Until the last few weeks the world of Henry Rollins passed me by except to say that he got plenty of mentions by Mark Radcliffe when he used to do his late night show on Radio 1 in the 1990s. I’ve since stumbled across a lot of interviews with him, and I find him a fascinating character.
A real thinker, a muscular liberal if you like, and someone who seems to be strong enough to show quite a large degree of vulnerability in public. I’ve scanned a few of his old concerts on youtube and am likewise fascinated by his band and music.
The Rollins band seems to play a kind of fusion of rock funk. Rollins himself seems to enter into these monologues aimed at this one imaginary sole listener, and the monologues seem to be an attempt to psychoanalyse said listener. There’s a lot of stuff in there which seems to be both empathising and slightly mocking of people who self-loathe. Like I said, its just the beginning for me, and I’ll probably next visit Rollins when I’m laid up in bed with the flu, and I can’t think of anything better to do with my time.