After a five-year wait, Henry Rollins is finally back in the UK. From this week, he’ll embark on one of his famed speaking tours – the Good to See You jaunt that was postponed as a result of the pandemic. It’s good news for fans as well as the former Black Flag frontman, who said in a press release that “there were several months where I didn’t think I’d be doing shows ever again”.
“I’ve got a lot of stories since I was last with you: travel before Covid and some truly crazy/memorable events that transpired over the last couple of years, which made perfect material for storytelling,” he said. “I’d rather not get into it here but ask (beg) you show up to hear me roll it out in person.”
Before the speaking tour kicks off, consider the Guardian’s Reader Interview your opportunity for a bespoke mini-audience with Rollins, where you can ask him about anything from across an esteemed career spanning 40-plus years. There are his early days in hardcore punk band State of Alert, then his five years in Black Flag, which ended with Rollins, who grew increasingly physically intense, developing an adversarial relationship with his bandmates and the band’s fans. He quit to start his career as a noted spoken-word performer, as well as fronting his own band before quitting music in the early 2000s.
You can ask him about any of that – or his lifelong friendship with Ian MacKaye, the pivotal two weeks he spent living in Leeds in 1986 or being recorded by the hardcore producer Glen “Spot” Lockett, who died on 4 March – when Rollins takes your questions next week. Post them in the comments section by 10am GMT on 20 March and we’ll put the best to him.
• The Good to See You tour starts at the De La Warr pavilion, Bexhill-on-Sea, on 24 March.
