For some reason, speaking about Chris Haskett, it's very difficult for me to say something concrete. Before the formal break-up of Rollins Band, Chris successfully started his solo-career with his debut album “Language”. The album was recorded with his friends Henry Rollins and Roland S. Howard. Nowadays Chris continues his career periodically releasing something new and interesting. The last album of the guitarist was released this year. I already wrote about it. But talking about the album itself – it’s a really decent work.

In this interview for Punk Globe magazine Chris Haskett talks about performing at Woodstock, his work with Roland S. Howard, his solo career, and his coming albums.

Punk Globe: One of the reasons why the Rollins Band has become incredibly popular is your performances. Even now, after the actual completion of the band, your concerts are legendary. In your opinion, what made you a successful band?

Chris: I think it was the combination of things. We worked extremely hard. Also, there was a legacy that influenced us…Lots of things that…it’s funny but goes back to Chuck Dukowski in Black Flag. From what I understood from Henry – it was Chuck and Greg who really had this incredibly strong work ethic. And it was something Henry stepped to when he joined Black Flag. And that was the attitude and expectation that he brought to our work with the Rollins Band – with my first band. It was my first really big touring band. And I didn’t know any different so we worked, just worked really hard, we rehearsed. Usually when we were working we rehearsed five days a week – almost all day. We would just play and jam and have ideas and try stuff. And when we went out to play – we played extremely hard. From the point of view of spiritual experience, you’d really go out and try to liberate yourself – to play so hard and just be amazing. It was an attitude to things, so I think it helped us a lot. As much as a music too. It was good, very good – a kind of post-King Crimson punk-rock-hard-rock. And Henry is a unique front man. So this combination of things really came together. So if we hadn’t all those factors – if Henry wasn’t such an amazing front man, it probably wouldn’t have worked. And if Henry was just Henry and the band hadn’t worked so hard – it also wouldn’t have worked. But it also takes a little bit of luck.

Punk Globe: You talked about King Crimson as an influence... In what way did they influence your band?

Chris: Well, it wasn’t so much of the things connected with their performances. I also wouldn’t use the word “chaos”. We did improvise a lot but the Rollins Band was a very, very, very disciplined band…when I came to music ( laughs). But King Crimson’s influence was more musical. And especially the era of King Crimson influenced this things. There were three records in particular, at the beginning of the 70’s – Starless and Bible Black, Larks’ Tongues in Aspic and Red. And just the aesthetics of those records…they’re so heavy. And they have almost dark quality – they’re almost metal. But they a kind of richer. Because a lot of metal has no depth. And those King Crimson records are very, very heavy and dark. They have an incredible musical tension. But they’re also very rich with a lot of depth. The tonalities within the intervals and the progressions – they use a lot of flatted fifths which creates a kind of dark tone. And also just a radical dynamics, if you’re listening to these records – they’re incredibly from powerful - from heavy rich chords to near silence. The dynamic change and the tension that that creates is amazing. So it was more than musical aesthetic than the performance aesthetic , you can hear it very much on “Lifetime” and “Hard Volume”. And they also improvised a lot. A lot of King Crimson stuff is just jamming. It’s not noodling, they’re doing collective improvisation. It’s not all written out. And some of the most amazing parts of their music were just improvised. That was what we also brought into Rollins Band. There was a lot of space for improvisation. Not noodling, not a kind of wasting time. But actually making unwritten music happen. And it’s also came from Grateful Dead.

Punk Globe: One of the most amazing bands I ever heard!

Chris: Yes, the fearlessness, the courage, to recognize that you are all listening to each other and paying attention. And keeping your ego away as much as possible. And let the music lead. That was such a thing King Crimson were bigger influence but that courage – it’s not unique to any kind of music. I just heard a really nice quote from Tony Williams, who was answering one of the questions in one of his interviews and the interviewer asked: “You played with John Coltrane and Miles Davis and John McLaughlin and what do you think made them great, what do they have common ?” – and Williams said: “They were all unafraid to make mistakes”. And you’ve got to have that trust – just going back to the topic of improvisation. You must have a trust, and a certain amount of courage, and ability to step off and listen and trust that the music will be there for you. Otherwise it’s gonna fail. That’s that main Crimson thing. I mean, the original first record that Henry and I did together, just before Rollins Band was “Hot Animal Machine”, that doesn’t have the same kind of aesthetic. Back then, I was into Crimson but I didn’t use much of their stuff in my work. In this case, believe it or not, I was influenced by The Birthday Party. When I was writing on my own, when I was living in England, I was really in a certain kind of angularity and very much into The Fall and The Birthday Party. And a kind of angular British stuff. And then I moved to America, where I worked with Andrew and Sim – at that part of my career, that’s when the Crimson came in.

