Rollins Band
By All Music Guide
By All Music Guide
A steady stream of releases followed: 1988s Life Time (produced by Fugazis Ian MacKaye), 1989s Do It and Hard Volume, as well as the 1990 live set Turned On. 1990 also saw the release of Fast Food for Thought, a one-off experimental side project by Rollins and Weiss, dubbed Wartime. But the Rollins Band caught their big break when Perry Farrell invited them to join his inaugural Lollapalooza festival tour in the summer of 1991 (which also included such acts as Nine Inch Nails, Living Colour, Ice T, Siouxse & the Banshees, and headlined Janes Addiction). Opening up the days multi-band concert proved to be quite a challenge -- playing in the baking early afternoon heat while concert-goers were still arriving -- but the thousands who had never even heard of the Rollins Band were now well aware of the groups gripping, thought-provoking heavy rock. The buzz on the band was growing and their next release, 1992s The End of Silence (their first for Imago Records), proved to be their best selling album thus far, spawning such popular MTV videos as Low Self Opinion and Tearing, while Henry Rollins began appearing regularly on the network as a guest VJ or on specialty programs.
Weiss left the band after the tour in support of End of Silence wrapped up (later turning up on releases by the Butthole Surfers, Helios Creed, Yoko Ono, Pigface, and Ween) and was replaced by New York City funk bassist Melvin Gibbs, recommended by Living Colours Vernon Reid. The Rollins Bands 1994 release Weight proved to be the biggest hit of their career, due to MTVs heavy rotation of the striking Anton Corbijn-directed clip for Liar (which saw Rollins wearing different costumes and, at several points, covered from head to toe in red paint). A memorable appearance at Woodstock 94 followed shortly thereafter as the band continued their relentless touring schedule. 1997 saw the release of the bands debut for the massive DreamWorks label, Come in and Burn, but stagnation began setting in and Rollins dismissed his bandmates shortly after the conclusion of its supporting tour. Haskett later played on David Bowies Hours, as well as continuing a solo career, while the others showed up on other artists records as well. The stopgap live set, Live in Australia 1990, was issued in 1999 as Henry Rollins assembled a whole new Rollins Band lineup, consisting of L.A. rockers Mother Superior. 2000s Get Some Go Again was the new lineups first album together.
