Rowland S. Howard (1959-2009), singer and songwriter, joined The Boys Next Door in 1979, two years after the band had been put together by schoolfriends Nick Cave and Mick Harvey. Cave, Harvey and Howard continued to play together as The Birthday Party until 1983. (In 1982, as the Tuff Monks, Cave, Harvey and Howard released an album with the Go-Betweens.) Remaining in the UK, Howard then took his own significant direction with Crime and the City Solution and These Immortal Souls, although Harvey played drums for Crime as well as for the Bad Seeds, and Howard played as a session musician on several Bad Seeds albums. Howard has collaborated with several high-profile artists and musicians, including the subversive American feminist performer Lydia Lunch. His first 'solo' album, Teenage Snuff Film (which also features Harvey), was released in 2000. Bleddyn Butcher was born in London and came to Australia when he was six. In 1980 he returned to London where he first heard The Birthday Party and met Nick Cave. A self-trained photographer, Butcher was on the staff of New Musical Express throughout the eighties, his interests in the music industry and friendships with fellow expatriate musicians providing the impetus for much of his work. He is well known for his photographs of Nick Cave and Dave Graney and has taken publicity images and album covers for bands including U2, The Triffids and The Go Betweens. Over many years Butcher's work has appeared in Melody Maker, Vox, Mojo, Rolling Stone and Vogue and he has edited and designed the Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds fan magazine. His books include Save What You Can: The Day of The Triffids, a biography of David McComb; and A Little History: Nick Cave and cohorts 1981-2013.
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2002
© Bleddyn Butcher
Bleddyn@Tenderprey.com
Nick Cave and Rowland S. Howard (of The Birthday Party), 1983 by Bleddyn Butcher. A black and white photograph of the Australian gothic post-punk band The Birthday Party featuring two figures, Nick Cave and Roland S. Howard, mid-performance.
The print is 26cm high and 40cm wide, luscious and grainy.
Cave and Howard stand with their backs toward the camera, adjacent to one another. Cave on the left and Howard on the right. A stark beam of light travels from the top left corner of the frame towards the centre bottom silhouetting Nick Cave and catching across and illuminating the edge of Howard’s body.
Nick Cave’s tall messy Mohawk arches over his head, his prominent nose is curved and his lips are full. The rest of his silhouette is engulfed in a bulky jacket cinched at the waist, flaring out like a short, triangular skirt. His arm is bent at the elbow, Cave’s thumb rests over the head of the microphone, poised as if he might raise it to his lips and start singing at any moment. A cable travels from the base of the microphone down and out of the frame.
The two men are angled towards one another.
Howard has a slim build and thin angular features. His mop of hair is artfully ruffled, styled short above his ears. Howard’s nose, the left arm of his high collared black shirt and the neck of his guitar are picked up by the light. His head angles towards his guitar, cigarette in mouth, emitting short, pale wisps of smoke, punctuating the dark background.
Audio description written by Emma McManus and voiced by Emma Bedford
Bleddyn Butcher (5 portraits)
On one level The Companion talks about the most famous and frontline Australians, but on another it tells us about ourselves.
Dave Graney and Clare Moore discuss music, photography and bandoleros of meat.
An interview with graffiti artist Marc de Jong about the art of Howard Arkley.