Punk Globe: Before our interview, you mentioned that you as a musician have a habit of not stopping work. However, your last album was released in 2014. So can we expect your next work soon?

Chris: As soon as iTunes approve the artwork (laughs ). I have a record – I’m always writing and a few years behind on a couple of projects. So I have three releases ready. Nearly ready to came out. One actually sitting at Spotify and iTunes at the moment, waiting for approval. It’s a record I did while I was living in New York, back to the late 90s and early 2000s. At that time I have a number of smaller bands one of which was a really cool project with Percy Jones – the bass player of “Brand X”. And two drummers: Lance Carter, who used to play with Sonny Sharrock and the drummer Gerry White, well-known being a member of different hardcore bands, like Bowhead and Labretta Suede. And the project was called “Letter 27”. I'm always interested in the ineffable, i.e. things beyond language. The roman alphabet has only 26 letters so "Letter 27" was meant to evoke the thing that starts where language ends.

Then I did some sessions with“Letter 27” in 2002. Little embarrassing cause it took me so long to finish it. And I’ve been working on that for the past couple of years. So now it’s finally done and mastered. ITunes has very strict guidelines on how songs can be titled and credited on the artwork. The record is called “Comprovisations in Linear B” ( A combination of “Composition” and “Improvisation” ). It’s actually very influenced by Sonny Sharrock. Of course as lots of my albums this work is instrumental, but there are some vocal parts, from the radio etc. The whole sound is actually like…New York downtown 1980’s guitar record. That should be out soon. There are also a record, more conventional than my last record, in point of view of guitar rock. In some way “Jeff-Beck-ish” style. It should be coming out hopefully in July. And it’s called “Insufficient Necessities”. This is a four song EP which I did with my Dutch band. And in the beginning of 2019 there are another record, which is probably would be called “Partly Uncovered”, which would include cover-versions of different songs. And talking about this record – I’m really excited. It’s really diverse. I’ll have Sonny Sharrock’s tune, Grateful Dead, and unreleased Led Zeppelin’s instrumental…if I can get permission for it…( laughs ). Also there would be Average White Band and maybe Montrose…I’m not sure (laughs).

Punk Globe: Can you tell us about your new Dutch band?

Chris: Well, we have a new members, because our drummer, Nick Enfield, has moved to Australia. Now he’s working at linguistic department at the University of Sydney. And Mirna moved back to Brazil. She is a just amazing activist, being a member of different social projects. So my new band is all Dutch guys.

Punk Globe: As for me, among all your albums, "Language" stands apart. A kind of mix of folk and experimental music. But most of all, I was surprised by the participation of Rowland S. Howard in the recording. Can you tell me, how did you get to know each other?

Chris: I would love to, actually I’m astonished with your description. It’s very big compliment as the record itself is hard. It’s not easy listening to it. It’s very odd, very strange record. But I love it, I’m very proud of it. And you exactly right. It’s a mix of folk, even blues with some kind of almost Fripp-ish melodies. There are lots of Robert Fripp’s influence on the tunes. But talking honestly – It’s really hard for me to describe it. It wasn’t conscious. It was just the music that was in my head at that time. It took on the direction and I just let it go! So in this way it was me being unafraid to be strange in the way that you get with somebody like Captain Beefheart. And as for Rowland, it was really cool! Before I moved back to America, I was living in The UK, and the first time I saw The Birthday Party it blew my mind! I’ve never seen anything like it…expect maybe a band like Black Flag and a couple of others. It was Truth, that real, raw purity of sound. And as a guitar player, I wanted to speak with their guitar player. Basically I originally met him to do an interview, and that didn’t happen. But we just became friends. And I used to visit him when he was doing “These Immortal Souls” with Genevieve McGuckin. And they were very-very poor at that period. So I always brought some food and would ‘accidentally’ leave it behind. And who wouldn’t want to play with Rowland ? He could be a major pain in the ass, it was like a pulling teeth getting him to a session…But I love the way he played! And also, as far as I know, he hadn’t recorded anything acoustically. So it was a challenge for both of us. It’s easy to make a kind of noise on an electric guitar. But how can you bring those textures, that kind of geometry…playing an acoustic guitar? We recorded a fair amount of stuff, pretty much stereo. And I used…four of the tracks, I did with him, making this record. And all the rest – for the future. I don’t only when It would came out. I only, recently got digitized copies of almost all of my old recordings, which also includes the stuff I recorded with Rowland, I didn’t use yet! So now I’m going to give it a good listen and see if I can edit some of that. There are lots of the songs waiting that maybe I can make into something usable, and interesting. So hopefully our work with Rowland appear someday…I got so much music I haven’t finished, it’s depressing me ( laughs ). So that’s how I ended up with Rowland. And when he moved back to Australia, I would see him from time to time but we never played together again, after that.

