Books

Books

Recent Rollins and Related Books     Unofficial Rollins Bios     Miscellaneous

Forthcoming Rollins and related books:

Henry Rollins "A Preferred Blur" & Henry Rollins "Fanatic! Vol. 3"

To be released in 2008. Rollins said in the 11/16/07 newsletter, "I am working on a book called A Preferred Blur, which contains journal entries and travel stories, that will hopefully emerge about a year from now. Fanatic! Vol. 3 should be at some point in 2008 too."

"33 1/3: Reign in Blood"

Includes an interview with Rollins. "Issued on America's premier rap label at the peak of the thrash metal movement, Slayer's controversial Reign in Blood remains the gold standard for extreme heavy metal, a seamless 29-minute procession of ten blindingly fast, apocalyptic songs. The first English book about Slayer explores the creation of the most universally respected metal album and its long road to the stores, through original interviews with the entire band, producer Rick Rubin, engineer Andy Wallace, cover artist Larry Carroll, and Def Jam insiders from Russell Simmons to M.C. Serch. From Tori Amos to Pantera's Phil Anselmo, dozens of fans and artists discuss the record's ongoing impact and Slayer's status in the small fraternity of rock's greatest groups."

Johnny Ramone autobiography

Rollins is working as the manuscript editor on Johnny Ramone's autobiography. He said the following in his 2/21/07 dispatch: "Heidi and I went to visit Linda Ramone today. I picked up some tapes of Johnny Ramone interviews that were used for the autobiography and spent a good amount of time transferring them to CD to back them up. I have put many hours of work into the manuscript as an editor of the manuscript. It needs some more work but it will be a very good book. I reckon it will come out this year. It won’t be on my label. I am going to get it done and turn it over to Linda and let her and her manager deal with it. I am basically working on the book to say thank you to The Ramones. It’s the least I can do I figure."

Recent Rollins and related books:

Henry Rollins "Fanatic! Vol. 2"

Available now from 2.13.61. "Fanatic! Vol. 2 contains annotated notes from the songs Henry Rollins broadcast on his Harmony In My Head radio show on Indie 103.1, from 12/27/05 to 12/26/06. Information on the bands, the songs, some anecdotes, websites, discographies and train spotter type information throughout. 470 pages of fanatic music worship."

Martin Atkins "Tour:Smart"

Martin Atkins is the drummer for Pigface (and formerly Ministry, Killing Joke, Public Image Ltd.) and head of the Invisible and Underground Inc. labels. His book sums up 30 years of touring experience and includes contributions by Rollins, The Suicide Girls and Lee Popa. Sites: Tour:Smart, MySpace

"Punk Love" by Susie Horgan (formerly Susie Josephson)

Released January 30, 2007. Rollins is writing the forward for this book of photography by Susie J.. Here's what Rollins had to say about it in his 8/26/06 dispatch: "... and worked on a 2nd draft of a foreword I am writing for a book called Punk Love which is a collection of Susie J’s photographs of the Washington DC Punk scene in the early 80’s. Many of these photos you’ve seen before like the Teen Idles single cover as well as the first Minor Threat record. There are some great Minor Threat shots in this book and even some pictures of me I have never seen. When there’s a release date, I’ll let you know and also do a newsletter about it. It’s a beautiful collection of images from that time and definitely worth checking out."

"Punk Love" photography exhibit at Govinda Gallery in Washington, DC 2/2/07 - 3/3/07 (more info here).

Articles/Interviews: Miami Herald, Washington City Paper

Exhibit reviews: The Georgetown Independent, The Georgetown Voice, Washington Post

Book reviews: Austin 360 (bottom of page)

"AC/DC: Maximum Rock & Roll: The Ultimate Story of the World's Greatest Rock-and-Roll Band"

Released January 2, 2007 by Harper Entertainment. Rollins is featured on a few pages discussing meeting the band during the "Ballbreaker" sessions. Go here for all the info.

Henry Rollins "A Dull Roar"

Released November 20, 2006 by 2.13.61. From the back cover: "A Dull Roar is a five month chronicle of the spin, misinformation and sabre-rattling in the build up to the... oh, wait a minute. OK, A Dull Roar is a journal of my life from April to early September 2006 as I prepared for, went out on and completed a tour of North America with the Rollins Band from late July to early September. In the months before the tour, I completed the 2nd season of The Henry Rollins Show for the Independent Film Channel, worked on the film Wrong Turn 2 and slaved over my radio show Harmony in My Head. Some might advise that I get a life. I've got one. This is is it."

Reviews: The Brooklyn Rail

"The Doors"

Released November 7, 2006. Rollins wrote the forward, read it here. "It's time to celebrate 40 years of The Doors, and clear some space on the coffee table. The Doors by The Doors — a huge, gorgeous volume in which the band tells its own story — is coming your way. Stuffed with never-before-seen photos, revealing interviews and more, this stunning book will be manna for Doors fans. Coauthored with esteemed rock journalist Ben Fong-Torres (Rolling Stone) and published by Hyperion Books, "The Doors by The Doors" will be on shelves in your favorite book store on Tuesday, November 7, 2006."

"Roomanitarian"

Released November 9, 2005 in the U.S. by 2.13.61. Rollins says "The other book is called Roomanitarian and it's along the lines of Solipsist. It is an angry book. I have been working on it for some time. It is divided into different chapters. Some of those include Letters to Whitey, To Ann Hitler with Love, Ended and Walking the Chasm. It's not a big piece of work, around 60 thousand words, but it's pretty concentrated stuff. Both of these books will be available this year and when we get closer to release dates, we will let you know."

Press release:

In Roomanitarian, popular author, actor, musician, and spoken-word artist Henry Rollins returns to the combative prose that has won him critical acclaim and a legion of devoted fans. The book is divided into three parts: The first section, "Walking the Chasm,” written in the form of a poem, epitomizes Rollins’s beautifully stark, hard-hitting style. The second part, "Ended," is a series of short prose pieces reminiscent of Solipsist. Finally, the biting humor and social commentary Rollins is renowned for is on full display in "To Ann Hitler with Love," a series of mock love letters to a fictional woman who bears a striking resemblance to conservative pundit Ann Coulter. Slated for a November release, 160 pages, trade paperback.

