Henry Rollins (Extended Interview)

Hot Ones: The Classic Interviews

In this extended, uncut interview, Sean Evans sits down with punk rock legend Henry Rollins to explore his intense worldview. The conversati

Key takeaways

Rollins describes the visceral sensation of a mortar blast in Baghdad as feeling like a 'ghost punch' to the solar plexus.
He highlights his work with the NGO 'Drop in the Bucket' to provide water wells in Sudan and Uganda.
The interview reveals Rollins' peak physical strength, noting he could comfortably squat over 500 pounds.
Rollins expresses profound admiration for Muhammad Ali's courage in standing by his name during racial tensions.
He analyzes Bernie Sanders as a 'punk rock' figure due to his directness and refusal to use political jargon.

Main topics

Global travel and conflict zones
Weightlifting and physical discipline
Reactions to cultural icons

Notable quotes

I don't want to relax. Because I know myself, I'll just go fallow.

Conclusion

A deep dive into the disciplined and unyielding mindset of a man who u

Transcript preview

Speaker 1 (0:01) Hey, what's going on, Spice Lords? This is Sean Evans, and welcome back to another edition of our classic interview series where we open up the vaults of Hot Ones history and bring you some of our best hot sauce-fueled interviews in their full, uncut glory. This week, we celebrate Henry Rollins. Is Henry Rollins the most interesting man in the world? I think so. He's a dream to interview because he's so intense and well-read and articulate. There is way too much wisdom to fit into a 22-minute episode, so here you go. Full. Uncut, unreleased, Henry Rollins from start to finish. Enjoy. Speaker 1 (0:37) Hey, what's going on, everybody? For First We Feast, I'm Sean Evans. It's the show with hot questions and even hotter wings. And today I'm joined by Henry Rollins. He's a punk rock icon, radio host, columnist, and all-around renaissance man. But can he handle the wings of death? We'll find out today, Henry. Welcome to the show. Thank you. How are you with hot food? I don't eat it. You don't? You're not a spicy food guy? Because I Speaker 2 (0:57) can't handle it. Speaker 1 (0:58) Okay. So I'm not a hot food person at all. Well, with that said, are you ready to get it going? No. So let's Speaker 2 (1:04) go. Speaker 1 (1:04) No, not at all. Speaker 1 (1:06) All right, so this first one is Valentina Black Label. Should be a free throw for even a guy who's not a hot food guy like you. Okay. Something you can handle? Yeah, so far. Speaker 2 (1:20) I just keep thinking, I don't eat wings because of the wings and the usual wings environment. I'm expecting... a college-aged girl with a baseball cap on sideways with black makeup under her eyes to come up and go, so you guys want some wings with your wings as sports games are on huge Speaker 1 (1:42) screens. Yes. And maybe like a bucket with like four beers in it or something like that. Or Speaker 2 (1:47) we're at an airport and Speaker 1 (1:49) everyone's Speaker 2 (1:50) drunk and eating wings about to go to O'Hare. Exactly. Go to Chicago. Right. Or a bunch of... Chickens coming Speaker 1 (2:04) What'd you think of the wing? It was good. You liked that one? Sure. We're making you into a wing guy, Henry. Yeah. I'll be your wingman. There you go. So it seems like when people are looking for travel inspiration, maybe they'll Google best beaches. But with you, it seems like you look at the front page of the newspaper, figure out which country is most fucked up at the time, and then you head there. Yeah, sometimes. So I want to hit you with a quick wing one sort of globe-trotting rapid fire, if you'll humor me, okay? In your travels, when were you most scared for your life? In America. Really? Speaker 2 (2:37) Yeah, in California specifically. California is the place where I've nearly died a couple of times. Like, you know, really unfun stories of, like, real near death. The rest of the time, besides a time I was in Baghdad and a mortar, two mortars landed near a building I was in. which was fortified, I was in no danger. The concussion was such that it literally felt like a fist, a ghost punch going into your solar plexus. It was the concussion. It was incredibly powerful. Past that, I've never had to run for my life in any country. However, on the streets of Cairo, if you leave the hotel neighborhood and kind of go into the neighborhoods, you'll get some intense stares. And I've been there a few times, and every single time I've gotten that. Speaker 2 (3:32) I'm not faring very well. Speaker 1 (3:34) On wing one, I'm Speaker 2 (3:35) kind of Speaker 1 (3:35) like wanting to go home. Not because of you. Because of the wings. Because of the wings. The wings will scare you out, but I think it will bring you back in, too. Which country made you most hopeful for the future of civilization? Speaker 2 (3:47) Wow. That's a great question. Speaker 2 (3:51) Hmm. I