Although he had previously revealed to the NME that he had been pen pals with notorious murderer Charles Manson, former Blag Flag singer and now solo performer Henry Rollins has confessed to an audience in a talk that he actually produced an album of songs for Manson. In his talk last week Rollins revealed that when he was ‘living in a mouldy broom closet’ at Black Flag’s label SST Records in the 1980s, Manson’s lawyer sent the label a request to help complete and release a selection of Manson’s songs. Rollins agreed to produce them but the project was called off after the label began receiving death threats. Apparently only five copies were ever pressed, with Rollins keeping two.
Speaking to the NME in 2008 about being pen pals with Manson, Rollins said Manson contacted him in 1984 out of the blue “So we corresponded a few times in 1984. I’d just tell him about what we were doing with our new record and he’d send back semi-lucid responses. He made references to the Beach Boys stealing his ideas, which sounded like sour grapes. At the time I was very young and having him write me letters made me feel intense and heavy,” Rollins revealed. “I’d always know I’d have a letter in my PO Box from him because the woman behind the counter at the post office would give you this awful look. His letters would always have swastikas on them so they were easy to spot.”
Cult leader Manson was sentenced to death for a string or murders he orchestrated in August 1969 in Los Angeles, including film actress Sharon Tate, who was then married to film maker Roman Polanski. His death sentence was commuted to life imprisonment in 1972. He has had a cult following amongst musicians with Guns n’ Roses and Marilyn Manson covering his songs, while Kasabian named themselves after his getaway car driver.
