Title: Get in the Van
Author: Henry Rollins
Publisher: 2.13.61
Get in the Van is basically a journal Henry Rollins kept while he was
frontman for the legendary Black Flag from 1981 - 1986. I used to be really
into Black Flag so I was pretty curious what it must have been like from the
other side of the stage. With Rollins' journal entries and ton of photos,
this book attempts to explain just that. Anyone who has read any of Henry
Rollins later books and have not read this yet should check it out. Its
amazing to see through his writing how bitter he got over the years fronting
for Black Flag. After reading this book I found it pretty amazing they even
stayed together as long as they did. A word of warning, Henry Rollins
tends to bitch alot. It can get a litttle annoying at times but on a good
note, at least he writes with brutal honesty.
For some reason I think autobiographies written in journal form rather
than standard book form give a much more intersting perspective of the
author. They tend to be a little more honest, and brutal. As an example,
given the way Black Flag's "fans" treated Henry Rollins and the rest
of the band its a wonder he never killed one of them. He sure alluded to the
fact that he wanted to on multpile occasions. It was also intersting to
find out that Rollins was the manager of an ice cream store prior to
singing for Black Flag.
Wether your a fan of Black Flag, Henry Rollins, just want to read a
good book dealing with the early days of the punk scene, or just like to
read good autobiographies, you should check this book out. In my opinion the
pictures alone were worth the price of the book. After reading it
you'll probably want to check out some of Rollins' other work.
Check out what other readers said about it on Amazon.
Punkis punkis@attrition.org