Shane Howard

Shane Michael Howard AM (born 26 January 1955) is an Australian singer-songwriter and guitarist, he was the mainstay of folk rock group Goanna (1977–85, 1998) which had hit singles with "Solid Rock" (October 1982, No. 2) and "Let the Franklin Flow" (May 1983, No. 12) on the Kent Music Report and their album, Spirit of Place (November 1982, No. 2). After their disbandment he pursued a solo career.

Early years

Shane Howard was born on 26 January 1955 and raised in the Victorian coastal town of Dennington 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) north-west of Warrnambool. He was the middle child of seven children of an Irish Catholic family living in a cramped factory cottage. The Howards loved music, led by their mother, Teresa Howard, who played the piano and sang.

I don't know a world without music. I don't know what life's like without music. It just was always there. I was a middle child, so there were older brothers and sisters and you just slotted into that. I guess, you know, singing at mass and singing at church were the first sorts of contact with that, and Mum would play the organ.

— Shane Howard

According to Howard's younger sister, Marcia Howard, they were colloquially called, "The Von Trapp Family of the Western District", because they played and sang at local celebrations. Howard attended St Joseph’s Christian Brothers' College, Warrnambool. "Elder brothers and sisters brought The Beatles, Dylan and Van Morrison and countless other influences into my already crowded imagination." His eldest brother brought a guitar into the house and homework suffered thereafter.

After high school Howard moved to Melbourne, where he studied at Monash University for a year, before hitch hiking around Australia, busking and playing at folk clubs. During this time he worked in various jobs: picking grapes, picking ginger, screen printing, the railways, washing dishes and teaching. He studied Education at Deakin University, Geelong where he became their first Student Council president.

Goanna

By 1976 Howard had enrolled at Geelong Teachers College, and was recruiting people for a new folk-rock band. Originally known as the Ectoplasmic Manifestation. In late 1977 the group changed their name to the Goanna Band (later shortened to Goanna). Their set list included Bob Dylan and Little Feat cover versions. They performed at venues along the Great Ocean Road, in Victoria. Their line-up was fluid, with Howard as the sole mainstay; Australian music journalist, Ed Nimmervoll, opined that it was "as casual and non-competitive as a county town compared to the Big City. They were worlds away from whatever pop music was the going thing in the big city. Just doing their own thing. There was never a permanent line-up. Just Shane and his friends, picking up a following by playing to surfies and 'heads' along Victoria's coastal regions." Rose Bygrave joined on keyboards and vocals in 1979.

In May 1981, on a doctor's advice, Howard took a month's hiatus from performing and travelled to Uluru:

I had come from this beautiful inspiring aboriginal tradition, and the contrast between that and this harsh reality of conflict with western world 300 kilometres away, it marked me for all time. I saw an incredible injustice that needed to be dealt with. And also, I realised that this country that I grew up in, that I thought was my country, it wasn't. I had to reassess my whole relationship with the land and the landscape, and understand that we had come from somewhere else, and we had disempowered a whole race of people when we arrived.

— Shane Howard

While travelling back to Melbourne, Howard began working on a song, "Stand Y'r Ground"; but its lyrics didn't match their folk-rock music style. He put it aside, and developed a different, rougher melody with new lyrics. When he arrived in Melbourne, he had a new song for the group to record, based upon his experiences at Uluru, "Solid Rock". Goanna were the opening act on James Taylor's 1981 Australian tour, which eventually led to a record deal with WEA (Warner Bros.' Australian affiliate) in February 1982. At that time, his sister, Marcia joined the group on backing vocals.

In October 1982 "Solid Rock", from Goanna's debut album, Spirit of Place (November 1982), was released as a single. Australian musicologist, Ian McFarlane, described it as "a damning indictment of the European invasion of Australia. WEA was reluctant to issue it as the first single, and indeed the band felt it had little commercial appeal." Both the single and its associated album peaked at No. 2 on the Kent Music Report Australian charts.

