John Robb
Former frontman with the great Membranes, Robb has interviewed everyone from Primal Scream to Nirvana for publications such as SOUNDS. He is the author of THE NINETIES: WHAT THE F**K WAS ALL THAT ABOUT?!, acclaimed biographies on the Charlatans and the Stone Roses, and the new THE NORTH WILL RISE AGAIN... AN ORAL HISTORY OF MANCHESTER MUSIC (Aurum Press).
93 articles
List of articles in the library
The Jesus & Mary Chain: The Jesus and Mary Chain: Like A Virgin
Profile and Interview by John Robb, ZigZag, February 1985
GLASGOW 1984 AND punk is dead (At last, positive punk had become a coral reef of untold disaster, sinking outfits such as Silly Death Cult ...
Bodines,The, The Fall, Happy Mondays: The Fall/The Bodines/Happy Mondays: International, Manchester
Live Review by John Robb, Sounds, 2 May 1987
STRANGE HOW, these days, any gathering of vaguely well known groups always makes you think of charity and polished consciences. But tonight seemed to be ...
The Stone Roses: International, Manchester
Live Review by John Robb, Sounds, 11 July 1987
KING ROCK is still flailing his sweaty head around the world. And Stone Roses are four hip dudes close to his heart, guitars slung low, ...
Inspiral Carpets, Spacemen 3: Spacemen 3, Inspiral Carpets: Asylum, Manchester
Live Review by John Robb, Sounds, 12 September 1987
WOWEEE, TRIPPY baby — the far-out scene jumped into the time machine, shed all its colour and mind-exploding drugs, and leapt into the 1980s. ...
Inspiral Carpets, Spacemen 3: Spacemen 3/Inspiral Carpets: Asylum, Manchester
Live Review by John Robb, Sounds, 12 September 1987
WOWEEE, TRIPPY BABY — the far-out scene jumped into the time machine, shed all its colour and mind-exploding drugs, and leapt into the 1980s. ...
Television Personalities: Boardwalk, Manchester
Live Review by John Robb, Sounds, 19 September 1987
TUNE IN AND TURN ON ...
Frank Sidebottom: Contact Theatre, Manchester
Live Review by John Robb, Sounds, 9 January 1988
PAUL MCCARTNEY, the famous ex-Beatle and big mate of top bubble head comedian Frank Sidebottom, once said, "The only thing that I ever got from ...
The Stone Roses: Trunk Call — Romancing The Stone
Interview by John Robb, Sounds, 23 January 1988
Are THE STONE ROSES the likeliest lads in Manchester to step into the huge void left by the implosion of The Smiths? JOHN ROBB reports ...
Interview by John Robb, Sounds, 17 September 1988
Steve Albini, the legendary guitar-abuser and manic singer of Big Black, returns with another fearsome noise – Rapeman. John Robb ventures into their Chicago dungeon ...
That Petrol Emotion: Inflammable Material: That Petrol Emotion
Interview by John Robb, Sounds, 15 October 1988
SHAGGED OUT after a frenzied bout of road fever, That Petrol Emotion have collapsed into the back of their minibus. ...
Pussy Galore: Six Ways To Skin A Cat
Interview by John Robb, Sounds, 26 November 1988
Pussy Galore are back and the noise freaks are out in force to greet them. John Robb grills head Pussy Jon Spencer about their new ...
The Quireboys, Yngwie Malmsteen: Yngwie Malmsteen, The Quireboys: Apollo Theatre, Manchester
Live Review by John Robb, Sounds, 26 November 1988
DRENCHED IN wet dreams, the skeletal framed Quireboys are currently making molehills out of rock mountains. This is a tight pant boogie stuffed into way ...
My Bloody Valentine: This Is My Bloody Valentine
Interview by John Robb, Sounds, 10 December 1988
From Dublin to London via Berlin, My Bloody Valentine have taken the scenic route to success. John Robb retraces their footsteps on the way to ...
Television Personalities: The Television Personalities
Interview by John Robb, Sounds, 1989
As the Berlin Wall tumbled under the weight of New Year celebrations, The TV Personalities were treating the revelers to a three-hour set. John Robb ...
Jon Langford, The Mekons, The Three Johns: The Three Jon Langfords
Interview by John Robb, Sounds, 7 January 1989
With The Three Johns and The Mekons, Jon Langford has spent over ten years fighting against the never-ending Top Of The Pops party. John ...
