AUTOLUMINESCENT – ROWLAND S HOWARD

I’m not sure if you’ll get as excited about this as me or maybe some of my friends, but I feel like I need to impart the magic of Rowland S. Howard on to you. One of the most legendary musical mystical journeyman that has ever hailed from the Australian shores. He became famous for absolutely wild guitar antics in post punk band of the early 80′s called The Birthday Party with Nick Cave as well as other bands such as The Young Charlatans, The Boys Next Door and Crime and the City Solution.

His sound was original and somewhat alien to his peers and listeners, which made him legendary in his own right. Rowland and his bandits moved to Berlin, where they gained their notoriety and became huge! Maybe as huge as his appetite for self destruction on a variety of hard drugs and liquor. I had the pleasure of meeting Rowland one time a while ago, I had no idea who he was at the time, but I knew I was in the presence of someone extraordinary, we talked about how much he despised but respected my fathers music.

He was a gaunt man, almost hollowed out from his battle with liver cancer, a living breathing warning to rockstars wanting to test their capabilities of a tried and true rockstar lifestyle. Rowland’s hard life of extremities took a big toll on his life and caught up to him, he died of liver cancer in 2009 at the age of 50.

A man of punk rock royalty, his life has been documented in a new epic film called Autoluminescent.

Features interviews with Nick Cave, Mick Harvey, Henry Rollins, Wim Wenders, Thurston Moore, Barry Adamson and many more.

More info at the facebook page: AUTOLUMINESCENT – Rowland S. Howard

Birthday Party – She’s Hit ( 1983)

Rowland S. Howard – Shivers

The Birthday Party enlisted the famous hot-rod Ed “Ratfink” Roth for the most epic of album artwork in history of almost anything:

Amazing.