Acting, fronting a band, writing books, performing spoken word tours around the world and releasing live recordings doesn’t impress Henry Rollins all that much.

“I don’t think that just because I do a few different things that I am gifted or ambitious,” Rollins says in a press release. “I come from a minimum-wage frame of mind. For example, If I get offered a cool movie part, I go for it. Do I think I can act? Fuck, no. I just go for it.”

Rollins, one of the most acclaimed spoken word presenters today, wrote his first book in the middle of his prolific career with the punk/hard-core band Black Flag.

He was heavily inspired by writer Henry Miller and started his own publication company, 2-13-61 Publications, so he could release his first book.

“I figured that was the only book coming out on the label and that was that,” Rollins says. “After selling about 1,000 of them, I decided to make a paperback, and it went on from there, and 14 years or so later, we have an office and several writers on the label.”

In 1983, Rollins started his spoken word works and began establishing himself as a spoken word guru.

From 1987 to 1998, Rollins released six spoken word records, three audio books and 11 writings. Meanwhile, he also found the time to release a decade’s worth of music with his post-Black Flag band, The Rollins Band.

Currently, Rollins is finishing a month-long tour in support of his latest spoken word album, “Think Tank.” The album, which was recorded live in Chicago and in Australia, covers everything from homosexuality and world peace to Black Flag gigs in Brazil.

“I enjoy being on stage without a band, telling stories and railing off the top of my head,” Rollins says of his spoken word experiences. “To me, it’s like being in a jazz band without the band.”

Rollins fans will be happy to know that the new music album, “Get Some Go Again,” should be released in February of 2000. Fans can also hear Rollins’ voice in GMC Truck and Merrill Lynch commercials.

“Without constant work, travel and new things to try, limits in myself to break, I think life is fairly flat-line experience,” Rollins says. “A wife and children is not going to cut it for me. I’d rather have confrontation, exhaustion, failure and glory.”

Alternate ‘Think Tanks’ …

High Note asked a few recognizable entertainment figures to give their thoughts on Henry Rollins

“Politically incorrect, loud, angry, thought-provoking, and he’s pretty funny, too. Henry Rollins is a man with a microphone, and not much is going to keep him from speaking his mind. You may not agree with everything he says, you might not agree with anything he says. That is the point. Rollins wants people to think. If you think he’s a masochistic jerk, then at least you’re thinking.”

— Andrew J. Seitz

88.5 KURE Music Director

“Being a long-time Black Flag and Rollins Band fan, I was, of course, very excited to go see Henry Rollins speak the first time he was here in ’95. I was not too familiar with his spoken word work at the time, so I didn’t really know what to expect. He turned out to be very entertaining and funny. He seemed like a really down-to-earth guy. He talked for about three hours, but it only seemed like an hour.”

— Brad Thoen

Frontman for Grubby Ernie

“Henry Rollins is one of the best-educated people I have ever met. He has read everything. He has opinions and is able to back them up. I was surprised how down to earth he was.”

— Eric Yarwood

M-Shop Coordinator

“I remember him being very intense and surprisingly funny. I remember that he hated drunk people, and he told a few incredibly funny stories about getting to gigs. Having been in a band, I could relate, although my record company never booked me on a flight hijacked by a drummer impersonating a real pilot. I did get lost driving to a gig in Mason City once, though.”

— Chad Johnson

Former drummer for Lunchbox and The Sauce Monkeys