Punk Globe: Based on your previous interviews, I would like to ask you a question about "Come in and Burn". Undoubtedly, this is the classical work for the alternative. In 1997 you gave a concert in Moscow - quite a bright and significant event. What exactly do you remember from the tour? Do you have any bright memories from it?

Chris: I think it was the second time when we were in Moscow. I think our first time in Moscow was in 1994…However we played there twice.

Punk Globe: Well, I could be mistaken, as there wasn’t a lot of mass-media and Internet at that time.

Chris: Yes-yes. But it think it was our second time. It was quite good. Because growing in the USA in 60’s and 70’s, and having Nixon as president, Russia was some mysterious place. And it was wonderful to be able to come. And the audience were fantastic! I don’t really remember with whom we played…but one time we played with the band called “Va-Bank”. And they were very good. But I think they were a little bit metal. However we were really glad to have a local support. The crowds were really cool…I think at the second time we were there we did a press-conference…Let me think…What I remember about Moscow. The first time we were there was fight after Yeltsin became premier. Because I remember us going and seeing White House with burn marks outside the windows. I remember myself looking around when I took a walk – I wanted to go round places and visit places where I’ve never been. And it was hard being a vegetarian. Melvin, our bassist and our drum-tech was also vegetarians. And the only place to get food right after the gig was at the casinos. And I remember us waiting for the food, and they finally brought out this plate of what looked like steaming sea-weed. It was so disgusting that we couldn’t eat it ( laughs ). We played in an old aircraft factory, I think, do you know where it was?

Punk Globe: You know, at that period there weren’t lots of concert halls, etc. So it could be anywhere (laughs). And talking about the biggest gigs during that period…The biggest of them was “Monsters of Rock” in 1991. When Metallica, AC/DC, Pantera, and The Black Crowes played for over the one million people. But there weren’t a lot of very popular bands coming in Russia at that time. So all the people visiting the concerts – neither the concerts of Rollins Band, or Nick Cave, or Pantera remember it very well. In fact, taking into account that there were lots of photos of these events. I’ve found only a few photos of your visiting.

Chris: I think we were there in 1994. Then when we came back people just remarked on that. It was the same when we went to Australia. But it was good. Lots of bands came there at once, because they were curious. And not so many come back. And I liked it! I liked playing almost everywhere. I remember hearing in 1994 how difficult it was for bands there not just to play, but to get equipment as well as reliable stuff. And there were lots of bands working really hard. In the West it was much easier. There were a culture, and many more clubs. Equipment was cheaper and easier to get anything, to organize. And there were some places…like Budapest or Ljubljana – places that hadn’t got the same…cultural support publicly. And all the things were really underground. We were really amazed about their work and time they’ve put into. Punk rock was hard in the West…but man…punk rock in Budapest was pretty hard too ( laughs). And I remember the same in Moscow!

Punk Globe: Some time ago, I had an interview with Jack Grisham of TSOL. It was maybe a half a year ago… And for one of the questions, I’ve showed him the recording of one hardcore band from USSR. Maybe it was the only one band…And they had really serious problems with KGB. Their singer - Yegor Letov was sent to asylum with their help. Jack said that they sound pretty much like Dead Kennedys.