In May 1983 Goanna used the pseudonym, Gordon Franklin and the Wilderness Ensemble, to release "Let the Franklin Flow" as a single, "in support of the Tasmanian Wilderness Society's campaign against the proposed damming of Tasmania's Franklin River." (see Franklin Dam controversy#Blockade). For a live performance in February 1983 the ad hoc ensemble also had members of fellow Australian groups, Redgum and Midnight Oil. Howard, the song's writer, was credited as F. River. The single reached No. 12 nationally.

The group's second studio album, Oceania, appeared in April 1985, but the group disbanded in October of that year. The Howards and Bygrave reformed Goanna in late 1998, with a new line-up, to issue the group's third album, Spirit Returns, in November 1998. They disbanded again by year's end. In March 2003 Howard re-issued a remastered version of Spirit of Place, adding seven tracks of previously unreleased recordings including live versions of "Let the Franklin Flow", "Underfoot, Underground" and "Solid Rock".

Solo career

In 1986 Howard began performing as a solo artist with his backing band, Shane Howard and Friends, comprising of former Goanna members: Marcia, Simon Curphy on guitar, Joe Imbrol on bass guitar, and Dave Stewart on drums and joined by Joe Geia on guitar and vocals. Also in that year he was a session musician for Redgum's album, Midnight Sun (November). In the following year he formed the Shane Howard Band with Marcia, Curphy and Geia with a variable line-up including: Amanda Brown, Peter German, Damien Howard, Mick King, Roger Mason, Greg Pedley, John Watson, Bart Willoughby and Paul Worrell. His first solo album, Back to the Track (1988), was self-produced and issued on Uluru Music and distributed by RCA Victor. It is a collection of Australian music, both European-based and aboriginal.

BMG Records signed Howard as a solo recording artist and released his next album, The River, in 1990. In 1993, Howard made his first tour of Ireland supporting Irish star Mary Black whose recording of Howard's song, "Flesh & Blood" was a Top 5 hit there. Shane returned the favour when he and Mary Black performed together with Liam O'Maonlai at the 1994 Port Fairy Folk Festival introducing her to Australian audiences. Songs from this show are included in the album "Live in Ireland, Australia and New Zealand"

In 2010 Howard released a new album Goanna Dreaming and toured nationally his band, featuring his daughter Myra Howard, Ruben Shannon (bass), Rory McDougall (Black Arm Band) (drums), John Hudson (guitar), and Amy Saunders, formerly of Tiddas.

Howard's solo album, Deeper South, was released on 6 March 2015.

In 2000 Howard was awarded a Fellowship by the Music Fund of the Australia Council in acknowledgement of his contribution to Australian musical life over many years. In 2016 he was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia for significant service to the performing arts as a singer, songwriter and guitarist,to the recording industry, and to Indigenous musicians.

Studio albums

• Back to the Track – Uluru Music/RCA (1988)
• The River – Uluru Music/BMG (VPCD 0827) (1990)
• Time Will Tell – BMG (74321162432) (1993)
• Clan – Big Heart/EMI (13 November 1996)
• Beyond Hope's Bridge (CDBH0101) (5 August 2002)
• Another Country – Goanna Arts (GA040406) (16 August 2004)
• Songs of Love and Resistance – Goanna Arts (GA010606) (4 November 2006)
• Driftwood – Rare and Unreleased – Goanna Arts (GA09010) (5 February 2010)
• Goanna Dreaming – Goanna Arts (GA100101) (9 July 2010)
• ...Other Side of the Rock – MGM Distribution (GA120101) (2012)
• Deeper South – Goanna Arts (6 March 2015)

Live albums

• Live in Ireland, Australia and New Zealand – Goanna Music (BH94001) (1994)

Compilation albums

• Retrospective: Collected Songs 1982–2003 – Big Heart (GR040405) (2004)

Singles

• "Back to the Track"/"Mother Earth" (1988)
• "Just a Feeling"
• "Walk on Fire"/"Love is a River" (1990)
• "If the Well Runs Dry" (1990)
• "Here and Now"/"Without You" (1990)
• "Escape from Reality" (1991)
• "I Shall Be Released" (1993)
• "Flesh & Blood" (1993)