Interview: Goldblade front man John Robb talks to Click Liverpool

John Robb

Goldblade front man John Robb talks to Click Liverpool about Cheryl Cole, The Word and all things punk rock.

John Robb is a man of many talents, as well as being in punk band Goldblade, he is a music journalist and spoken word artist.

He is also author of many books such as ‘Punk Rock: An Oral History’ and ‘Death To Trad Rock’.


As if that wasn't enough he is also a cultural commentator and pop pundit for programmes such as The Pop Years and Seven Ages of Rock amongst many others.

John Robb started life in punk band The Membranes, he then went on to work as a music journalist for Sounds and Melody Maker.

During the mid- nineties John Robb formed Goldblade who have since released several critically acclaimed albums including ‘Rebel Songs’ (2005) and Mutiny (2008).

With Goldblade about to embark on a new tour Click Liverpool caught up with John Robb ahead of their Liverpool gig, which takes place at The Masque on Friday 26th March.

So, what can we expect from gig?

“It’s high energy punk rock with a twist. Lot’s of moving about on stage, lots of jumping about, lots of energy and lots of songs to sing along to.

“We play bits off each record and hopefully some new songs, a mixture of that and the last album which we did a couple of years ago”.

A secret guest is rumoured to be making an appearance with Goldblade. However, John remains tight lipped about the identity of the mystery guest saying only that “it’s a Liverpool legend”.

What new and upcoming bands are you listening to at the moment?

“There are a lot of good new bands in Manchester; I like all kinds of music really.

"I hear creative stuff all over the place. I travel a lot so I hear all kinds of good stuff all over the world”.

Is it true that Morrissey is a Goldblade fan?

“Well I really like his stuff. I’ve met him a couple of times and he’s really nice. We sent him some records and he liked them and said thanks for sending them.

“Thing about Morrissey is he’s a fan of punk rock; he grew up with punk so he understands about punk bands.”

Now, cast your minds back to this year’s Brit awards where Cheryl Cole performed Fight For This Love and half way through sampled Be.

Be was originally a song by Rowetta, (singer, songwriter and former Happy Mondays member) but at the Brit Awards the song was alledged to have been mimed to by a dancer.

So I asked John, does this highlight the fact that the music industry seems to favour hype and image over genuine talent?

“Image and hype have always been an important part of the industry.

“It’s more about the fact that about 95 per cent of all the media time dedicated to music is given to her (Cheryl Cole).

"Whereas there are loads and loads of young bands coming through who write really creative songs, they tour all the time and really mean something to people and they can’t even get on the radio. That’s what the joke is.

“ It’s really underlined when you’ve got the likes of Rowetta, she said I’ll go on there and sing my part and they said no, no, no, you’ll have to mine it.

"Then they told her they weren’t going to put the part on and she put the telly on and there it was.

“They just kept it on; the arrogance of doing that is pretty revolting.

“Then Cheryl Cole came on and she sung terrible, she can’t fucking dance and her miming is all over the place. It was probably one of the un-sexiest performances of all time.

“Why is she getting all that space is it because she’s mates with Simon Cowell and they’ve decided she’s the pop star of the time.

"But I know and you know there’s a million other people more deserving in every single criteria possible, they’re better singers, they have better songs and they are better performers”.

Now we move on to the music press, John Robb is an established music journalist contributing to music magazines such as Sounds and Melody Maker.

He’s also penned numerous books about music. So here I ask him if he feels music magazines such as the NME are as relevant as they once were?

“People always pick on the NME. The one thing people don’t like about the NME is they feel it kind of like tells you what to listen to.

“But so many different people write for the NME with different opinions and on one level it is corporate, it is controlled.

"But then there are new writers picking up really good stuff – it has been like that since I was a kid.

“So there are certain aspects about the NME that I still really like such as writing about new music, so it does have a role to play - it’s smaller but it still has a role to play.”

Keeping in the vein of the music media we move on to talk about the derelict situation of music television at present.

“Yeah, it’s really hard I’ve been trying for ages to get music stuff off the ground for TV and they don’t really give you much space to do it.

“Pop music is so fractured now, not like back in the 70’s where most people would be interested in most of the bands on the programme.

"It’s harder to get stuff on the TV; I think now with the internet its kind of replacing it.

"If you like a type of music that isn’t really represented by mainstream music you can just go and hear it and see it on the internet.

“The Tube and The Word were brilliant they had good bands on but they had a load of rubbish in between, where they think its great TV to watch somebody sit in a bath of cold beans”.

John Robb has been in Punk bands throughout his career starting with The Membranes and now with Goldblade. So does he think the DIY ethos of Punk is easier to achieve now with the onslaught of the internet or is it more difficult?

“DIY ethos was the most important thing that came out of punk, it inspired people to do something.

“But it is easier now, anybody can play music and get it heard by other people on MySpace.

"The fact that there are a hundred thousand other bands probably makes it more difficult - but you can still get your stuff up there.

"When I started a band you had to rely on the radio to decide if your record was any good to play. In a lot of ways it is just easier now.


For some high energy punk rock catch Goldblade at The Masque on 26th March.

Full Tour Dates:

March

26 The Masque Liverpool
27 Rio’s Bradford

April

1 Champions Bournemouth
2 The Borderline London
3 Redhill FC Redhill
4 Bierkeller Bristol
7 Assembly Rooms Leamington
9 The Old Bell Derby
10 Citrus Club Edinburgh
11 CANCELLED Wigan


http://www.myspace.com/goldblade

http://www.masque-liverpool.com

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