Henry Rollins/Black Flag

"Fuck, that's Henry Rollins!" I say.

And it was. He was doing the world's most unfunny stand-up on Comedy Central. After I realized who it was, though, it became the most hilarious thing I had ever seen - I mean, why is Henry Rollins doing stand-up? Why does he do poetry readings? He's like the naughty librarian in bad films, he puts on his glasses and he goes on stage and chats and acts normal, then he takes them off and stomps around and screams like the Incredible Hulk.

I really like the song Liar and I don't know why. I remember the Rollins Band performing it on the Grammys, and me and my dad watching it. He watched it in utmost fascination, and when it was done, said, "Hmm. That was interesting". Which is the most diverse musical comment I've ever gotten out of my dad regarding a post-1977 band ever, so I was impressed. I think I like him much better in theory than I do in reality.

Oh, and he's the only person I've ever met who frightened me. Not that he wasn't a nice enough seeming guy, but he was enormous and I met him in a gym for christ's sake - "Oh, there's Henry Rollins, doing bench presses, let's go talk to him!" Uh, let's not. His neck is like twice the size of his head.

His ethos is so ultra-macho that it goes over the top and becomes silly and cartoonish. He's sort of like the butch version of Axl Rose with less interesting songs. His songs are okay, but they all take themselves so seriously that I simply can't. I like a little bit of his spoken word stuff and his publishing company has put out some good books, but for the life of me I cannot take him seriously.

His music, however, is turgid, overbearing, and not what I want to listen to. At all.

he's like a comic book superhero. his veins are silly.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_3g4QPojMc

his people skills have gotten better i think

love the stevenson belch at the end lol

That poor guy probably still has nightmares about that night.

his people skills have gotten better i think
-- latebloomer, Saturday, February 23, 2008 7:12 PM (3 hours ago)

One would fucking hope.

I've not previously had much wrong with Rollins' and his schtick, Damaged was the first hardcore album I ever bought, and it's still second-best. I've never gotten on his case for much, not for the self-important spoken word crap, nor his self-contradicting coffee-generation anti-drug shit, but seeing that clip makes me think maybe he's just a fucking asshole after all.

the other thing that occurs to me is that while I don't have much issue with the Minutemen, most of the other bands from the SST roster that Henry recites just weren't very good, and the poor kid's apathy and ignorance of them was entirely justified

Keep in mind, though, that Henry was just about 22 or 23 there, and the lead singer of a pretty dogmatic punk band. I'd be disappointed if wasn't acting like an asshole.

Alright, but gets me thinking of this article I dug out a few years ago, some guy for the LA Times had interviewed Flag when they first burtst out and the LAPD was busting heads all over town at HC gigs.

Guy had contrasted American punk (read LA Hardcore) with English punk, talked about how the Flag and the Jerks were well spoken and polite, whereas the Clash and the Pistols were know for being as rude as they possibly could.

A nice dialectic, but I guess a false one, at least seeing Rollins there.

that kid's from dearborn!!! I wonder what happened to him. He mustve gone to some of those early negative approach shows.

I actually dont mind if rollins wants to be an asshole like he is in this interview, if that's what his hardkore persona was all about and the fans demanded on some level. Its this new smug "I can stand on stage and do horrible smug, obvious stand up comedy and then call it "spoken word" so its unassailable" thing that pisses me off.

but from the looks of his ebay buys and what he plays on his radio show he's got an awesome taste in music

http://youtube.com/watch?v=1_E34CTcY7k

I think Rollins has chilled out a lot. I wouldn't know personally, but the things I've read/hear seem to indicate that he's a pretty polite and nice dude these days.

I've interviewed him four or five times. He's extremely polite, nice, and a music geek like nobody you've ever talked to in your goddamn life. At the end of our last conversation, he spent like a half hour asking me about early '70s Miles.

This made me laugh a lot.

nice

That's awesome.

Classic

sweet how ginn ends end right where he started, hair-wise

A+++

bookmarked thread

Spot looks great.

Spot and Pettibon still look exactly like they did 30+ yrs ago!