Chris: You know, I just discovered that there are really-really cool scene in Beijing! Lots of amazing bands playing there. There is a band called P.K. 14 and many other interesting bands. And in comparison with other cities, Beijing has much more resources and population. But still it’s hard doing it, playing punk rock there. And probably all such a bands and artists are described in a book, called “Sound Kapital: Beijing's Music Underground”. It was made by photographer - Matthew Niederhauser, who lived here, seeing all these bands. And he organized a few American shows for some of these bands. But the funny thing that – he’s from Washington, where I came from. And when the bands were coming to Washington, what they wanted to do more than anything else was to go to “Dischord “ house and meet Ian MacKaye. And they did! These things – going there and meeting Ian, it was important for them. But however it’s really interesting and cool, seeing this level of dedication anywhere. And the level than much hard in anything, whether it’s Moscow or Beijing. And what happened with the singer that was sent to mental hospital, was he ok ?

Punk Globe: Well, he had some help from his musician friends. So after this he became more popular, recording with many different bands. For example, he recorded something like 15 albums with one of his side-projects. He was recording something like one album a week.

But talking about your work with Ian. Without any doubt, it has changed over the years. Among the fans there is an opinion that Ian MacKaye, as a producer, "gave" you this most memorable sound. What do you think about this "version"?

Chris: Well, Ian produced “Life Time”. But he didn’t have to do very much. We wrote most of that songs…we actually wrote most of the songs here, in Netherlands. We did 10 weeks in Europe, before we recorded the album. And after that time, we went to the studio with Ian. So by the time we went to the studio those songs were basically finished. It wasn’t like he had to come in and a lot of re-arranging. We basically had our sound band our aesthetic! And a part of his job was to be like our objective ears and eyes. And Theo Van Rock who became a member of the band as our soundman was also there. He had been doing our sound for 10 weeks, before we got to the studio. So between Ian, Theo and engineer – Geoff Clout, they actually captured the sound of the band…And that was cool! But talking about Ian. He got me to have much better guitar sound, then I would have had myself. So it’s definitely true. And it was one of the things... I don’t think I agreed at that time. But he was right, talking about how the guitar should sound! So I think that Ian wasn’t so much involved in creating the sound as much as making sure that it was captured accurately.

Punk Globe: If Ian gave you a sound, then Anton Corbijn in turn made one of the most memorable videos for you. Of course I'm talking about "Liar". You said many times that during work on this, you wouldn't have thought of it as an extra-popular song.

Chris: Yes, I was very surprised actually!

Punk Globe: So why did you choose this song for the clip with Anton?

Chris: You know, it was the choice of record company. If it would be my choice – it would be “Disconnect”, to put it as the first single. But that’s why I’m the guitar player, not the record company, so…(laughs).

Punk Globe: But “Disconnect” was also a very successful song. And the video was very well made.

Chris: Yes, it was Ted Demme, the brother of Jonathan Demme, did it. But talking about “Liar” – I was actually very angry, when I discovered that they’d chosen “Liar” to be the first song. I thought “This is never gonna work!” And for me, we have to work harder. But they made a good video of the song, and at the end – they made it work! I think “Disconnect” is a better song. But as I said – I’m the guitar player, not the executive.

Punk Globe: But I think the clip made you popular. As one of the main alternative bands of 1990’s. As Anton worked with Depeche Mode, Nirvana and many others…

Chris: Oh, he’s amazing!

Punk Globe: I would like to ask about your work as a session musician. Of course, you already have a lot of experience, starting from the work with David Bowie, finishing with the Tool. With Tool, you and Henry collaborated like famous musicians and one of the headliners of alternative music in general, but combining this experience with your work with Bowie. But, how difficult was it for you to adjust to the norms that you needed to observe?

