless blogs and chatter at his website for a year and a half. In last week's Entertainment Weekly, "Your Next Obsession" polled film and television music supervisors on upcoming album picks, and Dana Sand (of Steve Carell's Dan In Real Life) commended ASHES dIVIDE: "So very dreamy rock with a '90s feel."

Howerdel produced and engineered the new album sessions in Los Angeles, playing guitar, bass, and keyboard parts. Longtime collaborator Danny Lohner (APC, Nine Inch Nails) helped out with the recording process, while drummer Josh Freese (APC), and Keenan's son Devo appear on the album. Other contributors include Johnette Napolitano (Concrete Blonde), Matt Skiba (Alkaline Trio), and Paz Lenchantin. Mixing took place in London by innovative Brit producer Alan Moulder, remotely monitored by Howerdel back in L.A. Moulder is known for his work with Nine Inch Nails, Depeche Mode, My Bloody Valentine, and fellow Island band the Killers' two albums.

New Jersey-born Billy Howerdel is a self taught musician who started out doing theatrical stage lighting. He took to the road as a guitar technician for many bands, among them David Bowie, Guns N' Roses, Nine Inch Nails, Smashing Pumpkins, and Tool. Howerdel and Keenan became friends years earlier while crossing paths on tour. But it was not until the recording sessions for Tool's 1996 album Aenima that the two planted the seeds which would become A Perfect Circle circa 1999.

APC released three groundbreaking and critically acclaimed albums on Virgin Records: their RIAA platinum debut, Mer de Noms (May 2000) which entered at #4 Soundscan with 188,000 copies and placed three songs on the Modern Rock and Mainstream Rock charts ("3 Libras," "Judith," and "The Hollow"); the platinum Thirteenth Step (September 2003) which debuted at #2 Soundscan on 231,000 first week sales (with the #1 Rock track and video "Weak and Powerless," followed by "The Outsider" and "Blue"); and the RIAA gold eMOTIVe (November 2004), an overtly political album released on Presidential election day, primarily cover versions of political material including John Lennon's "Imagine," Led Zeppelin's "When the Levee Breaks," Marvin Gaye's "What's Going On," Black Flag's "Gimmie Gimmie Gimmie," and more. Two weeks later, the CD + DVD package aMOTION was released, a collection of all their video clips on one disc, and nine remixes of songs on the other disc.