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Howard Bilerman

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Howard Bilerman
Background information
BornSeptember 25, 1970 (1970-09-25) (age 54)
OriginMontreal, Quebec, Canada
Genres
Occupations
  • Musician
  • record producer
Instruments
  • Drums
  • percussion
  • guitar
Websitewww.howardbilerman.com

Howard Bilerman (born September 25, 1970) is a Canadian musician, sound engineer, and record producer based in Montreal, Quebec.[2][3] He co-owns the hotel2tango recording studio, and played drums for the band Arcade Fire.

Across his recording career, Bilerman has worked on albums by several prominent Canadian artists, including Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Wolf Parade, Leonard Cohen, Bell Orchestre, U.S. Girls and The Weather Station.

Early life and education

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Bilerman grew up in Montreal where he attended St. George's School of Montreal. He earned a bachelor's degree in communication studies from Concordia University in 1994.[4]

Career

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Beginning in 1996, Bilerman started a studio called Mom & Pop Sounds, first in his parents' basement, then in a loft in Old Montreal. In addition to his own material under the name EAVESDROPPER, he recorded tracks for local bands such as The Paper Route, Bionic, UVBC, The Spaceshits, Tricky Woo & Goldfish.[2][5]

As of 2000, Bilerman runs the hotel2tango recording studio in Montreal along with Efrim Menuck and Thierry Amar of Godspeed You! Black Emperor and A Silver Mt. Zion, and Radwan Moumneh.[6][7][8]

Bilerman was the drummer for the band Arcade Fire between 2003 & 2004;[9] he recorded and drummed on their debut album, Funeral as well as acting as sound engineer.[10][11][12] He has also drummed on songs by Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra & Tra-La-La Band, Vic Chesnutt, Basia Bulat, Sons of an Illustrious Father, Lilah Larson, Peter Peter, Rich Aucoin, Broken Social Scene and Angela Desveaux.

As a recording engineer or producer, Bilerman has a credit on over 500 records, including those by Handsome Furs, Wolf Parade, Titus Andronicus (band), Coeur de Pirate, Lou Doillon, Perfect Pussy, Charlotte Cornfield, British Sea Power, Tricky Woo, Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra & Tra-La-La Band, Thalia Zedek, CPC Gangbangs, Arcade Fire, U.S. Girls, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Grant Hart, Bassekou Kouyate, Vic Chesnutt, The Wooden Sky, The Weather Station, The Barr Brothers, Basia Bulat, Leif Vollebekk, Sarah Davachi, Bell Orchestre, Sons of an Illustrious Father, Dan Boeckner's band Operators, and Halifax's Nap Eyes.[13]

In 2012, Bilerman travelled to Mali to record an album by ngoni player Bassekou Kouyate, despite political unrest in the country at the time.[14][3]

Bilerman is a frequent host of Pop Montreal public lectures, where he interviews fellow producers & musicians. Those include Bob Johnston, John Simon, Andrew Loog Oldham, Steve Albini, Brian Paulson, Guy Picciotto & Rough Trade Records founder Geoff Travis.[15] He has also been a frequent instructor at Banff Centre in Alberta.

In 2016 Bilerman was one of the engineers on Leonard Cohen's Grammy award winning song "You Want It Darker".[16]

Production discography

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Year Title Artist Credits#
2002 Yanqui U.X.O. Godspeed You! Black Emperor Mixing
2004 Funeral Arcade Fire Engineer, recording, drums, guitar
2016 You Want It Darker Leonard Cohen Engineer
2019 Thanks for the Dance Leonard Cohen Engineer, assistant engineer
2020 U.S. Girls U.S. Girls Engineer, recording, percussion
2021 Detritus Sarah Neufeld Engineer
2021 Highs in the Minuses Charlotte Cornfield Engineer, noise

References

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  1. ^ "Basia Bulat Heart of My Own (Rough Trade)". Austin Chronicle, reviewed by Austin Powell, April 2, 2010
  2. ^ a b "Goldfish finishes what it started 21 years ago". Jordan Zivitz, Montreal Gazette, April 26, 2017
  3. ^ a b "Bassekou Kouyate & Ngoni Ba: Jama Ko – review (Out Here)". The Guardian, Robin Denselow, 24 Jan 2013
  4. ^ "Meet a Montreal music legend". Concordia University News, March 20, 2017, By Richard Burnett
  5. ^ "Message in a Bottle". Montreal Gazette, 2017-04-27
  6. ^ "Montreal music scene uneasy about the spotlight". Fitchburg Sentinel And Enterprise via Newspaper Archives. July 30, 2005 – Page 19
  7. ^ "Old Man Luedecke Easy Money". Exclaim!, By Sarah Greene, Jun 20, 2019
  8. ^ "Five Noteworthy Facts You May Not Know About Godspeed You! Black Emperor". Exclaim!, By Vish Khanna, Apr 23, 2015
  9. ^ "And now... a requiem by the Arcade Fire". Austin Daily Texan, via Newspaper Archives. January 20, 2005 – Page 21
  10. ^ Moon, Tom (2007-02-17). "The Arcade Fire, Dark and Energetic". All Things Considered. NPR. Retrieved 2010-11-30.
  11. ^ "Arcade Fire's Story as Indie Rock Titans Began a Decade and a Half Ago in a Tiny Triangle Club". Indy Week, by David Ford Smith, Jul. 11, 2018
  12. ^ "Arcade Fire Funeral" Archived 2019-06-27 at the Wayback Machine. Crowned in Sound, review by Jesus Chigley, January 27, 2005.
  13. ^ "Songwriter T. Buckley leaves his comfort zone with Miles We Put Behind". Regina Leader-Post, Eric Volmers, October 27, 2018
  14. ^ "From Arcade Fire to enemy fire: recording Bassekou Kouyate during the Malian coup". CBC Music, Reuben Maan, October 25, 2016.
  15. ^ "Pop Montreal 2016 – September 24, 2016". Photogmusic, By Ming Wu on October 1, 2016
  16. ^ "It was kind of nice to sort of feel something was this important", Radio Noon Montreal, October 20, 2016, Season 2016, Episode 300266617
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