He began drumming at the age of 10, and although he briefly studied with Bob Armstrong, Bill Bruford, and Jonathan Mover; he is primarily self-taught.

The groups' repertoires mainly consisted of covers of The Clash, David Bowie, Bauhaus and U2 songs, supplemented with original material.

Howe formed his jazz quintet in 2003 and has released four solo albums: The quintet has had a changing membership, but has primarily consisted of Howe, Quentin Collins (trumpet), Brandon Allen (tenor sax), Ross Stanley (piano) and Chris Hill (double bass).

This Is It featured as The Guardian's single of the week in November 2004,[5] and The Observer commented on Howe's "needle-sharp" drum fills on the live Translation album.

In 2009, Howe and piano player Will Butterworth formed a duo and started work on their arrangements of Igor Stravinsky's Rite of Spring and Firebird Suite.

The group featured guest singer Hugh Cornwell, Portishead guitarist Adrian Utley and saxophonist Gilad Atzmon.

Musicians are Mark Hodgson and Nick Pini on double bass, Ross Stanley on piano and synths, Julian Siegel and Brandon Allen on saxophone and Adrian Utley on guitar intro on Warszawa.

Howe has played on over 60 albums, including work with producers Trevor Horn, Nigel Godrich, John Leckie and Guy Chambers.

Howe's pop and rock session work has included Paul McCartney, Ray Davies, Tom Jones, Gabrielle, Nick Cave, Hugh Cornwell, David Gilmour, Mick Jones, Damon Albarn, Lewis Taylor, Beth Gibbons, Alison Moyet, Sarah Brightman, Beth Rowley, Leon Ware, Sam Moore, Ben E King, Slits guitarist Viv Albertine and Miles Kane among others.