A Guy Called Gerald: Moss Side Shuffle
Interview by John Robb, Sounds, 29 April 1989
A Guy Called Gerald explains to John Robb why his aims are wider than mere chart success ...
Interview by John Robb, Sounds, 30 September 1989
"EUROPOX!" BELCHES the fat fool on the next table. ...
Profile and Interview by John Robb, Sounds, 21 October 1989
Natural descendants of Mudhoney and Dinosaur Jr, Nirvana are a high energy explosion resulting in a trail of smashed gear and beat anthems. John Robb ...
Interview by John Robb, Sounds, 21 October 1989
Crazed noise guerillas Tackhead are going for mainstream success with their new LP, Friendly As A Hand Grenade. John Robb grabs at the pieces of ...
Profile and Interview by John Robb, Sounds, 21 October 1989
Watch out! A mean American storm is heading your way in the shape of the shit-stained rock beast, Tad. And teaming up with Nirvana for ...
The Stone Roses: Island of Lost Soul: The Stone Roses at Spike Island
Live Review by John Robb, Sounds, 1990
Sun, sea water and cement factories. Not your idea of Ibiza perhaps, but according to our resident mad Manc John Robb, this is the start ...
Interview by John Robb, Sounds, 1990
GETTING OUT of bed is a tough thang, especially for quilt lizard gang My Bloody Valentine. ...
Charlatans, The (UK): The Charlatans
Interview by John Robb, Sounds, 1990
NOTE: This was the band’s first interview in the national music press. ...
The Fall: Mark E. Smith Extricates Himself
Interview by John Robb, Sounds, 3 February 1990
WHILE THE WORLD WENT MAD FOR MANCHESTER THE FALLKEPT QUIET. NOW THEY’VE RETURNED TO FORM WITH EXTRICATE AND MARK E SMITH’S BACK VENTING HIS SPLEEN ...
Carter The Unstoppable Sex Machine
Interview by John Robb, Sounds, 24 February 1990
CARTER (THE Unstoppable Sex Machine) are a belch from the past – recalling a time when bands laced their songs with ‘realism’. ...
Interview by John Robb, Sounds, 24 February 1990
Are The Times just one man and a good scam or is Ed Ball really the "Salman Rushdie of Manchester"? John Robb tries to find ...
Interview by John Robb, Sounds, 3 March 1990
After all the hype surrounding Lush, their new Mad Love EP was bound to come under scrutiny. But, says John Robb, its mixture of cunning ...
808 State, Happy Mondays: Step Right On Up: Happy Mondays/808 State: G-Mex, Manchester
Live Review by John Robb, Sounds, 31 March 1990
With rave rock shifting into top gear, 8000 watch its spiritual fathers Happy Mondays go mad in Manchester G-Mex. John Robb witnesses one of the ...
Nick Cave, Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds: Nick Cave: The Return of the Prodigal Son
Interview by John Robb, Sounds, 14 April 1990
Throughout the turmoil of the ‘80s, Nick Cave was on some sort of slow development course. From the pithy pop blunders of Boys Next Door ...
Report and Interview by John Robb, Sounds, 14 April 1990
With The Stone Roses at Spike Island, the Mondays at Glastonbury and numerous other raves, the summer of 1990 should be one to remember. John ...
BMX Bandits: C86 (Belshill Records)
Review by John Robb, Sounds, 28 April 1990
IN WHICH king wimp sweetie addict, pierced nipple, multi-tattooed contradiction of a man, Douglas peeps out again at the confusing turmoil of the world. ...
Dead Kennedys: Catching Up With Jello Biafra
Interview by John Robb, Sounds, 23 June 1990
HARDCORE, FAST-shit guitar or cranked-up pub rock has glued some fairly diverse personalities onto the cranium over the years, from the cretinous dullard through to ...
Ministry: Minister of Carnage: Alain Jourgensen
Interview by John Robb, Sounds, 30 June 1990
PERHAPS THE core dude to all things Waxtrax is the mad fucker retro byker figure of Alain Jourgensen. Careering through Ministry's New Order-styled early ...
Interview by John Robb, Sounds, 30 June 1990
STOMP! STOMP! Stomp! The evil 120 bpm jackbeat clomps across the USA, armed to the rotten teeth with a badass beat, some serious studio talent ...
Ruthless Rap Assassins: Killer Album (EMI) ****
Review by John Robb, Sounds, 7 July 1990
NOT THAT it's important but this killer crew pace the streets of Manchester, a bona fide non scal outfit with a history interwoven into the ...
