Henry Rollins 
Stay Fanatic!!! Vol. 1 
Hectic Expectorations for the Music Obsessive

Fanatic! Thank you for getting this book. I wanted to take this space to tell you about how it came to be. You might remember Fanatic! volumes 1-3, which were published between 2004 and 2007. I had a radio show at a station called Indie 103.1. I was there from 2004 to early 2009 when they signed off.
I made extensive notes for each show and annotated each song. I thought that they might be useful for people who were curious about music and they were really fun to write. The Fanatic! books were comprised of these notes.
When Indie closed its doors in 2009, I felt bad for the station and that all the people who had put so much into making it great were suddenly out of a job. Selfishly, I felt bad for myself as I really dug having a radio show. Playing music for people is something I’ve always liked. Having this as an actual job was incredible. Whenever I’d get a letter from someone who said they appreciated the show, it made my day. The idea that someone would take the time to check out the broadcast and actually liked it was the best thing. I started missing my radio show as soon as it was over.

A few days after Indie was history, I was rescued by Jason Bentley at 89.9 FM KCRW. He wrote and asked if I wanted a show at the station. Scarcely able to believe my good fortune, I replied immediately in the affirmative. By April of 2009, I was gainfully employed there and at the time of this writing, still am. I never know when I’ll be terminated but so far, Engineer X (my long standing sonic ally who I started with at Indie) and I seem to be in good standing with the bosses and haven’t been called into the office for a talk. I like being on KCRW. It’s where I learned how to do a radio show from the great Deirdre O’Donoghue, on her show SNAP, in the 1980s. Whenever I’m live at KCRW, I sit pretty much where I did when I was learning from her. You couldn’t imagine a better person to learn how to do a radio show from. If you have ever heard our show and liked it, the good parts are what I learned from Deirdre. I’ll tell you more about her some time.
Since I was back in harness, I wondered if I should keep up the writing like I had been doing at Indie. There was no way I wouldn’t do some kind of pre-show notes but I thought they should be different.
I found that I really liked writing about music, so I kept on typing up brief show notes, which I still do every week. However, I wanted to write about music beyond what I was doing for the radio show. I wanted to take advantage of the fact that I’ve been collecting records, flyers, set lists, clip- pings and other music related materials since the late 1970s. I wanted to be able to scan these pieces as images, imbed them on pages and write about them. I wanted to take the reader into a world of obsessive gathering and organizing. Otherwise, this stuff just sits in acid-free environments, for the most part, unseen. I also wanted to detail the record stores I go to all over the world, the epic searches I’ve embarked on to locate records and music related items, the shows I’ve been to, and so on. Basically a life of being a total music Fanatic.
So, how to do it? I tried to come up with ideas as to how to put all the enthusiasm I had for music and records into a format that would be fun for me to write and enjoyable for someone to read. Over a period of several months, I made many attempts but didn’t like the results. Yet, the desire to write about music Fanatically wouldn’t leave me alone! At some point in 2013, I was finally able to get some traction.
What I want to do, whenever possible, is to get in as deep as I can, to follow my obsession with records–different pressings, picture sleeves and a lot of the small facts that come with almost any release, write about it, show you images and provide way too much information. I’m in full Fanatic knowledge that I’m not reinventing the wheel here. This is a fanzine. Doesn’t mean it can’t be really cool.
Around this time, I found out the Stooges were going to do a show in Seoul, South Korea. I thought it would be a good idea to see them and that I could write about it and that would be a good start for this music writing. This time, I was going to write and not stop like I had in the past.
For quite awhile, I figured I would keep on with the Fanatic! title and this book would be Fanatic! Vol. IV. However, not only was the writing going to be different, so was the format. I was going to switch to a larger page size in order to give the images room to breathe. I decided that I had to come up with a new title but still wanted to retain the word “Fanatic” as well as the “!” because for the most part, the point of view of this writing is in a “!” frame of mind. I usually end the radio show and the notes, with “STAY FANATIC!!!” and so, I thought that would be the perfect title.
I’m hoping that you’ll get a kick out of the stories, images and the details that you’ll encounter in this volume and in the volumes to follow. At the time of this writing, there are three more volumes finished! Thank you for your time and of course,
STAY FANATIC!!! – Henry 04-27-18 Los Angeles, CA

About the author

In describing Henry Rollins, the tendency is to try to squeeze as many labels as possible into a single sentence.

“Rollins is many things, ” says The Washington Post, “diatribist, confessor, provocateur, humorist, even motivational speaker…his is an enthusiastic and engaging chatter.” Entertainment Weekly’s list includes “Punk Rock icon. Spoken word poet. Actor. Author. DJ. Is there anything this guy can’t do?” TV Guide has more concisely called him a “Renaissance Man” but if Henry Rollins could be reduced to a single word, that word would undoubtedly be “workaholic.” 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, just to name a few of the roles that keep his schedule full. Rollins has toured the world as a spoken word artist, as frontman for both Rollins Band and Black Flag and as a solitary traveler who favors road-less-traveled locales.

Author
Book reviews, Los Angeles Times book review section, 2019-present
Weekly guest columnist for LA Weekly, 2011-2017
Weekly guest columnist for Rolling Stone Australia, 2012-2018
Author of more than 30 books, that include auto-biographical accounts of touring with Black Flag, and The Rollins Band; travelogues detailing his trips through countries throughout the world; and a book of his travel photography titled, Occupants


Spoken Word Performer
Henry is well known for his popular spoken word performances, or “talking shows, ” that mix political commentary and personal anecdote, humor, outrage and pop culture, all with a healthy dose of skepticism.

Actor
Dreamland, motion picture, supporting actor
Portlandia, TV series, guest star
Sons of Anarchy, TV series, recurring guest star
He Never Died, motion picture, lead actor
Previous acting credits include more than 20 films, including Lost Highway, Bad Boys II, Heat, and The Chase


Voice-over work
Voice work for several animated series, including American Dad and Adventure Times

TV Host
10 Things You Don’t Know About, History Channel H2 series
Animal Underworld With Henry Rollins, National Geographic series
Born To Rage, National Geographic Explorer special
The Henry Rollins Show, IFC series
Henry’s Film Corner, IFC series

DJ
Weekly radio show host, KCRW 89.9, Los Angeles, (2009-present)
Weekly radio show host, “Harmony In My Head, ” 103.1 FM, Los Angeles, (2004-2009)

Music
Rollins Band nominated for Best Metal Performance for the song “Liar, ” 37th Annual GRAMMY Awards
Henry spearheaded the West Memphis Three benefit album Rise Above, featuring two dozen songs by his former band (Black Flag) played by his then-current Rollins Band line up
Before leading Rollins Band, Henry made his mark as the frenetic frontman for legendary band Black Flag.

Awards
Southern California Journalism Award, 2017
Ray Bradbury Award, 2014
GRAMMY Award, Get In The Van: On the Road with Black Flag, 1994