Rowland S Howard Loses Battle With Cancer

Wednesday, December 30 2009 at 04:00 PM.

Australia’s music scene has lost a true icon with the
reported passing of Rowland S Howard today (December 30).
While no official statement has been made by management,
close friends of the guitarist have confirmed reports that
he lost his ongoing battle with liver cancer at Melbourne’s
Austin Hospital this morning.
Howard, 50, was a former member of the Young Charlatans,
The Boys Next Door (who later morphed into The Birthday
Party) and These Immortal Souls. He penned the underground
hit ‘Shivers’ for The Boys Next Door and memorably dueted
with Lydia Lunch on Lee Hazlewood’s ‘Some Velvet Morning’.
In 1999, Howard released his debut solo album,
Teenage Snuff Film, which quickly became a cult classic.
Its long-awaited follow-up Pop Crimes was released in October
this year, sparking a run of well-received shows and
garnering widespread critical acclaim (it topped M+N’s
annual Critics Poll earlier this month).
Howard’s ongoing battles with liver cancer recently forced
the cancellation of several shows including a spot on the
Homebake and Summer Tones bills.

In his final interview with M+N, Howard said he was
enjoying the renewed interest in his career.
“It’s very gratifying,” he said.
“When I play live, nobody calls out for ‘Shivers’
any more, because they are too young to have any
kind of historical attachment to it …
It’s peculiar in a way, it just seemed to happen on
its own accord. And it’s great,
because no longer do I look out from the stage and
just see a bunch of ageing ex-junkies.” Go to article

Taken from http://nickcavefixes.wordpress.com/

Sad news indeed and as he was making a comeback.

The Boys Next Door - The Birthday Party

The follow up to Door Door was this 1980 missing link release.
Originally released as a Boys Next Door record as was the
next Ep Hee Haw, the 2 were later combined into the album
Hee Haw by the Birthday Party.
I've looked all over the net and the original track listing and
artwork is nowhere to be found. This record is miles away
from Door Door, the band have found an incendiary sound,
completely original and showing all all promise of what is
to come.
The music is often abstract, melodramatic, sparse and often absurd.
The kind of words used to describe the Birthday Party later.
Happy Birthday/Riddle House was the single a kind of culmination
of their direction to date, then the band left for the UK.
Never to be the same again.

Download Here