Henry Rollins — The Interview: Part One

Loyal readers, friends, posers, punks and losers, pay attention.

Thanks to Heidi at 2.13.61 Publications, I was able to do something I’ve wanted to do for many years. And that was to sit down with that human steamroller, that rising-man incinerator, Mr. Henry Rollins on a one-on-one and just shoot him questions. He was at his L.A. headquarters, I was at one of the swanky night spots in downtown Salt Lake that the SLUG hacks so often frequent, (yea, right).

We had a great conversation covering everything from Black Flag and Black Sabbath to Miles Davis and jazz to the written word. This is part one of two. So that means you are going to have to read SLUG twice, in two consecutive months, to get the full story. Speaking of the written word, Henry has a new book coming out called Solipsist (emphasis on the first syllable). It will be released sometime this month.

SLUG: Tell me about the title of your new book, Solipsist.

Henry Rollins: It’s a book I started in the summer of 1993. The inspiration for the book comes from the definition of the title, Solipsist, which is someone that thinks the world is merely an extension of themselves, which is the way I feel sometimes in the city. It’s like when you’re riding on a subway in New York. You figure this urban hell is just nothing, but this thing that has been created to make you insane. I started writing from a very claustrophobic, obsessive point of view and the project took about three years to write. I finished it in 1996 and let it sit for about a year to see if I still liked it. I started reading it in late ’97 and decided I still liked it and we’re putting it out. It’s a series of weird essays and stuff.

SLUG: Did you redo anything or touch up anything when you re-read it, or did you pretty much just leave it in its original form?

Rollins: I did some rewrites. Always with me, there are a lot of sentences that can always use strengthening. I’ve learned that a lot of writing is in the rewrite. The idea might be good, but you’ve got to give it some time and really refine it.

SLUG: Right. I had a college English professor that called that the “cooling off period.”

Rollins: Yeah, and I’ve never done it before until a couple of books ago, and looking back I probably should have done it long before then. It’s like, have you ever written a letter to the girl, or whatever and you drop it in the mail box and as soon as that little door swings, you’re like, “Oh fuck, I shouldn’t have sent that!”? Anytime I’m writing a letter with any kind of intensity, if somebody has angered me or whatever, I give it that two day cooling off period. Then I re-read it and I usually amend it.

SLUG: You still keep the basic structure of what you wanted to say, you just strengthen it.

Rollins: Yea, anybody’s writing could use a little polish. I re-read stuff and it’s always better when I apply myself to the rewrite.

SLUG: I’m going to shift gears here. How many hardcovers did you print of Get In The Van?

Rollins: I think the initial print run of that was 20,000.

For those of you who are coming to the party late, Get In The Van: On The Road With Black Flag is Henry’s coffee table book of journal entries, photos and memories of his years with Black Flag. The initial hardcover book is now out of print. The first edition was published in 1994. If you are either a Black Flag fan or a Rollins fan, this book is a must. Soft cover is still available through 2.13.61 Publications and, who knows, maybe they have a hard cover or two still knockin’ around the office that they would dust off and sell to you, if the price is right.

SLUG: How do you feel about Get In The Van? Is that something that you are pleased with?

Rollins: Yea. I worked a very long time on that book. I had to type in all those journal entries and I’m not the world’s fastest typist. I took that manuscript on the road for a couple of years on tour. Those chapters at the beginning, I just basically have to tell the story because it’s before I had a journal. I remember at one point — the summer of ’93 — writing one of those chapters in this room I was living in in New York City, realizing that a year from then I was still going to be working on that book. And it really just hit me. It felt like somebody just threw 40 extra pounds into my backpack. It was like, “Ah man, this thing will never be done.” But, I’ll never forget when we got the first case of books back from Hong Kong, me and my friend Gary cracked it open and we pulled the first book out and opened it up and we were very pleased.

SLUG: Yea, well, I think it looks great. I love the photos you put in there. I think the photos and the layout look excellent.

Rollins: I would love to revise it someday on account of [the fact that] we’ve received some really cool photos since that book has been published. People keep sending in really cool photos. The shots I really like are the ones that people send in over the years, just from the crowd, or those odd shots.

SLUG: Tell me who is on the best seller list for 2.13.61 Publications.

Rollins: Me.

SLUG: You are, huh? Well, you’ve got more books than anyone else, right?

Rollins: Yea, but I’m the one with the highest profile, unfortunately. I wish it was not the case. I wish a lot of the writers were selling as much as me. There are a lot of writers on the label whose books don’t sell as much as I would like and I think that they are so good. Like the Ian Shoales book; it’s just really amazing and it sells ok, it sells fine, but when you read it, there’s no way you can’t like it. I really defy anyone not to like it. He’s just too damn funny. My personal favorite guy on the label is a guy named Don Bajema (pronounced Bi-muh).

