QueerPunks.com: So the first thing I have to ask you is how do you keep in such damn fine shape? I need to take notes so I can have all the guys after me too.
Henry Rollins: Eat smart and work out hard, that’s all there is to it. Nothing complicated in the workout itself, you just have to do something with your body. We Americans can be very slothful at times.

QP: Alright, so let’s set facts straight, so to speak. There’s constantly a lot of rumor going around about your sexuality, so for what I’m sure is the umpteenth time please do our readers the favor of clearing that up.
HR: I am heterosexual.

QP: So why as a straight man do you fight so vehemently for gay/queer rights?
HR: Basically, I am sick of the ignorance, hatred and all the bullshit. The truth that someone is gay is as odd as the fact that someone is straight. It is what it is, there’s nothing new about homosexuality and these people either need to evolve or get the fuck out of the way. If they want to hate, fine but they will have to keep it to themselves or expect complete turbulence from me. It’s insane to me that someone has that kind of time in their day to hate someone for what they can’t help and for what there is absolutely nothing wrong with.

QP: A few years ago you helped to throw and even emceed WEDRock, an unconventional benefit in support of gay marriage. Granted while gay marriage and
even it’s cope-out compatriot civil unions are still not legal, do you feel it succeeded in what it was trying to do?
HR: I did that because Bob [Mould] asked me to and I like Bob a lot and believe in the cause. I don’t know what it did. I think that night we only preached to the converted but at least we didn’t do nothing. I am always off for the attempt to do something good.

QP: Looking beyond Ann Coulter and Mike Huckabee, how do you feel the American and global societies are progressing as far as their views on sexuality?
HR: I can’t speak for the globe but I think things are getting better in America. Definitely.

QP: On your spoken word album Think Tank you say “If I was gay, there would be no closet, you would never see the closet I came out of. Why? I would have burned it for kindling by the time I was 12.” That said, do you think it’s likely for someone to get to the place as you have coming from where you did, and have been an ‘out’ individual at the same time?
HR: That is a really good question. I don’t know if I would have even made it through a week of Black Flag shows if the audience thought I was gay. That crowd could be extremely intolerant. I think in general, being gay would have marginalized me to a very visible extent.

QP: You come from a pretty intense background with much hardship. Do you feel that that has shaped who you are now, or you’ve reached your destination in spite of it?
HR: My past has been very instructional and informative for getting me where I want to go. I survive in spite of my stupidity and loss of the plot. I think when you really have to learn where a dollar comes from, what hard work means and how easy things can go up in smoke, it teaches you most of what you need to know. A young man I was talking to on the set of a film I did said that he was studying for finals and working on the film. He said he was doing both on about 3 hours of sleep a night. I told him that he will learn as much as working without sleep and getting it all done, knowing he can, than what he learned in the classes.

QP: You’re a pretty damn prolific writer with, what, nine books? What keeps you writing so much, and is there anything you’re working on right now?
HR: 20 actually. But who’s counting? I am working on two books that I want to put out next year. One is a travel/journal book and the other is a book on music. I spend a lot of time working on all this stuff. It’s pretty much all I do.

QP: I just found out about your radio show, Harmony In My Head on Indie 103.1 in Los Angeles, and when I tuned in was happily surprised by the eclectic array of music. How do you come up with the playlists for the show?
HR: It’s stuff from my record collection. I work at keeping it challenging and interesting. I try to listen to all kinds of music and put it out there for the people who check out the show. I work perhaps a little too much on the show and I’m not sure if anyone really cares about it but I really like doing it.

QP: You’ve done quite a bit of acting and voiceover work in your career. Have any projects going on you can share with us?
HR: I just finished work in a film, about 8 days of it. I don’t know what they will call it finally but the working title was Ice 44. It has Cuba Gooding in it so I guess you could look up his IMDB thing and it will list it. It was a good chunk of work. Cuba and all the other actors were very cool and all the crew was great. I just did two voice overs for National Geographic on the Hells Angels and The Mongols, another motorcycle gang and how the ATF tried to infiltrate their ranks. I just did a voice over for Smithsonian for a doc about the evolution of the electric guitar. That one was really interesting. Past that, I have done a lot of cartoon voice and video game stuff this year.

QP: Speaking of theatrics; there’s an LA area band called Black Fag who covers Black Flag songs, but adds a overtly gay-twist to it (not queercore per se). You ever catch one of their shows?
HR: I have heard of them but have never seen them. I like the idea of it.

QP: I’ve had a lot of friends ask me to ask you some pretty bizarre questions for this interview (one even making it in here); has a fan ever asked you something that threw you for a loop?
HR: Nothing comes to mind. Sometimes men volunteer their girlfriends and wives to have sex with me. That’s a bit much.

QP: What do you wish fans would talk to you more about?
HR: I have no idea really. I just answer questions as best I can. I am not really looking for conversation with anyone. I usually stay to myself most of the time.

QP: You’ve helped influence a generation of punk-ethics minded youth, including those involved in the queercore scene. Do you have anything you’d like to say to them?
HR: Never back off your convictions. You’re right, they are wrong. Keep going no matter.

Henry Rollins.com

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