J. Robbins is an independent music lifer. Starting out at the end of the 1980s playing bass in the final and longest-tenured lineup of DC hardcore mainstays Government Issue, he went on to gain prominence in the 90s as the singer/ guitarist of the prolific and widely-traveled indie rock band Jawbox. That band’s sound developed to become a template for most of J’s later work: passionate and tuneful vocals set to driven guitars that swing between melody and clashing dissonance, atop complex and driving rhythms, abrasive post punk and melodic guitar pop influences in an always uneasy alliance greater than the sum of its parts. 

Releasing a slew of independent EPs and two full-length albums on DC’s iconic Dischord Records, Jawbox (like many of their peers from the music underground of the day) transitioned to the major label world in the mid-90s, going on to release two albums on Atlantic Records before disbanding. Returning - and rededicating himself -  to the indie music world and its ethos, Robbins almost immediately formed a new band with former GI bandmate and drummer extraordinaire Peter Moffett: Burning Airlines, which released two albums and toured the US, Europe, and Japan. 

Concurrently, however, Robbins had begun making a name in the studio as an in-demand  producer/engineer for bands in a new wave of post-punk indie music, such as Texas is the Reason, the Promise Ring, Jets to Brazil, and Braid. By the early 2000s, after the breakup of Burning Airlines, recording and producing other bands was his primary focus - though he also made time for personal musical projects such as Channels and Office of Future Plans (both of which released albums on Dischord), and Report Suspicious Activity (where he returned to playing bass, and which released albums on Alternative Tentacles and Arctic Rodeo Records).

Robbins is still highly active and maintains his primary focus as a producer/ engineer in his Baltimore studio, the Magpie Cage, recording bands of many styles, from all around the world - from stoner rock icons like Clutch, and The Sword, to Americana songsmiths June Star, epic rockers Daria (Angers FR) and the garage/afro-beat hybrid Des Demonas, to name a few. Since 2013 or so, Robbins’ main creative outlet as a songwriter/singer/musician has been writing and releasing music on solo records. Two so far: Un-Becoming (2019) and Basilisk (2024), both on Dischord Records.

Getting older has not meant slowing down; especially in the upside-down world we currently inhabit, it has only made the need to create more urgent. Robbins’  current writing is driven partly by a desire to write songs that can survive in all sorts of different arrangements, from solo acoustic (recent years have brought solo acoustic tours , including strings of dates in 2022 and 2024 supporting Bob Mould), to electronic, to rock band bashing away at top volume. “Un-Becoming” and “Basilisk” are solo records, with a broad sonic palette, but the sound of a rock band is still at their core, and collaboration is still key. 

J. Robbins (band) has varied in lineups, often including cellist/guitarist Gordon Withers and Robbins’ former Channels and Office of Future Plans bandmate Darren Zentek on drums. In 2024 the band coalesced into its current touring form as a power trio, with (War on Women founder/guitarist) Brooks Harlan on bass - a fixture in this role since Office of Future Plans formed in 2010 - and Peter Moffett (who also drummed on Un-Becoming) once again behind the kit. This lineup toured like crazy in 2024, including headlining tours around the US, festival appearances at The Fest (FL) and Caterwaul Festival in Minneapolis, and California dates supporting Sunny Day Real Estate.

J. Robbins (band) has already begun recording for a third full-length, and is looking forward to shows in France and Spain in April 2025 with dear friends Daria (Angers, FR), and a late Spring East Coast/Midwest run supporting Bob Mould Band on the “Here We Go Crazy” tour.