Howard Foster Esquire

New album: Howard Foster Esquire - A Quirk Of Nature. Vinyl & digital

Vinyl at Big Cartel

UK iTunes store  /  UK Apple Music service  /  Youtube  /  Spotify

Tony "Doggen" Foster, guitarist of Spiritualized, member of Be-One and Steve "Mixup" Howard, song writer and instrumental maverick have been working together for the last few years on various studio projects and an occasional gig after meeting and working in 2013 on a solo album by Steve Mixup at Tony's studio "The Mouse House". With drummer Chris Paul Green, Saxophonist Tracey Beeby and vocalist Kimberly Roman-Lees it leaned towards psychedelic rock but nevertheless is rooted in the strength of a song.
Steve Mixup - Small Talk

After that, a band, "The Barons Boys", was pulled together for a lone album, a combination of gentle ballads and raucous guitar licks, which was released in 2017. With the addition of Greg Smith: guitar, Miles Wilson: bass, Chris Paul Green: drums , Tracey Beeby: saxophone and Joe Need: vocals, Tony and Steve found a way of working and shared goals.  
The Barons Boys - Self Fulfilling Prophecy

Since then Tony and Steve, both from Nottingham, have been working on different ways of making their music, from acoustic, to a hybrid of computer programming and real instruments and a traditional band line up, and enjoying the fun of musical freedom. From ambience, quirky songs and programmed rock, three styles have started to condense from the mixture.

Steve Howard & Tony Foster

The first of these is an acoustic album as Howard Foster Esquire called A Quirk Of Nature. With the addition of Sam Howard (Français), no relation, as a third member and Tracey Beeby guesting on saxophone it has been moulded by the ever helpful Sam Howard (Anglais) who mixes the ingredients and takes out the roughage, it is stripped down to guitar and vocals with only a little extra piano, keys and ambience. The songs are raw and simple and it suggests a pastoral British sensibility, sometimes philosophical, sometimes frivolous and with a seemingly timeless quality.

A demo of "Looking for something" can be heard on my soundcloud page. Recorded at Whisk studio on new years day 2015 it is a rare instance of Mixup playing guitar.