Henry Rollins is an angry man.
Hell, he’s been angry for the better part of 30 years. Ever since he quit his job at an ice cream store and started singing for a little band called Black Flag in the early ’80s, he’s been perpetually pissed off at anything and everything.
He’s become a pop culture icon as a TV personality with his own show on the IFC, the host of Los Angeles-based radio show “Harmony in my Head,” an author, a publisher, an actor and a spoken-word artist.
He’s on the “Recountdown Tour” doing spoken word across the country, with a stop in Salt Lake City on Monday.
The following is an e-mail interview I had with Rollins.
Trevor Hale: What draws you to do actual tours? Wouldn’t it be easier to just jump on the blog bandwagon and do everything from home?
Henry Rollins: I don’t understand what you’re talking about. This is what I do for a living. What courage does it take to sit online and write something? A real audience is the truth.
TH: Do you have a “set list” of any kind for the shows, or is it a bit of a free-for-all?
HR: I have a set list in my head. I would never want to go out and ramble.
TH: In both “Get in the Van” and “Broken Summers,” you talk a lot about getting a rush just before you play. Are the talking shows different in that regard?
HR: Talking shows are not the same kind of physical intensity, so it’s more of a concentration and focusing pre-show. I try to forget everything else but the fact that I am doing the show. In a way, it’s kind of Zen, in that when you shoot for the target you don’t bother to aim for everything that’s not the target.
TH: You’ve written about how as time goes on, you feel less and less welcome in the music business. Are there any music plans in the works?
HR: I have no music plans at this point. I don’t know if I want to go out for another year and only do music. I have done a lot of that and want to do different stuff.
TH: Your tour is called “Recountdown,” but by the time you get to Salt Lake City on Nov. 10, the election will be over and we’ll have a new president. Is that going to affect the content of the nights that come after Nov. 4?
HR: You know what happens when you assume. There’s a lot I am talking about on this tour as events are breaking all the time. Post-election, I have to wait and see how that will affect what I do, probably not much. I’ll see when I get to that time.
TH: On Feb. 2, 1983, in Koln, Germany, you wrote, “Organizations are evil. Unity is evil. Only a cowardly idiot would align himself with a unified faction.” Now I realize you were writing about the skinheads who were constantly giving you shit all through Europe, but could this quote also be applied to the state of politics today?
HR: I think that any of these systems that sit for too long become fraught with corruption and that, which has nothing to do with progress and what started the whole thing off. I don’t think I could carry the water for the Dems all the time, although I tend to agree with them most of the time. I think the answer is always out somewhere in the middle.
TH: According to your Web site, Salt Lake City is the last show on the tour. What’s next?
HR: I have a couple more. I will be traveling, writing, taking photos and working at my company. I have some film stuff coming up and will go into production on some documentaries.
TH: I imagine that you have an amazing music collection. What are some of your favorites that you’ve been listening to a lot recently?
HR: I listen to a lot of what is considered “Noise” music. Wolf Eyes and the like. It’s very interesting stuff to me. Also, The Mae Shi’s new album is great as is the new Deerhoof album. There’s a lot of good music around these days.
TH: Finally, “4/21/848212;Milwaukee, Wis.8212;I know one thing. I hate interviews. They make me feel like I’ve been fistf******.” Is that still true?
HR: No, just occasionally bored with the lameness of some questions that waste my f****** time.
Catch Henry Rollins at the Murray Theater at 4969 S. State Street on Monday.