Excerpts:

"Is there anything here that I can call my own? A feeling? A moment? Anything? Will there ever be a time when I am truly loved and I’ll know it more than feel it and still wonder if it’s real? Is there something I can protect and love and care about? Is there a truth I can keep that has no fear attached? Will there ever be a time when I can be in a room and it will feel like home? Will there ever be a time that I will look around me and think that I am finally in the place I am supposed to be? Is there anything here, anything Ican see, while I breathe and breathe, trying to stay alive long enough to just be able to be here and know that I am here? Not just any here but the here I am supposed to be in. Is there anything that I can call mine that will not eventually be taken from me? Is there anything, anyone, ever?—-

We’re sick a lot and our bodies are breaking down. We’re getting a lot of stuff cut off. Sometimes the bucket is on our porch and we cut out a melanoma or some skin that’s scarred and needlemarked from all the Botulinum Toxin shots we’ve been self injecting for years. Sometimes I do up my girl and she does me or when we’re fighting, we do ourselves. If you buy the street stuff it leaves deposits in the skin and sometimes you have to get that stuff cut out too. We’re always getting something done. When the bucket
is on your porch, that means one of the neighbors finds you ugly and wants you to fix it. I have never met any of them, we communicate through the bucket. It’s a neighborly thing in the neighborhood we live in. It’s gated of course. Cleaner than most but it’s still pretty bad and you have to be careful. Last year we had rats all over the place outside near the garbage and under the porch. My girlfriend took tap water and put it into bowls and left it near the garbage cans and the rats drank it and about a week into that, we stopped seeing them alive. Saw a few dead ones. I haven’t used water from the tap in years. Used to be you could bathe in it alright and not get any after effects but then a few years ago, people started getting red skin and scalp problems from it. So now we use bottled water and wash a lot less. We don’t talk to each other as much as we used to. Our analysts told us that we are so self-involved now that we can only bear to process our own feelings and the idea of dealing with someone else as they truly are is a concept that is completely foreign to us. They say it happens all the time but they also said that chances are that our relationship will be be ok because we unable to accept anyone but ourselves we are able to project ourselves on the other one so it’s like being alone with company. I guess that’s why my girl and I get along. We’re really not all that close but we’re into the idea of people being close. Whatever. I try not to think about it too deeply. I try not to be too deep about anything. Why bother? Introspection is such a drag. I’d rather be able to fit into the same sized jeans for another decade and keep the lines in my face down to a minimum. I leave the thinking to my manager. I haven’t talked to him for two years but there will be work at some point, for sure. We don’t look like we used to and all our friends starting looking weird a few years ago and then we all kind of started looking the same, you know, all head, skinny body. I’m glad I’m not as hungry as I used to be. I want other people to have the food that I don’t eat. Aren’t there people in Africa who need it? Send it there. I am concerned about poor people and want everyone to have enough to eat. I think watching people eat is depressing. It’s a sign you’re poor or unhappy. Things are good. My blood is pretty clean and my abs are slammin’. My girlfriend’s hot. We are hot. We are a hot couple. We have to be hot. It’s good to be hot. My girlfriend’s hot but she’s not a hottie. It’s not that she’s too old, she’s just a little overweight and a little behind on some SP’s (surgical precedures.) She’ll be a hottie next summer for sure. She’ll be hot but she’ll have to tan up a lot to cover some of the scars from the SP’s. We are ugly up close. We are scarred and tinted. Our hair is synthetic and stitched into our scalps. Our teeth rotted away years ago and we have fake ones drilled into our skulls. We don’t touch. We are always healing from an SP and don’t want to break the stitching open. We fear our security guards. They have guns and don’t make much money. We have no guns but make a lot of money. They want what we have. We are hot. We are happening. We don’t think because we let the thinkers do the thinking. It gives us more time to be hot. I heard one of my manager’s friends say I was shallow but he’s just jealous because he’s always hungry and running late for something he has to be on time for. He thinks too much. He’s not hot. No one pays him to be hot, he gets paid to be on time. My analyst says there’s nothing he can do for me anymore because there’s nothing to analyze but he wants me to keep coming because when I am on his couch I look hot on it and make the room look hot and I like that. I like that a lot. I cough up blood but not in front of anyone but when I do it, I look hot."

from the chapter titled "Ended""

Because of you—my greatest inspiration. Your lies, your weakness, your toxic consumption, your cowardice and ignorance. Those last two, those were the greatest reasons for me to get as far away from as I could. For years, for decades—I was the waiter with dreams of assassination—I was the prisoner always carrying the handful of mortar out into the yard—I was the one who worked hard and to all seemed like the most dedicated when I was your greatest enemy. I smiled at your dinners and laughed at your jokes but in my mind I spat in your food and hoped for miscarriages. I looked you in the eye but I was always looking over the wall: It will be my ultimate triumph. More triumphant than never succumbing to your tobacco, alcohol and obesity. More than never getting caught up in your knee high expectation and appalling lack of discipline, decency and delivery. There will be none of your noise, none of your neurotic mediocrity and denial. Your ghettos and picked scabs, the sewage you call culture and the cowardice that passes for your government will not compromise me as it has so obviously compromised you. I am leaving you to this oblivion. Hold on tight to the whirling, shrapnel spewing dragon that you allowed to decimate your population and rape the will of your young. They got you, they'll get your children. You are what you have been bred to be: The Atrocity. You can deny it but it's too late. You can hate me but it's no use. You can try to weaken and stop me but you will be unable. Your land has been overrun, your cities have been turned into experiments in futility and continuous banal violence marathons. My victory will be shown to none and known only by me. My perfect and complete win will take place in relative solitude, in clean sanity, clarity, strength and a total lack of chaos. I am leaving. I am leaving and there will be no more. I will leave no forwarding address and my whereabouts and activities will only be known by accountants, lawyers and local merchants will have no idea who I am nor will they care for I will seem like a ghost wordlessly making cash transactions, never giving my name, making eye contact or uttering a word. There will be no conversations to have, no funerals to go to, no arguments or discussion. No betrayal or deceit. No vengeance or accumulating bitterness, no counting of days, no anticipation of rejection. What, you say? How can one go without these things? Why, they are the very stuff of life! Yes they are. They are if you're an idiot who waits for others to dictate how your life will play out. It's yours, right now. You and I have nothing to discuss. Your life and what you have achieved mean nothing to me. Your good deeds are meaningless in the world. History is silent. The present is a repeat of the mistakes of that which blundered before. There's no evolution, no progress to be had, no great discoveries to be made. The only relevant facts accrued in the past several decades helped to comprise a clearer picture of how the planet is being destroyed and how humans are toxic and disease ridden weak life forms. The miracles of human life are answers waiting to be revealed in the questions: how did these pathetic, watery, weak, easily killed and utterly horrible animals last so long and how ultimately funny and terribly sad is it that their greatest achievements were their undoing? Denial, fear, greed and god. What an epitaph. The Atrocity. For me, a small living space, some good books and the rest of my life without you. After that, a death on my terms, body never found, personal possessions destroyed. Papers, photographs and other records burned ahead of time. Complete and total victory over the wretched gaping wound that enslaves you. No me. Not ever.

