John Robb

John David Robb (born 4 May 1961) is an English musician, author, music journalist, commentator and media personality. He is the bassist and singer for the post-punk band the Membranes and the vocalist for the punk rock band Goldblade.

He writes for and runs the Louder Than War website and a monthly music magazine of the same name. He has written several books on music and occasionally makes media appearances as a music commentator. In 2014, Robb was the founder and is now the executive director of the Louder Than Words Festival (a music writing festival held in Manchester every November).

Early life John David Robb was born on 4 May 1961 in Fleetwood, Lancashire, and grew up in Anchorsholme, Blackpool, Lancashire. He attended Blackpool Sixth Form College an addition to the Collegiate Grammar School which Robb attended, where after reading about the emerging punk rock scene in the music press in 1976 he was inspired to start his own band.

Career

Music

Robb was inspired by the do it yourself spirit of punk to form the Membranes in 1977; the band released several albums in the 1980s. They split up in 1990; Robb then formed Sensuround, who released two singles in the early 1990s. In 2019 the Membranes released the acclaimed What Nature Gives...Nature Takes Away album on Cherry Red Records.

The group believe that "every gig must be an event" and have promoted sell-out shows where they explain the universe with scientists from the Higgs Boson project and a sold-out gig at the top of Blackpool Tower in August. Robb has produced several bands, and in the mid-1990s two singles by the Leicester three-piece Slinky and US punk band Done Lying Down, as well as Therapy? and Cornershop, whom he also co-managed.

Whilst working for Sounds, Robb was the first journalist to interview Nirvana (in 1988), and also later coined the word "Britpop".

In 2011, Robb launched an online rock music and pop culture magazine/blog called Louder Than War, focusing on arts news, reviews, and features. The site claims editorial independence, and includes contributions from Robb and several other freelance journalists and critics. In its first year, in November 2011, Robb was voted to win the UK Association of Independent Music 'Indie Champion' award. The website was also turned into a nationally distributed magazine in 2016.

Robb currently contributes a column to Viva!Life magazine, published by the vegan campaigning charity Viva!.

Robb's books include a biography of the Stone Roses, Stone Roses and the Resurrection of British Pop; Punk Rock: An Oral History, which has been translated into several different languages; Death To Trad Rock, an account of the 1980s UK DIY underground, including the Membranes, Three Johns, the Nightingales, and Big Flame; The North Will Rise Again – Manchester Music City from 1976 to 1996, an oral history of Manchester music, which received 4/5 stars in Q magazine and 5/5 stars in Mojo magazine. He co-wrote Manifesto, about the life and future green and eco vision of green energy pioneer Dale Vince, which was released in December 2019.

In 2023, he released the book The Art of Darkness: The History of Goth, a definitive survey of the form. In 2025 his next book was Live Forever – the Rise and Fall and Resurrection of Oasis featuring the only interview Noel Gallagher did that year.

Published works The Stone Roses and the Resurrection of British Pop. Ebury Press, 1996. Noise Bible – Adventures on the Eighties Underground with the Membranes. Thrill City. The Soul Manual. Ultimate. The Charlatans: We Are Rock. Ebury Press. The Nineties: What the Fuck Was That All About. Ebury Press. Punk Rock: An Oral History. Ebury Press, 2006. The North Will Rise Again – Manchester Music City 1976–1996. Aurum Press, 2009. Death to Trad Rock – The Post-Punk Fanzine Scene 1982–1987. Cherry Red, 2009. The Stone Roses and the Resurrection of British Pop: The Reunion Edition. Ebury Press, 2012. Manifesto. Ebury Press, 2012. The Art of Darkness: The History of Goth. Louder Than War Books, 2023. Do You Believe in the Power of Rock & Roll?: Forty Years of Music Writing from the Frontline. Unbound, 2023. Live Forever - the Rise and Fall and Resurrection of Oasis. Harper North, 2025. Punk Rock Ruined My Life (2026). Manchester University Press.