KEY POINTS:
In the tough world of TV talk shows there's no one tougher than Henry Rollins, founder of 80s hardcore punk band Black Flag and leader of the now defunct Rollins Band.
The second series of The Henry Rollins Show, on Wednesdays at 9.35pm on Rialto, features diverse guests including musicians Iggy Pop and Marilyn Manson, American author Gore Vidal, hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons, and actors William Shatner and Ben Stiller.
Here, we get the lowdown from Rollins on ...
... what makes a good talk show:
It's impossible to reinvent what a talk show is. It's a tried and true thing. So the challenge was how to make it our thing and one of the advantages is not being censored - people can say what they want, and I'm not talking about the seven words you can't say in America. It's not just a promo tool for these people we bring on ... . We might talk about their new film [or album] for a minute so their press agents don't haemorrhage and then we get on to everything else.
On saying what he likes:
Being on cable [TV] you can do whatever you like. I call the president of the United States an arsehole and tee-off on politicians in a very I'm-meeting-you-in-the-parking-garage type manner.
On what makes a good talker:
I listen to a lot of talk radio and they are very good at being compelling, succinct, bringing a point home and making it understandable without talking down to someone because no one's that stupid. And also making someone want to know what you're going to say next, even if they disagree.
On what he reads:
Rather than reading something that goes with the grain I'd rather read some guy's defence of the Iraq war or someone who tells you it's constitutionally unsound to let homosexuals get married. [I think] well, I'd better read up on this psychopath and see what he has to say for himself because there are quite a few people who I disagree with who are quite intelligent ... more intelligent than I'll ever be.
On Iraq:
One of our best interviews this year was with two Iraq vets. They were two soldiers who were like, "Look, this is what happened when I was there and here's what I saw." After that interview I got hate letters telling me to get out of America because I'm unpatriotic. But they were just these two guys who were bringing the truth.
On preparing for interviews:
If it's someone I know, I play all the records over again. If it's someone like Gore Vidal [American author and outspoken critic of American politics] I prepare for two weeks - I re-read books of his I've already read, I read a book of his I haven't read, and I read a lot of essays he lets be printed for free on the internet. So I generally prepare for an angry, impatient person who doesn't want to be there and I expect all the viewers to be watching the show with their finger on the remote. I know that everybody has a very low threshold for boredom. I know I do and if you waste my time I'll never come back.
On getting back into music:
Last year's Rollins Band tour was a test to see if that old lineup wanted to get back together, play and eventually record. We were going to give it five weeks of shows and they were well received. We played very well, and we got to the end of it and all I remembered was why we broke up. It wasn't a "I hate you" thing. Not at all, I don't hate those guys. So many bands make three more records when they should have stopped. But when it came time we walked out of the venue in five different directions. I packed my gear, hopped in my mighty Subaru and drove home back to my own bed. The other guys flew out the next day. That was it.
LOWDOWN
Who: Henry Rollins
What: The Henry Rollins Show
When: Rialto Channel, Wednesdays 9.35pm
