As I moved into adulthood, my respect for Rollins and all he does shifted focus, moving from "the things he's saying" to "the things he's doing." A self-publishing icon, movie actor, near-comedian, record label owner, and now, host of the Henry Rollins Show, the man certainly stays busy -- and successful -- with all that he does. And somehow, he found time to grant us an interview.
Joe Peacock: The very first thing I want to ask you, the thick of the thing and the reason I'm talking to you, is about your new show, The Henry Rollins Show, which airs at Saturdays 10:00PM EST on the Independent Film Channel. Tell us a little bit about the show – the premise, the mission, and the execution.
Rollins: Well, the show… You know, we haven't reinvented the wheel. It's a very standard talk show. It's cool, but there's nothing new about it, in that we have a 'guest' guest, a musical guest, and I make commentary off a teleprompter down the barrel of the lens. Then we say, "See you next time." What's cool about it is that the guests are interesting, the bands are really interesting (to me, at least), and it's completely uncensored, so I get to say and do exactly what I want – which makes for a very interesting show. I just can go without watching what I say – well, I watch what I say, but I don't have to be concerned with some sort of FCC regulation, or a political sentiment that IFC will find objectionable, because they're pretty open. I've gone as hard as I wanted to, and they've never gone "WOAH WOAH WOAH, you have to cool that out." They went "Yeah, okay, we'll see you next week."
J: Is that why IFC was chosen?
R: Well, we pitched to everybody, and IFC kinda said, "Yeah, ok, we'll dance with you." It's not like we can just pick whoever want, going "Hmmm… we pick YOU." We pitched to all kinds of people, and those are some of the most excruciating meetings you'll ever have in your life. Definitely not what I'm used to. Worse than an audition.
J: Well, the most interesting – and to some, surprising – part of the Henry Rollins Show is that you come from a Rock n' Roll background. Most everyone who knows Henry Rollins equates you with Black Flag, the Rollins Band, the Grammy's performance in a tux with no shoes… All of a sudden, they turn on their TV's and it's like, "Okay, here's this rock guy, and he has a BRAIN. What's going on?"
R: (laughs) Yeah!
J: The format of the show is very interesting – it seems that the guests you get, like Bill Mahr, Oliver Stone, Chuck D – it seems like you are definitely a fan of what they do.
R: Well, what bores me is when people are too cool to appreciate what someone else does, and I'm just not that way. If I like your band, I'm going to tell you. I'm going to get your record; I'm going to go to the show, and when I meet you, I'm going to go "Yeah, man, I have ALL your records. What're you doing next? What's happening? What's going on?" I'm not going to go (mumbles) "Oh yeah, I hear you're in a band." So when we get a guest on, it's someone I've picked. I say "Here's my list of people I want to try and get – so try and get them." And when they show up – like when Werner Herzog showed up, I wasn't like "Oh. Yah. It's Werner Herzog. Isn't that nice." I was like "NO WAY!" So it's not like I'm, you know, following them home. Idolize them? No. Inspired by them? Definitely.
J: Now, you've had some huge names on the show – so far, do you have a favorite guest? One that you resonate with most?
R: So far, when I have a guest on, its someone I kinda know. I've known Bill Mahr since 1993 – it's not like I have his home number and hang out with him, but I was on Politically Incorrect back when he was in New York. Oliver Stone I've hung out with a few times. Eddie Izzard, I've known almost a decade; Chuck D I've known more than a decade. Ozzy Osbourne, same thing – toured with him, flown with him in the family jet, and interviewed him several times for different magazines. So a lot of these people, I kinda knew and we put the reach out to. The only person I haven't met before they came in was Herzog – and soon, Patton Oswalt.
J: Now THAT is going to be fun.
R: Oh, I love his record, and he was on my want list. What you're seeing in these interviews is just a conversational looseness, because we have a pre-established trust and rapport. My job is to make that seem NOT like a boring conversation that keeps the viewer out. I want to be inclusive, not exclusive. It's good to be part 'pal' and part 'fan', but you have to get questions going.
J: So your favorite?
R: My favorite so far… Well, Herzog, just because I've always wanted to meet the guy and I was hoping his stories would be interesting, and on every level, he did NOT disappoint. You get him talking about Klauskinsky, and he could have gone on all day as far as I'm concerned.
J: Yeah.
R: Bill Mahr was a very brief interview, because you ask him a question and he's so laser-targeted, he just says it and you're like "wow, that's a perfect soundbyte." I mean, he's really dialed in – so his interview, I thought was fantastic, because he really packs a punch.
J: From a fan perspective, I have to say that the Chuck D interview was one of the finest moments for me on television. I've grown up listening to both of you and respecting what you say, and to see these two heroes of independent art just going at it, it was really rad.
R: It was fun for me. Chuck is one of my heroes, and I've known him for a long time. That was my first interview of the season, and we were having some camera problems… You know, it's a small production. So Chuck and I were just left on our own for an hour or so before the interview, and when we're together, we just talk. So we ended up taking about 2 hours or so by the time that interview was over, and that was really fun for me.
