Eric Howk
Ready to pick up
Alaska guitarist Eric Howk back in Seattle band after injury
Published: August 15, 2007
Last Modified: August 16, 2007 at 04:29 PM
Like many aspiring young Alaska musicians, Eric Howk moved to Seattle to start a rock 'n' roll career.
Unlike most, Howk succeeded. His band, The Lashes, went from regional stars to major-label act. The band toured the country, performed with big-name artists such as The Libertines and even played at the Playboy Mansion.
But this summer, Howk's rock 'n' roll lifestyle came to a halt. On May 5, at a party at a friend's house in Seattle, Howk fell into an open construction site.
"I was conscious the whole time," said Howk, 26. "I knew something was wrong with me."
Howk injured his spinal cord in the fall, which paralized his body below his sternum.
One of his first realizations after the accident was that his hands were OK -- he could still move them to play music. But "the first three days in ICU were awful," Howk said. "They wouldn't let me have my guitar."
Howk was sent to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle for a month of treatment and to begin physical therapy and rehabilitation. On his MySpace page, Howk shared news of his injuries, his "damning" prognosis and his emotional status with friends and fans: "My head, neck, arms, hands, brain, humor and cheerful demeanor remain intact, not to mention my life. ... I'm more than grateful for what I have."
Howk was born in Anchorage and lived in Hatcher Pass and Palmer before graduating from Wasilla High School in 1999. In 2000, he started The Lashes with five friends. After years of creating buzz on the Seattle punk/alt pop scene, the band signed with Columbia Records and released its major-label debut, "Get It," in 2006.
Asked to describe the band's dynamic, Howk said, "Friends." Signing to a major label and stardom didn't change that, and neither did his injury.
"People are like, 'Oh that sucks about Eric. So who's going to play guitar for you guys?'?" said Lashes frontman Ben Clark. "They don't get it -- it doesn't change anything."
Howk left Seattle in early June to spend the summer recuperating with family in Alaska. His grandmother's basement in her South Anchorage home is entirely handicap- accessible. She'd done it herself but hadn't needed it yet. Howk did.
His grandmother would drive him to Anchorage parks and trails four or five days a week to cruise in his wheelchair, in which he now feels undaunted.
"I'm kicking ass," he said, laughing. "No races in the hospital corridors yet, but I'm sizing up the competition."
Howk also said he's spent "way too much time" surfing MySpace, reading a lot -- "I've gotten really into astrophysics," he said -- and recording his own music.
"I guess my happiest moment," said Howk's mom, Susan Morgan, in an e-mail, "was the first time I heard Eric play music again after the accident. He was making up some goofy song on a keyboard ... and singing really loud. That was a great sound."
Bills from hospitals and adaptive equipment following the accident have run up to nearly $1 million. Howk applied for Medicaid, which helped cover a big chunk. Howk and his family are also pursuing legal action. Because of that, Howk said, he can't get into specifics about the accident.
Financial support has come from a another place -- his friends and fans. There have been Eric Howk fundraisers in Chicago and New York and several in Seattle. A friend in Los Angeles created "I ? Eric Howk" T-shirts and sent him proceeds from the sales.
Howk has also received "awesome" stacks of letters and notes offering best wishes and emotional support, including one from a fellow musician, Ozzy Osbourne, who sent him a signed photo with a "get well soon" note.
"It's overwhelming," Howk said.
It's not surprising that so many well-wishers are out there. Clark attributes it to Howk's attitude.
"Everyone liked Eric before," he said. "When something awful happens ... it's a magnification of character."
In his MySpace blog two months before the accident, Howk wrote: "Every day and every night of my life seem like magic lately." In an entry after the accident, he wrote: "It breaks my heart knowing that there are people in my position who don't have the benefit of all the support I have."
Morgan, Howk's mom, said, "I got an e-mail from another nurse saying, 'You know, anything is possible when you look at Eric's example.' She said she was honored to be his nurse."
Howk returned to a Seattle hospital Aug. 1 and will be released today, his rehabilitation and physical therapy enabling him to become self-sufficient. He plans to move in with a band mate.
And the band has plenty of catching up to do. The Lashes have an opening-day slot at Seattle's Bumbershoot festival -- one of the region's biggest concerts -- on Sept. 1. The band is also planning to release an album before the end of the year.
The most positive aspect of the accident, Howk said, has been the "crazy outpouring of support" from fans and friends he didn't even realize he had. "I'm astonished," he wrote on a blog entry.
The worst part?
"There isn't really a 'worst' part," he said. "The worst I guess is that it's just a pain in the ass, but everyone has to deal with pains in the ass every day, right?"
?• Contact Play reporter Jessica Bowman at jbowman@adn.com. or call 257-4466.
More online
Eric Howk: www.myspace. com/ericlashes
Howk's solo side project: www.myspace.com/palmerak
The Lashes: www.thelashes. net, www.myspace.com/thelashes
Bumbershoot: www.bumber shoot.org
