Longtime artist and many times published author John Robb of post-Punk band The Membranes has released his newest title, The Art Of Darkness: The History Of Goth via Louder Than War Books. The 550-page tome is an exhaustive study of the history of the music and wider impact of Goth music and sub-cultures via deep dive into the past forces and music giants that shaped it. Along with the timeline spanning from the middle ages Romantic poets to the New Romantics and post-Punks of the 1980s, to influencers on Tik-Tok today, Robb interviews legends such as Andrew Eldritch, Killing Joke, Bauhaus, The Cult, The Banshees, The Damned, Einstürzende Neubauten, Johnny Marr, Trent Reznor, Adam Ant, Laibach, The Cure, Nick Cave, and many more. Order the book at the links below.
John Robb
“The Art Of Darkness : The History Of Goth”
Louder Than War Books
550 Pages + Photographs by Mick Mercer
Release Date: March 24, 2023
Bio:
Author/Music Scribe/TV Presenter/Environmental Activist and Bass Player for perennial post-punk survivors The Membranes, John Robb is a man who cannot sit still. When he’s not touring with his band (they recently toured in Europe with The Stranglers, The Chameleons, and Fields Of The Nephilim), he’s presenting, moderating or writing for his popular UK music site Louder Than War. John has previously written the best-selling books “Punk Rock: An Oral History” and “The North Will Rise Again: Manchester Music City 1976-1996”. His latest opus is the 550-page “The Art Of Darkness: The History of Goth”, an in-depth account that he feels presents the first major and comprehensive overview of Goth music and culture and its lasting legacy.
Starting with a night out in a Goth club, it then takes us on a deep dive into the wider culture, exploring the social conditions that created ‘Goth’ in the post-punk period. It examines the fall of Rome, Lord Byron, and theromantic poets, European folk tales, Gothic architecture and painters, the occult to modern-day Instagram influencers.
The book is built mainly around the 80s post-punk Goth period featuring interviews with Andrew Eldritch, Killing Joke, Bauhaus, The Cult, The Banshees, The Damned, Einstürzende Neubauten, Johnny Marr, Trent Reznor, Adam Ant, Laibach, The Cure, Nick Cave and many others. …it looks at the music, style and the political and social conditions that spawned the culture and the great music, fashions and attitudes – clubs that defined it, and is also a first-hand account of being there at some of the legendary gigs and clubs that made the scene happen…
Pre-order now to get a SIGNED copy of this definitive deep-dive into the dark side!
Order via Bandcamp: https://bit.ly/3VMBsvh
Order via Rough Trade: http://bit.ly/3VrqKta