HENRY ROLLINS LESS MUSIC, MORE SPOKEN WORD IS WHERE HE IS AT

The always opinionated and articulate front man Henry Rollins certainly isn’t short of inspiration as he continues to perform spoken word showcases building on the central themes of his world travels and the current political climate. Rollins recently released his latest CD/DVD project “Provoked” which was recorded at a recent show on his spoken word tour and it’s clear Rollins is more at home doing spoken word than being on stage fronting a band like he did in the past with Black Flag or Rollins band.

We recently caught up with Henry Rollins to get his thoughts on his spoken word tour being more relevant to him at this stage in his life.

“The reason I like doing talking shows more than music these days is it corresponds and conforms more to how I’m living. In that I travel all over the world every year. Africa, Middle East, Central Asia, Southeast Asia and I can go onto a stage and go ‘Here’s what I saw the day after Benazir Bhutto was assassinated in Islamabad because I was there when she was killed. I don’t have to write a song about it. I can go right on stage and go ‘Last week I was in Tehran and I was walking down the street and here’s what the guy said to me.’ And as a guy nearly fifty, this is what’s relevant to me on a global scale looking at my own country.”

Rollins also talked about his work with The USO doing spoken word dates for our troops in Iraq, Afghanistan, Kuwait and even at home here in America.

“I do a lot of work with The USO, so I’m in Iraq, Afghanistan and Kuwait and I’m going to Walter Reid at Bethesda Medical talking to all these blown up kids and to be able to just deliver that on stage like ‘Here’s what I think about that. Here’s what I saw. Here’s what it smells like, boom!’ That appeals to me much more than getting on stage with a band and playing maybe a twenty year old song. As much as I like doing that, I think it keeps, this is more artistically intense for me and it’s kind of like I said, more where I’m at.”

Grammy nominated for both his work with the Rollins Band and the spoken word performance of his own book “Get in the Van,” Henry continues to stay extremely busy as he recently released a series of documentary specials on IFC, continues host his weekly radio show, and running 2-13-61—a publishing company he created to release his books, CDs and DVDs, along with the work of others such as Henry Miller, Iggy Pop, and Nick Cave. Although Rollins will take some time off for the holidays he does have one Spoken Word date booked for 2009, which will take place in Santa Rosa, CA on Feb 6th.