Howe Gelb is an American artist who has fronted the band Giant Sand since t… Read Full Bio ↴Howe Gelb is an American artist who has fronted the band Giant Sand since the 80s, as well as several side projects, including The Band of Blacky Ranchette, OP8 and Arizona Amp and Alternator.

THIS IS EROSION ROCK: Inaccurately yet affectionately dubbed “the Godfather of Alt. Country” by the British press, Tucson, Arizona-based musician Howe Gelb has remained the sole epicenter and creative force behind the ever-fluid configurations of Giant Sand for over a quarter century, giving birth along the way to an extended musical family tree that fostered the likes of The Band of…Blacky Ranchette, The Friends of Dean Martinez, OP8, and Calexico.

"Giant Sand is a mood," explained Howe, as if to simplify the dizzying breadth of his prolific output as an artist. With an impressive catalog of material that stretches back to 1983, he can easily claim some 40 albums to his credentials as both a band leader and a solo performer, each of which maintains its own genre-defying singularity while also drawing on the not-so disparate threads of country, southwestern roots, lo-fi, jazz, and punk--or the “yippity and happenstance“ that arises to inspire the soundscape of
whatever project Gelb is involved in creating.

But Howe’s initial signposts were planted crookedly in Pennsylvania during the 1970s, among them being the rock opera ZEQE 24,088 which was recorded in 3 hours at a PBS radio station. In 1972, when floodwaters claimed his hometown and family house, ultimately sending him downstream to Arizona alongside the debris of his parents’ divorce, the song “Steadfast” was born as an articulation of that disaster. Soon upon arriving in Tucson, he met his sonic soul mate in the guitarist Rainer Ptacek, and as a result the two went on to form the Giant Sandworms. After releasing only a handful of singles and recordings, the worms were finally put to rest, making room for Giant Sand to bubble comfortably from the soil by the early 1980s. From that time on, in one manifestation or another, an album of Howe’s music has been recorded and delivered every 4 to 8 months.

Now following a nearly four year hiatus, Giant Sand returns with the release of proVISIONS on September 2, 2008. Produced by Howe and Kent Olsen (Arizona Amp
and Alternator, Marie Frank), the album’s 13 tracks were recorded during a summer in Denmark, and features the Danish musicians Thoger T. Lund (bass), Peter Dombernowsky (drums), and Anders Pedersen (slide guitar). As with past incarnations of the band, the current lineup utilizes a more natural form of playing, relying heavily on improvisation and “on the fly“ problem solving, as well as exploring melodic variations within Howe’s songs.

Also lending themselves to the casual mix are a host of talented friends/collaborators--such as Neko Case, M. Ward, Isobell Campbell, Henriette Sennenvaldt, Lucie Idlout and Lonna Kelley--all of whom ease warmly into the passenger seat to ride shotgun for a while on an album thick with musings scattered by the desert winds and soaked with eroding guitars or dusty piano.

Providing an alternate route around box-store labels like “Alt. Country” while ruminating on love and loss in the socio-political climate of a modern world at odds with itself, proVISIONS is a creeping cruise down a dark desert highway, forging another surprising and welcome byway in the completely unique musical legacy of Giant Sand.

~ bio by Mitch Cullin

Vex
Howe Gelb Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

I collapse upon you
You hold up
Like you′re apt to do
I shout out that i'm through
You shout out that it′s happened to you

Here in the vex
Of the perplex

Tearing down the old
And building up a new complex

And i hang on
With whatever i got
It may be enough
But its never a lot

And you hang back
You never get caught
In the networking
Your way from the sweet spot

There in the vex
Of the perplex

Tearing down the old
Building up a new complex

Overall Meaning

The lyrics to the song Vex by Howe Gelb speak to the struggle that one faces when trying to build something new, breaking down the old and familiar ways. The first few lines describe the singer collapsing onto someone, who holds them up as they shout out that they are finished. This is met with a response from the other person that suggests that they too have experienced this feeling of being at a loss or reaching a breaking point.

Gelb then talks about being in the middle of the "vex of the perplex", which can be interpreted as the confusion and difficulties that come with trying to change and innovate. The lyrics suggest that this process involves tearing down what was already there, while simultaneously building up something new and more complex.

The singer talks about how they are holding on with all they've got, even though it may not be much. Meanwhile, the other person seems to be more reserved, hanging back and not getting involved in the networking or pursuit of the "sweet spot".

Overall, the lyrics to Vex by Howe Gelb tackle the challenge of creating something new and innovative, a process that is often riddled with confusion and difficulties.

Line by Line Meaning

I collapse upon you
I rely on you heavily for support and comfort

You hold up
You are strong and capable of providing me with the support that I need

Like you're apt to do
As you often do when I need you

I shout out that I'm through
I express that I am finished or done with something

You shout out that it's happened to you
You relate to my experience and express that it has happened to you as well

Here in the vex
In this state of confusion and uncertainty

Of the perplex
Causing bewilderment and puzzlement

Tearing down the old
Destroying what was once established or familiar

And building up a new complex
Constructing something new and intricate in its place

And I hang on
I persevere and continue despite difficulties or obstacles

With whatever I got
Using whatever resources or strength I possess