Lean, Dracula lean, and tall, with a pallid, angular face, Rowland S Howard cut a cool figure, ideal for an alternative musician. He didn’t so much play guitar as slash at it, his chiming, coruscating sound ricocheting in the night air. This was a violent, unsettling noise- a howl, a siren cry.
My then- partner, who put bands on, booked These Immortal Souls in 92, and the band stayed at our flat. He was lovely, and very funny, but a tad bitter at his previous treatment by other promoters. He’d been ripped- off a fair bit. Also, things between (old friend and bandmate) Nick Cave and Howard had soured somewhat. I don’t blame him for being annoyed. He never got his dues. He was a musical genius, completely overlooked.
We all know about The Boys Next Door, who formed in Australia in the punk era, and how they transformed.into The Birthday Party, notorious swampy goth outfit whose gigs were marred by chaos, drugs and violence. But Howard never got involved in the latter. He was the gaunt, elegant stick man, gently rocking at the side of the stage, locked in reverie as his guitar sliced riffs like lumps of flesh.
These Immortal Souls (pictured above) had some absolutely killer songs, and Howard’s voice was forceful, foreboding and wry. His work with Lydia Lunch (see my other posts) is beautiful too, and she often pays respects to her friend and collaborator on her podcast, The L ydian Spin.
A documentary on Howard came out in 2011, Autoluminescent . It’s a bit flawed, but at least it’s out there to shine a little light on the much missed artist, his career, and his legacy. The.gig clips of his squealing guitar are nothing short of thrilling
For me, his influence as a musician of mind -bending sounds can’t be overstated. I hear a bit of him in artists like Jamie Hince of The Kills and My Bloody Valentine legend Kevin Shields. Tragically, Howard passed away in 2009, aged fifty, but countless musicians owe a debt to his style. Faris Badwan of The Horrors and Cats Eyes is a huge fan of Howard: I hope that the rest of the world will, one day, catch up too.
Hit The North 