Chris: It’s actually the chronology is other way round. The Tool stuff…to be honest, a lots of people ask me about it, but I never played any guitar with Tool! When the band was working on their first LP, with Sylvia Massy, who produced it. And one of the things Sylvia wanted to do as a really amazing producer was get the sound of destroying a piano. So that’s was what we were doing there…We didn’t play any guitar, bass, drums or stuff like that. They had an upright piano and they put microphones, contacts and all over it. And we took hammers and fired shotguns, and we beat it…that was the sound, they wanted to get. So that was our collaboration with Tool. It wasn’t playing the guitar ( laughs). And people now just ask me like “Oh, wow! You played guitar with Tool!” And I like “Oh, no. I was just destroying a piano for Tool.”(laughs)…very rarely I’ve been hired as a session musician. Usually the producer calls you and says “Ok. Come to the studio. We need guitar for this track.” Usually it’s been more kind of collaborative. So one of the few times when I’ve been a session musician was for Lloyd Cole. The Bowie stuff…I actually been hired to be in the band. At that period of time I was hanging with David’s guitar player - Reeves Gabrels, a good friend of mine. And Reeves and David decided that they want to have me in their touring band, for an upcoming tour. They were finishing the “Hours” record…and to be fair, if you have Reeves Gabrels in your band, you don’t need another guitar player. But Reeves is a very nice person and he insisted that he wanted to a track in a certain way, like having irregular pauses. So it’s extremely hard being a second guitar on it, with an overdub. So they needed a live second guitar. So he needed me to play, which was very nice. The ironic thing that growing up, David Bowie was one of my heroes. And getting to hang out with him was like, an amazing time in my life. And the irony is that when I finally get to play with him – I played terribly! ( laughs) Fortunately the engineer- Mark Plati, was able to help me to clean it up. So I think when you’re working with anybody, on their own music as an outside musician you have to balance a number of things. Firstly: understand what do they want, secondly – is what they want what you think the music needs, and the last one: after you’ve got what they want – what would be musically appropriate? And at last – what sounds “most like me” doing that ? Because sometimes I feel bad for some musicians, as they ask to play way below the ability. And the people think that it’s the best thing they can do…It’s kind like a drama. Sometimes you’ll see a movie and you’ll see an actor. And the actor is just terrible. And someone would say “He can’t act!”. But very often it’s an extremely talented and professional actor being badly directed. Sometimes the director can be wrong, sometimes producer can be wrong, asking you to do what you wouldn’t choose. So you need to balance all those things.

Punk Globe: There is an opinion that your individual manner of playing affects what you’re playing. And it’s definitely hard to say that some musicians are playing in the context of one style, as all of them are unique people with their own, authentic manner. So what do you think about such a things, like when somebody comes to a band, brining a new things to the whole sound?

Chris: Any musicians, if they’re good musicians and playing honestly, they a kind of bring they own DNA. Hopefully making the things a little bit richer. But in terms of style, it’s a hard thing to define…I define my style by my complete failure to play the music I hear in my head ( laughs ), the way I hear it. One night I talked with guitar player Mark Ribot, who is very-very excellent musician. We were talking and I said something like: “My style is my complete failure to sound like a people I’m copying.” And he said: “Yeah, well that’s all of us.” I (jokingly) would say that originally, when I started out, my “style” was my inability to sound like Keith Richards and Johnny Winter. And then my sound was my inability to sound like John McLaughlin and Robert Fripp. And now, my sound is my inability to sound like Jeff Beck ( laughs ). To such a degree it’s not even recognizable to people. They don’t even hear who I’m stealing from – so they think it’s unique. But in some ways it doesn’t matter. You aim for a destination, you aim for a goal. And on the journey there, you get taken off in a different direction. And that’s what your style is. It’s kind of natural. If you listen to what is going on inside of yourself and you are honest, the music will lead you places that you didn’t expect. No matter where you originally intended to go, you’ll end up somewhere interesting if you’re honest. And hopefully if you’re honest, you’ll bring that to the other projects and people you’re working with. And the other people will bring their styles and then hopefully these things combine in the way that DNA combines to make something new. Sometimes it mutates, and sometimes it just joins. And hopefully you’ll get something rich and worthwhile and beautiful.

Punk Globe: You always stated that being members of the Rollins Band, you were a real band. And all your creativity is the result of the efforts of each participant. After 1997, the Rollins Band ceased its activity. Your reunion occurred only in 2006. Was it everyone’s decision to break up the band?

