WHAT is Henry Rollins?

Henry Rollins is coming to Leuven and I already got my ticket in hand but eveytime I tell my friends about how excited I am to see  him the reactions range from: "I know his name but I don´t know why" to "What exactly is Henry Rollins?".

In the past, I’ve found myself trying to explain my friends who a number of artists or bands are but in my opinion knowing who Henry Rollins is goes beyond basic musical knowledge. I spent the good first half of my high school years listening to different kinds of genres, from new metal to black metal to 60s music in some sort of musical solitary road (cause in Venezuela most of the people are into tropical music) . Even though I started listening to rock and punk before my brother, it was him who  pushed Black Flag and Henry Rollins on me, along with Minor Threat, Teen Idles, Circle Jerks, Bad Brains among others.

It is difficult to translate in one sentence or two the exntesion of what Henry Rollins is or even what he meant to me while growing up. The following video is about the history of harcore in America, kind of a crash course if you are interested...

Fronting the band Black Flag, Henry took the streets of the Regan-era suburbia and took a bunch of youngsters along for the ride. BF was one the first significant hardcore/punk bands on the West Coast scene in the 80’s. Around 3:00 in the following video he talks about how making music was and how different it is from todays music business.

After BlACK FLAG (1986), he formed the ROLLINS BAND, this band had more of a commercial success and "Liar" is one of the most well-known songs of the band with Rollins´ signature voice and pitch...talking straight at you. The band released 7 albums between 1987-2001, with the height of their popularity peaking in the mid-90’s.

 

 this is an interview in which he exposes some his opinions and stories from his life after The Rollins Band

 

A significant part of Rollins’ life is his "spoken word" performances, but what does that mean? If i had to summarize it I´d say: stand-up comedy + storytelling based in his adventures as a frontman and as a traveler. If you think hes gonna be singing, you are wrong. I ve been a follower for so many years now so I decided I wanted to know a bit more and I emailed him and to my surprise, he replied! Henry Rollins, himself! He was very kind to take some time to answer a few questions: 

 1- What do you want your audience to take away from your performance? ====== Hopefully, they were interested in what I had to say and that I didn’t bore them. That’s as good as it gets. Anything past that, like someone being inspired or something is a nice extra. 

 2- You've captured some beautiful and shocking images. How do you convince people to let you take pictures of them? Did you have any training? =======I just ask. Some say yes and many say no. If they say no, I don’t. I have no training.

 3- Do people recognize you when you travel to non-western countries? ===== Not much. In Indonesia sometimes because of films but past that, not much.

 4-Have you considered going back on stage with a band ever again? ======= No.

 5- Who is your current literary influence(s)? ====== I don’t really read literature any more. I read a lot of history and political stuff. Eric Foner’s new book on Lincoln is extremely good. 

 6-Have your feelings about getting married and women changed as you are getting older? ===== No. The last thing I would ever to is get married. Women are fine with me but I am the solitary type.

7- I saw a show called THE MAN SHOW. It is a very old show but the conlcusion is that you come across as a very masculine man but your opinion about yourself leans towards the feminine side. Do you think this has changed with time? ====== I have absolutely no idea what you’re talking about there.

I know this a very long post but there´s so much writing needed if anyone wants to talk about what he has done -there are some things that im omitting-.

Despite his movie and television appearances and his moderate fame, punk still flows through his veins. He remains faithful to his ethics, he doesn’t get high, doesn’t get drunk and keeps a rigorous schedule. Hardworking, clear as water and as PI as anyone can be, the world needs more people like him and he should keep on talking...