Henry Rollins Gets Fanatic

12/04/08 6:01pm

by Stephen Clare (CHARTattack)

Henry Rollins needs no introduction. The punk icon, singer, spoken-word artist, writer, publisher and self-made man has been a force of nature for nearly 30 years.

CHARTattack spoke with him about his latest book, Fanatic! Volume 3.

CHARTattack: What inspired you to put this collection together?
Henry Rollins: It was the last of the three volumes of the book. It was the last of the radio show annotations that I had been writing for years. It's a kind of writing that I like to do, but it's really time-intensive so I can't do it any more.

What inspired you to put the Fanatic! collection together?
It's an outgrowth of me being a fan of all this music and wanting to spread the word. The Fanatic! books are basically large fanzines, nothing more.

Did these works come together quickly, or did you really need to plug away at them?
It was hours a day, that's why I can't do it anymore. Most of the time, I was working on the books four hours a day, from 5 a.m. to 9 a.m.

What was the most challenging part of piecing them together?
Maintaining a level of quality and not blowing through a broadcast and not writing well.

What was the most rewarding part?
The letters I get from people who really get something out of the books. That's really cool.

What has the response been like (critical, readers, family/friends)?
People seem to like the books. I don't care what critics think, but people who actually read the books, if they bother to write me about them, seem to like them OK. It is low-impact writing, it's not a life altering experience. Hopefully the books are taken in the spirit in which they were written.

Do these opinions matter to you?
Not really. I am going to do the work, but it's great if someone likes what you do.

What made you want to be a writer?
Writing is something I have always done. To my solitary nature, it always seemed to be the thing to do.

How have you grown as a writer over the years?
I have no idea. I would like to think that I can aim a little better with words. It's never easy, but I think I am getting better at being clearer. I have found that it's all about the rewrite more than the writing. I spend a lot of time rewriting if I can.

In your opinion, what makes a good book?
For me, it's always been that connection where I think I have finally found the book that took reading all those other books to get to. That's the way I always felt when I read Of Time And The River by Thomas Wolfe.

The creative process: inspiration or perspiration?
The idea just comes and then I have to hammer it out. I guess it is inspiration and then perspiration to get it done.