Older, wiser Rollins speaks his mind sans music
By CHRIS PAGE
Get Out

A story on Henry Rollins — former frontman for legendary punk act Black Flag and his own cranium-crushing Rollins Band — belongs in the music section, doesn't it?

Not lately. Though he's still working on musical projects, including a recent recording session with William Shatner (yup) and guitarist Adrian Belew, these days Rollins earns more of his bread from spoken word performances: loosely sketched talks that find Dear Hank riffing on everything from growing up on Ritalin to eating native Russian food. Two years ago, his spoken word tour sold 50,000 tickets. In 2003, his 93-date tour sold 70,000.

"If you're (comedian) Chris Rock, that's a week. If you're Seinfeld, that's a weekend," Rollins says in a recent telephone interview with Get Out. "But for a guy like me, who'd figure? It's cool. I guess I'm doing something good. But I always wonder if anyone's going to show up."

His latest 31-date tour starts at Tempe’s Marquee Theatre. Titled "Shock and Awe My Ass," the show will deal in part with Rollins' take on the War in Iraq. He saw the effects of the war during a recent United Service
Organizations trip to the Middle East.

"You ask the soldiers what it's like," Rollins says, "and they say, 'You get shot at every day.' I don't know how I'd hang with that."

But one thing he does know is how to get Saddam Hussein to open up to interrogators. Alert the front page.

"Some Marine was saying they were playing Metallica at him," he says. "My idea was to bring in the 'Queer Eye' crew, which would be great television — a bunch of men touching him and applying hair mousse — and he would tell us everything we want to know."

Fans of Rollins' Black Flag days might be taken aback by the new, topically poignant, mature Hank who admits to watching daytime news shows religiously in his Los Angeles home. He doesn't do the club scene at all anymore. "I'm 42 and grey," he says. "I look like some lech."

And his spoken word material has gotten further away from the things that used to matter to him: his inability to keep a girlfriend and life on the road with bands.

"It's important for the artist-type to move on," he says. "I see so many people my age trying to be 22, and it just looks so stupid."

But facing the fact of growing older hasn't dampened Rollins' work ethic one bit. He continues acting in films (the latest was "Bad Boys II" and lending his throat for commercials (he was the voice of Life cereal for three years and General Motors trucks for 18 months) and video games ("Mace Griffin") when not working on material for his independent book and music publishing house, 2.13.61. His latest project is an "Ebert and Roeper"-style movie discussion show for the Independent Film Channel that might be picked up and begin shooting in the fall.

Which means this story could have run in the business or TV sections, too.
Oh, but Rollins is still up for doing more music. He hinted at reuniting with Black Flag players for "something really brutal, really aggressive." But he won't elaborate just yet.

"It'll be a busy year," he says.

Oh, and here's something for the sports pages: He still works out relentlessly, and an instructional fitness video is on the way. "I have a low threshold for boredom," Rollins says. "The smart artist just shuts up and gets to work already."

'Shock and Awe My Ass: An Evening of Spoken Word with Henry Rollins'
Where: Marquee Theatre, 730 N. Mill Ave., Tempe
When: 8 p.m. Tuesday
How much: $21
Info:
Details: All-ages
Courtesy of Alison Dyer