“There are songs that lose a certain intimacy when you bring a band into it,” Day states. “Then there are other songs that lose the balls of it when you lose the band.”

“Strange” might seem a bit odd in describing Howie Day's career, but there are
few musicians at the age of 23 with two albums and more than five years of
touring under their proverbial musical belts.

“I wouldn't say ‘surprised'—maybe ‘thankful,'” Day says of his success. “It hasn't felt like it's happened really fast; I feel it's been building and building little by little, which is nice. I think if it'd happened all at once it would have been scary.”

Day, who released his sophomore album Stop All The World Now last October, knew he would make music his career when he was 16.

“When you're that age, everyone is grilling you at school and you have to figure out what you're going to do or have a plan,” he reflects. “That was my solution to the problem: ‘I'll play music, that'll be fun!' I sort of realized then that I was going to figure it out one way or another.”

And figured it out he has. After releasing and self-financing his debut Australia , Sony Music took an interest in Day's thoughtful and uplifting folk-pop style. The label eventually reissued the album, meaning it would be nearly three years before Day would have a chance to get back into the studio for the traditionally nerve-wrecking sophomore effort.

“It was a little freaky, a little intimidating for sure,” he relates. “But you know you just have to try not to worry about those things and focus on going in and making music and having fun—which is the whole reason you get into it.”

According to Day, Stop All The World Now is the polar opposite to Australia in terms of tone.

“Overall, I think the songs got a lot moodier and there's a little more of a sedated vibe to the album,” Day says comparing the two albums. “It's something I had to do because the first album I felt was kind of up and happy so I felt like making a sadder album this time for some reason. Also, it's a bit more polished. We had a lot of time to spend on it so we kind of over-thought everything, but in a good way.”

The musician wrote the album in different areas, including New Orleans, where he penned the single Collide with Better Than Ezra 's Kevin Griffin .

“It was one of those songs that were really easy to finish,” Day says. “As a songwriter, once in a while you have a song that you just finish in one day. A lot of times you work on it and then you have to come back to it and work on it some more. We had great fun writing it. 

But perhaps nothing prepared him for the recording sessions in London with producer Youth , who has worked on albums by Dido , Crowded House and The Verve . After discussing the theme behind the album, both decided strings would be used on four or five songs. Day wasn't prepared, though, for what would transpire.

“We basically sent the tracks to Will Malone , who did the string arrangements, and we trusted him with it; he's amazing,” Day recalls vividly. “He did the strings on The Verve 's Urban Hymns , one of my favorite albums. I wasn't that interested in getting knee-deep in string arrangements so I just handed them off to him. One day the orchestra came in and I got to sit up against the other side of the glass and watch the orchestra play my songs. It was pretty moving.”

It was also a long way from the traditional singer-songwriter format of a performer and his or her beat-up acoustic guitar. Not wanting to go the same route as hordes of fellow performers or be easily pigeonholed, Day's eyes were opened at the age of 19 by New York area musician Joseph Arthur and his use of “looping”—taking various beats or guitar chords and slowly building atop each other, creating the sound of a full band despite playing solo.

“Of course now everybody and their brother does loops, but that was my first experience seeing it and he does it in a really ethereal, cool way,” Day declares. “My jaw hit the floor. And I was really getting bored of being really predictable as a solo artist with an acoustic guitar. A young kid gets up there and you expect him to be a Dave Matthews cover band. He just opened my eyes to the looping thing.”

Day will tour as a supporting act to O.A.R. for most of the summer, including three stops in Florida beginning August 16 at the Jannus Landing in St. Petersburg, a headlining slot August 19 in Orlando and finally wrapping up the tour sometime in September to start his third album.

Unlike the solo gigs, Day has a full band behind him on these current shows. It's a great way of keeping things fresh.

“I do a little of both because I'm on the road a lot,” he says. “My record is 298 shows in one year, which is kind of ridiculous, really. So to be able to do both solo gigs and band gigs is completely different for me, it's a completely different show. So that way you don't get burned out on either one.

Because of the different format, some of the songs also come across in a slightly different way—sometimes for the better, sometimes not.

“There are songs that lose a certain intimacy when you bring a band into it,” Day states. “Then there are other songs that lose the balls of it when you lose the band. It can go either way.”

As for the songs themselves, he can't possibly pick a favorite because it would be like father picking their favorite child.

“You can't choose between them and if you did you would be a bastard,” he laughs. “You can sense the excitement though about some songs. One of the gauges I always use when I'm writing or recording in the studio is if I can listen back to the song and still get goose bumps, than I know it's on!”

 Howie Day

August 18