"Fanatic!"
294 pages

Now available from 2.13.61. Rollins says "The book is a greatly expanded edition of the annotated notes from the radio show Harmony In My Head I had on Indie 103.1 here in LA last year. The book is full of information on the songs and bands I played on the shows as well as anecdotes, website addresses and thousands of word’s worth of self-indulgent music fan boy screed." and "Fanatic! is the very expanded notes from the radio show called Harmony In My Head I was doing last year in Los Angeles on Indie 103.1 FM. I annotated all the songs I played and posted the notes on the website I had for the show. When I took the site down, I got a lot of letters bemoaning the disappearance of the notes. I put them all in one file to send to some of the moaners and when I read through them, I started re-writing and adding and pretty soon the thing had grown by about forty thousand words. I added anecdotes about shows I had seen and some interesting website and label information. One thing lead to another and it became a book. We made a cover with some of the singles from my collection and all the chapter heading pages are graced with rare ticket stubs, flyers, sheet music covers and other stuff from my shelves. It's basically one man jumping up and down about the music he loves. I hope you like it."

Reviews: Punknews

Excerpt:

BROADCAST #03

AIR DATE: 06-14-04

The Lurkers Cyanide: This song is from the band's 2nd aalbum God's Lonely Men. I have been into this band for about twenty-five years now. They had a line up change at one point and lost their singer Howard Wall. I bought a couple of the singles the band did after he left but couldn't get to them. The Lurkers did a lot of singles and two great albums with Howard Wall. Their first album Fulham Fallout is a classic. Captain Oi, a really cool label in England, has put out both albums on CD with all the singles and demos. You get those two and the BBC Punk Sessions CD and you've got all the stuff by the classic line-up. I still listen to these guys all the time. God's Lonely Men sees the band really starting to grow as song writers without losing any edge but it's frustrating that there's no more material that features Howard Wall, who to me, is one of the all time great singers in Punk Rock. Completely Useless And Gratuitous Anecdote Dept.: We were in England in December of 1981 and had a gig at the Rainbow opening for the Exploited, one of the worst jokes in music history, completely pathetic. Anyway, the very great Honey Bane was opening the show and her bass player was none other then the Lurker's Nigel Moore. Ian MacKaye was out with us and at soundcheck time, we saw Nigel walking around and immediately recognized him. We ran at him, shaved heads and all, yelling, "You're in the Lurkers!" He freaked out and thought we were going to pound him. He mellowed out a little after we talked to him for a second and he found out we were merely rabid fans. He's the only Lurker I have ever met. I have always wanted to meet Howard Wall but I can't find the guy anywhere. Howard, come out! Your fan is waiting! While We're At It Dept.: Honey Bane did a great EP on the Small Wonder Label under the band name The Fatal Microbes. Violence Grows/Beautiful Pictures/Cry Baby. It's not hard to find on vinyl. Violence Grows and Beautiful Pictures have been put on CD on the Small Wonder Singles CDs on Anagram. Why they chose not to put Cry Baby on the CD comps. is beyond me. Why can't they just let the band have all its output on CD and not leave things incomplete?

Pailhead I Will Refuse: I don't know much about this. II know that Ian MacKaye and Al Jorgensen got together and did some songs. I don't know how it came together or whose idea it was. Ian told me a long time ago but I can't remember now. It's been a long time since I played Pailhead's Trait CD. I checked on Amazon.com and it seems to be in print. It was cool to hear it again. Who Cares? Dept.: I forgot that Mr. MacKaye says, "Fuckin' ready." right before he starts singing. Engineer X and I looked at each other as the "fuckin'" sailed by onto the Clear Channel polluted airwaves and hoped for the best. Sounds righteous when Ian says it though!

Bo Diddley Say Man: This is off the Chess Best Of CD. Dukowski used to play this now and again. I like that guitar sound on this track. Bo has done a lot of work and I have a lot of the records but the Best Of on Chess is the one I always go to when I need to hear the man. How many bands have copped Bo's beat? Busted! Your Parents May Have Been At This Show Dept.: Bo opened for the Clash on 15 February of 1979 when the band played at DC's Ontario Theater. I was a couple of days into being 18. Bo had total command of the stage. I remember he said something like, "Do you all remember when the coolest thing was to have a '55 Chevy and a girl at your side?" We all cheered "yes" of course. He said, "No you don't!" and kept on playing. The Clash were great that night as you would expect. I remember all the girls in the place were quite taken with Paul Simenon, the Clash bass player. We didn't have a car so we walked through the snow to get to the show. I wish I had a photo of the small line of us in our punk attire hiking home from the show.

"Smile, You're Traveling"

Re-issued July 7, 2005 in the U.K. by Virgin Books.

“Black Coffee Blues”

Re-issued March 24, 2005 in the U.K. by Virgin Books.

"Do I Come Here Often?"

To be re-issued May 5, 2005 in the U.K. by Virgin Books. 160 page paperback.

"Get In The Van" second edition

Now available from 2.13.61. To be reissued in stores (the softcover version only) November 1 in the U.K. and November 30 in the U.S. Rollins says "We worked for about four years on this edition of Get in the Van, gathering new pictures, getting Ray Pettibon’s permission to reproduce the Black Flag flyers from my time in the band, correcting typos and mistakes in the show date listings. The new edition is 50 pages longer than the original. It was a lot of work but well worth it."   In the 9/24/04 newsletter Rollins said "We just went over the final proofs for the new version of Get In The Van and it's pretty damn cool. It's 49 pages longer, all the Pettibon flyers are in there along with new pictures and the overall book really benefits from Dave Chapple's redesign."



