Radio Helsingin kesäohjelmiston tähti on amerikkalainen muusikko, näyttelijä, aktivisti ja legenda Henry Rollins. Taiteilija vastasi Radio Helsingin kysymyksiin Perusta käsin.

Why did you agree to do a show for Radio Helsinki?

”A few reasons. I like making radio shows. I like getting music out to people because I think music makes everything better. I am fascinated by a lot of music that comes out of Finland. I have literally hundreds of records from Finland. Bands and artists like Kemialliset Ystävät, Uton, Tomutonttu, Avarus and Kuupuu. I can’t even pronounce the names but I really like the music. Mostly, I was happy to be asked. I thought it was really cool that someone was thinking of me.”

In your words, how would you describe the show.

”I am staying away from a lot of Noise, Drone and Avant music, even though it makes up so much of my listening, in a set of music, I don’t know if it works in context. So, I put together a lot of my favorite Punk, Post Punk, Independent tracks from a long time ago up to now. The songs represent a good portion of what I listen to but not all of it. I listen to a lot of music from Indonesia, the African continent, etc., but I don’t know how well a twenty minute gamelan orchestra piece sits with a Ty Segall track. So, the shows are somewhat eclectic but not stretched to every possible corner of the record store. It would be interesting but perhaps hard to hold an audience for two hours.”

You’ve performed in Helsinki quite a few times. Was there anything about the city or people that stuck out and you remember?

”Nothing striking comes to mind, which means that things have always gone well. For me, it’s usually the bad stuff that stands out in the memory. I think the first time I played there was 1995 or 1996 at a festival. I was so happy to finally get to Finland.”

What’s in store for you this summer?

”I’m in Lima, Peru at the moment, getting some time out of Los Angeles to work on two books I am trying to get off to the printer this year. I have some shows in Europe and America and some travel plans. I hope to get back to Antarctica later in the year. I am involved in a few television shows that are being pitched at the moment, read that as a 99% chance none of them will happen.”

Last but not least, how would Henry Rollins save the world?

”Education would be my best attempt to make things better. More culture, more music and art. Get young people to other countries to see how other people live and perhaps give them a bigger sense of the world and their relative smallness in it. Homo sapiens, the species, is for the most part, doomed, so you might as well enjoy yourself before it all goes up in flames.”

Muun muassa Black Flagin ja Rollins Bandin nokkamiehenä sekä spoken word -esiintyjänä tunnetun Rollinsin tarinoita ja musiikkivalintoja kuullaan radiossa 7. kesäkuuta alkaen. Ohjelmasarjan avaa 31.5. kuultava esittelyjakso, joka on kattava katsaus miehen uraan ja tuotantoon.