Have you ever been lost for words on stage? - Greg Small, Bathurst, NSW

No. There are times when you're not getting enough sleep and you're a little exhausted and you will, sort of, not more quite as straight as you could because your brain is tired of firing every night, and that can make these tours very difficult. Like after show 50 it's tough. I'm on show 54 tonight - the next 20 are going to be pretty tough. Past that, audience distractions, the drunk guy going "Henry!" - which is basically like having someone go like this [waves hands around] while you're tightrope walking.

In the early days of Black Flag and SST Records, did you consider releasing some material by Charles Manson or is that a myth? - David Barrow, Seattle

Some Massahusetts lawyer contacted SST and Touch & Go and every other label and said, "Manson has these tapes he's been making - solo acoustic guitar and vocals." So, I was all for it, I was like, "Yeah lets put it out, f*ck these people man," but SST got these unbeliievably scary death threats. It got full on enough to where they ran an article about it in the "LA Times", and "60 Minutes" or somebody called and said, "We'd like to put Henry in a gaol cell with Manson and have them interview each other." Nothing ever happened, but it was an interesting two weeks in 1984.

New Rollins Band material sounds as if you're having more fun than before. Is this a reflection of your new band or a personal thing? - Steve, via email.

All of that. I am having more fun definately and the guys in the band are more enthusiastic than the previous line-up. It's a reflection of our enthusiasm for what we're doing and being around people who just wanna rock the f*ck out and not bitch and moan. Yeah, so definitely I'm having way more fun, and the music of course shows it.

Can you forsee the day you give up the Rollins Band for good? - Robert Maranda, Toronto, Canada

Sure, when I get to the point where I can't do the music like I think it should be done, as far as a visceral, physical, punishing experience. When I can't do that, I'll walk away. And that will be a physical thing, because for me music is such a physical thing. I mean, I enjoy music that's more cerebral like a Robert Fripp album, but for what I'm doing, if I can't - like David Lee Roth said - make the music look like it sounds, then I walk away rather than betray the music.

You seem to be able to transform depression into positive energy. How do you do it? Lee Williamson, Birmingham, UK

Any emotion is energy for you to channel. Either you cut your writsts or you write a song; either you blow up a post office or you go and save 100 people. You just do your thing.

When will you retire altogether? - Lynn Larson, Twin Cities, USA

I don't think I have a career, so I don't know how I can think about retirement. I think you retire from a bank job, I don't think you retire from art. I don't feel I have a job so I don't know when to retire.

What is it like recording at Sun Studios?

We got in there around 7pm, when the tourists leave, and by midnight that place was vibing pretty heavy because you're standing on the same floor that made "Rocket 88", "Great Balls Of Fire" - you know it's f*cking legendary. I don't believe in ghosts or nothing but there's a really interesting sound in that place. It's Sun Sound. It's really cool. A great way to spend a night off.

With regard to your wide taste in music, how did you get into jazz and soul? - Denis Finegan, Spiddal, Ireland.

My mother. I was raised with my mum in her apartment and she had everything from Wagner to Ray Charles in there. We listened to Bartok, Issac Hayes, Jimi Hendrix, the Doors, Coltrane, Miles - my mum used to go and see Coltrane and Miles when she was growing up so we had like "The Rebirth Of Cool", original pressing of "Love Supreme". I listened to a lot of Monk, Charlie Parker, Billie Holiday, with Mum...My dad didn't listen to music at all.

How do you decide what to talk about in your spoken word tour? Is it a routine or just what's on your mind? - Roger Sackaroff, New York City, USA

Sort of a routine, in that I go on tour with a bag of ideas and I elaborate on them and play with them every night. There's usually three to seven hours of working material that I have, but basically just working ideas. Like on the tour, I'll be talking about turning 40, going to India, seeing KISS in concert, the new president and, here in Australia, I've been talking about Pauline Hanson, talking about your prime minister. Past that I just kind of let it rip. It's not scripted, but I definately have an idea of what I'm going to say before I go out there, otherwise I'm just wasting people's time.

Do you believe in an afterlife and do you fear death? - Lynn Larson, Twin Cities, USA

No, I don't. What am I gonna do about it? I don't have a view of the afterlife. I don't believe there is one, I don't believe there is anything like that.

What do you think of Jello Biafra's political career? - Will via email.

I don't know much about it. I remember he ran for mayor of San Francisco like, 100 years ago, and that sh*t was hilarious. He's a very smart guy. I've met him a handful of times over 20 something years, I've never heard his talking records and I've never heard any of his solo stuff. And so he's just one of those kind of guys that I see every three years or something for 20 minutes.

What's the most hurtful thing a journalist has ever written about you? - Eric Shellhorn, San Diego, USA

Some guy once wrote that I was a recovering heroin addict, and that really p*ssed me off. I got all this mail and stuff from people who were saying, "You can get through this man," and people sending me in their little NA badges and all that sort of stuff. It was actually pretty cool, but I was writing back saying, "I appreciate your concern, but, really this isn't happening." I met this guy once at a gig, and I didn't do anything, I just said to him, "Look, I don't actually have the magazine here so I can't be sure, but I think that you once said I was a heroin addict. If when I go home and check I find out that you did say that, next time I see you, I'm going to f*ck you up, physically. And yes, I am threatening you, and I have no problem with delivering on that threat." It was hilarious to see him get all red-faced and desperate.

What is your favourite book? - Fran Stevens, Detroit, USA

Novel would be Henry Miller's "Black Spring", and my favourite short story would be "The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber". by Ernest Hemingway.