Rowland S. Howard (1959-2009)
Rowland S. Howard, former guitarist with Australian legends The Birthday Party, has died, aged fifty.
He joined the band in 1978, when they were known as The Boys Next Door and stayed until their split in 1983. (As has been documented numerous times elsewhere, lead singer Nick Cave and multi-instrumentalist Mick Harvey went onto form Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds). Howard collaborated with Cave and Lydia Lunch amongst many others. He was also a member of both Crime and the City Solution and These Immortal Souls.
Though The Birthday Party achieved little commercial success in their time together, their influence has been unquestionably far reaching, with bands as diverse as The Horrors, LCD Soundsystem and My Bloody Valentine citing the band up as an influence. Certainly, their primal take on music remains utterly thrilling to this day, and albums like 1982’s Junkyard still sound like the could beat the likes of The Cramps and The Pop Group into retreat.
Howard had told an interviewer a few months ago that he was battling with liver cancer, and was hoping for a transplant.
For a detailed obituary, see here at The Age.
In tribute, 17 Seconds would like to extend sympathies to his family and friends and for your listening pleasure, two utterly thrilling Birthday Party tracks.
The Birthday Party -’Mutiny In Heaven.’ mp3
The Birthday Party -’Release the Bats.’ mp3
do you perhaps mean he was hoping for a transplant?
According to Wikipedia: “In an October 2009 interview, however, Howard said that the album was necessarily recorded quickly: “I contracted liver disease a while back and I’ve basically got liver cancer, I’m waiting for a transfer, if I don’t get it things might not go so well…so…”
but yes, transplant might fit better there!
Argh, what bad news. Guess I’ve got to chuck the live album into my Discman bag tonight.
Picked up Hee-Haw this morning; definitely on a Birthday Party tip. Gutted I never saw the man live. Ah well. May he rest in peace.
I like your piece here,nice and great pic too.
I’m really…sad,you know he was such a nice guy,razor wit and unpretentious and always looked great even when he wasn’t..
It’s just aweful isn’t it?
[...] musicians, since Christmas alone the media bringing the news of the sad deaths of Vic Chesnutt, Rowland S. Howard, Jay Reatard, Teddy Pendergrass and today the news that Kate McGarrigle has died at the age of 63 [...]