Interview: Henry Rollins

"Those who saddle themselves with the title of writer are in for a life of agony, whether they are good or not."

Henry Rollins fronted Black Flag from 1981 until 1986, and is a storyteller, author, actor and poet. He runs the publishing company 2.13.61, on which he has released over nine of his spoken word albums. Aside from publishing his own work, 2.13.61 is dedicated to publishing work by Joe Cole, Alan Vega, Nick Zedd, Nick Cave, and Michael Gira. Rollins is a passionate human rights activist and free-jazz fan. Virgin Books have recently re-published Black Coffee Blues.

What are you working on at the moment?
I am finishing a book called Roomanitarian. I am about 8 weeks from being done. I am working on it about 6 days a week now.

Do you listen to music as you write? If so, what?
A lot of writing I do is on planes and buses and on streets but when I am in a hotel room or off the road, I often listen to music. Usually a long playlist I have made on i-tunes of songs I know so I can hear them but not hear them. Sometimes when I am in proof or edit mode, I do better work without music. As far as the kind of music, usually vocal music but I have written a lot of stuff to Coltrane and Ayler.

Who are your favourite heroes in fiction?
Thomas Wolfe's Eugene Gant, Selby's Harry, Kafka's K. I don't read the amount of fiction I used to so I am a little rusty as to who I like in that area. I do keep coming back to Wolfe's second book Of Time and the River and Gant's maturing and dealing with the adult world as a young adult. I think I will read and re-read Wolfe for a long time. Same with F. Scott.

And villains?
All the villians I am currently reading about are real villians. Bush, Cheney, Stalin.

What are you reading in bed?
Re-reading Bulgakov's Master and Margarita, finishing up Steve Coll's Ghost Wars, reading a few pages of Velemir Khlebnikov's poetry a night and re-reading Malcom Cowley's very fine Exile's Return. I have Thorstein Veblen's The Theory of the Leisure Class lined up to start in on as well.

Are you are re-reader?
Absolutely. A lot of times the true greatness of a book is found in the re-read I think. Especially if you really like the writer, you can zero in on the mastery of the sentence, the character development. I re-read F. Scott Fitzgerald all the time.

Which literary character do you most identify with?
Wolfe's Eugene Gant.

One book you wish you had written, and why.
I wish I had written Ryszard Kapuscinski's Imperium. I greatly admire his clarity, his point of view. I have read all his work and am amazed at what he's been through and how he fields all that insane information. He is to me, a brilliant mind.

Which painting, or other piece of art, best describes you?
At least twenty of Francis Bacon's paintings.

Best cure for writer's block?
Never assume you're a writer. Just spend time writing or spend time not writing. There is no block if you're not a writer. You can just be a person with a pen who finds his or herself near some paper now and then. Those who saddle themselves with the title of writer are in for a life of agony, whether they are good or not.