"Broken Summers" - available now from 2.13.61

The follow-up to "Smile, You're Traveling" taking in the past 3 years including the making of the "Rise Above" album and tour. Also available in a limited edition hardcover pressing (signed by Rollins) via the 2.13.61 website.

"Unwelcomed Songs 1981-1992" (199 pages, paperback and hardback)

Available now from 2.13.61. A collection of Rollins' lyrics, in the studio photos and stories. There is a limited editon of 1000 hardback copies (signed if you want). The back cover:

"Henry Rollins is the perpetrator of over two decades of song writing. We will refrain from using the word "accomplished" as it has no place here, but boy, he writes ‘em. This book covers the lyrical exploits of his tumultuous teens, his turbulent twenties and comes lurching to a shuddering, grinding halt right around the start of his therapeutic thirties. Our intelligence has reported that from his small cage at the end of the hall, he shakes a gnarled, weathered paw and threatens to supply a second volume to the one you’re getting your fingerprints all over now that will take the dazed and stupefied reader further down ol’ Angry Ass’s particular and not-so-well traveled stretch of road. Unwelcomed Songs barely escapes the textbook definition of "crushingly oppressive and arduous busywork" to slog through by the strategic placement of several photos, rare flyer repros and original lyric sheets. Oh for fuck’s sake just buy it."

"Smile, You're Traveling - Black Coffee Blues III" (240 pages, paperback)

Journal entries from '96-'98, which will cover rehearsing, recording and touring with Rollins Band in 1997 and 1998, interviews (one is with Al Hendrix, Jimi Hendrix's father), hanging with Black Sabbath, and trips to Kenya, Madagascar, Israel, Russia, Egypt, South Africa and Thailand.

"More Letters to Rollins" by R.K. Overton

The follow-up to "Letters to Rollins", another collection of fictitious fan letters to Rollins.

Henry Rollins "Solipsist" (166 pages, paperback)

"Do I Come Here Often? (Black Coffee Blue Pt. 2)" (192 pages, paperback)

an excerpt at The David Lee Roth Army re: DLR

"The Best of 2.13.61 Publications" (344 pages, paperback)

This book celebrates 10 years of 2.13.61 with new material from Henry Rollins and Hubert Selby Jr. and excerpts from work by Jeffrey Lee Pierce, Art Fein, Ellyn Maybe, Ian Shoales, Bill Shields, Iggy Pop, Tricia Warden, Nick Zedd, Henry Miller, M. Gira, Don Bajema, Rob Overton, Roky Erickson, Exene Cervenka, Joe Cole, Joe Carducci and Alan Vega. Edited by Henry Rollins.

Unofficial Rollins bios:



"Turned On" by James Parker

An unofficial biography available at Amazon and Borders.

A review by Nathan Keene for Bad Subjects, a review by Wyman Brantley for TriviGo

The following review by Dave was posted to the Rollins-Talk mailing list on 7/7/99:

"I'm about halfway through it, but at this point I'd say that I'm impressed.   Here's a somewhat disorganized set of my impressions:

-Parker's technique is pretty simple and in some ways classical for a biographer: He talks to people who knew Rollins at the time and gets their impressions, giving subtle opinions and context on what is said and written. He spoke to a lot of people who knew Rollins, probably having identified who he should talk to by reading Rollins' writings themselves.

-Occassionally, Parker states some fact subtly without substantiating from any kind of source. At those moments it's obvious he's just regurgitating something Rollins wrote himself but in the third person (i.e. I can remember reading it in Rollins' words). I can't help thinking that in some ways a biographer is like a locust: Parker just devours everything that Rollins (and others) wrote, recasting it in his own way. Since Rollins has already written about himself extensively, at moments it seems pretty silly for Parker to rewrite it and have his name on the cover. I can tell you that a portion of the Rollins Band Discography which I write appears in the back of the book with no attribution.

-I think Parker's greatest strength is his ability to give shockingly interesting descriptions and reviews of the music he discusses. I think this focus on the music is a credit to Parker's book, given the subject it should be front and center, and it is. His ability to draw and describe Rollins' social context through time is pretty decent as well, but this is of course necessarily an opinionated thing that many will disagree with vehemently.

-Parker's look at Rollins' life really isn't judgemental, but more in the line of explanatory. He's trying to understand Rollins, and to what extent he succeeds is anybody's guess. I think he makes a compelling go of it, and thusfar (p.117 is where I'm at) hasn't really written anything which I have found really unfair or judgemental. By the same token, if I were Rollins, I don't know how comfortable I would be with being analyzed in this way.

-Flipping ahead, it looks like the book is heavily skewed towards the Black Flag years; Pre Black Flag is pp. 1-42, Black Flag from pp. 43-205, post Black Flag spans pp. 206-242. I can see the motivation here for this choice, since most readers would be interested in the book on the basis of Black Flag insight. Other reasons that come readily to mind include:

There is likely little material being available on Rollins' early years; Parker does well with what he can get. Are people interested in the Rollins Band on the same scale? Probably not ... although they might be interested in the coincident Spoken Word stuff, which really kicked off after Black Flag. Oh well.

All in all, if you're interested in Rollins, it is a worthwhile read. I think I've seen some interesting stuff in the book that I hadn't read before. Also, I think that Parker has done an adequate job in providing a synthetic look at Rollins' life. You might not share his perspective, but at the very least he gives his personal perspective on the breadth of Rollins' life, at that's something."

The following review by Henry Everingham appeared in Friday's 'Sydney Morning Herald' of 'Turned On: A Biography of Henry Rollins' (Allen & Unwin, $24.95):

"A basic tenet of any half-decent rock biography is it should be heavily laden with that holy trinity of popular culture - sex and drugs and rock'n'roll. Unfortunately, for every lurid bile-filled tome from the likes of Albert Goldman or Victor Bockris, there is also published a dozen or more exercises in obsequiousness. Turned On is one of these. James Parker has bought Henry Rollins's "part man-part machine" schtick lock, stock and barrel. He describes Rollins visiting a bookstore as a "recon missing"; he tours under "combat conditions". What Parker fails to grasp, or accept, is that despite all the anger and rage that Rollins doles out, he is merely a great showman. But reading Turned On, one gets the feeling that its author would not be able to cope with the fact that Rollins is only human. Rather than gaining any particular insight (or, dare I say, dirt) on Rollins, we are subjected to a glorified tour diary which already is available in the numerous books Rollins! has himself published. However, one anecdote is worth repeating. Once when asked why Rollins travelled alone in the back of the equipment truck, someone replied it was the only thing that could house his ego."

