Acclaimed writer and musician John Robb has shared an excerpt from his new book in which he looks back on being one of the first people to discover Fontaines D.C. and reveals info on two unreleased songs. Check it out below.
Manchester legend Robb is a music journalist and author who is also frontman of punk veterans The Membranes. He was famously the first person to interview Nirvana, he discovered The Stone Roses for Sounds, and did early agenda-setting interviews with the likes of The Jesus And Mary Chain and Manic Street Preachers.
As an author, he has published books about Oasis and the history of goth music, and runs his own website Louder Than War. His latest work, Punk Rock Ruined My Life, is a memoir that captures his storied life in music. One of his lesser-told stories is how he discovered Fontaines D.C. back when they were at college, and nearly put out their first single.
“It was a different version of ‘Liberty Belle’, but it was at more at demo stage with a rawer and punkier sound with great vocals which gave it an exciting edge,” Robb told NME. “I loved it then and love it now. It came with an unreleased and highly sought-after fan favourite track called ‘Rubies’, which again is thrillingly raw and a punky Ramones rush. It’s a great track.”
Asked if he’d ever release the tracks from his vault, Robb replied: “No! It wouldn’t be fair, as when they got signed I said I wouldn’t. If they hadn’t got signed it would have been released though!”
Fontaines D.C. perform at Night People in Manchester in 2018 (Photo by Visionhaus/Getty Images)
When they first met a decade ago, Robb and frontman Grian Chatten would regularly touch base via email about the Dublin band’s progress.
“I was really happy they got a deal and on the perfect label for them [Partisan]. I’ve bumped into him at a couple of festivals since then, and him and the band are really lovely people to see in that rushing around world we all occupy!” added Robb.
Check out the full excerpt from Punk Rock Ruined My Life below, in which Robb speaks of meeting the band in their earliest days while he was working with BIMM at their Dublin college. He would give one-to-one mentoring sessions with the students where he would answer their questions for around 90 minutes, which Rob admitted he found “quite odd” as he had enjoyed “the most unconventional of careers and was perhaps not really in a position to hand out advice to someone looking for a comfy job in the music biz”.
John RObb’s new book ‘Punk Rock Ruined My Life’. Credit: Press
“One day this gangling youth came in, armed with his demo tape and his expectations. From his intense conversation it was quickly apparent that he was going to make his band happen. There was a steely-eyed vision and determination and a quest for knowledge. He then played me the three songs his band had recorded and they were thrilling slices of high-octane punk rock, with a post-punk and even a hint of Buddy Holly twist. He told me his name was Grian Chatten and his band was called the Fontaines (a year later they added D.C. to their name, as in ‘Dublin City’, so as not to be mixed up with some long-lost American band). The songs were great and I decided there and then to release them as a single on my new label Louder Than War, which I had set up to spotlight a whole raft of new bands, like the mask wearing bass prog freaks Evil Blizzard.
“The plan was to release the Fontaines’ single three months later, and to tie it in with a launch gig in Dublin at the Workman’s Club where they would support The Membranes, to make sure there was some sort of crowd beyond a handful of college mates. I also gave the band their first write-up, which was in Louder Than War, and I said I would try get them some radio play.
“It’s never easy for a new band to get attention, but I would have the chance to get songs to people on my travels around media land. Obviously none of this was paid work, more a manic-fan-of-new-bands enthusiasm. A couple of weeks later I was on BBC’s 6Music on the Steve Lamacq show, doing Roundtable where we reviewed new songs. It was a great slot and I was on often with various other guests, talking about new releases with the ever enthusiastic DJ. During the show I was raving to Steve about the band and sent the tracks over to him, hoping that when the single came out he would pick up on it. Steve loved the band and would champion them a few months later, sparking a label stampede that got them signed to a bigger label than mine, so all the plans for me to release the debut single and play the launch gig were shelved.
“The Fontaines took off pretty quickly and since then have gone from strength to strength. By 2025 they had become the key band on the guitar band scene, which has made the world a better place. That is the whole point, surely!”
John Robb’s Punk Rock Ruined My Life is out now and available here. He’ll be heading out on a UK and European tour to discuss the book from September through to November. Visit here for dates and more information.
Fontaines D.C. recently lost their manager and “sixth member”, beloved Irish music figurehead Trevor Dietz. The band will soon be returning to make their live comeback in Spain before a run of huge festival dates, which include headlining Reading & Leeds for the first time in August.
Fans are eagerly awaiting news of the follow-up to 2024’s acclaimed ‘Romance’. In January, guitarist Carlos O’Connell told NME about progress on new Fontaines D.C. material. “We’ve been writing, it’s been fun,” he explained. “We’re at [Reading & Leeds] and there are a couple of shows before that. I think if the music is there, it could get busy.”
When asked if any new tunes could make their way onto the R&L setlists, O’Connell replied: “I’d say so. If there is stuff written, then I would say so, yeah. That’s what we used to do all the time, play the new stuff live – songs that weren’t even finished. It’s a good way to test the songs.”
Fontaines D.C. live at Reading 2024. Credit: Andy Ford for NME
O’Connell was questioned on whether any of the visual elements of the ‘Romance’ tour could remain for Fontaines’ 2026 dates, too. “I think ‘Romance’ was so intense in every [way]… the visual, the production, the setlist… It wasn’t just about the music,” he told NME.
“It’s almost a bit of the identity of the band now, but I guess that’s the decision to make. Does that become the identity of the band, or actually, it’s just a phase and you reinvent it? I don’t know.”
O’Connell continued: “I personally like the idea of revisiting some old stuff at Reading & Leeds, making the setlist maybe a bit more ‘Dogrel’-heavy. I’m excited about that. I’ve been listening to music like that much more. This morning I was listening to Sonic Youth. I want to go [in] that direction, but we’ll see, because anything could happen now – literally anything.”
Last October, bassist Conor ‘Deego’ Deegan III told NME that Fontaines had been working on “little bits of ideas individually”. When asked what had been influencing him, he said: “Recently, I’ve been really getting into UK hardcore.”
‘Romance’ landed at Number Two on NME‘s 50 best albums of 2024 list, behind Charli XCX’s ‘Brat’.
You can view the original article HERE.