was in Sudan right before it became South Sudan, which is now sadly in the state of real chaos. I was there with an NGO called Drop in the Bucket, who I work with. They drill water wells at schools in northern Uganda and what is now South Sudan. Because when the kids get water, they stay in school, the literacy rates shoot up. And so the times I was there, I'm hanging out with kids. who are you know i brought pens whenever i go to africa i always bring boxes of pens just hand out pens to kids like keep them writing and so i'm handing out pens to kids and i'm hanging out and i'm running around with kids at schools and they're about to get water right on the premises which is a big deal they're not bringing it in a bucket to school and you see these kids uh so happy that they're gonna get their literacy because they're gonna have water and that was hopeful Speaker 2 (4:44) juxtaposed where the next day you hang out with a bunch of kids who were abducted by the Lord's Resistance Army, who were made to commit atrocities. And these kids were, you know, post-traumatic stress, you know, with a vengeance. And so that was, there were moments. Also in Iran, walking the streets of Tehran and having people stop me with... perfect English. Like, why are you here? Where are you from? I'm from America. Wow, you're here alone? Yeah, why? So I've always wanted to come to Iran. Thank you for coming here. Please don't kill us. Where you see that they want the future. I go, what about your government? They're like, yeah, what about your government? Yeah, I know. Where all of a sudden you have things in common. And so I have found in a lot of my travels, a lot of hopefulness, where you find a lot of people are, um, They want what you want, you know, clean water, a day without conflict, basically a fistful of 50s and a day without fear, as they say. Speaker 1 (5:41) Where have you eaten the best food? Wow, Speaker 2 (5:43) all over the world. Best Indian food I've ever had in my many trips to India would be in Rajasthan near the Pakistan border. Best doll I've ever had. You have to go across the Thar Desert. I did it by train. Great. Thai food in Thailand is really amazing. Ate horse in Kazakhstan. Can't recommend it. Interesting food in different parts of Africa, like meat. What am I eating? Meat. What's it from? Just eat it. Keep smiling. Speaker 1 (6:20) I've had good food kind of sort of everywhere. And even here, maybe even. Oh, Speaker 2 (6:25) absolutely. Yeah, the wings, yeah. Speaker 1 (6:27) All right, so then this next one is Louisiana. Okay. Speaker 2 (6:31) That's all you're gonna give me? Just Louisiana? Speaker 1 (6:33) It's from Louisiana. And I think that you'll like this one, Henry. It's maybe even a little less intense than the last one. Speaker 2 (6:40) It's good. So you're like a Wings veteran. You sit across from some sweating guest. Mm Speaker 1 (6:45) -hmm. Speaker 2 (6:46) Some white belt, hot food person. Right. But you're like Bruce Lee in Enter the Dragon. You're like this up and you're like slapping these bottles around. Speaker 1 (6:57) Yeah, it's Neo and the Matrix grabbing bullets. Speaker 2 (6:59) Yeah, you're at home, it's like, go ahead, go ahead, do your worst. Speaker 1 (7:03) Exactly, exactly. The only fight I can win is with wings, Henry. Speaker 2 (7:08) Otherwise, life has you flummoxed. That was good. Speaker 1 (7:12) So you're obviously in phenomenal shape and I know that you credit strength training as helping build your sense of self-worth as a teenager. But I know that no one can spend as much time in the weight room as you've spent in the weight room without picking up some gym pet peeves along the way. What are the gym shenanigans that bother you the most? Speaker 2 (7:30) People who talk on their cell phone. People who sit on a piece of equipment that you want to use but they're not moving because they're texting or on their cell phone. The cell phone has changed so many normal things. Like the gym to me is a bit of a temple. If you're going to listen to music, put your headphones in. Don't put your personal player next to the thing so I have to listen to your usual appalling taste in music. People... who talk to someone else near you, like someone's on a treadmill and they have their elbow on something that's not moving. And they're like, yeah, so and then I said, really? I'm trying to focus here because I'm going to be on this damn thing for an hour and my body wants to go home right now and I still have 55 minutes to go. So why don't you shut up? And so basically not being able to get a sense of concentration or rhythm going because people are using this as like the hangout hour as if they're going to get in shape by looking at the equipment. Right. You actually have to apply yourself. That's Speaker 1 (8:32) true. Have you Speaker 2 (8:33) ever Speaker 1 (8:33) done any of these cult-like newfangled workouts like SoulCycle or