Drummer Topper Headon had been fired the previous year – shortly before the release of the album Combat Rock – owing to the effects of his heroin addiction on the band.
He played with the band after their last tour before founding member Mick Jones was sacked, when they co-headlined the US Festival in San Bernardino, California, on 28 May 1983; at the festival's New Music Day they drew a crowd estimated at between 100,000 and 200,000 people.
Howard continued touring with the band in America and Europe during 1984, and early the next year appeared on their final studio album Cut The Crap.
The only two tracks he was given were recorded live in the studio at the same time to form the B-side of the maxi-45s including "This Is England", as well as "Do It Now" and "Sex Mad Roar".
[2] In 2001, Howard joined the alternative rock group Queenadreena for their albums Drink Me (2002), The Butcher and the Butterfly (2005) and Djin (2008).