get in the van on the road with black flag

In addition to his punk career, Rollins has toured widely as a spoken-word artist, with work focusing on his own life, and on social and political issues. Rollins first performed spoken word with Lydia Lunch in 1983. Rollins then hired an already existing band called Mother Superior, redubbed them the Rollins Band, and released several more albums to continued popularity. He then formed his Rollins Band, which recorded several albums, toured with Lollapalooza, became increasingly popular, then split up in 1997. Rollins then recorded solo, and briefly called himself and some new bandmates Henrieta Collins and the Wifebeating Childhaters.

Rollins self-published his Black Flag tour diary as Get In The Van, and toured and recorded with Black Flag until the band broke up in 1986. With the intense, gravelly-voiced Rollins as frontman, the band reached new heights as a seminal influence on punk, hardcore, and death metal. His gruff nickname, Rollins, became his last name. Black Flag was already of legendary status, but the band were impressed, and reshuffled their lineup to make Garfield their new lead singer. Then, in 1981, the hardcore punk rock band Black Flag came to town, and Garfield climbed onto the stage and sang with them. He performed with the band State of Alert, which released one record before disbanding. With the addition of many tattoos, he became as intimidating visually as he is vocally. With a regimen of weightlifting and anger, Garfield transformed himself from weakling into burly muscleman. He became involved in the punk scene through his close friend Ian MacKaye, the Fugazi frontman and co-founder of Dischord Records. As a young man, Garfield worked in a Haagen-Dazs shop and loved loud music. His father was a military man who disciplined Henry with his fists, and his mother was considered a bit unhinged. Musician, stand-up comedian, poet, author, publisher, and spoken word artist: Henry Rollins was once Henry Garfield, a scrawny boy growing up in Washington DC.

Get in the van on the road with black flag