Over the years, Henry Rollins has had his fingers in many pies: frontman for two of rock’s most intense bands (Black Flag, The Rollins Band), author, actor, spoken word performer and worldwide traveller. Come 2006, he added television host to his CV when he landed his own show on the US cable channel IFC. The first series of 20 half-hour episodes included several rants about current events, an interview with a celebrity, and a musical performance from a wide pool of acts.
It’s easily one of the better talk shows to surface in a while. Since it’s on cable, a US network which viewers pay to watch, censorship isn’t a worry. Rollins turns out to be a pretty solid interviewer, and actually admiring of his guests. As such, his questions aren’t the standard Q&A sleepwalk, as evidenced by highlights such as Ozzy Osbourne, Jeff Bridges and Perry Farrell. The musical performances (recorded live in the studio) are just as varied, as you get a song apiece from the likes of Thom Yorke, Slayer, New York Dolls, Ani DiFranco and (surprise surprise) a reunited Rollins Band, among others. The San Francisco Chronicle deemed this “a hipper, more culturally aggressive chat show”. We couldn’t agree more.