The following review is by Nazarin Hamid to the Rollins-Talk mailing list on 10/13/98:

I've read it. I was in London about a month ago and while I was there it came out. It's an orange book with a black and white cover of Rollins perfornming on stage, sweat drenched, I'm sure some of you have seen the picture before. I read the whole book while I was at the Borders Boostore in London and it was alright really. Very brief on the last couple of years and the Rollins Band. It deals more with his personal life and the early Black Flag years and has quotes from people in the music biz about what they think of Henry and there's not much to it. James Parker himself said that it was a hard task to do this biography because Rollins wouldn't talk to him about it and so it is unofficial and he met him twice for interviews and that what more can be said that Rollins himself hasn;t put out in all his songs, his books and so on. So basically the biography is stuff you all probably know, nothing new here and the Rollins Band is dealt with is the last few pages of the book, and it ends sometime after the release of Come In and Burn. Not worth it unless you know nothing about the man. Naz.

"Workout: Building Henry Rollins" by Jeremy Dean

The following review by Ville was sent to me on 1/7/01:

"I found the "Workout: Building Henry Rollins" by Jeremy Dean from a bookstore in Gent, Belgium. It is a small 40-page booklet, not worth finding. Mr. Dean writes Rollins history from childhood to the time when Rollins Band was signed to Dreamworks. Most of the facts are correct, I guess, and they've been collected from interviews, Rollins' books and spoken word. Then there are some pretty hilarious attempts to analyze Rollins with some theoretical stuff by Wilhelm Reich (a student of Freud). The chapters have been divided under titles Psycho, Therapy, Active and Logical, and they suggest that Henry was first a bit 'insane', and by working he has been able to 'heal' himself. Most of the stuff is directly from Henry's own stuff, like the story about how he knocked himself out in Brazil. Every Rollins fan already knows all the facts in this book, and the rest of it just makes me wonder why it ever was written. I was hoping it would present some kind of a workout program in the gym (with some humour in it perhaps), but there is just one line about working out from Henry: "Deadlift, Squat, Bench. I go for heavy weight and low reps. If I didn't work out, I would slim down to about 160. I am about 183 now." No doubt this has been taken from some interview. I don't think Mr. Dean got to interview Rollins himself. The aftertaste this book leaves me is something like those "How To Organize Your Life In 30 Days" books would probably leave. In the same time it crams Henry's lifetime of work hastily into few pages. I hope there won't be any further books like this one, everyone should be free to comprehend Henry's books, lyrics and spoken word as they wish."

Miscellaneous:

"The Secret Life of a Teenage Punk Rocker: The Andy Blade Chronicles"
by Andy Blade
Cherry Red Records Books

"Andy Blade was the frontman of Eater, a London punk band of the mid 1970s perhaps best remembered for having an even more magnificently named (and pre-pubescent) drummer, one Dee Generate. They appeared on the seminal "Roxy, London WC2" album singing Alice Cooper"s "Eighteen", title changed to "Fifteen" to reflect their schoolboy status.

Few knew that Blade, born Andy Radwan, had emerged from a very untypical background and that he would go on to embrace a very different lifestyle. This book puts the history-making punk period into the context of a very unusual life.

It also offers a vivid insight into the London new wave scene from someone who was present at many of the epochal moments, rubbing shoulders with Johnny Rotten and many other movers and shakers. While Eater's original recorded legacy was limited to four singles ("Outside View" the most famous), an EP and an album, the fact the book's foreword has been provided by Henry Rollins of Black Flag fame is testament to their influence.

Rollins says: "Andy Blade has gone to great lengths to tell the tale of how it went down and what happened afterwards with a steel trap memory and an alarming lack of restraint or self-congratulation. Punches are not pulled, and I"m sure there will be a few ruffled feathers" The Sid and Johnny stories are worth the price of admission on their own. People who are now acknowledged as Punk gods pass through the pages of this book" He was at shows that are the real stuff of legend, like the first ever UK appearance of the Ramones."

A photo section includes previously unseen pictures of the band from Andy Blade's archives. Spoken word samples of the book have already been included on Cherry Red's "Eater Live" and "Eater Chronicles", while the label"s Eater DVD contains an interview in which Blade details writing the book. All these products have sold well, proving a continuing demand for Eater and Andy Blade product."

"Whores: An Oral Biography of Perry Farrell and Jane's Addiction"
by Brendan Mullen

Includes a few Rollins quotes. "Jane's Addiction's 1988 breakthrough album, Nothing's Shocking, had a seismic impact on the music scene of the late 80s. With a bracing combination of metal, punk, and psychedelica, coupled with lead singer Perry Farrell's banshee-in-a-windtunnel vocals, the arrival of Jane's Addiction put what would soon be co-opted as "alternative" on the map. Rising from the depths of Venice Beach's junkie-surfer demonade, Jane's Addiction freely mixed the decadent with the innocent, and paved the way for the mainstream success of bands like the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Nirvana. After Nothing's Shocking, Jane's Addiction released another classic album, Ritual de Lo Habitual (featuring the hit "Been Caught Stealing"), founded the Lollapalooza festival, and openly celebrated a bacchanalian lifestyle that blurred all lines of gender and sexuality. Drawn from original interviews with the band (including Farrell and guitarist Dave Navarro), their friends, and musical colleagues, Whores will take readers through the early days of the band to their drug-addled breakup and eventual triumphant reunion with the 2003 release of their album Strays. Along the way, providing a candid, sometimes disturbing glimpse into the dynamic alternative rock scene of Los Angeles in the '80s and '90s."

