RIP Rowland S Howard

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.