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Henry Rollins brings his furrowing brow and spoken word show to Boulder tomorrow
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Henry Rollins does his best cranky old man impression.
I first came across Henry Rollins when I was 14, a screaming man on Alternative Nation smeared in red and black paint. The Rollins Band single, “Liar” was in heavy rotation on MTV, and the typically mid-90s video found Rollins wandering about a pseudo-cityscape set dressed as a nerd/police officer, raging at the camera in a red ambient hue. The best part about the video is Rollin's over-acting, his strutting and neck-cracking coming across in his typical sarcastic and mildly scary style.
Rollins Band wasn’t ever a favorite of mine, and Henry all but fell off of my radar until last year, when I finally read Michael Azzerad’s music history buff must-have Our Band Could Be Your Life. He outlines in perfect detail 13 important and influential bands of the 80s and 90s, Black Flag being one of them.
Rollins wasn’t a founding member of BF (he was in the group from 1981 until their demise in 1986) but he was definitely the most memorable and famous one. I became mildly infatuated with Rollins’ persona, delving deep into BF’s catalog and his own spoken word work.
Rollins spoken word performances come in a story-hour with Uncle Henry-style stage show, topics ranging from teen pregnancy to classic rock, and with a delivery that’s both engaging and startling. Rollins performs tomorrow night, November 8th, at the Boulder Theater. Tickets are $26 pre-service charge.
Below is the “Liar” video from 1994, plus one of my favorite clips of Henry ever, during his Black Flag days.
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