Howie Pyro

articleissues
article=y
citationstyle= January 2008
wikify= January 2008
autobiography=y

Howie Pyro (born Howard Kusten) is a Queens, New York City based rock musician.

At the age of 16, Kusten adopted the name Howie Pyro. He formed the notorious NYC punk band The Blessed in the late 70s with Nick Berlin, Billy Stark, X Sessive & [http://www.thefreelibrary.com/The+photographer+who+painted+punk.(Entertainment)(Eileen+Polk's...-a0153939447 Eileen Polk] and later, neighborhood friend Brad "BJ" Barnett. X Sessive left before their first gig on Christmas Eve 1977 and played with Richard Hell and many other NY bands.Nick Berlin soon exited and Walter Lure of Johnny Thunders and The Heartbreakers filled the slot. Wild manic shows soon followed including the infamous Puberty Ball at The Mudd Club. The band played the local circuit, including CBGBs and Maxs Kansas City, with notable bands like The Heartbreakers, Ramones and The Dead Boys. However, the bands first incarnation did not last into the 80's, though there was a reunion in the early 80's at the request of bands Reagan Youth and The Beastie Boys who they did one gig with at Lower East Side club The Great Gildersleeves with drummer Pablo Jakobsen, later of hardcore band [http://www.nauseapunk.net/ Nausea] . The band had a brief reformation in the mid 1990s (a one off benefit with one rehearsal, this time with drummer Roy Mayorga also from [http://www.nauseapunk.net/ Nausea] (he replaced Pablo in the late 80's), Roy was also in Soulfly, Sepultura, and others). Much to everyone's surprise, Early drummer Brad Barnett showed up at the shows and took live photographs.

Howie Pyro is also infamous for being an eyewitness to the death of his friend Sid Vicious of the Sex Pistols.

Howie had a brief stint working at the original Manic Panic on Saint Marks place and was their first employee. After The Blessed's demise, he kept a low profile, musically speaking. In the early 1980s, he met his future wife, Andrea Matthews. They formed pre-grunge/garage prototypes Freaks with Howie, John Fay & Andrea's cousin Eric Eckley. Andrea's Lower East Side name was then coined by the locals, and she was forever after known as "Big Mama Freak." Their brand of MC5 inspired howl was later adopted by many bands that made it long after Freaks broke up. Andrea was an accomplished drummer, but in Freaks, she was the singer/guitar player. Freaks put out one full album, "In Sensurround" in 1989 and a few collectible 7 inch releases. The band broke up that same year. Andrea went on to guest with bands like L7, The Lunachicks, and The Fuzztones. Andrea eventually relocated to LA and Howie soon followed. Andrea did some independent work with Piki Soul in the mid 90s and recorded a few demos with Piki and Graham May, which were released under the name of REAL-Eyes. Andrea later played with Venus 6, but eventually, she became a permanent member of The Fuzztones.

Howie formed D Generation with Jesse Malin in 1991. The band was completed by Richard Bacchus on guitar, Danny Sage on guitar, and Michael Wildwood on drums. The band released 3 full CDs and 2 singles. They were produced by notables such as Rik Ocasek, Tony Visconti, and Daniel Rey. They also played with bands like Kiss, Social Distortion, Ramones, Green Day, and Misfits on tour. With the bands success, Howie and Jesse opened up a rock and roll club on Saint Marks Place called Coney Island High which grew out of their star studded sex crazed monthly party GREENDOORNYC, at which Howie was the DJ along with Holly Ramos & special guests like Joey Ramone. Coney Island High was the last gasp of real nightlife in NY and was styled after the sleazy rock & roll clubs Jesse & Howie grew up in in the late 70's & early 80's. On any given night you could see skinheads, drag queens & homeless junkies standing shoulder to shoulder with the likes of Joe Strummer, Ramones, Ray Davies, Anita Pallenberg, Anna Sui, & every member of every band that was still alive in the mid late 90's. Iggy Pop, Ramones & The Beastie Boys were some of the bands that did special unannounced shows there. D Generation had numerous member changes towards the end of their career and finally disbanded in 1999, playing their last show at Coney Island High. During this time Howie did many projects, recording, writing & /or performing with [http://www.genesisp-orridge.com/ GENESIS P. ORRIDGE] , [http://www.ramones.com/ JOEY RAMONE] , [http://www.rancidrancid.com/ RANCID] , [http://www.kidcongopowers.com/ KID CONGO POWERS] and [http://www.ronniespector.com/ RONNIE SPECTOR] .

He also did a short tour of England & Scotland with The Action Swingers (featuring Bob Bert of Sonic Youth and Pussy Galore on drums, and Bruce Bennett of the A BONES on guitar) during the early stages of D Generation.

Jesse and Howie subsequently formed PCP Highway with Joe Rizzo and Esko Poldvere in 1999, but soon, Howie got an offer to join Danzig. Subsequently, PCP Highway was very short lived.

Howie went on to join Danzig in the spring of 2000. An old friend of Glenn Danzig's from the early New York City punk scene, Howie played with The Blessed (who performed with the Misfits several times in the 1970s), D Generation, and many other bands before joining Danzig. After leaving Danzig in 2003, Howie formed The Disciples with Danzig guitarist Todd Youth (who was also in D-Generation at the end) and then soon left the band after recording a record for Capitol Records, which was never released. Howie is currently hosting a internet radio show titled [http://www.myspace.com/intoxicaradio Intoxica] on luxuriamusic.com and is also working on releasing some books and CD compilations. Howie is also creating remixes and mash-ups under the group name [http://illuminoids.com The Illuminoids] as well as DJing regularly in the LA area. Recent books include [http://www.gingkopress.com/_cata/_popk/punkdea.htm Punk Is Dead Punk Is Everything] (Ginko Press), and the upcoming L$D: Feeding The Cubes To The Squares ( [http://feralhouse.com/ Feral House] ). He is also currently working on a book with Max G. Morton for [http://www.theheartworm.com/ Heartworm Press] . He also wrote the book Confessions of a Rat Fink with [http://www.edroth.com/ Ed "Big Daddy" Roth] in the early 1990s.

Discography

With The Blessed

* Deep Frenzy/American Bandstand (1979)

With Freaks

* "In Sesurround" (1989)

With D Generation

*"No Way Out" - Single - (1993)
**Re-released in 1994 and 1996.
*"Wasted Years" - Single - (1993)
*"No God / Degenerated" - Single - (1994)
*"D Generation" - (1994)
*"No Lunch" - (1996)
*"She Stands There" - Single - (1996)
*"Capital Offender" - Single - {1997)
*"Prohibition" - EP - (1998)
*"Helpless" - Single - (1998)
**Re-released in 1999.
*"Through The Darkness" - (1999)

with Joey Ramone

*"Christmas Spirit... In My House" (2002)

with Genesis P. Orridge/ Spliter Test

* (1997)

=With Danzig=

*"Live on the Black Hand Side" - (2001)
*"I Luciferi" - (2002)