thePULSEBy Alex Kantarelis
To many, Henry Rollins is a household name, whether as a spoken word artist, a writer, an actor, a radio DJ, a TV show host, or, most importantly (to this writer anyway), the vocalist of the legendary punk band Black Flag. Rollins got his start in the earliest days of punk and hardcore as part of the DC scene. “It was a very small scene, like a lot of scenes were,” he remembers fondly. “It was a great time to be young, I felt very lucky to be in that room with the other 50 people seeing the Bad Brains, or the other 50 people getting sweated on by the Cramps,” he added. During that time, Rollins made developed a fierce appreciation for originality that would mold his inevitable career. “It was great to be at the first Minor Threat show,” he casually mentions.
That era in his life is something that he still embraces fully, maintaining friendships from more than 30 years ago. Regarding Minor Threat and Fugazi vocalist Ian MacKaye, Rollins says, “He and I have been best friends since I was 11 and he was 12. These are friendships that are very damn serious.” His love for music is something he takes even more seriously still listening to all the old punk records from the early 80s that made him love music so much. He doesn’t feel jaded towards music at all, in fact quite the opposite: “The older I get, the more music means to me. I’ve been burned out on everything else, relationships, humanity…. but [there’s] always time for music,” he says, adding “I buy minimum one record a day.”
His next step was joining Black Flag as their vocalist, touring relentlessly until 1986. Rollins is humble about being in such a legendary and influential band (as their fourth vocalist), though, maintaining that he was lucky to join a band that was already established. Though some argue he was the one who made them great, he just credits Greg Ginn and Chuck Dukowski’s songwriting ability. “I went in there with no vocal talent, just a lot of anger and a lot of desire to connect,” he shares.
Summing up his career after Black Flag could take weeks. He continued touring and releasing albums with his own solo band, basically taking every job that was handed to him. He hosted radio and TV shows and has been in so many movies that his acting career can stand proudly on its own. He has also toured extensively as a spoken word artist and is currently in the middle of his “Capitalism” tour.
The tour came about when Rollins’ agent came to him with the idea of touring all 50 state capitals, ending on election night: “We do the last show on the eve of the election in Washington DC and that’s how we finish it,” his agent proposed. Rollins is on a mission to remind Americans where they come from ~ not necessarily which state they’re from, or which nationality, but instead where America comes from. The fact that before The Civil War, the Constitution read, “These United States…” and afterwards was changed to “The United States…,” speaks of two very different concepts. “630,000 people died in America, killed by Americans so we can truly be united. That’s an awful price to pay and so ultimately, my opinion is there a lot more things that glue us together than separate us. No matter how you vote, no matter what you think of same sex marriage, women’s health rights, and dispersions of public moneys to health care, welfare, etc. I think we have a lot more in common, than we have not in common,” he says. In reality, nothing is more punk rock than having a voice and using it to express your opinion. Rollins has never been shy about doing just that, and wants everyone to use their voice by voting. “I only care that you vote. It’s none of my damn business who you vote for,” he says.
In my opinion, we should all listen to him…his words and his music.
Catch Henry on tour Oct. 27 @ Capitol Center for the Arts in Concord, NH, on Oct. 30 @ Berklee Performing Arts Center, Boston, Nov. 1 @ Lupo’s in Providence, RI, and on Nov. 2 @ the Webster Theater in Hartford, CT.
Photo courtesy of www.smashboxstudios.com
