Rowland S. Howard: reviews, albums and post‑punk shadows

The Profile

Rowland Stuart Howard (1959–2009) was an Australian guitarist, singer and songwriter known for The Birthday Party, These Immortal Souls, and two acclaimed solo albums. He authored the classic “Shivers” as a teenager and became a defining post‑punk guitarist with a stark, reverb‑laden tone.

Member of The Boys Next Door/The Birthday Party, Crime & the City Solution, and These Immortal Souls; collaborated with Lydia Lunch; signature Fender Jaguar sound; wrote “Shivers” at 16; solo albums Teenage Snuff Film (1999) and Pop Crimes (2009); died on 30 December 2009 from liver cancer; Teenage Snuff Film received a 2020 US reissue on Fat Possum Records.

Four deeply appreciative reviews trace Rowland S. Howard’s arc from the bleak beauty of Teenage Snuff Film to the valediction of Pop Crimes. Critics praise his Fender Jaguar bite, noir balladry, and unflinching writing. Context ties him to The Birthday Party, These Immortal Souls, and long‑time ally Mick Harvey. His final album arrived weeks before his death in 2009; Teenage Snuff Film saw a 2020 US reissue.

Notable Quotes

❝ Teenage Snuff Film is a practically perfect album, without a single weak track and not a note out of place.

❝ Rowland leaves us by gifting a touching farewell album, the testament of a man victim of his excesses, trying to come to terms with the idea of inevitable end, a sensitive and deeply romantic musician, one of the most interesting to have spanned the ’80s, ’90s, and 2000s.