Passion beyond post-punk
Edinburgh’s Voodoo Rooms on a cold dark October evening is a fitting venue for tonight’s event. In the darkened ballroom, under the enormous glitter ball, we were given a whirlwind journey through the history of John Robb – musician of post-punk band The Membranes and Goldblade, journalist, and ambassador for his home town of Blackpool among his many activities.
The first part of the show – “Do You Believe In the Power of Rock n Roll?” took us through his formative years, backed up by a PowerPoint presentation. Not the most punk of platforms, but this was used sparingly and effectively, particularly displaying album covers. We raced through his childhood in Blackpool, his early love of the Monkees, musical talent emanating from Blackpool, the emergence of punk without knowing what it was or what it looked like, crafting outfits from Oxfam demob suits, and mohawks from soap and cochineal, to fanzines, awful but wonderful first gigs, through to interviewing Nirvana, CD:UK with East17 and Billie Piper, and preventing fights with Oasis. We ran out of time towards the end of this section, skipping ahead in slides, but it could easily have run for longer to hear the remainder of his stories.
The band recommendations come thick and fast throughout, and as you might expect, with impeccable taste – my playlists have been immeasurably improved (why wasn’t I listening to Cable before now?), as well as some nostalgia for music I heard my parents playing and talking about as I was growing up (the Stranglers were a feature on our car rides). It was wonderfully refreshing to hear John speak so passionately and with appreciation about multiple music genres – no snobbery, just a love of people who create good music and what drives them. The depth of his knowledge was evident, throwing out dates with a specificity that only comes from years of study, and the overall passion for innovation and creating what you enjoy, just shines through.
In the second half of the show, John was joined on stage for a Q&A with Paul Simpson (member of The Wild Swans, Care and The Teardrop Explodes). I wasn’t familiar with Paul prior to this event, and the chemistry between him and John was excellent – they’re clearly old friends as well as contemporaries. It was fascinating to see the interviewer side of John emerge, with probing and insightful questions, to wrap the evening up in a satisfying manner, and provided an appropriate mirror to the first half.
For those that weren’t familiar with the Wild Swans, a little bit more of an introduction would have been appreciated, but given the knowledgeable audience, this was by no means a deal-breaker, and the easy rapport between the two meant the conversation flowed easily. The questions were thoughtful, and deceptively probing. We covered topics such as Paul’s memoirs, the Liverpool music scene, his popularity in the Philippines, and a fantastic anecdote about a cardigan made famous by MTV.
I left the event with many things – a list of bands to listen to, John’s TedX talk to find (R is for Rock’n’roll) and books to read. This event was originally to be held in May, before being rescheduled to this weekend. In the interim, I’ve been racing through John’s book “The Art of Darkness: The History of Goth”, and it’s a magnificent 700 page opus, with expansive footnotes and evocative writing.
However, above all, I left inspired – the spirit of innovation and just giving things a go feels like a lost concept in a world with overly curated and aesthetically pleasing social media. It feels like we can all take a lesson from the Oxfam-dressed and under-rehearsed punks of the past, and just let the creativity flow. With that, I believe in the power of rock ‘n’ roll – do you?