Sign InRegister

Henry Rollins: 'I get angry about stuff'

Busy rocker-turned-TV-talk-show-host still bares fangs

By David E. Williams
CNN

Henry Rollins frequently visits with soldiers on USO tours.

YOUR E-MAIL ALERTS

(CNN) -- Henry Rollins has a lot on his mind.

There's the Dubai ports deal, immigration and the war in Iraq -- as well as the Bush administration's handling of the war.

Plus, he's got his band, speaking tours, book projects, the occasional acting role, a weekly radio show and a new television program on the Independent Film Channel.

Rollins just got back to United States after a two-week tour of Europe doing what he calls his "talking shows," sort of a combination current event lecture, one-man political roundtable discussion and a stand-up comedy set, all rolled into one.

"I get angry about stuff, I get very emotionally intense about stuff and that's how I get it out -- with books, with the band, on my own onstage, but it's always kind of a wail," he said in a phone interview from New York.

In a concert broadcast last month, Rollins stormed onto the New York stage like a prizefighter -- the veins and tendons in his neck bulging as he spit out a rapid-fire series of riffs on topics such as port security, Wal-Mart, Vice President Dick Cheney's hunting accident and vomiting during a trip on the Trans-Siberian Railway.

He said writing and performing are outlets for him.

"I wish I could stop, I wish it didn't keep building up in me. I need to get it out and I need to get it out in front of people. Which is, you know, pathetic," said Rollins, 45. "It's why real men just go out in the woods and howl. I must do it and get paid."

No 'cuddly stuffed animal'

Rollins, born Henry Garfield, established his reputation as an intense performer as the singer of the influential Los Angeles punk band Black Flag ("TV Party," "Six Pack") which he joined in an unconventional way: jumping on the stage during a 1981 New York show.

But he's long since moved on.

"It was like 20 years ago, and so I think a lot more people were familiar with the Rollins Band [his current group], because people actually saw that band, where no one really saw Black Flag," he said, noting that the punk band played its last show in 1986. "We were playing in front of like 300 people a night so it's more legend at this point."

Rollins won a Grammy in 1994 for his album "Get in the Van," a collection of readings from his memoir of his days with the band. The Rollins Band was nominated in 1995 for best metal performance for the song "Liar."

He said cable, the Internet and satellite radio have helped open the door for acts such as his.

"I'm surprised by how the mainstream has kind of come to my way of being, because I haven't changed myself to meet their requirements," Rollins said. "It's not like I became the cuddly stuffed animal, and they went 'Aw, his fangs fell out, let's get him a show.' I'm just doing my thing and culture has come around to let different voices into the front door."

"The Henry Rollins Show," which premiered April 1, gives Rollins another forum to present his political viewpoint. The show featured an open letter to first lady Laura Bush in which he invited her to hang out because he assumed that talking to her husband must be like trying to "have a meaningful conversation with a bowl of waxed fruit."

"We could go to one of the many American seaports and watch weapons of mass destruction get waved in by Dubai nationals," he wrote. "We could light bags of dog doo on fire on Hillary Clinton's doorstep, ring the buzzer and run like hell."

Director Oliver Stone was a guest on the debut show; future guests include rapper Chuck D of Public Enemy fame, director Werner Herzog and Ozzy Osbourne.

Rollins said it's no coincidence that many of the people on his show are critical of the Bush administration.

"I'm critical of the Bush administration," he said.

He said he would be happy to bring on people who supported the president but he didn't want the show to turn into a shout-fest.

"Like when the white power guy goes on 'Oprah,' I want him to finish his sentence before he gets booed," he said. "I want to hear how he's justifying his point of view, as much as I disagree with it. I want to hear the whole story."

'No beef with the military'

Rollins has been on several USO tours in recent years, including trips to Iraq, Afghanistan, Kuwait and Egypt. He said he usually does not perform but simply visits with troops -- posing for pictures, telling stories and trying to get a few laughs.

"I've been in Iraq, and it never occurred to me to go, 'Hey, this war is bogus,' to some guy who's 24 hours a day trying not to get shot at or blown up," he said.

He said his politics have not been an issue for military officials because "they're happy that I'll go out to places with elevated threat conditions willfully and they know that I like the troops, and that's the bottom line."

Rollins said he often meets fans in the field and tells them to e-mail him when they get home, so he can put them on the guest list when he comes through their town.

"I've met a lot of very fine men and women in the American military, and I don't have a beef with the military -- it's the war in Iraq I have a beef with. I just don't think it was the way to fight the war on terror," he said.

"Getting into a beef with the military about the war is to me like getting into an argument with a cop about the law; it's really not the person to take your grievances out on."

Story Tools

Click Here to try 4 Free Trial Issues of Time!

Section Page

Video

EW.com

Fast rise, violent death

• Bye-bye to another 'Idol' wannabe

• In search of Lincoln's assassin

• David Lee Roth: 'Dead man talking'?

Home Page

Video