Hellter Interviews Henry Rollins (He Never Died, Black Flag band)!!
Hello my Grue-Lings,
The ICON himself Henry Rollins is our guest today. Henry just keeps busy all the time, works so hard. Busts his ass to get to where he is. He’s a actor, singer, DJ, author, Voice Over Artist, and TV show host has just been some of his titles. He was the front man for State of Alert, Rollins Band and Black Flag. He hosts a radio show and also writes columns. He’s been in some great horror/thrillers that I loved including: Lost Highway, Jack Frost, Feast, Wrong Turn 2: Dead End, The Devil’s Tomb, He Never Died. From numerous reports, he will be in He Never Died 2 as well. Guys does it all. Please welcome Mr. Henry Rollins.
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HELLTER: How was your Stand Up tour and how was it different from your live music performances?
ROLLINS: The talking shows started in 1983. I would do ten minutes opening for poets for 10 bucks, which was a lot of money for me. I liked the format. It felt more natural than singing. I started doing more and by 1985, it was an international tour and it went on from there to 20+ countries and several months a year on the road. So, I just happened into it. I never really had a preference. I have not done music for many years, so now there is no choice or comparison to be made.
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HELLTER: Sounds like a fun time. You run a weekly podcast and radio show, do you feel the show is a success?
ROLLINS: We did the podcast for a while but then the schedule wouldn’t allow it. The word ‘success’ is quite subjective. We did it to do it. In that, it was successful to me. We had no idea so many people were going to listen. That aspect of it was quite surprising. I will be jammed with work for the next 15 months and don’t know if we will have a chance to do more.
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HELLTER: You are a very busy man. I really don’t know how you do all that you do. Impressive. What can you tell us about the film, cast, and director for the silent film Gutterdammerung?
ROLLINS: About 5 years ago, Bjon came to a show I was doing in Sweden and showed me the storyboards for the film and asked if I would write the screenplay and also be in it. I had never written a screenplay but I gave it a shot. I played a couple of different characters in the thing and then Bjorn said they were trying to cast the priest and the only person they could think of to do it was me. So, I ended up playing the priest as well. I don’t have much interaction with most of the cast. My scenes were shot here and there over a period of a couple of years. Bjorn is an incredible person. Smart, extraodinarily hard working and very talented. I was lucky to be involved. I saw the film a few weeks ago and it knocked me out.
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HELLTER: Sounds like a very interesting film, I’m going to have to see this. A subject that I know is probably a sore subject to talk about. Something you said happened at a young age that brought the anger out of you involving your mom’s boyfriend?
ROLLINS: I was sexually assaulted at the age of seven by Mom’s boyfriend. He was a mean drunk, and perverted. I wasn’t penetrated but it was a game-changer. I’d done something wrong and Mom got him to come over and straighten me out. He came in like a hit man and beat the hell out of me with a belt. He made me strip down naked, then played with me for a minute. Mom was in the living room. It made me very angry. I have never raised my voice or hand to a female, but I will hit a guy without thinking twice. Thankfully I am able to curb that anger, but I feel it all the time. I don’t really see my mom and I haven’t seen my dad since 1987. I was really raised as an afterthought and that’s just the way it went, I guess.
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HELLTER: Wow, that’s horrible. Sorry to hear that. How was your relationship like with Black Flag before joining the group and do you ever listen to Black Flag records?
ROLLINS: I didn’t know them all that well. As you do with any band you’re in, you get to know everyone too well all too soon. When you’re crammed into a small space, proximity leads to familiarity. I joined as a fan who auditioned to be in the band. On paper, it shouldn’t have worked.
No. I listened to some of the songs when I was working on the Rise Above benefit record in 2002 but beyond that, no. I go at things in a run. By the time something is ‘out’ like a record or something, I am ten miles down the road. I do things like books or whatever, look at one briefly upon opening the box from the printer but will rarely go back to it beyond signing a copy for someone. I am only interested in what I am doing, not really all that interested in what I have done.
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HELLTER: Your music is so good. Words can’t even describe it. You always been known as a rebel. What are your thoughts on the black lives matter movement?
ROLLINS: I think that logically, when a demographic has been treated differently than others in a country that boasts of its diversity and equality, there will be some people who get fed up. The most remarkable part about #BlackLivesMatter is the restraint.
I think that this kind of thing has been happening in USA for decades. Now you get to see it. I think the BLM is incredibly polite. I think their restraint is amazing. In one year, try doing to white citizens what gets done to black citizens. You really don’t want to see what a White Lives Matter movement would be like. You want to see body count? Piss white people off. Culturally, historically, they have no concept on how to handle blatant racism on a regular basis. Some white people might be put down because they are poor but their ethnicity has never and will never be under attack in USA. Whatever the white power movements and lower half of USA politicians intimate about white Christians under attack in USA by the scary brown people and liberals is pathetic. The truth is they have no idea what oppression is like. None.
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HELLTER: Yeah, I agree. How did you get involved in the Punk Rock scene?
ROLLINS: A guy from my neighborhood was the first one I knew who had some Punk Rock records. I was curious and he loaned me the first Ramones album and the first Clash album and that was it. When I heard them, I knew my soundtrack had arrived. I guess the best experience was going to shows when I first started. I used to go to the arena to see Aerosmith, Led Zeppelin, etc. and it was all good but it felt far away and not all that connective. Going from that to seeing the Bad Brains open for the Damned and being right at the front, that was completely transformative.
