Henry Rollins is an opinionated man. He’s a man who can talk up a storm. Once upon a time, fronting Black Flag and then the Rollins Band, he not so much sang up a storm as he yelled one into being. This fall, the L.A.-based D.C. native took a break from his yearlong Long March Tour — not for quiet time, but for his Capitalism Tour, which hit the nation’s state capitals as a run-up to the election. When we spoke with him, Rollins knew where his vote was going — but he tells Metro his politicking is bipartisan.
“I don’t tell people who to vote for. My audience is full of adults, they know who they want to vote for,” says Rollins. “I do tell people about the importance of voting, though. It’s alarming to me that a large portion of people in this country who can vote don’t vote. That they don’t take part in the democracy of this country enrages me. I don’t think any president determines the future of the country beyond a certain extent, but this institution is set up for everyone to weigh in. If you don’t, you don’t get the real thing. You get a blunted democracy.”
Rollins thinks that the saying “you get the Government you deserve” sums up the process.
“It’s one of the truest things I’ve ever heard. You got George W. Bush. Well, you deserved George W. Bush. You didn’t stand up against it. Whether you want to be part of the process or not, you are. Either you’re part of the process or you’re processed. You are either doing or getting done.”
No going back
Rollins’ stand-up show is a mix of moods. “It can’t be funny all the time,” he says, though much of it is.
After this tour will Rollins return to music?
“No, I hit it hard and I’ve got nothing left to give to it. … Rather than repeat the past, I’d rather walk away.”
If you go
Henry Rollins — The Long March Tour
Thursday through Tuesday
Joe’s Pub
425 Lafayette St.
between East Fourth and Astor Place, East Village
$35, 212-967-7555
