John Robb on discovering Nirvana, that Oasis fight, and the health of new music

John Robb has spoken to NME about his spoken word tour, being the first person to interview Nirvana, the infamous Oasis vs Cable fight, and his ongoing belief in new music.Robb is an author, journalist and member of punk legends Goldblade and The Membranes.

Starting out in zines, he went on to write for the likes of ZigZag, Melody Maker, Sounds and The Guardian among others. He has also penned books on The Stone Roses, The Charlatans and the history of goth music, and runs his own website LouderThanWar.Currently, he’s on the last leg of his UK spoken word tour for his latest book: Do You Believe in the Power of Rock & Roll?: Forty Years of Music Writing from the Frontline.“There are plenty anecdotes and stories in there,” Robb told NME of the show. “I always put in the Oasis story about how I was first person to hear [1995 second album] ‘(What’s The Story) Morning Glory’ in the studio, then they got in a massive fight with the band I was producing – Cable.“That’s been in the papers a few times over the years.

Oasis actually split up briefly that night after that fight, but I was the only sober person there so I can remember it in almost exact detail!”Robb continued: “I don’t blame Liam Gallagher one bit for what happened.

He was very patient with Cable, but he got so drunk and they kept saying how terrible the album was and they threw a load of pasta at him, then he went mad.”Another story at the centre of Robb’s book and live show is about how while working at Sounds, he was the first ever journalist to interview Nirvana back in 1989 – before flying out to live with them for five days nine months later.“I saw them play a gig at Maxwells in Hoboken to about 20 people,” Robb recalled. “It was an amazing gig.