"The Skills to Pay the Bills: The Story of the Beastie Boys"
by Alan Light

Includes a few Rollins quotes. "In 1987, three white Jewish boys from New York City were the most fascinating phenomenon in the burgeoning rap music scene. No, really. The Beastie Boys, barely out of their teens, had just released Licensed to Ill, which quickly became the first hip-hop album to reach number one on the charts. Pairing vulgar and hilarious lyrics with heavy-metal-derived musical backing and a punk DIY attitude, the Beasties—MCA (Adam Yauch), King Ad-Rock (Adam Horovitz), and Mike D (Michael Diamond)—changed the face of rap forever by bringing it into the mainstream. In the years that followed, they would change it again and again—musically, culturally, and politically.

To create The Skills to Pay the Bills, Alan Light spent years taping conversations with the group, their friends, roommates, producers, engineers, collaborators, and other artists from Madonna to Chuck D. Here, as told from the inside, is the fascinating tale of three rump-shaking, innovative rappers whose albums still go platinum and whose tours continue to fill arenas after more than two decades of making music. The Skills to Pay the Bills chronicles the Beasties’ unique journey from the hardcore New York underground to the top of the Billboard charts. It is a story of larger-than-life personalities, noble causes, funky beats, and truly one of the most influential and ambitious groups of all time.

I said, Where’d you get your information from, huh?"

"CBGB and OMFUG : Thirty Years from the Home of Underground Rock"
by Hilly Kristal (introduction), David Byrne (afterword)

Includes two pictures of Rollins performing and a few quotes. "Hilly Kristal originally intended his club to showcase the type of music his venue's notorious letters stand for: Country, Bluegrass, Blues. Little did he know his club on the Bowery would be the birthplace of a new era of music in New York City: Punk. While CBGB ultimately didn't describe the music the club was known for, OMFUG (Other Music for Uplifting Gormandizers) still represents what the club provides for all voracious "eaters" of music.

CBGB & OMFUG is a musical and cultural landmark, recognized worldwide and visited by countless tourists and music lovers each year. In these luminous pages, CBGB's influence and legacy is honored with 200 photos of some of the most celebrated artists in music history. With an introduction by Hilly Kristal, an afterword by David Byrne, Rock and Roll Hall of Famer and cofounder of Talking Heads, and additional commentary by numerous performers and patrons, CBGB & OMFUG features unforgettable images by the many photographers who documented an American institution."

Rollins' quote: "We were playing a two-night stand at CBGB's in 1992. The lighting guy knew we liked a bright stage, so when we were doing the sound check he started running around yelling, 'It will be so hot, you will think you're in HELL!' Memorable. What a great weekend that was."

Rollins' quote: "The first time I walked in to CBGB's was in the beginning of 1980. I had driven up from my hometown of Washington, DC with some members of Bad Brains to see the Cramps play at Irving Plaza. Up to this point, I knew of CB's but had never been in. It was the afternoon and the place was dark and quiet. There was Hilly, at that desk that I have seen him at so many times since. What always amazes me about Hilly is that you would think at this point, he would be, I don't know - psychotic? Quite the opposite is true. Whenever I encounter him, he's always so cool, it's always that sonorous voice and polite greeting. I have always been impressed with that almost Zen calm Hilly exhibits in that place. It's really something. It all kind of swirls around him and he resides in the middle. And now, today, I see that damn CBGB's shirt on people all over the world. I saw one on a kid somewhere recently while on tour and I wanted to grab him and yell at him, 'Do you know what that means?' The culture and music that Hilly has, for decades, supported with unwavering integrity through thick and thin, now belongs to the world. He and his club are part of the very fabric of rock and roll. That is indisputable. Hilly is a legend and CB's is a mecca."

"American Hardcore"
by Steven Blush

Published November, 2001 by Feral House. Includes interview with Rollins. Mote MGZN review. A movie based on the book is being screened at Sundance in 2006 (see film). "Hardcore, the hard-edged second generation of punk rock, whose peak period ranged from 1980 to 1986, has never before been captured in the way Steven Blush’s authoritative, extensively illustrated oral history revisits its dynamic and sordid past. All the major hardcore scenes, particularly in Southern California, San Francisco, Washington D.C., Boston, New York City and Texas are given provocative voice through its major players, from drugged-out suburban Metal misfits to shit-kicking skinheads to vegan anti-drug pacifists. American Hardcore: A Tribal History not only recapitulates an important and influential scene, its provocative sociological snapshots reveal the apocalyptic desperation of a singular time in American history. Author Steven Blush was a prime mover in the scene he writes about; in the ’80s, he promoted many hardcore tours and shows, DJ’d an influential college radio show, and ran a record label. Later Blush published Seconds magazine, and wrote for Paper, Spin, Interview, Village Voice, Details and High Times magazines. The primary photographers included in this volume are Edward Colver and Karen O’Sullivan. Flyers, set lists, logos, and record covers have been provided by many collectors, and the book includes an extensive discography of Hardcore rock releases from 1980 to 1986."

"The Tenacity of the Cockroach : Conversations with Entertainment's Most Enduring Outsiders"
by Stephen Thompson, The Onion A.V. Club

"For ten years, The Onion A.V. Club—the entertainment section of the award-winning humor publication The Onion—has been interviewing entertainers and storytellers of every style and stripe. But it has always placed an emphasis on those with fascinating, hard-won careers, from amiable retirees and passionate visionaries to bitter, jilted, eternally warring cranks. Collecting dozens of The Onion A.V. Club’s most entertaining and candid interviews, The Tenacity Of The Cockroach offers a pop-cultural tour unlike any other."

"Suicide No Compromise"
by David Nobakht

Published January, 2005 by SAF Publishing. "An explosive docu-biography of Suicide, New York’s most subversive electronic band, who along with the New York Dolls, the Ramones, Blondie and Television defined the scene centred around Max’s Kansas City and CBGB’s." ... "This is the first book to explore history and the myths surrounding Suicide, and features extensive new interview material with Alan Vega and Martin Rev, as well as Chris Stein from Blondie, Michael Stipe, Moby, Henry Rollins, Marc Almond, Bobby Gillespie, Jim Reid, Sylvain Mizrahi from the New York Dolls, Jayne County and many more." See the press kit here.

"Straight Whisky: A Living History of Sex, Drugs and Rock 'N' Roll on the Sunset Strip"
by Erik Quisling and Austin Williams

"Straight Whisky is the first book ever to chronicle all the music, magic, and mayhem of the Sunset Strip." Foreword by Rollins, afterword by Lemmy Kilmister of Motorhead.

