Fanatics! Subculture stalwart and KCRW’s resident maniac Henry Rollins is a tireless soul consistently pushing the edges of reason and taste…
Last Saturday evening I noticed some rave gloves in Henry’s record bag and some sketches for what look like a helmet/headpiece. I cornered the man in the rest room and after much uncomfortable berating on my part Henry revealed that he is IN FACT working on an EDM project reminiscent of the Drum N Bass track he collaborated on with Goldie for 1997’s Spawn soundtrack.
“The Electronic Dance music has really made significant leaps and bounds in the last few years, with so many fresh faced producers making REALLY soulful, POWERFUL music on their laptops…the energy at some of these shows makes the ol’ stomping punks in the face days of Black Flag seem like a horse and pony show.” Rollins excitedly mentioned his growing interest in EDM stemming from listening to the newly rebooted Metropolis show on his way home from KCRW on Saturday evenings, “I’ve had my fair share of driveway moments the past few weeks and now I just find myself seeking it out on Spotify and letting it play during my workout sesh.”
Increasingly excited, Rollins continued, “It also made me want to stick a glow stick up my ass and go trick or treating naked. This is perhaps been the best thing I have ever done for my self-esteem. My father once told me, ‘Henry, every day is Christmas when you’re high on street drugs. Go play with your sister.’ That’s just it, I don’t have a sister but at least I have Electronica! When Metropolis starts, I am usually in my car doing poppers and jacking my body to the sounds of the Electronica underground. I lost a tooth on the steering wheel last week. Don’t worry, I was driving in the bus lane.”
The man spoke with such unwavering conviction I felt as if perhaps I was in the presence of an EDM prophet…Rollins went on to explain that his newfound passion for “the wonderously sublime drop” in dubstep has resulted in feverish late night calls to friends, including Jason Bentley, Sting and his dealer, Redwood. Initial attempts at recreating an organic version of the sound with longtime friends, Mike Watt and Ian MacKaye came up flat and nearly brought those relationships “asunder,” Rollins said.
The working title for the project, T3NS10NH3AD (due later this summer,) features collaborations with EDM royalty Deadmau5, Skrillex, Roni Size, Thom Yorke and new super-underground Belgian producers SriratchA & Garzwone.