For nearly 25 years Henry Rollins toured the world relentlessly—first with Black Flag, then Rollins Band, and most recently as a spoken word artist. Just before the pandemic he performed in 21 countries and was the keynote speaker at conferences for things as mundane as software but also at cannabis conventions, which is  funny for someone as famously straight edge as Rollins. 

Henry and Rick Rubin—two of the most music-obsessed guys of all time—met way back in the day. They even started the Infinite Zero label together in the early '90s to reissue long forgotten albums they both loved.

Rick sat with Henry pre-pandemic for his Broken Record podcast, and in full Rollins fashion the stories just poured out of him. Henry talked about the time he was christened a lead singer by H.R. from Bad Brains, the day he woke up and realized he was done writing music, and why he’ll never be the old guy on stage performing his greatest hits.

On his decision 15 years ago to stop making music

Rollins:  "The smart thing I did as a younger man was one day I woke up in my bed and I went, 'I'm done with music. I don't hate it. I just have no more lyrics. There's no more toothpaste in the tube.' I called my manager at the time and I said, 'I'm done with music.' And 15% of that was a good thing for him. He was like, 'No.. no...' I was like, 'Yes.' And so luckily, I had enough movies, voiceover, documentary work, writing, talking, where that just filled in, and now I'm busier than ever. But I walked away before I had to start saying, 'Hey, kids, remember this one?' So I didn't have to put it on and go up there and put on the dog and yelp for my dinner.

I've had gentle discussions with major rock stars: 'You go out and you play those same songs every night for the last 40 years.' And one of these people, who I love dearly, said, 'Yeah, that's what people want.' His whole thing is you put on the show, everyone goes 'yay,' you play what everyone wants to hear and everyone's happy. And he said, 'You're not?' I'm like, 'No, not necessarily. If they happen to like what I'm doing, cool. If they don't, they can bite me.' That's just not for me. I'd rather take the risk."

Back in October, Rollins announced his Good To See You 2022 tour across Canada.

On the Good To See You 2022 tour, Henry will faithfully recount the events of his life in the brief pre-COVID period since the last tour, and when things got even stranger over the last several months. It's been an interesting time to say the least and he's got some great stories to tell.

Confirmed dates are as listed:

May 
19 – Vancouver, BC - Rio Theatre
20 – Nanaimo, BC - Port Theatre
21 – Victoria, BC - Alix Goolden Hall
24 – Calgary, AB – Bella Concert Hall
25 – Edmonton, AB – Venue TBD
26 – Saskatoon, SK – Broadway Theatre
27 – Winnipeg, MB – Park Theatre
30 - Kingston, ON – Grand Theatre
31 - Ottawa, ON – Algonquin Commons

June
1 - London, ON – London Music Hall
2 - St. Catharines, ON – First Ontario Performing Arts Centre
3 - Toronto, ON – Danforth Music Hall