#1155 - Henry Rollins

Joe Rogan (0:01)

Here we go, four, three, two.

Henry Rollins, ladies and gentlemen. How are you, fella?

Henry Rollins (0:08)

I'm better now, being here with you.

Joe Rogan (0:09)

I'm better now that you're here.

We were just talking about a show that you and Ted Nugent, apparently, did you pitch it? Who pitched the show?

Henry Rollins (0:19)

It was an idea that my manager, Heidi, and I came up with, well, mostly Heidi, it was called basically Henry and.

You put me and someone I might have some disagreements with or a few agreements with, and we just go somewhere and we weigh in with a camera following us. And we're thinking it'll be like a six-part miniseries, like me and plus six interesting people. And one of the names that came up was Ted Nugent because I'm a fan of his music. I think he's one of the best guitar players I've ever seen. Yet, he and I would probably disagree on one or a few topics. And so we actually pitched it to Ted, who said he loved the idea, but he said, I gotta go on. I'm busy with it. He had a ton of tour dates, so I think he's on now. But he said, I want to talk to Henry to thank him for thinking of me. And so Ted called, like on my phone in the office. I guess he got my number from the powers that be.

And suddenly, it's Ted on my phone. I'm at my desk like, okay, this is surreal.

And we talked for a few minutes, and he said, you know, like, what, you think I'm a bad guy?

Just some of the things you say, it kind of takes my breath away.

And then we quickly got on the topic of music. He said, you like all that old Detroit music? I go, yeah, man. I mean, you, Mitch Ryder, the Stooges, MC5, I mean, it's kind of the best, some of the best music I've ever heard. I mean, as far as I asked him, I go, what is it? Is something in the water? What is it with you Michigan guys in guitar tone? Like, no one gets tone. Like you, Ron Ashton, Stooges, Fred Sonic Smith, MC5. I go, you guys, I mean, you're so good. And he said, you gotta, we gotta hang out sometime and we'll just talk about music. I went, I'll do that with you. So I'll be taking notes. And he was just telling me, you know, like, yeah, I used to hang out at the MC5 house and go see the Stooges. I'm like, you're killing me. Cause this is like, you know, that would have been heaven for me to see those bands, like back in 1969 or whatever.

Joe Rogan (2:38)

Did you, when did you know him? Did you know him back in the day or did you only speak to him recently?

Henry Rollins (2:42)

As a punter, I would go see him like in high school in the 1870s, you know, Carter administration. I'd go see him at play in my local arena in Washington, DC in a place called the Capitol Center in Largo, Maryland. And he was as good as rock and roll gets. I mean, it was, I saw the double live gonzo lineup and like forget it. It was like two and a half hours of just getting beat up by music. It was fantastic. And to this day, it's still a high water mark as far as gigs.

And in the 90s, I met him on Politically Incorrect Bill Maher.

And I said, hey, man, I'm a big fan. And he gave me a bow hunting catalog. I'm like, well, thanks. You know, for his whack master. You know, you get the croquet mallet and the bow.

Anyway, I kept it because I'm a fan. And then I met him years later, and I did his radio show, like St. Patrick's Day 1997 to crassly promote my next record. And I said, we met years ago, and we got to talking for like a couple of hours. And it was just about music, and I played him some of my new record, which he really liked.

And between the commercial breaks, he was like playing riffs for me. We had a little headphone amp, and he was sitting across from me on a stool playing. I'm like, this is pretty cool. And so that's the kind of relationship I have with him, where you read some of the things he says, you're like, okay, that's really hard to take. But those records, they're just so good to me. And I saw him play in 2000, opening for Kiss 2001, somewhere in there, and he was great, great. The tone, the playing, just fantastic. And so he's just an interesting bunch of guys.