Rollins Band – “The End of Silence”

DB HOF NO. 19

The making of Rollins Band’s “The End of Silence”

released: February 25, 1992

label: Imago

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It was October 1991 and Andy Wallace was getting richer by the day. The veteran producer/engineer was reaping the financial rewards of mastering Nirvana’s recently released (and completely unexpected) commercial juggernaut Nevermind. So when five art-damaged hardcore thirtysomethings strolled into a New Jersey studio with him to record their major label debut, he understood that the once-lucid boundaries of commercial acceptance had been completely eradicated. This, of course, meant absolutely nothing to the Rollins Band.

So while Kurt Cobain was altering the course of popular music’s history, underground icon Henry Rollins and his band—rounded out by guitarist Chris Haskett, bassist Andrew Weiss, drummer Sim Cain, and soundman Theo Van Rock—were busy eating cheese sandwiches, avoiding the temptations of nearby stripper joints, and putting a masterpiece of dark, angular grooves and introspective firestorms to tape. As the recently reunited band (sans Weiss, who continues to work as an engineer and producer in New Jersey) tours this summer with punk legends X, Decibel rounded up all five members from The End of Silence sessions to find out why, some 15 years after its recording, Silence is still golden.

—Albert Mudrian

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