Interview by John Robb, Sounds, 11 August 1990
"FUCK, AYE!" The leering Gaelic battle cry is spat out for the twentieth time in a hour by the whippet thin Teenage FC drummer. ...
Deee-Lite: World Clique (Elektra)
Review by John Robb, Sounds, 1 September 1990
OUTRAGEOUS, COLOURFUL, Deee-Lite's tacky funky mush is a breathtaking pysche trip at the tail end of a summer that's been disappointing in terms of excess ...
Interview by John Robb, Sounds, 1 September 1990
New York City, 1990, and a head-on culture collision has thrown up one of the hottest, sweatiest groove machines since P Funk. It's a crayzee, ...
The Jesus & Mary Chain: The Importance Of Being Angry
Interview by John Robb, Sounds, 8 September 1990
Five years ago The Jesus And Mary Chain were the best pop band in the world, but with little mainstream media attention they've been overtaken ...
Cocteau Twins: Thank Heaven For Little Girls
Interview by John Robb, Sounds, 15 September 1990
The COCTEAU TWINS are back with a new album, a new baby and the same old "cathedral of sound". But as JOHN ROBB discovers, it's ...
Lard: The Last Temptation Of Reid (Alternative Tentacles)
Review by John Robb, Sounds, 6 October 1990
NO SURPRISES with this one. ...
Saint Etienne: St. Etienne: Holier Than Thou
Interview by John Robb, Sounds, 13 October 1990
ST ETIENNE might have covered Neil Young's 'Only Love Can Break Your Heart', but they are not the hippies that people imagine. This is Brit ...
Lush: Dear Students (Won't You Come Out To Play?)
Interview by John Robb, Sounds, 27 October 1990
Right now, a thousand acne strewn depressives are bustin' pimples to Lush's cool bedsit beat. But are they the ultimate student band or just the ...
Charlatans, The (UK): The Charlatans: Now for the Big Time
Interview by John Robb, Sounds, 10 November 1990
Stone Roses, Happy Mondays and the Inspirals have all been tipped to break the States, but THE CHARLATANS may have the best chance of all. ...
Gumball, Teenage Fanclub: Teenage Fan Club, Gumball: International One, Manchester
Live Review by John Robb, Sounds, 24 November 1990
YOUR DRUMMER looks like some kinda freaked golf player, your bass player looks like an American touring circuit pro, your encore sees half the Fannies ...
BMX Bandits: Totally Groovy Live Experience (Avalanche) ****
Review by John Robb, Sounds, 12 January 1991
HEAD BANDIT Douglas is one of life's oddballs — a pasty-faced jumble sale of a man, hooked on sweets and crisps and sporting pierced nipples ...
Ween: God Ween Satan (Twin/Tone)
Review by John Robb, Sounds, 12 January 1991
WEEN ARE a mindf**k duo from Pennsylvania, cranking out a cacky mixed up brew of styles purportedly produced by Andrew Weiss from the Rollins band. ...
Electronic: Haçienda, Manchester
Live Review by John Robb, Sounds, 19 January 1991
DAT's the way to do it ...
Spacemen 3, Spiritualized: Spacemen 3: Rock'n'Roll Suicide
Interview by John Robb, Sounds, 9 February 1991
The story of SPACEMEN 3 is a cool, rock'n'roll tale of drugs, revolution and eventual destruction. JOHN ROBB meets up with Sonic and Jason on ...
Interview by John Robb, Sounds, 2 March 1991
808 STATE are one of the few genuine 'pop groups' of the underground scene. Not for them a bunch of hairy '60s riffs or ideologies, ...
808 State, Björk, N-Joi: 808 State, N-Joi: G-Mex, Manchester
Live Review by John Robb, Sounds, 23 March 1991
THE RETURN to G-Mex, the core combat zone of the Manchester thing, could have been disturbing. Like, is there a thing going on anymore? The ...
Profile and Interview by John Robb, Sounds, 6 April 1991
It's taken three years and a war, but MASSIVE have finally risen to the top of the charts. JOHN ROBB listens to their stunning debut ...
Northside: Chicken Skin Music: Northside
Interview by John Robb, Sounds, 11 May 1991
A bunch of scallies with names like Dermo, Speg, Cliff, Weg, Woz and Giblet, NORTHSIDE are sitting targets for the brewing Manc backlash. ...
