Interview: Goldblade

John Robb is the kind of bloke who 25-hour days should be invented for. When the tireless punk rock legend's not taking over the media world via-his Louder Than War website and record label, he's writing books, appearing on TV as a pundit and engaging in political debate to try to bring about real change. Perhaps most importantly though, he fronts the riotous war horse that is Goldblade. By the time you read this latest issue, their savage sixth album The Terror Of Modern Life will be unleashed and it sees the singer in vintage form.

“It’s hard to run a band as you get older as life gets in the way, but creatively it just gets easier,” says John. “Every day you’re thinking up tunes and bits of things. We’re proud that people come to our gigs and have fun, but we’re also a band who have something to say and this album has plenty of that.”
Formed in the mid-'90s, Goldblade’s brand of punk is politicised, powerful and steeped in the values of the early days of the scene that John grew up with. He tells us his life-long love affair with the sub-culture is as strong ever.
“I like the idea that punk has always been a family. I love that punk bands help each other and there’s no sense of competition between the bands. It’s a shame that there’s some really key bands who’ve come out of Dublin, Belfast and other places that never really get acknowledged and put on the front pages of papers though. In America, Henry Rollins is a mainstream cultural figure but similar people doing similar kinds of work in Ireland and the UK get marginalised and get the crumbs off the table.”
Speaking of the Belfast punk scene, has Robb had a chance to check out the silver-screen homage to '70s hero Terri Hooley that is Good Vibrations yet?
“I saw it last September and it’s fucking amazing,” he enthuses. “I’ve known Terri since 1981 and that guy playing him is uncanny. He’s as brilliant and inspiring and infuriating as Terri is in real life. We always said in England that Belfast had the most genuine punk scene. When everyone else was talking it, they were actually living it. Not that we wanted to go and live there, mind. It was a scary place in those days.”
As well as his ongoing mission of bringing Goldblade to the masses, John is also the Stone Roses’ biographer (his book, The Stone Roses & The Resurrection Of British Pop: The Reunion Edition is out now) and since quite a few HP readers are fans of the reunited four-piece, we asked him what the story is with their rumoured new material.
“I know they’re rehearsing new songs,” he concludes. “I think they really pulled off the reunion and it’ll be intriguing to see if they can also pull off a third album. New songs do exist, so let's see how the story pans out.”

Goldblade's The Terror Of Modern Life is out now via Overground Records.