CrossFit? Speaker 2 (8:38) No, anything that involves being with other people. Not Speaker 1 (8:42) for Henry. No, Speaker 2 (8:43) I'm a very solitary person. I go into a gym with my water and my bucket of wings and I just, you know. Speaker 1 (8:52) During your physical prime, what was your max squat? Speaker 2 (8:57) Squat was my favorite because it's the scariest. Because once you've committed to the bar and you step away from the hooks, whatever Speaker 1 (9:04) happens, you Speaker 2 (9:05) either own it or it owns you. And you can have, as you're going down to hit the bottom before you come up, your mind is going, can I do this? If you're really trying to push yourself. And so I was in the 500s comfortably. And if you look at my bone, my bones and the way I'm built, that's a hell of a thing because I'm just not built to lift heavy weight. Very impressive. So it was, you know, a lot of attitude. And sometimes I work myself up into a state where I was almost in tears because I do like the last set of five at some like, I shouldn't have done. I paid later. My back is all screwed up, but I would get the last set and I'd be, I would just hyperventilate like, and I'd be just, I would tear up more than once. It's like. I'm so scared of having this thing break me. And you'd get under it with fearing you're going to drown. You psych yourself into this thing. And then you hit it. And all of a sudden, you're walking it back into the hook. You're like, wow, I just did that. And so I would be belted, knees wrapped, wrists wrapped. I took all that very seriously. So the squat to me was the most... I would come back from band practice when I was living in New York. That's when I was at my peak in my 30s. I'd come back from band practice. I'd take a nap for like two hours. Sleep. Get up at like 9 p.m. and go in just to do the leg workout. And it was like the scariest workout of the week. Speaker 1 (10:29) I love it. Yeah. I love it, Henry. All right, are you ready to move on? Yeah. So this next one is the secret aardvark. It's out of Portland. I've never seen any aardvarks up there. So they're staying out of the way? Their secret. Speaker 2 (10:41) Ah, yeah. Speaker 1 (10:42) The hat in the shadows. Good. So you get these people into your room. And my little world here. And you apply them with food, and you hope they're going to tell Speaker 2 (10:52) you their secrets. That's the whole mission. That's the mission statement. Speaker 1 (10:56) So the internet seems especially fascinated with Henry Rollins quotes and I think it's the intensity of your worldview that people find appealing So what I want to do is give you some other quotes from other no fucks given icons And I just wonder how they hit your ear. Maybe you agree. Maybe you disagree. I just want to hear your reaction Does that sound good? Yeah. All right Friends come and go but banners hang forever. That's from Kobe Bryant I don't know what that means. It means that friends, they come and go. Yeah, I got that part. Speaker 2 (11:28) Winning Speaker 1 (11:28) the championship. Speaker 2 (11:29) Oh, I see. Well, sure. Because you'll always be a champion, I guess. Boy, what a deep and pithy thing for someone to say. By God, I'm going to get a chisel and whack that into my forearm as soon as I get back to the parking garage. Do you think it's all a little sociopathic, or what do you think? I think Kobe Bryant was a tremendous athlete. And I think to play sports on that level, It just must be like this, beyond anything I can comprehend, obsession to be a champion in such an amazing sport. I mean, I can't play any sports. The doctor said to my mom, Iris, your son, he had to look it up, he is a spastic. That's the Latin. So I'm not good at anything. So when I watch these... gazelle-like men and women just run tirelessly doing these amazing... I'm amazed. And to be a champion in that sport, I think you get to say anything you want. Because so many of those people, they go in and all they get is paid. They never get to be champion. They just get to play and they do like their 15 seasons and then they go home. Yeah, Kobe Bryant. I liked that Kobe asked Flea. to do the national anthem for his last game. And Speaker 1 (12:44) he Speaker 2 (12:44) played this amazing bass solo version of the national anthem. And the audience was like, what's this? And they freaked out. And I was listening. God, this is beautiful. And he got angry letters and outbursts on social media. And I wrote him right after. I said, damn, man, that was beautiful. Such a great musician. And people gave him a... Speaker 1 (13:10) flack for that. Too bad, too bad. Real recognize real, Henry. I got a couple more for you. Never apologize and never explain. That's a sign of weakness. That's from John Wayne. I was about to say, I thought that sounds like from Gene Simmons. Oh, Speaker 2 (13:25) I think I believe in apologizing and explaining. I've apologized. If