Henry Rollins: The Column! Sleep is the Cousin of Death

By Henry Rollins Thu., Oct. 27 2011 at 6:30 AM

[Look for your weekly fix from the one and only Henry Rollins right here on West Coast Sound every Thursday, and come back tomorrow for the awesomely annotated playlist for his Saturday KCRW broadcast.]

I have spent well over half of the last 30 years living on the road, all over the world. The two major constants in this time have been music and sleep deprivation.

I spend several days at a time without enough sleep. At first, normal activities become annoying. When you are too tired to eat, you really need some sleep. A few days later, things become strange. Loud noises become louder and more startling, familiar sounds become unfamiliar, and life reinvents itself as a surrealist dream. I always think it's what living in a Brian Eno album would be like. A couple of days later, still low on sleep, I forget what it was like to be rested, and that's when things get interesting.

I have been out and about in America for the last couple of weeks, shamelessly flogging my new book, Occupants. The routine runs like this: I arrive at a bookstore in the early evening. A little while later, people show up and sit or stand where they can. Someone at the bookstore introduces me and I go out in front of the people and talk to them about the book, travel and whatever else comes to mind. I do this for 35 to 45 minutes. After that, I hang out with everyone. I sign their books, albums or arms, take photos with them, listen to their stories and whatever else until they all leave. Then I leave.

The whole thing from the first word into the microphone to the last handshake is about three hours, nonstop. I get into a taxi and go back to a hotel room. The people I met that night stay in my mind and I think about them for quite a while after the event is over. It's a hell of a thing to go from all that to a small room. I like these people. They are incredibly friendly and thoughtful; they keep me extremely motivated.

It is not easy to meet and engage with that many people on a regular basis, and it takes a toll. My mind gets crowded; sometimes my own thoughts become harder to locate. As soon as I can wind down enough, I try to sleep for a few hours, and then it's off to the airport and on to the next city.

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YEAH WAY

Wolf Eyes are the shit! Even Braxton loves them, but then again he's really into Tom Petty with equal zeal.

Henry, could you please write this thrillion-dollar book? -- A guide to bodybuilding that puts kids on the same program that intense Vietnam Vet teacher put you on when you were a kid. If you think that lifting improved your overall confidence and sense of well-being and at least tangentially put you on the path to success, why not share the process with other potentially puny proto-punks out there? Routines, nutrition, stretching and shit, pearls of wisdom, some tunes to pump you up for deadlifts that isn't the new Black Eyed Peas they've got blasting in the gym. You're rare in that you undertook a serious lifting program despite punk seeming to be anti-jock to the core; unfortunately the latent antagonism towards being in shape within whatever you might call the counter-culture leads to the cool people getting their asses stomped by the Jersey Shore dudes.Empower these kids, nobody teaches you how to lift weights unless you play sports, and they don't; we need Uncle Henry to whip the hooligans into decent shape for the circle pit.

Jennie Vasquez

Amen to that. I would take it a step further and say that a book like this would also help service members returning from war. Many are coming back to a world that doesn't understand them and are self medicating with drugs and alcohol. I think a book like the one you described could help those dealing with PTSD or physical injuries focus on becoming stronger physically which leads to becoming stronger mentally. These young people could really use his guidance.

Jennie Vasquez

Given the opportunity, I think many of us would trade sleep for more adventure.As the say goes "You can sleep when you are dead." On a similar but different note, kudos to first responders who always lack sleep in the time of an emergency. I imagine in Turkey, there are folks that haven't slept for days searching for survivors.