Black Flag frontman Henry Rollins heading to Australia, Illawarra with Frontier Touring

He's a punk rock icon, an author, an activist, a voice-over artist, a producer, a radio host, an actor. Hell, he even won a Grammy award in 1995 (best spoken word or non-musical album for Get In The Van - On The Road With Black Flag).

And it's this talent - his astute observational storytelling - that is bringing him back to Australia on tour.

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Rollins will perform in intimate theatres nationwide on his 18-date Good To See You tour of Australia, from regional centres - Margaret River, Alice Springs, Cairns, Sunshine Coast, Bendigo, Ballarat, Thirroul, Newcastle and Launceston - to capital cities in each state.

It's been an "interesting" couple of years, says Rollins, and he is keen to have a chat about them.

"The isolation element [of COVID lockdown] wasn't much as I'm quite solitary by nature but the lack of mobility and one tour after another being cancelled made things pretty bleak at times," he says.

"I had to count on live shows coming back at some point and concentrate on what I could do from the house which was writing, editing, radio shows and voice work for animation.

"It wasn't the best time of my life by any stretch."

Did he learn anything about the world in light of the global pandemic response?

"Not having been through a global pandemic before, I had no idea how full the world was of science-fearing virus enablers," he replies. "I guess there was no other way to find out! You could probably make money selling these anti-tyranny crusaders wreaths of garlic."

Rollins has toured the world as a spoken word artist, as frontman for both Rollins Band and Black Flag and as a solitary traveller. He's also the author of more than 30 books. He is intelligent and has an inquisitive mind and recognises that being informed can take its toll.

"I keep track of world events. People's opinions, not all that much," he says.

"I don't have the time, so I get the facts as straight as I can find them and try to make up my own mind. As far as a toll exacted, sure, there is one but at the same time, I've come to fully accept that people get up to everything from the horrible to the amazing."

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I ask if he is pessimistic or optimistic when it comes to the state of the Earth, the youth of today, and the future of humanity. Yes, a big and broad question, but not one that Rollins hasn't already contemplated.

"From the scientists I've met on the journeys I've made to places like Antarctica and the jungles of Ecuador, humans could possibly slow things down but they told me 'we' are way over the halfway point," he says.

"So, on that front, not optimistic. As far as the more immediate, when it comes to young people coming to better conclusions than their science/technology averse parents, I'm quite optimistic.

"It's going to be much harder to turn your kids into racists, so you'll have to get up earlier in the morning and put more energy into it."

Rollins could, feasibly, quite comfortably rest on his laurels given all that he has achieved to date. But he won't. There is one thing that keeps driving him to work, to perform, to tour. The audience.

"That's it. To be with an audience. To have the opportunity to give them my best," he says. "The duty to that, the aspirational adherence to focus, discipline and tenacity."

And what does he do on the odd occasion he's not working?

"It's not doom and gloom (D&G to the pros) on my watch. I have shows to do, places to go, a long list of tasks I'm committed to completing," Rollins says.

"Luckily a lot of things make me laugh. Conservative politicians are hysterically funny to me. I listen to a lot of music.

"That activity has never lost its appeal."

Henry Rollins will stop by Thirroul's Anita's Theatre on June 27.

Tickets for Henry Rollins go on sale Wednesday February 15 (Frontier Members presale tickets are on sale from February 13). For ticketing and tour details, visit: frontiertouring.com/henryrollins.

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