Henry Rollins on Entrepreneurial Art

Henry Rollins is an actor, author, spoken-word artist, and musician. You likely know him as the iconic lead singer of seminal punk band Black Flag, which kicked off his enduring career.

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You might not think of Rollins as an entrepreneur, but that’s how Henry thinks of himself. He’s always gotten things done by personally making it happen – first, out of necessity, and then later for the sake of creative freedom.

It all began with Black Flag. The band recorded, financed, and distributed their own records, set up and promoted their own shows, and created their own merchandise. Back then, there was no one in the mainstream music world who wanted to help hardcore punks, so they did it themselves.

Henry carried that ethos into his next role as an entrepreneurial author, forming his own publishing company to distribute his books and those of others. He later used the same company to produce recordings for The Rollins Band and other projects.

Since then, Henry Rollins has become a self-made media personality. He has a radio show on KCRW, a column for LA Weekly, and he appears as himself on TV shows like Californication, and as a very out-of-character white supremacist in Sons of Anarchy. Maybe you caught him in his first lead film role, the darkly humorous He Never Died.

If you’re a fan of Rollins, you know you’re in for a treat with this interview. If you’re just getting to know the man, prepare to be inspired.

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The Show Notes