Respected author and musician John Robb has released a passage from his latest book recalling how he became one of the earliest supporters of Fontaines D.C.. He also shares details about two songs that remain officially unavailable. The passage follows.

Robb is a well known figure within Manchester music, working as a journalist and author while also singing for veteran punk group The Membranes. He famously became the first journalist to speak with Nirvana, introduced The Stone Roses to readers of Sounds and conducted influential early interviews with artists including The Jesus And Mary Chain and Manic Street Preachers.

His previous writing includes a book exploring Oasis and an extensive history of goth music. He also operates his independent website, Louder Than War. His newest release, Punk Rock Ruined My Life, looks back over his eventful career in music. Among its less familiar stories is his encounter with Fontaines D.C. while the members were still attending college and how close he came to releasing their debut 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.”

When questioned about whether the recordings might ever emerge from his archive, Robb responded: “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!”

Robb first encountered the group around ten years ago. Afterwards, he and singer Grian Chatten regularly exchanged emails about the Dublin band’s development.

Robb continued: “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!”

The complete section from Punk Rock Ruined My Life can be read below. Robb recalls meeting Fontaines D.C. during their earliest period while working with BIMM at its Dublin college. His role involved holding individual mentoring sessions where students could ask him questions for approximately 90 minutes. Robb remembers finding the situation “quite odd” because he had followed “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 available now and can be purchased here. He will also tour across the UK and Europe between September and November to speak about the memoir. Further details and dates are available here.

Fontaines D.C. recently mourned the death of their manager and “sixth member” Trevor Dietz, a much loved figure within Irish music. The group will shortly return to the stage with concerts in Spain, followed by several major festival appearances. Their schedule includes their first headline performances at Reading & Leeds this August.

Listeners are still waiting for information about the next album after the widely praised 2024 record ‘Romance’. In January, Carlos O’Connell spoke with NME about the band’s latest writing sessions. “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.”

Asked whether audiences might hear fresh material during the Reading & Leeds sets, O’Connell answered: “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 also asked if any visual ideas from the ‘Romance’ tour could be carried into the band’s 2026 concerts. “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 added: “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 revealed that the members had been developing “little bits of ideas individually”. Asked about the music currently inspiring him, he replied: “Recently, I’ve been really getting into UK hardcore.”

‘Romance’ finished at Number Two on NME’s ranking of the 50 best albums released in 2024, placing behind Charli XCX’s ‘Brat’.