John Robb "Punk Rock Ruined My Life: And Other Stories" Book Launch & Gaye Advert Interview at Jacksons Lane Art Centre Highgate, 3rd June 2026

We attended a thoroughly enjoyable evening at the excellent Jacksons Lane Arts Centre in the company of John Robb, the acclaimed music journalist, TV presenter, author, frontman of The Membranes and Goldblade and of course, a cultural ambassador for Blackpool. John was on tour promoting his new autobiography "Punk Rock Ruined My Life: And Other Stories". It was a night of two halves - the first section featured John delivering an impressive one-man blast through his early years, clutching the mic stand as if he was fronting one of his bands. Then after the interval, John introduced special guest Gaye Black, or Gaye Advert as she was once known in her time as the iconic bassist with The Adverts, to discuss her life in Music and Art. In fact, this format runs throughout the intensive nationwide tour, with John's 'solo' talk followed by a Q&A session with various musical pals depending on the show's location, these included such luminaries as Stuart Braithwaite from Mogwai, Pauline Murray from Penetration, Holly from The Lovely Eggs, Steve & Paul Hanley from The Fall and Dave Rowntree from Blur.

John discussed his early life, growing up in Blackpool and how he felt it was such an uncool place that it meant he didn't have to worry about trying to be 'cool'. He talks about discovering music from a very early age and he was particularly taken by "Yellow Submarine" although he preferred the Pinky & Perky version rather than the Beatles original and admits he thought The Wombles were cool. He fell in love with Glam Rock, especially David Bowie and as an avid reader of the music press he found out about Punk Rock. In a bid to look Punk, John started buying clothes in local Oxfam shops, borrowing his Dad's string vest and piercing his ears using a compass and piece of cork. He nails what it was like growing up in the 70's, throwing in some nostalgic comments on those radioactive orange three-bar electric heaters and the state of English cuisine, where the only use of olive oil was when your Mum soaked a piece of cotton wool in it to stick in your ear when you had earache. It's these hilarious vignettes that have many of us laughing and sighing in recognition. 

 

Those shared generational experiences don't happen so much in modern life, and an example of this was Top of The Pops, where the whole nation was glued to the TV on a Thursday evening. John talks about forming The Membranes - taking the Punk motto of you don't need to be able to play music to form a band to a new level. He explains how The Membranes became cool in America and how Dinosaur Jr filmed the video to "Freak Scene" in his garden. Unfortunately, one hour just wasn't enough so we only get to the part where he takes his first steps into music journalism contributing to magazines such as Sounds and Zig Zag. I'm looking forward to getting stuck into the book to continue on the journey and hopefully I'll find out if Punk Rock did ruin John's life or indeed, save it.

Please check out John Robb's web-site here for details on the remaining Tour dates and updates on all his many and varied projects. You can order "Punk Rock Ruined My Life" here. 

Gaye Black will be curating an Art Exhibition and appearing at the "50 Years of Punk" event at the John Peel Centre in Stowmarket which runs from 9th-14th June. For more information on her Art please check out her web-site here. You can also still download or stream our special Retrosonic Podcast with Gaye, where she discusses her life in music and art and plays some of her favourite records for us.

Retrosonic Podcast · Gaye (Advert) Black, Artist & Former Bassist with The Adverts