Henry Rollins

Even with the Rollins Band having been on hiatus for some time now, there's no way you could accuse Henry Rollins of taking it easy. In fact, his schedule seems anything but easy, with radio and television commitments as well as a touring calendar that has seen in on the road almost constantly since last September.

"I took a break in December," he admits, "when I did a film and went to Pakistan. So half of the month was 'Ice 44' with Cuba Gooding [Jr.], and the other half was me in Islamabad. January the tour resumed, and I went through Europe: Scandinavia to Germany to Switzerland, Belgium, Holland, England, Ireland, Scotland and then South Africa. I came back from that, took 72 hours off and I'm now resuming touring America. Five weeks here in America and Canada, one and a half days off in L.A. to dump the contents of the bus, shower, shave, go back to the airport then to Northern Ireland, Spain, Australia, New Zealand and then I'll probably go up to Cambodia and Vietnam and see what they have to say for themselves. And the older I get the more I love it."

Unfortunately, he adds - almost as an afterthought - December 2007 just happened to be a time of pretty severe unrest in the country, culminating in the assassination of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto. "That was...well, talk about 'may you live in interesting times'. It was that and then some," Rollins says. "I was there while they shut down the city and shut down the airport and, fortunately, finally when it was time for me to leave, the airport was open. But I went out on the street every day and walked around and met people and talked to people and heard what they had to say. There was nothing like, 'get out', or 'down to America'. I've not really ever encountered hostility from people in that way when I travel."

Far from being a nightmare trip, Rollins categorises it as one that has helped expand his world view - something that he considers an important part of his life at the moment. "That's what interests me," he says. "I want to know: how are you living? Tell me what's going on! I try and learn a thing or two. That stuff goes right into the stage show. I'm a witness. I know how I want to say it, so that's what I do night after night - I get up there and tell you where I went, and what I saw. How I feel about it. It's just taking ideas in sequence and I jam on them. I'll certainly be talking about being in South Africa, where I just came from, because it was amazing. But what will I say about it? Ah, well, we'll see when I get out on stage. I'm sure I'll hit it somehow."

If that sounds like a different Rollins to the more familiar images of him from Black Flag and Rollins Band, and even his early spoken word work, maybe it is. Could it be that he has, in fact, mellowed? "Good question," Rollins muses. "No... but I very well may have. I think my world view has expanded, which has made me infinitely more patient and aware of the smallness of myself and the hugeness of the world. And from trying to evolve and have an opinion, I think I've become more informed. I try to be.

"You get a sense of humour about it, instead of the mouth-breathing and punching of walls. Perhaps in that way, I've changed. I hope so. I'd like to think that I'm not the same as I was before. How boring would life be if you didn't move along with things?"

As for the different sources of anger these days, Rollins notes that it's not so much about things he sees in himself- even being aware of that is the "beginning of addressing and changing that." It's more about his worldview, and the things that he witnesses. "Especially in my country," he says. "What I see passing for government and what I see passing for democracy. That pisses me off. I don't go gently into that goodnight. You'll know all about it. I'll be the one you can hear audibly."



Alistair Wallis

Henry Rollins performs his spoken word show at the Norwood Town Hall on Thurs 17 Apr.