ROCK THE ROLLINS BAND
Garage, Glasgow, Mon 14 Jan.
You know how there never seems to be enough hours in the day? No matter how efficient you’re trying to be, you just never get round to putting up those shelves or phoning your mum? Well, not if you’re Henry Rollins.
The former frontman of seminal American hardcore punks Black Flag is something of a legend among alternative types. For a start he’s a non-smoking, no caffeine, drug free, weight lifting-obsessed teetotaller. And since Black Flag split up back in 1986, he’s been a one- man creative industry.
Last year saw Rollins play over 150 live shows, release three studio albums with his band, two albums of spoken word material, publish a book and appear in a Hollywood film. Oh, and he also ran his own successful independent publishing company, 2.13.61, named after the day he was born.
All of which begs the obvious question, how the hell does he fit it all in? ‘lt’s really what I don’t do as much as what I do that allows me to keep the schedule,’ says
COUNTRY
CONCERTS FOR A LANDMINE-FREE WORLD Clyde Auditorium, Glasgow, Tue 15 Jan.
What do Beck. Sheryl Crow. Bruce Springsteen, Kris Kristofferson and Mary Chapin Carpenter have in common? Answer: they've all played unplugged and Ill-lllClOUfld as part of the campaign by the Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation to rid the world of landmines. initiated by Emmylou Harris in 1998 after she Visited Cambodia and Vietnam, the Concerts For A Larrdmrrie—Free World have taken line-ups of singer-songwriters across North America for three
Big Hank bottles it
Rollins down the phone from his office in LA. ‘I just don’t have a lot of stuff in my way to distract me from what I’m doing.
‘I live alone and I don’t have a whole lot of stuff in my place so when I get home there’s really nothing else to do after work but go into the garage and work out. I reckon there’s time to watch a bunch of TV later.’
Rollins’ dedication to his work is, let’s face it, scary as hell, but the end results are worth it. While the man’s spoken word performances can be highly intelligent and amusing affairs, this month sees him bring his band, the imaginatively monikered Rollins Band, to Glasgow’s Garage for a dose of full on, no-bullshit rock action that
the man himself describes, rather worryingly, as ‘crippling’.
Utterly unfashionable in the current world plague of dreary nu-metal, Rollins’ music is basic, primal and honest. And unsurprisingly, he won’t be quitting any time soon. ‘I don’t have ajob job,’ he says, ‘I don’t fix leaky pipes. I go out there and sing and dance for my dinner as David Lee Roth used to say. So if people like it then I have a job, and if they stop wanting me I gotta find a new job. It’s kinda a fucked position to be in.’ (Doug Johnstone)
Elvis Costello raises awareness
successwe years and now. for the first time. to Britain, Ireland and ScandinaVia.
Harris herself is leading the programme calling into Glasgow. Joined by EIVIS Costello. Steve liarle. Nanci Griffith and John Princ. The event will have a particular political charge as the west considers the wreckage of post Taliban Afghanistan.
Landinines are said to kill and lfljler 88 people a month in that country alone.
liven for the US. the problem is severe:
landmines; were responsible for a third of American casualties in the Vietnam and Gulf wars.
It is these stark statistics that have compelled l nimylou l lariis to act. "Wt, know chemical \"JOEIDOHS might help in Winning a war. but we decided that the
price of chemical weapons is too high.' she has said. ‘Landmines need to be put in the same category. We have to have a standard of behaviour in the world. We have to have a standard of morality'
If reports of the American concerts can he relied on. we should expect an evening of quiet power and passion. (Mark Fisher)
music@list.co.uk
Music news now
OW. WE COULD GO OFF ON one ab0ut all those bands we've spent all year unsubtly touting to be the next big thing. but y0u'll get that all year anyway. It's never a difficult thing to do either: the Scottish music scene is a hardy beast and while some phenomenons gain weight and sweep through tsunami style ipost-rock anyone?). Currently it is GHjOylllg a period of rude health with a wagon-load of quality acts to enjoy.
The same cannot be said. however, for the venues. The most Current example is the continumg worries over the liquidation Situation at 13th Note. Regulars of the two Note venues need only look along the M8 to see the damage their demise w0uid cause. The after effects are still being felt from the closure of the Tap O'Lauriston and the Cas Rock in Edinburgh last year and several attempts to relocate the hub of the Edinburgh music scene to other venues have met With middling Success.
; ’I .I i l: ' .-
The Zephyrs know the value of the Note
The Gas Rock was a freguent stomping ground for scores of the capital's developing bands. and without it there few regular outlets for the more esoteric Side of Scottish muSIC. We wait nervously to hear of the outcome of the 13th Note's trouble.
For more on the liquidation of the 18th Note see news stOry page A. Wanna get involved? Consult wwwhelplScorn for more information. APOLOGIES GO OUT TO anyone mislead by our listings entry in issue 430 for Carnival playing at the 13th Note on 20 December. We wish to point out that although they have performed Gary Numan covers in the past, Carnival are a two-piece electro-pop duo playing original material and are not in any way a Gary Numan covers band. They also run a website for unsigned Scottish acts: visit www.scot-buzz.com
lr' .Jan RUM)? THE LIST 47