J: Man, that's awesome… And when you get two guys who are so independently artistic – Chuck's putting his own records out, and you have a long history with 2.13.61 and the record label, I want to talk about your past with self publishing and getting your own media out there – because obviously with this Web 2.0 world that's here, it's becoming… Not an issue to discuss, but more like a revolution.
R: Yeah.
J: So I want to get your opinion on that. You started in the late 80's putting out your own material, and back then, you didn't have the reach that the internet provides to, you know… Me, sitting in my home office, recording this call and publishing the transcription of this interview. What do you see these days when you surf the net?
R: I see opportunity and potential. All of a sudden, the kid with the burning idea for music doesn't have to find a bunch of like-minded people in his hometown where they all hate him. He doesn't have to find a recording studio he can't afford. He can now realize his musical vision in the safety of his bedroom, without getting pounded by a jock or his dad who says, "I won't have a queer for a son!" So now the guy can be gay AND creative and not have to get his ass kicked in Wyoming or wherever.
J: (laughs) Right.
R: And now, if you have a band, you can – perhaps – have a fan-base. "We're going to have a website, and we're going to put up 3 songs for free. Here's some photos, here's our tour dates. And poets, you know, can put up all 900 pages of that fantastic stuff… Instead of sending it all to me! In real paper! (laughs) They can just send me to their site, instead of decimating the forest. It just gives lots of people an opportunity to express themselves. Here are housewives with blogs. They're frustrated and they just want to get their ya-ya's out, so they get on that thing and they have, say, 35 people who doggedly read every word and so they feel vindicated – as she should.
J: Exactly.
R: It's giving people a voice; It's giving people a means. Of course, there's always people who abuse it – you know, your pedophile stalker types. Anything involving freedom, there's always going to be people who abuse it – anywhere, anytime, any century.
J: As far as the publishing stuff goes, is 2.13.61 still putting out other peoples' material, or is it more a dedicated self-publishing arm?
R: We take such a financial beating on stuff that isn't specifically mine, that we have to be very careful about what we do with non-Henry stuff. So what we do now, every so often we do a CD of stuff that I am just wild about – for instance, late last year, we put out an EP of an ancient recording by a band named Negative Trend (half of Negative Trend became Flipper). This is an EP that I have had in my collection for 25 years – very rare on Ebay, it's like one of those $400.00 Ebay records. I finally tracked down the masters, made a deal, and said "Okay – can we put this out?" and they said "Yeah."
So, for 5 dollars each, I put out the cleanest, punchiest version of the Negative Trend EP you've ever heard. So, I put it on my website and said "Look: you've heard these songs on my radio show – this is a band that raised people like me and Ian McKaye, it's five bucks - so just fucking buy it." So this band can get paid, we break even, and everyone's happy, and I get to do my part to chink up the holes in musical history.
J: Which is just awesome.
R: Yeah – and with books, I'd love to do it with books as well. But books are VERY hard to sell these days.
J: Yeah, tell me about it! (laughs)
R: I think I've bled through the mouth for really good writers, so I don't think anyone can say "Hey, you didn't do your part" – yeah, I really think I did, because I have a garage full of these VERY good books that no one cares about. So we tried. I also realize that, to get people to read a book, you need a LOT of promotion dollar. To get them to put down a Gameboy, or a Treo, you know what I mean?
J: Oh, yes.
R: To get them to read in 2006, you need Scribners or Reagan Press-sized promotion behind it. Go to the airport, and if I gave you a dollar for every time you saw the DaVinci Code in someone's hand, I'd be able to buy you lunch, right?
J: Right.
R: It's probably the one book that many Americans will read. Or, A Million Little Pieces, because Oprah told them too. They get their advice from a daytime talk show host. That's my country. And when you see that sort of promotion that goes into that stuff… You know. We can't weigh in there.
J: Okay, to wrap up – how are things with the spoken word tours, the band, and all that stuff? Where will you be next?
R: The spoken word tours, I just finished up the last tour the other day, about 150 shows, in Ireland. The band is in practice – Melvin Gibbs, Henry Rollins, Chris Haskett, Sim Cain and Theo Van Rock, we were all here yesterday and played for my show.
J: AWESOME! You got the old band back together!
R: Yes. And we're going out in August with X, North American tour, starting in southern California.
J: Oh, man, I will see you there, my friend.
R: Awesome, it's going to be rockin'.
J: Ok, thank you so much for your time, Henry!
R: Thank YOU, and we'll see you down the road.
If you're interested in learning more about Henry Rollins, his upcoming tour dates, the Rollins Band, the spoken word tours, his books or anything else about this modern-day rennaissance man, visit his website, and be sure to check out the Henry Rollins show, Saturday nights at 10:00PM with a repeat on Sundays at 11:00PM on the Independent Film Channel.