SLUG: Yea, I’ve read both his books.

Rollins: Yea, that second book, Reach, that’s my favorite piece of work on the label. I love that book.

SLUG: I was going to say you’ve done a great thing by bringing a lot of writers out of obscurity and introducing them to people that otherwise would never have heard of or read these writers. Don Bajema is one of my favorites, I love Boy In The Air as much as I love Reach.

Rollins: Aah, that is so cool to hear. He’s working on more stuff, he just e-mailed me a chapter and it’s just fantastic. So right now, he’s writing very well and hoping to have another novel finished this year.

SLUG: That’s great!

Rollins: Yea, I think he’s really something.

SLUG: When I first read Boy In The Air, that was a few years ago, but it took me by surprise. When you came through Salt Lake on a spoken word show, I think Don Bajema was with you and he did a few minutes.

Rollins: Yea, May of ’92. I had a month off from the band.and we went out and did some spoken word shows. We were at DVB or something.

SLUG: Yea, exactly. So I see Don Bajema and I’ve got a visual image of him. He works out and he’s a pretty hard dude, and yet when I read Boy In The Air, I’m surprised at the innocence and fragileness that comes through, and I love that.

Rollins: Yeah, he’s a very vulnerable, open guy in this, like, serious human cage of a body. I mean he’s really …. Well, let’s just say I wouldn’t want to get on the wrong end of that guy’s temper. He could throw you around the room. But he’s really, surprisingly vulnerable, which is good for a writer, ya know? He’s great to hang out with, he’s just a real blast.

SLUG: Spin Magazine June 1985, “Thank Heaven For 7-11” and July 1985 “Desperately Seeking Something” … I know this is going back quite a few years, but they are two articles you wrote for Spin, and this stuff is funny as shit. It’s also some of the very first things I read from you.

Rollins: It was the first time I put anything out.

SLUG: I’ve read a lot of different interviews from you and I’ve read a lot of your books. In fact, I had Jealous Again by Black Flag before you even joined the band.

Rollins: Me too.

SLUG: You too? 

Rollins: Yeah (laughing)

SLUG: That’s how you got into it, right?

Rollins: Yeah.

SLUG: Anyway, your books are different than your funny side. But you’ve got this really funny, humorous side to you. Is this funny side ever going to surface in your books? Like I said, especially those two articles, they are just way funny.

Rollins: Yeah, this book I’m working on now is a book on travel articles. So far, the biggest part of it is on this trip I took to Africa last year. There’s some funny parts in there, like some funny stories of some of the safaris I went on .. Usually the writing has been a vehicle to get out the not-so-funny stuff. On stage, in performance mode, I just don’t know how valid it would be for an audience to be sitting and have some guy stand there and be all in their face and intense on them for like, an hour. There’s a lot of serious points I try and get to when I’m on stage, but in the spirit of not trying to take myself too seriously and not trying to be too pretentious, I try and lighten things up a bit. And also the fact I just can’t help myself up on stage. Give me a microphone, I’m going to start, you know, being a goof. That’s just how it is.

SLUG: Yea, because like you said, some of those moments come across lighter than you might want them to be, but you always nail home some serious points.

Rollins: Yea, I always try and mix it up because if it’s just going to be funny, then that’s just some stand up comedy and that’s O.K. if you just want to go out with your date and laugh. I was always into the people who kinda made you laugh and made you work a little, like Lenny Bruce or Richard Pryor. It was funny but it had some weight to it, and that’s a hard line to walk because you have to be so good. A guy like Lenny Bruce, he’ll always be my hero as far as a guy on stage with a microphone. I don’t think anyone swung harder than him.

There you have it, people of the Wasatch Front! Henry Rollins, Part I. Watch for Part II of The Rollins interview in the next issue of SLUG. And if you just can’t wait until August, call the 2.13.61 Publications Hotline for all the updated info on writers, books and Spoken Word shows. The Hotline Number for 2.13.61 Publications is 213.969.8043. If you would like to order something, dial 1.800.99.2.13.61. And let me just add, these people at 2.13.61 are all over it. Henry runs a tight ship. Everytime I order something from them I always get it, El Pronto! One of the best mail order companies you will ever deal with. Don’t melt in the heat, drink plenty of fluids and I’ll see ya next month.

Read more of SLUG’s love for Henry Rollins:
Black Flag @ The Complex 07.28 with HOR
Cover Story — Henry Rollins: The Catharsis of Anger