01Profile
A John Robb Photo
John Robb
Musician/Writer — Manchester
03Interview
Name, where are you from?
John Robb from Membranes.
Describe your style in three words?
dark-matter post punk.
What’s the best gig you’ve ever been to?
Joy Division in Blackpool 1979 - it was one of those nights when you and a very small group of people got to see the future...
If you could be on the line up with any two bands in history?
Sex Pistols 1976 first TV appearance on So It Goes with Jordan with the whips and attitude. IDLES for redefining and taking the whole thing further forwards.
Which Subcultures have influenced you?
Punk because it empowered us and said we could make music without anyone’s permission.
Post-punk because we were that generation who misinterpreted punk and created music on their own terms and rules.
If you could spend an hour with anyone from history?
Hieronymus Bosch because his dark and wild paintings are often mentioned in descriptions of our music!
Of all the venues you’ve been to, which is your favourite?
Blackpool Empress Ballroom...last of the old school grand venues with an amazing musical history from the Rolling Stones 1964 riot to the Stone Roses' classic gig to the Prodigy, White Stripes and many more...northern grandeur in my hometown!
Your greatest hero or heroine in music?
I was always more interested in the non-heroes...all great art is made by the outsiders and the vulnerable who just say no! Siouxsie for being iconic and fearless and my current favourites Glove for creating their own musical world and defying convention...
John Robb is respected as both a musician, fronting Membranes and Goldblade, and as a music writer and expert on the counterculture of Manchester.
Inspired by Buzzcocks Spiral Scratch EP, Membranes formed in Blackpool in 1977. Membranes' new album (out 7th June 2019), 'What Nature Gives…Nature Takes Away' is a double album, using the band’s own 20-piece choir to juxtapose their trademark post-punk power across sixteen songs about the beauty and violence of nature. The album features guest appearances from the likes of Chris Packham, Shirley Collins, and Kirk Brandon (Spear of Destiny, Theatre of Hate).
02Playlist
04Playlist Notes
The first track you played on repeat?
'Public Image' by Public Image - just in wonder at that bass sound and the tsunami of cut glass guitars and the certainty of the vocal.
A song that defines the teenage you?
Buzzcocks 'Spiral Scratch EP'. Because it started a revolution - after this came out everyone knew that they could do it themselves and no longer grovel to big money cigars in London. It’s also a snarky, raw and thrilling record that sounds like the perfect punk record without the sheen of the then bigger bands.
One record you would keep forever?
The Stranglers - 'Black and White'. As stark and angular and heavy as a big selling album will ever be - a unique album that invented post-punk.
A song lyric that has inspired you?
'Anarchy in the UK' - not so much a political manifesto but a perfect description of the wildness and freedom of youth before the heavy manners of life take over.
A song you wished you had written?
Massive Attack - 'Teardrop'.
Best song to turn up loud?
Swans - 'Screen Shot'.
A song people wouldn’t expect you to like?
Arvo Pärt 'Spiegal Im Spiegal'.
The song to get you straight on the dance floor?
Cramps - 'Human Fly'.
Best song to end an all-nighter?
Sunn 0))) everything they do sounds so final!
Any new bands you are into at the moment?
Shortparis
Glove
Fontaines DC
Clocloworks
The Illicits
Witch Fever
Liines
03Interview
Name, where are you from?
John Robb from Membranes.
Describe your style in three words?
dark-matter post punk.
What’s the best gig you’ve ever been to?
Joy Division in Blackpool 1979 - it was one of those nights when you and a very small group of people got to see the future...
If you could be on the line up with any two bands in history?
Sex Pistols 1976 first TV appearance on So It Goes with Jordan with the whips and attitude. IDLES for redefining and taking the whole thing further forwards.
Which Subcultures have influenced you?
Punk because it empowered us and said we could make music without anyone’s permission.
Post-punk because we were that generation who misinterpreted punk and created music on their own terms and rules.
If you could spend an hour with anyone from history?
Hieronymus Bosch because his dark and wild paintings are often mentioned in descriptions of our music!
Of all the venues you’ve been to, which is your favourite?
Blackpool Empress Ballroom...last of the old school grand venues with an amazing musical history from the Rolling Stones 1964 riot to the Stone Roses' classic gig to the Prodigy, White Stripes and many more...northern grandeur in my hometown!
Your greatest hero or heroine in music?
I was always more interested in the non-heroes...all great art is made by the outsiders and the vulnerable who just say no! Siouxsie for being iconic and fearless and my current favourites Glove for creating their own musical world and defying convention...
John Robb is respected as both a musician, fronting Membranes and Goldblade, and as a music writer and expert on the counterculture of Manchester.
Inspired by Buzzcocks Spiral Scratch EP, Membranes formed in Blackpool in 1977. Membranes' new album (out 7th June 2019), 'What Nature Gives…Nature Takes Away' is a double album, using the band’s own 20-piece choir to juxtapose their trademark post-punk power across sixteen songs about the beauty and violence of nature. The album features guest appearances from the likes of Chris Packham, Shirley Collins, and Kirk Brandon (Spear of Destiny, Theatre of Hate).
04Playlist Notes
The first track you played on repeat?
'Public Image' by Public Image - just in wonder at that bass sound and the tsunami of cut glass guitars and the certainty of the vocal.
A song that defines the teenage you?
Buzzcocks 'Spiral Scratch EP'. Because it started a revolution - after this came out everyone knew that they could do it themselves and no longer grovel to big money cigars in London. It’s also a snarky, raw and thrilling record that sounds like the perfect punk record without the sheen of the then bigger bands.
One record you would keep forever?
The Stranglers - 'Black and White'. As stark and angular and heavy as a big selling album will ever be - a unique album that invented post-punk.
A song lyric that has inspired you?
'Anarchy in the UK' - not so much a political manifesto but a perfect description of the wildness and freedom of youth before the heavy manners of life take over.
A song you wished you had written?
Massive Attack - 'Teardrop'.
Best song to turn up loud?
Swans - 'Screen Shot'.
A song people wouldn’t expect you to like?
Arvo Pärt 'Spiegal Im Spiegal'.
The song to get you straight on the dance floor?
Cramps - 'Human Fly'.
Best song to end an all-nighter?
Sunn 0))) everything they do sounds so final!
Any new bands you are into at the moment?
Shortparis
Glove
Fontaines DC
Clocloworks
The Illicits
Witch Fever
Liines
The Membranes - 'A Strange Perfume'
Membranes - 'The Universe Explodes Into A Billion Photons Of Pure White Light'
Membranes - 'Do The Supernova'
R is for rock 'n' roll: John Robb at TEDxSalford