An alternative iconoclast, Henry Rollins grew up in Washington D.C., and rose to fame after joining the post-punk band Black Flag in 1981 as their new frontman. Since then he has performed with his own setup, The Henry Rollins Band (and its various permutations), written twelve books, hosted a talk show on the Independent Film Channel, and appeared in over 30 films and TV shows, including Heat, Lost Highway, and Sons of Anarchy. He currently writes a regular column for L.A. Weekly and hosts a radio show on KCRW in Los Angeles. He performs spoken word nine months out of the year, but in his free time he enjoys traveling solo around the world, with just his camera and his backpack.
In celebration of his 50th birthday, and 30 years in the entertainment business, Rollins will be visiting the Canopy Club in Urbana on Friday for a spoken word performance. Spoken word is somewhat akin to stand-up comedy, in which Rollins shares his experiences from his travels and from working on a wide range of projects. It is a way for him to thank his fans for their support throughout the years and poke fun of himself at the same time.
I was lucky enough to speak to Henry on the phone a few weeks ago. I was intimidated at first, especially when I heard long periods of silence on the other end of the line after I would make nervous jokes. After a while, though, he politely asked me to adjust my setup so that he could hear me better, and everything went smoothly after that. He was charming and talkative, and the 20 minutes that I had been alotted by his manager seemed to pass in a flash.
Henry on the absence of lines of demarcation in his work: “I’m really enjoying how all of these things are working in concert with each other, in that how the travel inspires and informs the radio show, because I’m buying records all over the world; how the radio show is inspiring me to connect with people, how the talk show and the radio show is helping me become a better writer… I kind of wake up every day looking forward to doing ‘it,’ you know, doing ‘the thing,’ whatever that work is.”
Henry on having a sense of responsibility towards his audience: “To be on stage every night, I take it very seriously. Not myself, I take ‘it’ very seriously. I don’t want to put on a bad show, I don’t want to be boring, I don’t want to screw it up. And so I get these people that have shown up at my gig, I take them with an overwhelming amount of seriousness, in that I want to do well. So every night, I have to ride that nervy whitewater that roils in my guts… It’s been like a thirty year white-knuckle ride. But, that being said, I think that approach to it keeps me very honest, it keeps the shows very good, and I think that as an audience member, that’s what you want out of a performer. Like, ‘don’t show up to my town and, like, blow it off. I came to see you. this has to be, hopefully, the best night you’ve ever had. I want it to be the night I’m seeing you.’ so as a performer, I am tasked with the obligation of somehow delivering on that. And whatever parent company makes Rolaids, I keep them pretty well financed.”
Henry on keeping it fresh: “Why is Bob Dylan still relevant with people? Because he still goes out there, and he still keeps it burning in a way. He keeps making records, I think it’s important to keep bringing something new to the ‘thing.’ There’s other people, they go out and they kind of play those same twenty-five songs every year, like the Rolling Stones. That’s kind of like… canned fruit. It’s not fresh anymore, it’s just kind of a product that you pull off the shelf and it always tastes the same; it’s dependable but it’s kind of a non-event in a way. Meanwhile, here’s this thing, this living thing that’s not really taking advantage of life. It’s just taking advantage of kind of a steady thing, the current low-hanging fruit. And it’s really never been all that interesting to me.”
Henry on changing perspectives as they pertain to his 50 Tour: “When you’re young, you know everything that you know. I’m not trying to be mystic. I’m just saying that your perimeter of understanding and perception is quite small, because you haven’t been outside yet, you haven’t been in the world… The primary conclusion that I’ve come to as an older guy is that there’s a lot of work to be done, there’s a lot of things to know, and maybe not rushing so quickly to judgment or assumption might be a good thing for a young person to do… In the summer, you would walk around and there’s like 500 gnats in front of you and you’re just kind of busy swatting them away to where you don’t get much done in that minute. I think there’s a lot of that in youth, when you’re busy figuring out who you are and figuring out your way in the world, like ‘what’s this whole life thing going to be?’ And with that, in retrospect, you may say ‘I was so self-important in those days’ or so ‘self-referential’ when maybe, you’re just trying to figure out who you are, and that takes a lot of work, and a lot of trial and error, and a lot of mistakes you look back and kind of cringe at later. But at the time, it seemed like the thing to do, and obviously, you did it. And so you have to kind of take those moments in stride, to a certain degree, and go ‘oh, well, ok’, and brush yourself off, and that’s where being able to laugh at yourself is of great importance.”
Henry is currently midway through his 50 Tour, for which he is playing 50 shows in smaller venues across the country, This is a once in a lifetime opportunity to see a bona fide rock star sage in your very own hometown, it is not to be missed!
As an epilogue, here are some videos featuring Rollins to get you in the mood.
An interview with Docubloggers:
An early spoken-word performance:
Philosophizing about Madonna: