HENRY ROLLINS On His Rumored Punk Rock Museum: 'It's The Biggest Project I've Ever Tried To Pull Off The Hook'

On April 5, Henry Rollins — musician, spoken-word artist and one of the forerunners of the hardcore punk scene — was at VersoFest 2025, joined in conversation with fellow author and musician Nabil Ayers. As part of their Verso Visionary Conversation, the two discussed everything from Rollins's childhood, his induction into BLACK FLAG to their shared experiences growing up in the hardcore scene.

Asked what he is next for him and what project he is currently excited about, Henry said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "I'm excited about everything that I'm doing always. I'm obsessed with the things that I do.

"Years ago I had this house in the Hollywood Hills full of rare punk rock items," he continued. "I'm one of those guys, I've been collecting punk rock things since Carter was president. And I used to be in a band that had a lot of flyers and posters attached to it, and I was the guy in the band who kept everything. I used to sleep on people's floors, 'Hey, HÜSKER DÜ, can I have that record?' 'Here, man.' And I kept everything, 'cause it's all really cool looking. And so at one point, I'm in my place in Los Angeles and the bottom floor's offices for [my manager] Heidi and I. We have a wall to separate us for our mutual safety… The place is wallpapered with rare things, rare flyers, framed album artwork, four deep things stacked against the wall, all archivally framed at great expense. She goes, 'What are we doing?' I go, 'What do you mean?' She's, like, 'What's all this stuff?' I go, 'I just buy stuff, frame it, look at it.' And she goes, 'Well, no one comes to your house 'cause you're a weirdo loner. And so you need to find a way for people at large to see this stuff, 'cause you've tipped a scale. You're now depriving people of joy. People love that album. You own the artwork. People should see that, not just two people a year who come here, like tax adjuster and exterminator.' I don't know people.

"And so I've endeavored to hopefully make this stuff for the people," Henry explained. "And so I'm working towards that. It's a huge project. I'm loathe to put a cart in front of the horse 'cause you're just talking. I'd rather show you what I've done than tell you what I'm going to do. How do they say? Underpromise, overdeliver. I love that. And so I'm working towards an end where all these cool things that I have will be easily accessible to you. Because music is a love affair. You love some band. It doesn't matter who it is, what it is, or what your friends think of that band. That music has come to your rescue often more than your friends. Your records are more semper fi than your friends. Your records like extended attention, unless they're slightly warped. But so are you. And if you treat them right, they'll report to you every time you put the needle down until you die. It's a good thing to like music 'cause it will be your friend to the end. And so we all love music in some kind of way. Records have saved our lives. Shows have changed the course of our lives, maybe. Okay. I can't tell you how you are. And so I love that love affair. And that's why on eBay, when people like sell you a fake something… We come here 'cause we love music and we're paying too much for these things. How can you steal from someone who loves rock and roll?"

Rollins added: "I've been to about 90 countries. I have this dumb idea that I can walk up to anyone in any city, anywhere in the world who has a RAMONES shirt and just go, like, 'Hey. All right.' And they'll go, like, 'Oh my God. You're that guy. What happened? You shrunk.' And so I wanna basically have that love affair so people can walk in and go, like, 'Oh, I feel so good.' Spread joy. That's the mission. And so I moved to Nashville, Tennessee to further that. But since I have nothing to show you, I can't really talk about it because it's just talk. Give me a year, and you'll see a press release and you'll go, 'Oh, that's the thing.' And it won't be subtle. It'll be really cool.'

"And so that's what I'm excited about next," Henry concluded. "It's the biggest project I've ever tried to pull off the hook."

Back in August 2022, Nashville Scene reported that Rollins had purchased a commercial building in Nashville for $2.7 million. At the time it was not clear what Rollins had planned to do with the space, which previously housed an HVAC company.

When Rollins previously talked about his "major project" he moved to Nashville to realize, he told The Guardian in a March 2023 interview that it was something he had "been working on for a couple of years with my manager, Heidi May, and I've put my life savings into it. All I can say is that it will make people smile until their faces hurt."

Rollins has toured the world as a spoken-word artist, as frontman for both ROLLINS BAND and BLACK FLAG and as a solitary traveler with insatiable curiosity, favoring road-less-traveled locales in places such as Nepal, Sri Lanka, Siberia, North Korea, South Sudan and Iran.

When he's not traveling, Rollins prefers a to keep a relentless schedule full of work, with gigs as an actor, author, DJ, voice-over artist and TV show host to name a few of the roles that keep him occupied.

As a spoken-word artist, Rollins regularly performs at colleges and theaters worldwide and has released a number of spoken-word recordings. His album "Get In The Van" won the Grammy for "Best Spoken Word Album" for 1995. As an actor, he has appeared in "The Chase", "Johnny Mnemonic", "Heat" and David Lynch's film "Lost Highway".

VersoFest is The Westport Library's annual music and media conference and festival, where knowledge is shared and inspiration is discovered — a forum for media creators, artists, and fans to converge.