Chris: It’s funny…in 1997…the Rollins Band didn’t cease. Henry just got a whole new band. Which hurt my feelings a bit. But in 1997 we were pretty burned out. I think we were tired and…we hadn’t had a break. And I don’t think we realized how much we needed a rest. I think, in hindsight, we should have just taken a year off. Away from each other, away from music. It wasn’t like we weren’t getting along, it’s just everybody was so exhausted and so stressed out. And it would have been a better thing just to take time off and then re-convene. And I thought that was what was going to happen. When I talked to the crew and other people, it was obvious to pretty much everybody but me that the band was either going to break up or needed to take a break. I was a kind of the eternal optimist and didn’t see it. But at the end I was quite surprised actually. And I think the new project Henry was doing with Mother Superior ended up being called “Rollins Band”; that was management’s decision – I don’t think it was Henry’s decision. But with it, I think it’s kind of confused things, to keep the name. But you know…that’s how things go sometimes. It would not have been my choice. I don’t think that it would be anybody’s choice. It’s just that when Henry started doing the new project, that a kind of closed the door on the previous Rollins Band for a while. And in 2006 we got together…It was really great for a while. In 2006 we were a better band then we were in 1997. Because we had had that break, we could come back to things being really fresh. And there was less ego invested and more space. And everybody was a little older and more mature. And it was fun! We could do it just for the joy. And it’s really the place where the best music comes from. It’s funny, it’s like…when you put on your old clothes and acting like an old you. It started out new and fresh and once we got on tour. We were playing with another band – the great American band called X. We had basically the same audience. But the tour…it didn’t go great. I think we would have done it better if we just gone back into the little clubs. Sweaty little clubs just for the fans – that would have been a much smarter way to go. By the end of this little American tour, the wheels came off. Older habits came in, older dynamics came back. And it just wasn’t fun. It’s a shame but you wanna leave things when they’re great…as we say in English “It’s like flogging a dead horse.” You want things to end with a good memory.

Punk Globe: Continuing the theme of your concerts. You know, perhaps one of the most memorable concerts for me personally was "Woodstock" in 1994. What was it like to perform on the same stage,where Jimi Hendrix, Jefferson Airplane and many others played?

Chris: It was actually different location than the original Woodstock. And I have to say, actually, that I’m really glad as the original Woodstock was a disaster ( laughs ). And talking about our Woodstock – it was an interesting event. For me it was extremely stressful. When I was younger I didn’t remember to enjoy myself enough when I was playing. But also I was having troubles with my amplifiers, and wasn’t sure if they were going to work. And we only got them to work just before show time. So for me it was extremely stressful and I wasn’t able to relax until afterwards. And then I had a second stress which was I really wanted to get home for a couple of days off down to Washington, where I lived. But for me, what was really cool was I actually got to met Stephen Stills, who is one of my favorite guitar players so that was a real big high point. I wish I could have stayed there, to see Aerosmith, who were the headliners that night…Later on, I heard the tapes of that show, and they were fantastic. But talking about our impressions: we walked on the stage and there were 450,000 people in front of you and you don’t know if your amp’s gonna work ( laughs )... It’s a little bit stressful! But it was a really good gig. I remember the rain started – practically Biblical rain started, while we were playing. Which was amazing! And accidentally, it was a little bit of a shame, because we were on one stage, exactly when Primus were on another stage. And the people who wanted to see Primus couldn’t see us and the people who wanted to see us couldn’t see Primus, which is a shame. But also for the live television broadcast they were showing, like, 15 minutes of one band, and 15 minutes of another and so on. So what happened during our concert was that a truck accidentally knocked the cable of video feed from the other stage, out. So actually our entire performance got broadcast on television ( laughs ), and almost nobody else’s did. Which was lucky for us, but not so good for Primus. But it was cool. You did recognize that you’re participating in something big. But as it’s said – it’s always much easier afterwards.

Punk Globe: You toured quite a lot with the Rollins Band. Recorded a lot of live albums, among which one recorded in Australia and the second in Austria. Among other things, you wrote the first two albums in the UK. And, as far as I know, you yourself have spent quite a long time in the Netherlands. Tell me, can you say that you were influenced by the folk music from different countries? For example, Brendan Perry once said that the style of Lisa Gerard was influenced by Bulgarian folk music.

Chris: Well, the first two records were recorded in England, because, that’s where I was living, and studio where we recorded them was also near, and I knew the engineers. And the chronology was that first live record we recorded was “Turned On”. Actually our first live stuff is actually on a B-side of “Do It” EP. There also was a split record we recorded with the Dutch band “Gore”, which came out in 1987. One side was “Gore” live, one side was “Rollins Band” live. The recording itself was made during the American tour, we’d done immediately before. So later on, after “Turned On” came out, we had “Insert Band Here” which was the Australian one and a Japan one which is called “Electroconvulsive therapy” …because we were primarily a live-band! And I think the real power and strength of that band was in the live-performances. It was much harder to capture in the studio. That’s the first thing about our live records. And in terms of other music – I don’t think it was particularly an influence on the Rollins’s stuff but, just in terms of music that I love, in me as a guitar player, is South-Indian classical music.Also Iranian classical music, Hossein Alizâdeh. I love the tonalities of North-African music. But I don’t think they were a big influence on the writing in Rollins Band, it’s just something that influenced me as a musician. But in terms of World-music, folk music ...when those Bulgarian women choir (Les Mysteres des Voix Bulgaires) records came out, everybody heard those, and everybody liked it! But that’s a much bigger influence on somebody like Jeff Beck and you can really hear that in the way he uses the tremolo arm on his guitar. But as I said, it wasn’t really a big influence on the writing, on the music in Rollins Band per se.

