Rowland S Howard: Teenage Snuff Film / Pop Crimes (Reissue)

- Rowland S Howard has been described as “one of Australian rock’s lesser known legends”, but a legend he certainly he is and with his only two solo albums about to be reissued on vinyl, hopefully he will soon become a lot better known. The albums are long out of print, and were recorded a decade apart – Teenage Snuff Film in 1999 and Pop Crimes in 2009, just weeks before his death at the age of fifty.

However, while many people might not recognise the name Rowland S Howard, quite a few would recognise his unique guitar playing style, which has influenced countless musicians in the decades since he first unleashed it in The Boys Next Door, playing a central role in transforming that band’s sound as they morphed into The Birthday Party in the late 1970s and early '80s.

In some ways it is unfortunate that his legacy will always be tied to and in the shadow of Nick Cave, who he joined up with in that band in Melbourne’s vibrant post-punk scene. After parting ways as Cave was setting up his Bad Seeds outfit and persona which would go on to make him a chart topping performer, Howard stayed very much in the underground, as a key figure in bands such as Crime And The City Solution, and These Immortal Souls, along with many collaborative efforts – most notably with American no-wave/noise artist Lydia Lunch.

For my money, it is his two solo albums which really show Howard at his best. If you haven’t heard these records but are a fan of The Birthday Party’s sound or of the first five or so albums from Nick Cave’s Bad Seeds, you will not only recognise familiar echoes - you will discover that the songs are right up there with the best of Cave’s work. If anything, Howard’s lyrics are less reliant on imagery and poetic flourish, and more explicitly grounded in the bleakness of real world experiences and emotions.

Rowland S Howard’s song are truly gothic, with an atmosphere drenched in the familiar sensations of desolation, longing, loathing, melancholy, disgust, sadness and all the other favourites, including a good sprinkling of black humour. If there is one criticism you could make of many of the people who have imitated or been heavily influenced by Howard’s style, it is that there is often a sameness about it which can quickly become dull or cliched; but that is certainly not something you could say about Howard’s own work.

The songs on these albums range from slow mournful hymns to tunes that come close to being power ballads, except they are so covered in razor blades and barbed wire that singing along is more likely to shred your soul as it is to liven you up. If Teenage Snuff Film was a brand new album, rather than one that was first released last century I’d say it was one of the best new releases of the decade so far.

One its tunes, Autoluminescent, also served as the title for the documentary film about the huge impact of Howard’s life and music, released a couple of years after his death. In the song, Howard describes himself as heaven sent and a nightmare, as “greater than God in light” who “cuts like the sharpest knife”. With these two releases, we get the wonderful opportunity to experience Rowland S Howard’s white hot brilliance again.

- Andrew Bartlett.
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