These were posted on a thread i made on another board so may as well post them here
http://www.brianwalsby.com/comics/blackflagandme.jpg

http://www.brianwalsby.com/comics/life-after-black-flag-1.jpg

http://www.brianwalsby.com/comics/life-after-black-flag-two.jpg

unaccustomed as i am to self-promotion, and hoping this doesn't break ilx rules at all, can i slip a tiny plug in here for my Black Flag biography, Spray Paint The Walls, about to be released by Omnibus? you can read an extract at the Quietus here - http://thequietus.com/articles/03049-an-extract-from-stevie-chick-s-spray-paint-the-walls-the-story-of-black-flag - if yr interested...

nice, stevie! i would read this book.

thanks scott!

Hehe very cool to see this come to fruition after all the legwork you put in to getting the interviews!

i know, it feels like YEARS since we visited you in the OC...

Time to come back!

nice, stevie! i would read this book.

― scott seward, Tuesday, November 3, 2009 7:16 AM

looking forward to this!

I don't think there's any band that's more entertaining to read about than black flag

the flag stuff from that rollins biog is a hoot

lol, I grew up in Manhattan Beach, so this was great to read. I was about 6 months old when this concert took place, so I missed it sadly. This was a legendary story, though. Both Morris and Ginn went to my high school (as did most of the Descendants, I believe). I think there's like a great unwritten screenplay about late 70s punk/beach town culture clashes. Maybe I need to write it. Anyway -- I will read this book! Black Flag is totally fun to read about.

lol polliwog park

they used to have this amazing play structure called "The Sunken Galleon" there. oh man, it was so dangerous. can't believe I didn't die on that thing.

stevie i am going to buy and read yr book, exciting!

tyler have you read "enter naomi" by joe carducci? there's some good stuff in there in the vein of what you're talking about

there is stuff about the sunken galleon in Carducci's book?! kidding -- i haven't read it but I should. i talked to Ginn once for my high school newspaper ... it didn't go very well!

there's a good band name: Ginn's Weed

don't overlook how terrible gone sounds in that video, made my ears pinch my nose and say "p.u."

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-nnxeaxhfJ5w/TYfh1RO66eI/AAAAAAAAFTI/5yjZJJzNGgM/s400/no-age.jpg
downloaded this a month or so ago thinking it'd be so rad, but it is kind of terrible! see for yourself: http://luckypsychichut.blogspot.com/2011/03/no-age-compilation-of-sst-instrumental.html

"this is awful. you've got to try it"

totally shitty. yr gonna love it.

the food is terrible, and such small portions

The Food Is Terrible, and Such Small Portions: The Best of Painted Willie

This milk's gone sour, smell it.

wnkiw these people/bands

(lol @ the punk rock drum circle though)

Sorry, ""Reality 86'd" A film by David Markey" was deleted at 1:49:29 Mon May 23, 2011. Vimeo has removed or disabled access to the following material as a result of a third-party notification by Greg Ginn claiming that this material is infringing: "Reality 86'd" A film by David Markey. We have no more information about it on our mainframe or elsewhere.

how long before it gets yanked or does ginn not care anymore

― the first rule of debate club (Edward III), Thursday, May 12, 2011 1:49 PM (1 week ago) Bookmark

2 weeks apparently

I just read an interview with markey, like, last week about this, c/r where it was

oh here it is

http://www.viceland.com/blogs/en/2011/05/20/rettsounds-reality-86d/

that ibanez he played during that period sounded horrible

Forgive me if this has been posted elsewhere, nothing came up on search.

Black Face - Dukowski teams up with Eugene Robinson to play some unreleased Chuck-written BF material and choice Flag tunes, Ginn nearly involved at one point, I'm excited!

http://www.viceland.com/music/2011/08/chuck-dukowski-from-black-flag-has-a-new-band-with-eugene-robinson/

Eugene posted this on the Supersonic FB page yesterday. I'm hoping there's a reason why.

So Kira won an oscar for sound mixing Mad Max last night. I had no idea:

http://www.stereogum.com/1862449/former-black-flag-bassist-wins-an-oscar-for-mad-max-fury-road/news/?utm_source=sc-fb&utm_medium=ref&utm_campaign

http://i.imgur.com/hcjnZrV.jpg

I just saw that picture being used in an ad for Vans shoes the other day. Maybe this is also part of that campaign.

of course it is

Just performing my dirty duty as a consumer

anyway reason i was searching for rollins is bc i was wondering if anyone has more info on this

