Today we’d like to introduce you to Wayne Snow.
Hi Wayne, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
My musical journey started with some fantasy, a little bit of opportunity, and a bit of a natural affinity.
It’s funny when I was a small child the two things I thought I’d never be able to do is learn to skateboard and play guitar, but ironically later in life, those two things would begin to completely encompass who I am.
I guess you could say I was a child who didn’t want to live the ordinary. I was always obsessed with the attitude and sense of adventure of any main character of any tv show or movie and being a product of the late 90s/ early 2000s I feel like “Rock n Roll” and extreme sports were constantly shoved down our throats as “cool,” so throughout my childhood. I’d always fumble around a board frantically asking my sister if I’ve landed my first ollie after many failed attempts, and my life with skateboarding would go on like that for the next couple of years.
It wasn’t until 2005 that I got my first guitar, and it wasn’t necessarily because I wanted to learn how to play. Like I said before, as a child, I had a bad case of “Main Character Syndrome” maybe there was something about characters that never fit in that I heavily resonated with, and one late night in the summer of 2005 I stumbled onto a show called Fooly Cooly or (FLCL). This show was an ADHD fever dream about a young boy in an odd situation fighting robots that are coming out of his head, not with swords or guns but with guitars. You can only imagine in my head how a young boy who also has ADHD would immediately become enamored.
I begged my parents for a guitar that Christmas and luckily got one, and after soon realizing that I cannot use guitars as weapons (mainly because I could barely lift it over my head) I began to learn how to play and found out that I could naturally learn most songs by ear.
After some time and progressively getting better at both guitar and skating. I then met another skater kid who played drums and we began playing shows all over our hometown of Charles Town WV.
From there on I continued to play and play anywhere and everywhere I was asked to. I think I was lucky that I was able to start so young and fell so in love with playing and playing live that even though some of the situations I’ve been thrown into were not the best. I still enjoyed it because of my love of music and meeting new people. There are still a lot of things I want to accomplish through music. I don’t know when I’ll get there, but just like I thought skating and guitar were impossible to begin with. I know I’ll get there.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not, what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Some parts felt like they naturally came right when they were supposed to, but after a few years of positive growth, I hit not quite a wall but a very steep hill. There are so many directions in music to go and also be successful that it all can be overwhelming. Adding social media to the mix and having to be your own manager of it all doesn’t help either. Knowing what direction to take my music has put a bit of a halt on my growth and it’s hard to take things / myself serious when you don’t exactly know where you’re going. With the New Year coming my resolution has been to direct my energy towards that. I have a lot of things in the works and it’s just a matter of giving them the attention they deserve.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
My name is Wayne Snow and I play guitar and sing in my own solo/trio project “Howling at the Earth” and also in a band called “Fable Circuit. If anyone where to talk about my technique the first thing they would probably comment on is my high vocals and intricate guitar playing. At an early point in my career, I made the evaluation that I wasn’t the most amazing singer or guitar player, but I did both fairly well and so doing both at the same time might set me apart from everyone else.
Learning how to do so wasn’t easy but I think being left-handed helped a bit.
Who else deserves credit in your story?
The first person to probably notice my affinity for music was my middle school choir teacher who then became my high school choir teacher Mrs. Ranelli. Most of my singing technique. I still use from her teachings.
The second person was this restaurant owner in Charles Town. The Mediterranean in Charles Town WV is where I spent most of my evenings playing for years, honing my skills playing live and interacting with people.
The third is Kenny Eaton of Mystery Ton Studios.
Kenny put me and my bandmates through the ringer during the recording of our first album.
“Vagabond Sunsets on a Distant World.”
Before entering his studio, we didn’t really know what it meant to have good technique, and now anytime I pick up a guitar I use techniques that we learned during our time with him.
He’s easy to work with and passionate about any project he’s working on. I encourage anyone who’s passionate about their music to record at Mystery Ton Studios.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://howlingearthmusic.com/home
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/howlingattheearth/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/howlingattheearthband
- Other: https://open.spotify.com/track/6LUB3eirPZ4ptHHWiJSymO
Image Credits
Kayla Reardon
Christopher Derry
