Punk Icon Doesn't Need a Band to Make a Racket
By Andrew Clayman
Published in The Nashville Scene, July 2010
For a self-described “limited” actor, Henry Rollins has certainly never shied away from walking in other men’s shoes—even if he’d rather be kicking their asses. Over his 30-year career, Rollins-- the drug-free, brutally honest champion of social justice-- has adeptly portrayed a drunken frat boy on Black Flag’s "TV Party" single (1981), a conniving bastard on the Rollins Band’s "Liar" (1994), and, in a more official acting capacity, a neo-Nazi on FX’s current drama series Sons of Anarchy.
"For me, it was just a job," Rollins says of the latter gig, in which he played the generally despicable A.J. Weston. "It was not an ideological thing that was hard to hurdle. It was ultimately just lines on a script, and you just figure out the guy and do it. I mean, that character, if anything, was easy, because the guy doesn’t do much. He’s not a dynamic thinker. He’s an ideologue. So it made it kind of easy in a way."
Ironically, there was a time when the general public may have perceived Rollins himself in similarly simplistic terms. In the early ‘80s, as lead vocalist for the seminal L.A. punk band Black Flag, his reputation for fisticuffs and masculine posturing often cast a shadow over both his band’s music and politics. Today, some still see him as the square-jawed prototype for the angry, obstinate punk— an intensely leftist, obnoxiously articulate asshole with a truckload of axes to grind. It’s not that they’re necessarily wrong, either. It’s just that there’s a lot more to the picture. Closing in on 50, Rollins is reaching a new peak in his powers as a spoken word performer, balancing his trademark rage with plenty of humor, humility, and some astute, uncompromising political commentary built on years of intense study and world traveling. Not surprisingly, our phone chat winds up covering similar ground.
On the performance of President Obama:
"I get frustrated by him sometimes… He keeps trying to be inclusive, because I think that’s his idea for America-- is that we’re all part of this. And that’s nice. But it’s not easy to do politically. Rather than being cool to everyone, I think he ought to basically do what Bush did—be uncool and just get your agenda going and do what you want to do. Remind people who voted for you and who didn’t vote for you that there are consequences to winning an election-- consequences for the winners and certainly consequences for the losers, as I was reminded almost daily during eight years of George W. Bush."
On Right vs. Left:
"The Republicans have become very adroit at appealing to the reptilian brain. They get to where your anger lies, and they tap that. I’ve never seen an anger level on the left as I do on the right—you know, the proverbial angry white man. I’ve never seen that kind of anger and bristling hostility on the other side. I’ve seen argumentative people, sure, but not this kind of naked hatred happening. …As a result, you get what I call the captives protecting the captor and shooting at the liberator."
On the Possibility of Running for Office Himself:
"No, never. I enjoy my status as a private citizen. I have a lot of latitude. In that situation, I would fear failing the people who voted for me, like I fear failing the people who come to see me every night. I would be using that fear of failure to motivate me."
So long as City Hall holds no appeal for him, Rollins seems content sticking with concert halls instead. He continues to tour the globe with his one-man, spoken word tour-- taking acting jobs, writing books, and filming documentaries in his "spare time." Since leaving his native Washington, D.C., to join Black Flag in Los Angeles thirty years ago, Rollins has spent more time on the road than in his own bed.
"There’s a lot more ease to touring now," he says. "There’s a bus, food, good PA’s-- more professionalism. That’s all changed. What’s stayed the same is the reason I do all of this, and the need to be good and to be disciplined and focused. None of that has changed. In fact, that just increases over the years. It means more to me as I get older and try to do better. And, seeing that I’ll be 50 next year, I’ve got to be ready to go out there and be 50 in front of people, you know? You only get one shot at that."
"For me, it was just a job," Rollins says of the latter gig, in which he played the generally despicable A.J. Weston. "It was not an ideological thing that was hard to hurdle. It was ultimately just lines on a script, and you just figure out the guy and do it. I mean, that character, if anything, was easy, because the guy doesn’t do much. He’s not a dynamic thinker. He’s an ideologue. So it made it kind of easy in a way."
Ironically, there was a time when the general public may have perceived Rollins himself in similarly simplistic terms. In the early ‘80s, as lead vocalist for the seminal L.A. punk band Black Flag, his reputation for fisticuffs and masculine posturing often cast a shadow over both his band’s music and politics. Today, some still see him as the square-jawed prototype for the angry, obstinate punk— an intensely leftist, obnoxiously articulate asshole with a truckload of axes to grind. It’s not that they’re necessarily wrong, either. It’s just that there’s a lot more to the picture. Closing in on 50, Rollins is reaching a new peak in his powers as a spoken word performer, balancing his trademark rage with plenty of humor, humility, and some astute, uncompromising political commentary built on years of intense study and world traveling. Not surprisingly, our phone chat winds up covering similar ground.
On the performance of President Obama:
"I get frustrated by him sometimes… He keeps trying to be inclusive, because I think that’s his idea for America-- is that we’re all part of this. And that’s nice. But it’s not easy to do politically. Rather than being cool to everyone, I think he ought to basically do what Bush did—be uncool and just get your agenda going and do what you want to do. Remind people who voted for you and who didn’t vote for you that there are consequences to winning an election-- consequences for the winners and certainly consequences for the losers, as I was reminded almost daily during eight years of George W. Bush."
On Right vs. Left:
"The Republicans have become very adroit at appealing to the reptilian brain. They get to where your anger lies, and they tap that. I’ve never seen an anger level on the left as I do on the right—you know, the proverbial angry white man. I’ve never seen that kind of anger and bristling hostility on the other side. I’ve seen argumentative people, sure, but not this kind of naked hatred happening. …As a result, you get what I call the captives protecting the captor and shooting at the liberator."
On the Possibility of Running for Office Himself:
"No, never. I enjoy my status as a private citizen. I have a lot of latitude. In that situation, I would fear failing the people who voted for me, like I fear failing the people who come to see me every night. I would be using that fear of failure to motivate me."
So long as City Hall holds no appeal for him, Rollins seems content sticking with concert halls instead. He continues to tour the globe with his one-man, spoken word tour-- taking acting jobs, writing books, and filming documentaries in his "spare time." Since leaving his native Washington, D.C., to join Black Flag in Los Angeles thirty years ago, Rollins has spent more time on the road than in his own bed.
"There’s a lot more ease to touring now," he says. "There’s a bus, food, good PA’s-- more professionalism. That’s all changed. What’s stayed the same is the reason I do all of this, and the need to be good and to be disciplined and focused. None of that has changed. In fact, that just increases over the years. It means more to me as I get older and try to do better. And, seeing that I’ll be 50 next year, I’ve got to be ready to go out there and be 50 in front of people, you know? You only get one shot at that."
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