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HELLTER: I love punk rock music. Do you enjoy doing voice-over work? And what was your favorite animated character so far that you did a voice over for? Fans probably don’t know you did voice over work for Batman Beyond, Teen Titans, American Dad, Adventure Time, Green Lantern, And Legend of Korra.
ROLLINS: Sure. VO is a lot of fun when you get the job. It’s highly competitive. There is a lot of great talent out there. I am more lucky than anything. My favorite would be Zaheer. He was an interesting madman.
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HELLTER: You did an amazing job with that character. I watched it. I love “Wrong Turn 2”. Your character was bad ass! What were your thoughts on your character for that movie, how did you get cast, any cool stories, and how was it like working with the cast?
ROLLINS: Joe Lynch( Wrong Turn 2: Dead End director) and I met in my office. We talked about the part… and I really liked Joe. I liked him immediately, he’s just a really good guy. As a director he’s phenomenal. As a person I really liked the dude. He reminds me of me. He’s intense, he wants to get the work done. That was the spirit of the film it was like, “Lets rock this thing!” Because it’s a very physical film. There’s a lot of fight scenes, running, it’s all outdoors.
As far as my character goes, I like the guy because he was a hero/good guy. I enjoy playing those parts because that’s where my instinct goes. Dale Murphy was a good guy who died trying to help others. The cast was all great. There was no friction on that set at all. A lot of work of course but everyone was cool.
For stories on set, So you’re getting up at 3 am and at the end of the day you’re trembling from exhaustion. You get in the van to go back to the hotel and by the first traffic light you’re like, out.
My character is a good guy. He was the first guy to realize something’s up here. I’ve got a bunch of innocent contestants in the woods and it’s on my watch. They’re basically my responsibility. I’ve got to save the day so I go into that mode.
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HELLTER: Wow. What would you do if that happened to you in real life and you had to fight off a bunch of crazy cannibals?
ROLLINS: What I always do. Lawyer up.
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HELLTER: (Laughs) Awesome!! ”He Never Died” is being shown to a lot of film festivals and is getting really positive reviews. Describe what the film is about and your character in the film?
ROLLINS: Jack cannot die. After several centuries, boredom and resentment have set in. His existential crisis is as cool as his fantastic acts of utilitarian violence. To me, a lot of the film is funny. That’s what drew me to it in the first place. I think it came out rather well.
I was at Joe’s Pub before a show in the Lower East Side, and the woman who runs my office sent me a PDF and said, “I just read this, stop what you’re doing and read this — it’s amazing.” I read the script and agreed. I wrote her back and said, “This is hilarious, terrifying and I’ve never read anything like it. It’s really cool.” And she said, “They love you and want you for Jack, they want to give you the part, the director and producer want to meet you tomorrow, they’re in New York.”
I said hell yeah. Met them — Jason [Krawczyk], the director and creator, and Zach [Hagen], the producer — 24 hours later. Just cool people, honest people, and you know they’re going to get it done. I said, “Was I supposed to laugh at this part, this part, this part”? And they said “yes” and I said, “Okay, we’re on the same page.”
I said, “I really want to do this.” And Jason said, “Well, I wrote the part with you in mind. And I said, “Gee, thanks Jason, a monster who eats people with no morality whatsoever — thanks a lot. So you see what I do and that’s what you get from it?” He said, “No, I knew you could understand the violence and funny part at the same time.” I said, “Yes, that I totally get, I’m in.” And Zach went about getting the money and troops to get this done.
I prepared 11 months for this part. I read the script over and over. By autumn of 2013, we were casting, and I helped, and helped with some of the soundtrack. And it was like, damn, this is gonna go. And before you know it we’re in Toronto and I’m fine-tuning Jack’s character, working with the stunt team. Jack is a guy who’s been fighting for years, so everything is really efficient. Everything he does is real small. You pull a knife out, he’ll walk up, take the knife and break your neck. And so it’s all close quarter, highly efficient. He’s not into killing you. He just wants you to leave him alone. Break your neck, maybe eat your arm.
The two female leads, Kate [Greenhouse] and Jordan [Todosey], the waitress and the daughter, were amazing actresses and good people.
Even when I use to make records, the only time I’d listen to them was when I’d produce them. So I gotta listen to it 80 million times mixing and mastering, but past that, I’m not interested in anything I do. And I write books, and that’s years of making the book and editing. And then one day, it’s in your hand, and it’s like, “Damn I started this four and a half years ago.” We get it back from the publishing company, I look at it for a minute, put it on the shelf, and the next time I’ll touch it is when I’m signing it for someone. But with this one I’ve watched it a few times and quite liked it.
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HELLTER: Wow, sounds like you really loved this film. That’s really cool to hear you talk about the film like that because I really enjoyed it to. I love films like that. What are some of your favorite horror films of all time?
ROLLINS: It’s not a genre I know much about, honestly. If given the opportunity to see a horror, a drama or a comedy, I would pick a documentary.
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HELLTER: Thank you so much Mr. Rollins for taking time out of your busy life to talk to me and Gruemonkey. Much Appreciated.
ROLLINS: No Problem. Your welcome.
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CHECK OUT ROLLINS SOCIAL MEDIA:
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MYSPACE
WEBSITE
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