Illustrious Best Selling author, praised musician, and owner of the 10th most influential, pop, culture/music magazine on the planet Louder Than War, John Robb is currently celebrating the release of his newest book “The Art of Darkness- The History of Goth”. There is probably no one on earth more qualified to trace the history of the genre than founder and lead singer of The Membranes as John Robb delves into the high point of the 1980’s. The book includes interviews with icons including The Sisters of Mercy’s Andrew Eldritch, Adam Ant, The Cure, Nick Cave, Laibach, The Cult, Killing Joke, The Damned, Trent Reznor, The Banshees, and more.
The manuscript traces the culture, the history, the legacy and the never-ending scene of Goth. Robb covers the style, the music and the clubs that spawned the culture in over 500 pages. He not only considers the current main stream of Goth today, but also the influences on Film and Theatre, but also, reaches further in to the key historic events and movements that fashioned the idea of Goth.
Aside from owning Louder Than War and being a member of the Membranes, as a journalist he is often asked to be a TV presenter and a music commentator. He also runs the music writing festival “Louder Than Words”, thus so far held in Manchester every single year. Apart from that he is a TEDx speaker and possesses a lifetime of music knowledge. He has appeared on BBC Breakfast, Channel 4’s “top 100”, and many BBC shows.
As a journalist he has written for Sounds, Melody Maker and currently writes for The Guardian, The Observer, The Sunday Times, The Independent, and many others globally. To his credit, he was the first journalist to ever interview the group Nirvana, and coined the word Britpop. Aside from his newest book he has written a plethora of others, and does interviews on his own YouTube program.
He celebrates the darkest music with the most enlightenment like that of liquid mathematics or perfumed smoke. He knows his own darkness well enough to sit in others darkness with them. Like a seductive alchemist, he turns anguish into narratives of truth……
Get your copy of The Art of Darkness: The History of Goth on Amazon here:
The official website for John Robb may be found at https://johnrobbofficial.com
Photo Credit: Billy Hess