Punk Globe: Comparing your work with the Rollins Band, we can say that of course every album of the band differs from the previous one. Your album "Come in and Burn" is recognized by many as the band's hardest work. But stepping outside of it, I must say that that age of your career is the most memorable for me. I remember SNL performance with the song “Starve”, being introduced by Pamela Anderson, with her tiny voice (laughs). But after you have played a variety of styles. Do you have a personal interest in trying to create something extra-ordinary? For example, record an album in the style of psychedelic rock?

Chris: It’s really funny actually, I have lot of demos and stuff which are like 1967 psychedelic rock. So yes, absolutely! Also one of my many unfinished projects is called “Invisible Ray” and it’s like a kind of history of a fictional guitar player. And it starts out with kind of 1950s country swing. And goes through into 60’s pop, and then 60s psychedelia with Mellotron and lots of wah-wah and stuff like that. So yes, I’d love to do that. I also have my real band, but I also play in like a cover band. A project band. Just with friends and just for fun. And what we’re doing at the moment – we just did a whole evening of nothing but Velvet Underground songs. Just drinking beer and playing them live. And what we’re doing next is trash-rock and psychedelia. So we learning like an early Kink’s stuff. And really-really-really early Status Quo. When I working on my music, I don’t usually set out with a particular program. I just a kind of go to the big library in my head and find what bothering me the most that I need to finish up, and then follow the projects. It’s not very deliberate, it’s almost kind of looking into the unconscious and grabbing something.

But as to Saturday Night Live and “Come In And Burn” – the album itself is definitely the best-sounding record, aurally, in terms of sound quality, and the way the instruments sound on it – it’s the best record we made. But with that said, I also think the songs are overwritten. There was too much thinking. When we were working on it, we were in between labels. There was a big legal dispute between our old label and our new label (which we didn’t even have yet).. So we couldn’t record, we couldn’t do anything except go to the rehearsal room five days a week and work on music. And by the time we actually got round to recording “Come In And Burn”…It’s not that the music was polished, but it had too many parts. The songs are too complex…I mean, they’re great, compositionally they’re amazing. But Henry’s strength comes from kind of…clean simplicity. If you make the background behind his vocals too complex, it kind of dilutes the power of his voice. And I think that was what happened. We wrote these songs, which have too many parts. It’s still a great record! But there were a couple of things... when you look at something like…”Disconnect” has some interesting parts, but it’s a fairly straight-forward song. It doesn’t change a lot. It’s pretty simple, “Liar” also. But when you listen to the songs on “Come In And Burn” – they’re way…there are just so many parts in those songs. Except something like “Starve”. Which was actually the producers idea. He said, “Go play a hardcore song on dropped D”. And I said “OK”. The other thing is, there was no single. That was part of the reason. The Rollins Band was never a ‘pop’ band but you have to have something [to get the audience’s attention]. Cause 1997 ... just before Napster and before the Internet becomes the main media force for distributing music. So you still had to go to radio, you still had to go to television…And there was nothing...[the first single] “The End of Something”, it doesn’t grab you. There was no single. There was nothing to hook people with. Even after the record was finished Melvin and I said something like “Let us go away and write something very quick!”. And we did try but it got no traction. So the record came out with nothing for people to grab onto. It’s still a great record, as I said. It was a harder thing to tour on. It was a harder thing to get people’s attention with. So I think it was a little overdone. It would have been nice to go and make a record with the understanding that you have a two weeks to write and make a record. And that probably would have been great. But instead we had, like, eight months ( laughs ). Which is way too much time for people who like to write music! 
And talking about Saturday Night Live. That was actually really fun. Pam Anderson was great. And Tommy Lee was there! And that was also really fun. You don’t have to like Motley Crue, but Tommy Lee is a real musician. And as for me, it was really nice to hang out with two of them a little bit.