According to Rolling Stone magazine, after Cole's death, hundreds of hours of interviews Cole had taped with "flamboyant street characters" in Venice Beach were edited into an hour of "primo footage" that the magazine described as "an unflinching look at the American dream gone amok."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_Joe_Cole

rly interested in listening to those interviews by joe cole but cldnt find anything on the web

search 'god's movie'

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PhGxVfh9lag

from the vid description

A few segments from Joe Cole's "God's Movie", an unfinished documentary series documenting the street people of Venice Beach. This was shot in 1990 by Joe and myself, and I help out with the some of the interviews. This was originally released in a longer form as "God's Movie Volume 1" on VHS by Henry Rollins' 2-13-61, and has been long out of print. I am more than glad to share a few moments of this work with you here. Joe was shot and killed in a robbery a little more than a year after this. I miss him to this day and it is great to hear his voice here. If you like this I suggest searching for "How Much Longer" posted on Google Video, a video documentary I did with Joe all about the Desert Storm Victory Parade in Hollywood, 1991.

Amazing anecdote on the newest Henry & Heidi podcast about Hank being pressed into service by Sharon Osbourne at the famous Sabbath reunion gigs.

She asked him to help with an EPK and interview people backstage, so he goes over to interview Brian May and after they film the segment May says to him "by the way, I just want you to know, Freddie loved Black Flag"!!!!

https://youtu.be/G1hx4Ajnhiw?t=42m4s

Bullshit

I see "Black Flag" is playing in Baltimore in August. Is this Greg Ginn and 3 to 4 others? There's a mention of "First 4 years" 1983 comp that included pre-Henry stuff , on the Ottobar website. Will that be the musical focus?

https://x.com/hearinladotcom/status/1746282064192884916?s=46&t=u2ZSlsY3trRV36IPP6jNDQ

Black Flag’s 2024 lineup consists of founding guitarist Greg Ginn, singer Mike Vallely, who first appeared with the band as a guest in 2003 and became the band’s fifth vocalist in 2014,

and a rhythm section of Harley Duggan and Charles Wiley (both from Seattle band DARKHORSE RISING).

That would be a nice subtle bit of graffiti if someone added quotation marks on the posters for that show.

I've seen some youtube footage of recent Black Flag, and I would steer pretty clear of that tbh

Gonna skip it.

EVERYONE SHOULD LSITEN TO RAY PETTIBONE'S NEW BAND ITS SO GOOD

https://surdrone.bandcamp.com/album/full-length-2

sitting at the bar at a restaurant near my neighborhood and it’s crowded on a monday. realize the music venue across the street has the Black Flag (“black flag”?) show in an hour and, outside of two tables of people obviously going to it, I am trying to puzzle out the rest of the people in here

are the dudes in their 50s waiting around in the entryway here for the band? is there another event nearby? a mystery

I wrote about why the final Black Flag albums are the best Black Flag albums. (No, I don't mean that 2013 thing.)

I really enjoyed that write-up, thanks. I agree, those are the albums I'm most drawn to (though I'd really like Ginn to fuck off so these could be properly reissued so I could have copies of my own).

SST has been doing a fairly ok job of repressing its wares of late, tbh

Yeah, I see they have some of this stuff available, but honestly not sure I want to give him money directly at this point.

Understood, and agreed!

For now I've just been scouring the used bins constantly for old SST stuff.

the new pressings are terrible, avoid at all costs

in other news BF is playing in my town soon, lol

Great article! I didn't know that Who's Got the 10 1/2 was Rollins' favorite BF album. I agree with him.

yeah even though I am definitely in the "five-piece band was best" camp, I enjoyed that

10 1/2 is great, that extended Slip It In/Gimme Gimme Gimme is a blast (though Rollins was pretty shitty to Kira back then, and had some real nasty anti-Kira spiels when they played it after she left the group).

I'm curious if anyone here ever saw the five-piece band live and then saw any of the later lineups and how they compared

I admit I’d still love to hear the 5 piece line up on the My War
-and-after material, live and studio; admittedly it would have created an even bigger divide between the pre and post-Damaged era but in terms of laying down an even bigger marker for what was happening then and after with crossover and general punk/metal hybrids, those albums could have been a huge(r) deal

xp

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l2ZLCNZ5AGs

they look more hyper there than the later lineups I saw

I knew there was a risk of this happening when I wrote the piece, but... someone just left a pro-Mojack comment.

loooool