Interview by John Robb, Melody Maker, 24 August 1991
As they prepare for their appearance at this weekend's Reading Festival, Veteran art rock terrorists talk to Johnny Robb ...
Interview by John Robb, Siren, February 1992
IN A BATTERED armchair collapses a laid back, skin and bone R'n'R trouper with an exquisite record collection and perfect cheekbones. Jason Pierce, ex Spaceman ...
Interview by John Robb, Siren, March 1992
PLAYING A melodic hardcore spiel that has typically been compared to Husker Du, Canada's Doughboys have been working the world circuit, almost 1500 gigs into ...
Manic Street Preachers: Look Back In Bangor
Interview by John Robb, Siren, April 1992
THE BEAUTY of contradiction. Incendiary intellectuals tarted up on oxfam glam rags, sensitive made up boyos from the beer swilling valleys, the Manic Street Preachers ...
The Haçienda: Club It To Death
Report by John Robb, Siren, May 1992
BRICKS AND mortar. For a building the Haçienda has become one hell of an icon for youth culture, a myth perpetrated by Manchester and Factory ...
The Verve: The Road To Wigan Fear
Profile and Interview by John Robb, Siren, May 1992
BOUNCING ONSTAGE in slow mo'...loose limbed lanky frame in shabby oxfam chic....v-necked black 'T'...shaggy barnet and flapping lips...the man is pure Jagger, Richard Ashcroft...the front ...
Pavement: Slanted and Enchanted (Big Cat)
Review by John Robb, Select, June 1992
WITH ENOUGH hints at the twin godheads of the Fall and the Velvets, Pavement's Slanted and Enchanted is an outstanding debut. ...
Review by John Robb, Select, August 1992
IN WHICH THE PERENNIAL UNDERDOGS go overground. In some ways Cud epitomise everything that's crap about guitar rock in 1992 — they're wilfully self-indulgent, deft ...
Nirvana: Nirva Mind The Bollocks
Interview by John Robb, Siren, August 1992
JESUS H. CHRIST! This is turning into some sort of modern-day fable. Out there, an uncompromised riffola outfit from an arse end of the US, ...
Interview by John Robb, Siren, August 1992
JUMPING ON their own bandwagon, Sonic Youth are the old Nirvana, baton carriers of the underground spirit through the late '80s and early '90s, paving ...
Report by John Robb, i-D, April 1993
Three years ago Manchester was famous for flares, clubs and the Happy Mondays. Now it's guns, drugs and violence. How accurate is the city's media ...
Huggy Bear, Skinned Teen: Ready Teddy Go: Huggy Bear/Skinned Teen: Notre Dame Hall, London
Live Review by John Robb, Melody Maker, 10 July 1993
BREAKING THE SILENCE following the white-hot furore surrounding them earlier in the year, Huggy Bear are a band under pressure. For some, they are the ...
Charlatans, The (UK): The Charlatans: Pros And Cons
Interview by John Robb, Melody Maker, 29 January 1994
Remember THE CHARLATANS? Pop idols of the baggy era, responsible for such sublime moments as 'The Only One I Know'? Whatever happened to them? Well, ...
Oasis: Man City Slickers: Oasis: The Haçienda, Manchester
Live Review by John Robb, Vox, November 1994
Having stormed into the album chart at Number One, Oasis return to Manchester's Haçienda — giving their hometown its greatest night since the height of The ...
Review by John Robb, Melody Maker, 3 December 1994
Forget the Riot Grrrl politics — if you must. Huggy Bear are/were a brilliantly confrontational punk rock band, much-maligned and misunderstood. Much like JOHN ROBB, ...
The Chemical Brothers: Chemistry Set: the Chemical Brothers
Interview by John Robb, Loaded, 1995
WHEN THE CHEMICAL BROTHERS come to town, DJ'ing takes on a whole new dimension. The duo play the decks like two fucked-up guitar gods. Lanky ...
Fugazi: Red Medicine (Dischord DIS90CD 13 tks/44 mins/FP)
Review by John Robb, Melody Maker, 6 May 1995
FUGAZI are the unsung heroes of the American underground, busting out of the Washington projects on a white hot punk rock tip in a straight ...
The Verve: live at Manchester Roadhouse
Live Review by John Robb, Melody Maker, June 1995
YEAH, we know that Richard Ashcroft can talk a good campaign and that The Verve are the nearly men of the great northern rock thing, ...
