Chris Haskett

Chris Haskett is an American guitarist, best known as the original guitarist and founding member of the Rollins Band. His earliest musical experiences were within the Washington, D.C. punk scene, where he formed the Enzymes, a band that while they played many shows with legendary acts like Minor Threat, never released any material themselves.

Chris' officially released recording debut was in 1982 as a producer and uncredited bassist for Iron Cross, on the tracks that became that band’s contribution to the Flex Your Head compilation album. When he moved to Leeds, England later that year to finish an undergraduate degree, he wound up joining a band that became the Absent Legends.

When he encountered longtime acquaintance and fellow D.C. native Henry Rollins during a visit to D.C. in 1986, during which he learned that Black Flag, whom Rollins had been singing lead with, had just broken up. The meeting led to Rollins' first post-Black Flag project, his solo debut Hot Animal Machine, which was written and recorded in England.

Rollins and Haskett consequently formed the Rollins Band and toured and recorded almost relentlessly, playing over a 1000 shows worldwide between 1987 and 1997, and earning a Grammy nomination and hit single with “Liar”.

Since the breakup of the original Rollins Band lineup in 1998, Haskett has collaborated with the likes of Reeves Gabrels, Foetus, and David Bowie.

The Weight/Come In and Burn-era lineup of Rollins Band briefly reunited for a summer tour in 2006 with X headlining and the Riverboat Gamblers supporting.