"$30 Music School"
by Michael Dean

From http://www.30dollarmusicschool.com/: "A book (w/ CD-ROM) on how to make and promote music on no money. Everything from picking a guitar, to writing a song, to recording, to booking a tour. All with sensible goals and an easy, fun, conversational tone. Over 300 illustrations. Also exclusive interviews with Henry Rollins, Joan Jett, Jonathan Richman and more."

"Touch Me I'm Sick" (formerly "Rock and Roll")
by Charles Peterson

To be published by fall of 2003 by powerHouse Books. A book of rock photography with shots of Rollins a decade apart (one is here). Also includes Nirvana, Sleater-Kinney, Supersuckers, Thee Headcoats, Pearl Jam, Pussy Galore, The Cows and Seaweed Audience. Peterson's past work includes 1995's "Screaming Life" and 1998's "Pearl Jam: Place/Date".

"And The Ass Saw The Angel"
by Nick Cave

2nd edition, released in March of 2003 by 2.13.61, available at Amazon. Cave's only novel to date. More information here. Reviews: Curled Up, DooYou, Effigy.

"American Heretics"
by Ben Myers

Interviews by rock journalist Ben Myers (Kerrang!, Careless Talk Costs Lives) with Rollins, Ian MacKaye (Fugazi), Marilyn Manson, Slipknot, Casey Chaos (Amen), Rage Against the Machine, Jello Biafra, Fat Mike (NOFX), At the Drive-In and Chuck D. (Public Enemy). More info here at Codex Books.

"Star Tunes"
by Michael Friedman

Subtitled "Celebrities reveal the top ten albums they can't live without". Here's Rollins list:

John Coltrane - A Love Supreme
The Beatles - Abbey Road
The Velvet Underground - The Velvet Underground and Nico (first album)
The Stooges - Funhouse
Thin Lizzy - Jailbreak
Ruts - The Crack
Rites of Spring - End on End
The Jimi Hendrix Experience - Electric Ladyland
James Brown - Revolution of the Mind
Bob Dylan - Blonde on Blonde



"Showtime"
by Steve Gullick

A photographic book featuring a collection of Gullick's work which covers the contemporary music scene and includes shots of Rollins at the "Liar" video shoot in the Mojave Desert and 2 live shots circa 1992. The Rollins cover is apparently a 2nd edition.

VISION ON PUBLISHING ANNOUNCES THE JUNE 2001 PUBLICATION OF

SHOWTIME

'Noir portrait person' Steve Gullick is undoubtedly one of the world’s premier music photographers.

Showtime is a look into the last decade of Gullick’s work, taken from the record sleeves, newspapers and magazine shoots of some of the best bands in the international music scene. As Sarah Brown from BJP writes in her foreword to the book, Showtime is "a striking collection of previously unseen and published images that will remain in your mind for a lifetime, long after the music journos original copy has faded away".

These images have attitude, but what is remarkable about this selection of pictures is the scope of artists Gullick has had access to over his prolific career, including:

Frank Black, Happy Mondays, Thurston Moore (Sonic Youth), Manic Street Preachers, Chris Cornell (Soundgarden), Bobbie Gillespie (Primal Scream), Evan Dando (Lemonheads), Hole, Kurt Cobain (Nirvana), Eddie Vedder (Pearl Jam), Henry Rollins, Beastie Boys, Thom Yorke (Radiohead), Jeff Buckley, Bjork, Jarvis Cocker (Pulp), Nick Cave, David Holmes, Dave Grohl (Foo Fighters), Bono (U2), Cerys Matthews (Catatonia), Beck, Prodigy, Elastica, Fran Healy (Travis), Neil Young, Richard Ashcroft

Steve Gullick is recognised by his cutting edge music photography, well known for his images of live performances as well as his studio shoots. He is the official photographer to The Prodigy and his work is regularly published in N.M.E., Melody Maker and Sound magazine. This collection is a follow-up to his widely acclaimed book Pop Book Number One.

BOOK SPECIFICATIONS
ISBN: 1903399458
Publication date: June 27th 2001
Extent: 160 pages
Size: 320 x 240mm
B/W and 4-colour
Price £19.99

CONTACT: Sarah Marusek at Vision On Publishing for review copies and images.
Tel. 0207 549 6808
Fax. 0207 336 0966
Email. sarah@visiononpublishing.com

THE BOOK IS AVAILABLE FOR A 25% DISCOUNT AT WWW.VOBOOKS.COM

"Our Band Could Be Your Life: Scenes From the American Indie Underground 1981-1991"
by Michael Azerrad (528 pages, hardcover)

Description by Emily Bourguignon:

First, the particulars. The title is "Our Band Could Be Your Life: Scenes From the American Indie Underground 1981-1991" by Michael Azerrad. A few years ago he wrote a bestselling biography on Nirvana so the publishers (Little, Brown & Co) are rubbing their greedy little hands together. The hardcover will be sold for $25.95, have 33 pictures, a bibliography, index and weigh in at 528 pages. The ISBN is 0316063979. The cool thing about gallies (other than that they're free) is that they include a page about the marketing campaign. They are planning on national tv and radio circuit of interviews, print and radio give aways, Radio advertising in Washington DC, Seattle and Minneapolis, and they already have translation prospects in the works so they are expecting this to be a big hit. Quote from Publicity Page: "Fans of this music are now in their mid-30's, college-educated, and sophisticated readers: in other words, an ideal hardcover book buying audience." So don't expect the soft cover out in the industry-standard year to eighteen months. They're going to bilk people for as long as they can for the hardcover.

The book itself has some interesting facts about Black Flag. It adds flesh to the stories in Rollins' "Get In The Van" for those of us who are too young to have read any of the fanzines of the day. A lot of gossip about Gregg Ginn being an asshole (mostly from Rollins) and Rollins being an asshole (reports from many). Azerrad interviewed Ian MacKaye (Rollins quotes also appear in chapters on Fugazi, Minor Threat, and others), Thurston Moore (Husker Du) and Steve Albini (Big Black). But a lot of the quotes aren't in "Get In the Van" or "Turned On" and there is no interview listed so I'm not sure where they came from. Other bands profiled include The Minutemen, Mission of Burma, Minor Threat, Husker Du, The Replacements, Sonic Youth, Butthole Surfers, Big Black, Dinosaur Jr, Fugazi, and Mudhoney. It's not a bad book, and Azerrad certainly had his thesaurus out while writing it. However, in my humble opinion, there is a HUGE difference between a book written by a rock critic and one by a music fan and this guy is definitely a rock critic. Rollins' calls them ants at his picnic for a reason.