The Chemical Brothers: Haçienda, Manchester
Live Review by John Robb, Melody Maker, 1 July 1995
H2SO4 REAL! ...
Northern Uproar: "The Teenage Oasis"
Interview by John Robb, Melody Maker, 14 October 1995
NORTHERN UPROAR are the latest rock 'n' roll delinquents from Manchester. JOHN ROBB — who produced the B-side to their debut single! — hails the ...
Retrospective and Interview by John Robb, RAW, 6 December 1995
For a band who have avoided the limelight for most of the decade The Stone Roses are still very big news. This month they tour ...
Interview by John Robb, Melody Maker, 25 May 1996
The American ska-punk noise of RANCID is more intelligent than your average dumb thrash racket ...
Live Review by John Robb, Bizarre, 1997
AFTER BEING ALL at sea, playing a shambolic punk rock lo fi rush that never seemed to suit them (and I should know I fell ...
Blink 182 have arrived! Watch out Britain!
Interview by John Robb, Kerrang!, 2000
Blink 182 are taking no prisoners. We compare tattoos with America's finest ...
Interview by John Robb, Bizarre, 2000
"Bizarre magazine. Man, we love that magazine... it’s all tits, shit and midgets, ha! ha! ha!" ...
Slade: A Natter with Noddy Holder
Interview by John Robb, City Life, June 2002
I'M STILL FEELING the noise. Slade are so much part of British culture. They were the quintessential hard rocking band with a neat line in ...
Report and Interview by John Robb, playlouder.com, August 2002
THIS IS A STORY of nudity, skintight cat suits, East Anglian folk tales, a mad dog with bloodshot eyes, well-clipped moustaches, crazed frontmen and hard ...
Killing Joke: The Return of the Joke
Interview by John Robb, playlouder.com, July 2003
"HA HA HA." It's that laugh again. ...
Interview by John Robb, Louder Than War, 2004
IN 1994 I INTERVIEWED a very new band called Kasabian. Their ambition has since been proven and they have made some of the best modern ...
The Monochrome Set: Remembering the Band that History Forgot
Retrospective by John Robb, The Guardian, 9 January 2009
THERE HAVEN'T been many bands like the Monochrome Set. They should have been absolutely massive, but instead were sidelined by their post-punk peers and were ...
Steven Wells 1960-2009: A Tribute
Memoir by John Doran, Andrew Mueller, John Robb, Terry Staunton, David Stubbs, The Quietus, 29 June 2009
David Stubbs ...
Rammstein: Industrial Immolation Live In Manchester
Live Review by John Robb, The Quietus, 6 February 2010
Flamethrowers, exploding babies and a sonic apocalypse: John Robb proclaims Rammstein's current tour the greatest show you will see this year. ...
World Of Twist: The great lost Manchester band
Retrospective by John Robb, Louder Than War, 28 January 2011
THE WORLD IS FULL of great lost bands but perhaps the greatest lost band from Manchester was World Of Twist. Frontman Tony Ogden died in ...
Manic Street Preachers: Sziget Festival, Budapest
Live Review by John Robb, Louder Than War, 17 August 2011
THERE'S SOMETHING idiosyncratic about seeing former snotty firebrands playing the festival circuit. The wide eyed talk of changing the world with a song, the idealism ...
Review by John Robb, Louder Than War, September 2011
THE LAST TIME I wrote a review cautiously praising a band for a slow return to form, that band was R.E.M., who shocked the music ...
The Horrors: The Roundhouse, London
Live Review by John Robb, Rock's Backpages, October 2011
ONLY THOSE WITH tin ears have been "surprised" by The Horrorssonic muscle. On account of their youth and subscription to textbook Goth aesthetics, they were ...
Esben and the Witch: Sound and Vision Festival, Norwich Arts Centre
Live Review by John Robb, Louder Than War, 2 October 2011
ESBEN AND THE Witch are one of those bands that don't fit in anywhere, and that's their genius. ...
Adam & The Ants: Adam Ant: Seawick Park, Clacton-on-Sea
Live Review by John Robb, Rock's Backpages, 9 October 2011
THERE HAVE BEEN a lot of comebacks recently, some great, some not so. They've ranged from the "oh not them again" to the more exciting ...
The Specials: Apollo, Manchester
Live Review by John Robb, Rock's Backpages, 16 October 2011
THE SPECIALS, of course, not only sound great, they look great. They hit the stage in matching suits. Razor stitched threads that are cut from ...
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