Henry Rollins Quotes

I want to play more festivals.

We played the same thing in Europe we played in the States.

One of the coolest things Twickenham Fest does is to commission new works.

But live shows are cool. I just got back into the idea of enjoying it live.

I had so much fun playing songs from 'Based On A True Story...' and getting to see the crowd's reaction to those songs was unforgettable.

I was with a folk trio back in '63 and '64, and we traveled all across North Africa, Israel, and Europe.

I did a long concert tour in England and Denmark and Sweden, and I also sang for the Soviet people, one of the finest musical audiences in the world.

So anyway, I really enjoyed the European audiences.

That's what Kiss is all about - not just music, but entertainment, y'know? We're there to take you away from your problems, and rock and roll all night and party every day for those two hours you're at the concert.

Next year I'm going to be a guesting soloist with orchestras all over Europe, to start off with.

People discover you at festivals. They come to see Coldplay or whoever, and then wander over and catch your act. Festivals make a lot of sense to me.

The Majestic Theater in 1990. That was one of my first real shows where I had 300 to 400 people there.

We're playing all these weird festivals, usually outdoors.

When I started out, I wanted to be the kind of artist who could play the CMA Music Festival and then turn around and play Bonnaroo, and I've managed to do both.

I didn't have to do paper routes. I'd sing for 5 bucks a crack at weddings and church functions; I'd have four or five on some Saturdays.

Performing live is the greatest high in the world. That's why I do what I do.

I think that theater is a unique way to communicate with people as they gather together with other people they may not even know. It creates a sense of shared community for the time of the performance that hopefully carries over into other aspects of the audience's life because they have shared this experience together.

I really enjoy what I do, and who I'm with and where I am. Having said that, I'm not really a person of habit, because what I do in my job is travel around the world and play concerts to people, and occasionally do very weird things.

The songs become the show, which is how it should be.

If I can just play, it doesn't matter where we are... Japan, Australia, or here in the neighborhood.

I'm interested in where I'm going and the people I am there to see. Going to Cuba was a great example of that, and the succession of going into Cuba, which is not a very easy place to get into, and playing music for people who have never seen a live rock concert outdoors like that.

When we were younger, playing a bar or a club, we did what we did to get as many people to like what we were doing. I wanted the person in the back of the room to like it as much as the ones in the front. That's how I've always looked at it.

Some of the stuff, I absolutely don't remember recording it, it's been so long. But I do like to try to throw in something a little different for the audience once in a while. Because a lot of these people who come to see have come back many, many times.

You can go see ballet in its purity; you can go to a recital to hear music by itself. But what the American musical does so thrillingly is bastardize these forms into something that is exhilarating and compelling and deeply moving.

I'm learning what I gotta do to get people hyped up. It doesn't matter even if they're not dancing, as long as they're bobbing their head and as long as it looks like a mosh pit down there.