Henry Rollins: The Long March

25-28 Apr ,

Sydney Comedy Festival

Critics' choice

Hail the return of Mad Dirty Hank

First published on 22 Nov 2011. Updated on 29 Apr 2012.

This event has finished

The former Black Flag/Rollins Band hardcore screamer-turned-social commentator, TV host and global political animal is coming our way with his new show, The Long March. He talks to Andrew P Street about…

…the most appropriate name for a tour that’s already been around the globe!

Yeah, that was the only thing I could call it.

…how not touring makes him uncomfortable!

I like being off the road for a minute, you know? There’s all the stuff you bought on eBay, as we middle aged men say happy birthday to ourselves. I come home to ridiculous stacks, we’re talking like about 150 parcels of LPs, CDs, 45s, that I get to unpack and listen to, and after about five or six days, there’s a weird combination of "I’m enjoying this too much" and I need to get back to that lean-ness of the road.

…having a respiratory-themed schedule!

I do an inhale year and an exhale year. This year I’m gonna report to the audience about 165 times – more like about 180, actually. And next year will be an inhale year: I’ll go out into the world. I’ll travel, I’ll interview people, I’ll take photos, I’ll soak up juice. And then in 2014 I exhale, all over again. And so that’s how I do it. But even last year was an inhale year and that was still 62 shows.

…his optimism about the future, despite the ridiculous state of politics at the moment!

My very rugged optimism keeps me from just saying, “Well, down the drain we go.” Occupy Wall Street, Julian Assange, Yemen, Tunisia, Syria, Egypt, Madison Wisconsin. I think there is a global pushback against unregulated capitalism, multinational corporate oppression and democracy that has been corporatised. I love democracy: it’s a beautiful idea. But the version that America is suffering under now is a corporate-ocracy. So the wolf is inside the henhouse, and the wolf has lobbyists – the wolf is inside the henhouse and so the Americans are getting tired of getting snatched out of their nests. Some skulls might have to get cracked open, but I do think better things are coming.

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Words by Andrew P Street