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In the '90s, Henry Rollins
emerged as a post-punk
renaissance man, without the
self-conscious trappings that
plagued such '80s artists as
David Byrne. Following Black
Flag's breakup in 1986, Rollins
was been relentlessly busy,
recording albums with the
Rollins Band, writing books and
poetry, performing spoken word
tours, writing a magazine column
in Details, acting in several
movies, and appearing on radio
programs and, less frequently,
as an MTV VJ. The Rollins Band's
records are uncompromising,
intense, cathartic fusions of
hard rock, funk, post-punk
noise, and jazz experimentalism,
with Rollins shouting angry,
biting self-examinations and
accusations over the grind. On
his spoken word albums, he is
remarkably more relaxed,
showcasing a hilariously
self-deprecating sense of humor
that is often absent in his
music. All the while, he has
kept his artistic integrity,
becoming a kind of father figure
for many alternative bands of
the '90s.
Rollins was born Henry Garfield
in Washington, D.C., on February
13, 1961. He performed in local
hardcore bands as a teenager,
and one night when his heroes
Black Flag came to town, he
leaped up on-stage and began
singing with them. Shortly
thereafter, when Flag vocalist
Dez Cadena decided to switch to
guitar, the band invited Rollins
to audition, and he became their
new lead singer. By the time
Black Flag broke up in 1986,
Rollins had not only garnered a
reputation as one of the
fiercest performers in hardcore
punk, but had already begun
touring as a spoken word
performer. Rollins made his
recording debut as a solo artist
in 1987 with Hot Animal Machine
and also issued his first spoken
word album, Big Ugly Mouth, that
year (as well as the Drive by
Shooting EP, recorded as
Henrietta Collins & the
Wifebeating Childhaters).
Following Hot Animal Machine,
Rollins assembled a backing
unit, the Rollins Band, which
featured soundman Theo Van Ronk,
guitarist Chris Haskett, and the
former rhythm section of Black
Flag guitarist Greg Ginn's side
project Gone: bassist Andrew
Weiss and drummer Simeon "Sim"
Cain. Not counting several live
recordings made in Holland in
1987, the Rollins Band made
their studio debut with 1988's
Life Time, followed quickly by
the outtakes/live collection Do
It. 1989 saw the release of a
new Rollins Band album, Hard
Volume, and the spoken word set
Sweatbox; they were followed in
1990 by the live set Turned On
and yet another lengthy spoken
word release, Live at McCabe's.
1991 was a pivotal year for
Rollins, for better and worse.
The Rollins Band inked a deal
with Imago that promised
much-improved distribution, and
they also appeared on the
Lollapalooza tour. But in
December of that year, Rollins
and his best friend, Joe Cole,
were held up by gunmen waiting
outside of Rollins' L.A. home.
Cole was fatally shot in the
head; the devastating trauma of
the incident never quite left
Rollins and occasionally (though
indirectly) informed his
subsequent work. In 1992, with
Human Butt, Rollins began
releasing his spoken word albums
through 2.13.61, the publishing
imprint he'd founded in 1984. In
addition to Rollins' own work,
both recorded and written,
2.13.61 grew during the '90s to
include literary works by rock
artists like Exene Cervenka and
Nick Cave, plus material by
acclaimed authors like Henry
Miller and Hubert Selby, Jr.,
among others. 1992 also saw the
Rollins Band debut for Imago
with The End of Silence, which
some found to be his most
focused music yet and gave
Rollins his first charting
album. The spoken word double
disc The Boxed Life appeared in
1993, and toward the end of the
year, Rollins Band bassist Weiss
was replaced by Melvin Gibbs.
1994 became Rollins' breakout
year thanks to the one-two punch
of Weight -- the best-reviewed
and most popular Rollins Band
album to date, which cracked
Billboard's Top 40 -- and Get in
the Van: On the Road with Black
Flag, a double-disc set of
readings from Rollins' memoir of
the same name that won a Grammy
for Best Spoken Word Recording.
Additionally, the Rollins Band
performed a well-received set at
Woodstock '94. With all the
increased visibility, Rollins
became a genuine phenomenon;
Details magazine chose him as
their Man of the Year in 1994
and wound up making him a
contributing columnist. Primed
by appearances on MTV and VH1,
Rollins also made his film debut
that year in The Chase and went
on to appear in movies like
Johnny Mnemonic, Heat, and Lost
Highway over the next few years.
Unfortunately, Imago was out of
business by 1995, leaving the
Rollins Band in temporary limbo
until they secured a deal with
DreamWorks in 1997. In the
meantime, Rollins undertook a
jazz/poetry experiment with
Everything, which featured
musical backing by avant-garde
luminaries Charles Gayle
(saxophone) and Rashied Ali
(drums). The Rollins Band
debuted for DreamWorks in 1997
with Come in and Burn, which
failed to earn the acclaim of
the group's previous few albums.
Black Coffee Blues appeared the
same year, and like Get in the
Van, it featured a series of
readings from a Rollins book of
the same name. In 1998, Rollins
released Think Tank, his first
true set of non-book-related
spoken word material in five
years.
By
this point, Rollins felt that
his partnership with the Rollins
Band had run its course, as
their music grew more
experimental and less
unremittingly intense. He had
been producing a Los Angeles
hard rock trio called Mother
Superior and wound up inviting
the band -- guitarist Jim
Wilson, bassist Marcus Blake,
and drummer Jason Mackenroth --
to back him as a brand-new
incarnation of the Rollins Band.
The first fruits of this new
collaboration were released in
2000 as the album Get Some Go
Again. It was followed in 2004
by Weighting. A new spoken word
release, Rollins in the Wry,
followed in 2001, culling
performances from Rollins'
residency at the L.A. club Luna
Park during the summer of 1999.
Another live album, The Only Way
to Know for Sure, appeared in
the summer of 2002. Three
volumes of Talk Is Cheap, taken
from a two-night stand in
Sydney, Australia, were released
in 2003 and 2006. A fourth
volume followed in 2007, this
time recorded at San Jose State
University in California. ~
Steve Huey, All Music Guide
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Current Release |
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Links |
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In
The Spotlight |
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"Provoked" |
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Available
4/1/08 |
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