Howie Abrams

New York City native Howie Abrams has spent nearly half his life with a "real job" in the music business. Although never having played an instrument, Howie was born with a strong love for music and an equally strong opinion of it. Luckily for him, several top industry executives have empowered him to exercise his strong opinion on behalf of their companies to acquire and market artists; many of which have gone on to achieve a great deal of success, all of which were groundbreaking in one way or another.

In 1987 at the age of 19, Howie Abrams' name was already a relatively familiar one in New York's underground music scene. He had already published a popular fanzine, promoted shows at several of New York City's name venues and was the manager of one of the biggest Heavy Metal bands in the world, Nuclear Assault. As a result of his drive and determination, Howie was offered a job as a salesperson for Important Record Distributors (now RED Distribution) in Hollis, Queens...yes, the original stomping grounds of RUN DMC. While this was hardly the dream job he was looking for, it turned out to be the all-important foot-in-the-door that launched his career. After 6 months of pedaling records to independent music shops across the U.S., Howie presented an idea to the president of the company to start his own label; one which would sign a number of the artists IRD had already been distributing independent releases by, but had no contracts with their labels. In-Effect Records was born.

The first street date for the label saw releases by New York Hardcore kings Agnostic Front, industrial-metallists Prong and punk legends Bad Brains. In-Effect went on to release albums by Sick of it All, Killing Time, Madball (featuring 12 year-old Freddy Cricien, the younger brother of AF front man Roger Miret on vocals), 2 Black 2 Strong (the company's first ever rap artist) and The Limbomaniacs, brother-band of the now infamous Primus. However, In-Effect's first big breakthrough came in the form of the South Bronx's 24-7 Spyz. Their eclectic blend of punk, metal, funk and soul was embraced by critics and fans alike throughout the world and the video for their first single, an amped-up cover of Kool & The Gang's "Jungle Boogie" was in heavy rotation on MTV before their debut album even hit the shelves. That album went on to sell hundreds of thousands of copies and injected a new excitement into the music world. Another big moment for In-Effect was Long Island, NY's Scatterbrain, an incredibly talented and wacky bunch who could play their asses off, but whose infectious hooks and humor captured an army of supporters worldwide. Scatterbrain's premier single "Don't Call Me Dude" became an MTV and rock radio staple...and speaks for itself.

After 6 years heading-up In-Effect Records, Howie moved over to Roadrunner Records as the Director of A&R and marketing. There he worked with and in many cases helped launch the careers of artists such as Type O Negative, Sepultura, Biohazard, Fear Factory, Front Line Assembly, Shelter, Vision of Disorder, Madball (now young adults and a real band), Black Train Jack and the from-out-of-nowhere blockbuster success Dog Eat Dog. Hailing from New Jersey, DED's pre-Limp Bizkit combo-platter of hardcore, metal and hip hop struck a nerve in Europe where they became MTV darlings and sold over 750,000 copies of their debut album All Boro Kings. The band took home the Breakthrough Artist award at the 1996 MTV Europe Music Awards by a landslide audience vote.

Currently entering his 9th year of service at Jive Records/Zomba Music Publishing, Mr. Abrams is still planting black eyes on the music world. To this urban music and teen-pop factory, Howie has a roster that includes Peoria, Illinois' angriest and most talented young men Mudvayne, post-punk superstars Brand New, 2004 Grammy nominees Killswitch Engage, legendary horror-punks the Misfits, Suicide Machines, Rhys Fulber (Delerium, Josh Groban, Fear Factory, P.O.D.), Carlos Bess (Wu-Tang Clan), singer/songwriter extraordinaire Josh Joplin, Reason Disappears, MC Lars and last but certainly not least, Texas pop-rock superstars Bowling For Soup. BFS' sophomore effort for Jive Records Drunk Enough To Dance proved to be a goldmine for Howie and Jive Records as the lone breakthrough rock band in the history of the label (at the time). Their Top 10 hit "Girl All the Bad Guys Want" penetrated so deeply in the U.S. and Europe that it is still one of the most played records on the radio over 2 years since it's initial release. Additionally, the song landed the group a Grammy nomination in 2003 for Best Pop Performance by a Group or Duo. Bowling's third Jive release A Hangover You Don't Deserve spawned another Top 10 smash "1985," which is still all over Pop as well as Hot AC radio, and is headed toward gold certification.