RIP Rowland S Howard

thanks for this

I saw a phto from the tribute concert which had JB Shilo, a guitarist playing what looked like a white fender jaguar. Was that the same actual guitar that Rowland had as his sole one?

It's in the review in Uncut. It mentions him playing Rowland 's original guitar parts but not that it's his guitar. So wondering if it was or just a lookalike.

The pic of Shilo on the Getty Images site shows a white Jag without a rose decal near the jack, so I’d say not.

i had heard it was one of Roland's guitars, though not the one he was best known to play. JP Shilo totally nailed it at that concert though.

Based mostly on my age, timing, general blind spots and where I picked up the story, I never really understood the whole Bad Seeds timeline and extended family tree. For example, I knew of the Boys Next Door and Birthday Party and their influence, but never really listened to them, and never really considered who was doing what on each album. Kind of the same for the Bad Seeds; I knew a lot of people rotated roles or went in and out (Blixa, Mick Harvey, Barry Adamson) but didn't mine the credits for exactly who was doing what on which albums. Likewise I knew of Crime & the City Solution and These Immortal Souls, and knew they were connected to the Bad Seeds in some way, but never really listened to them or knew how. I've never even seen "Wings of Desire." But I just saw the Roland S. Howard doc and it filled in a lot of gaps for me. Got some catching up to do!

I watch this live video of his "She Cried" cover about once a week. The thudding bass, his Jaguar cutting your head off, it's perfect.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5nr5DyVLiW0

https://vimeo.com/ondemand/autoluminescent

If you really want to hear what he brought to the group, start with Door Door; he isn't even on the first side, recorded before he joined, and while it's not as terrible as some say, it's unfocussed. Side 2 isn't that big a leap in quality, but Howard seems to have had more a vision pushing the band towards what they became than any of the other members. Not just his guitar playing, but his songs, his voice, even his saxophone.
I've had his vocal on "The Red Clock" from the Hee Haw EP going through my head:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rKh_TssFHDY

Odds and sods These Immortal Souls album coming out, previewing with Rowland's arrangement of Alice Cooper (originally from a SubPop tribute covers EP)

https://theseimmortalsouls.bandcamp.com/album/extra

both These Immortal Souls albums getting a reissue too.

I ordered a copy of that upthread This Guitar Belongs to Roland S. Howard book, because it seems like a cool document. The exchange rate is also in my favor, lol, and I further saved a lot on shipping by just sending it to family in Sydney to be united with at a future date.

Glad it's still available, thought it had sold out! It's nice, and feels like the right memento to keep.

I don't know how many are available, to be honest. There is a music shop in Melbourne selling it, that was the only place I saw it selling. Not hyper priced or anything.