Buy this and all of your books from INDEPENDENT bookstores (or small press websites, NOT AMAZON.com). Rollins' distributor, PGW, will be out of business soon if people don't stop getting sucked in by the evil chain stores and their promise of comfy chairs, Starbucks coffee and completely unknowledgable sales staff. Chain stores will only stock what will sell to the McDonald's audience and soon if people keep letting their independent booksellers go out of business Sam Walton and Rupert Murdock will be telling you what you're allowed to read. (end of lecture. Sorry about that.)

RE/Search Publications "Real Conversations" (240 pages, paperback)

read an excerpt here

RE/Search Publications, who brought you Modern Primitives, Angry Women, and Incredibly Strange Music, announces the first volume of the new "RE/Search" series, titled "Real Conversations."

In "Real Conversations," Henry Rollins, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Jello Biafra and Billy Childish discuss in depth the state of western culture today and what led up to its demise, including firsthand accounts of their own experiences as leading figures in social movements. Subjects discussed include: the Internet and social change; the necessity for everybody to paint (!); mind control, marketing, branding and consumerism; Beat history and the importance of inexpensive publishing-City Lights was the FIRST paperback-only bookstore in America; corporate chain stores and Amazon's impact on independent freedom of expression; punk rock history and the rise of Do-It-Yourself (D-I-Y) culture production; fame and its downside; sex, relationships and their travails; "originality" as fetish; Napster & copyright; politics; travel advice . . . and much more discussion of issues relevant to every creative artist and thinker.

Virtually every issue you've thought about recently is touched upon. Basically, the book (and the series) will focus on the problems of remaining independent in an increasingly corporate world, and of living an "authentic" life in a virtual world.

"Real Conversations" will interest musicians, literati, and pop culture enthusiasts alike. Henry Rollins has a particularly strong following and has been in the counterculture public eye for over 20 years. Lawrence Ferlinghetti is a living beat legend, and Billy Childish has a strong U.K. following, as well as being a grassroots icon in the U.S., touring America yearly with his various bands, while continuing to publish and perform his prose and poetry. Jello Biafra, former leader of Dead Kennedys, is well-known for his longtime political activism on the theme of: Remaining independent in a corporate world. Interviewer V. Vale has over 20 years experience ferreting out information from a wide range of radical and off-beat subjects, and has become an underground pop-culture publishing icon.

Trade paperback, $12.95 US
5" x 7", 240 pages
Pub. date May 2001

30 illustrations, quotations, topical index
reference lists of recommended books, films, websites, etc.

Please call, FAX, write or email for more information or for an advance galley:
"Real conversations" in subject line.

RE/Search Publications
20 Romolo #B
San Francisco, CA 94133
TEL (415) 352-1465 FAX (415) 362-0742
research@sirius.com http://www.researchpubs.com

Raymond Pettibon "The Books 1978-1998" (992 pages)
published by Distributed Art Publishers, catalog number DAP RPSC

Available now from Forced Exposure and Amazon.com

Available in hardcover (in a very small print run which is already out of print) for $75.00 list or mass market soft cover version for $50.00 list. A completely massive overview of Raymond's Pettibon's early self-published works; there's an entire generation of believers who have been waiting for this and the realization has finally come full circle. Enthusiasts will be foaming at the mouth, just an unbelievable presentation. "For over twenty years, Raymond Pettibon's drawings have earned an international following for their fluid style and youthful, iconoclastic outlook. His work is acclaimed for its wit and erudite eccentricities, and reveals an affinity for a diverse group of authors -- from Baudelaire to Henry James to Mickey Spillane -- whose quotations abound in his drawings. This book is a catalogue raisonné of his artist books produced between 1978 and 1998, many of which are now extremely rare and highly collected in both the art world and underground music circles. Popularized by small, independent music labels and publishers like SST and Superflux, these booklets and 'zines were originally available only in very small print runs -- edition sizes ranged from 30 to 150 copies, where Pettibon's rough yet cultivated style became synonymous with the late 70s and early 80s D.I.Y. aesthetic. Presenting over a hundred of Pettibon's publications -- 32 printed in their entirety with two of these published for the very first time -- a valuable look at the development of one of the most significant artists from the last quarter century."

"Banned in DC" by Cynthia Connolly, Leslie Clague and Sharon Cheslow

450 photos documenting the DC punk scene from 1979-1985.

"We Owe You Nothing: Punk Planet, The Collected Interviews" edited by Daniel Sinker

Paperback, 346 pages. Published by Akashic Books.

The first compilation of the riveting and provocative interviews of Punk Planet magazine, founded in 1994 and charging unbowed into the new millennium. Never lapsing into hapless nostalgia, these conversations with figures as diverse as Jello Biafra, Kathleen Hanna, Noam Chomsky, Henry Rollins, Sleater-Kinney, Ian MacKaye, and many more provide a unique perspective into American punk rock and all that it has inspired (and confounded). Not limited to conversations with musicians, the book includes vital interviews with political organizers, punk entrepreneurs, designers, film-makers, writers, illustrators, and artists of many different media. [See below for a complete list of interviewees.] Punk Planet has consistently explored the crossover of punk with activism, and reflects the currents of the underground while simultaneously challenging the bleak centerism of today's popular American culture.

Complete list of Interviewees: Ian MacKaye, Jello Biafra, Thurston Moore, Kathleen Hanna, Black Flag, Sleater-Kinney, Mordam Records, Chumbawamba, Steve Albini, Winston Smith, Jem Cohen, Frank Kozik, Art Chantry, Negativland, Los Crudos, Jody Bleyle, Porcell, Noam Chomsky, Central Ohio Abortion Access Fund Voices in the Wilderness, Ruckus Society, Jon Strange, Duncan Barlow, Matt Wobensmith, Ted Leo

Akashic Books
PO Box 1456
New York, NY 10009
Akashic7@aol.com
www.akashicbooks.com

"Too Much Coffee Man's Parade of Tirade"

A collection of the first 8 "Too Much Coffee Man" comic books with introduction by Rollins.

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