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General Category => New Model Army => Topic started by: nn359 on November 21, 2009, 05:15:39 PM
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OK, mine was a friend at school, who played me RMM. I listened, thought, heard Vagabonds, and never looked back.
Was just after T&C...(Im not an elderly fan) !!!!!!!!
Then i went through the previous albums and,after that, never missed a release date by more than a couple of weeks.
I played the drums for a few years, and in those years, i grew to PROPERLY enjoy NMA. I believe, listening, as a playing musician can add to the enjoyment.
Looking back, i now cant see my life without NMA, too deep?? I think the music and lyrics have shaped, along with many others, the person ive become.
Dont know if the whole "First NMA thing" has been done already. Sorry if it has, but now you know my story!
N
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1980. my mate Rob Wadddington, who was in loads of Keighley Bands and i used to go to his gigs because of his brilliant drumming. He was even in a band with my Brother. Then he said i have joined a band called New Model Army, and said they were a cut above. So me and another of his Workmates began going to the Pub gigs in Keighley Bingley Bradford and Leeds. I knew they were better than the rest of the local Scene, but guess you just do not believe a band you follow will make it.But...............
Rob left just around the time they got the firsr record (Bittersweet) made. He was a good few years older and was married with i suppose different loyalties. Memories, wow it really is 30 years ago.
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November 82, Bradford Uni. I was on the uni sound crew if I remember correctly, but soon switched to 'stage' crew.
I thought they were good then...
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I got a tape from a penpal and there were 3 NMA-songs on it - not sure which 3 but NO REST was on it for sure.
A few months later I went to a Dutch festival called 'Waterpop' where NMA was performing so I was pretty curious.
And .. well, do I need to say more? I think it was 1988 but I am not sure.
It was the 1st time I saw Die Toten Hosen as well, never heard of the band but their gig "kicked ass" so afterwards
I started buying records of them and of course NMA. I have send an email to the organisation of the festival and
asked for the specific year but never got a reply.
Anyway, it's around 21 years ago and till today .. NMA is my favorite band ever. One thing I hate about dying is to
never be able to hear their songs again. (and I am serious!)
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It had to be sometime in 1989. I was in College and was only listening to metal at the time. In College, everyone has different tastes so we'd take turns playing the music. Thunder & Consolation was one of the favorites of another guy on the floor and slowly it began to catch my ear the more he played it. For me it was a revelation. A completely new style of music was opening up in front of me. A few months later, T&C was on non-stop rotation. Pretty soon after that I began digging into the back catalog.
This ties into the first experience too...... I clearly remember the day I bought Impurity. I was completely broke at the time, selling off chunks of my record collection to buy beer and nonsense like that. I barely had enough to get by. I told the record store to order it for me not even realizing it would be an import. I was shocked when he rang it up about a month after I ordered it and it came to over $30! That's expensive by todays standards but being a starving College kid, that was insane. I hesitated nervously for a few seconds as I looked back and forth between the price on the register and the CD but I just had to get it. And to this day, it's till one of those purchases that I couldn't afford but don't regret it at all.
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I first heard of NMA in 1984 after my elder brother borrowed the Vengeance LP of a mate of ours and was very impressed with it. I then saw them for the first time in 1987 in Manchester on the Poison Street tour and have seen them pretty much every time they have played locally. I've collected everything they've released and have quite an extensive live collection spanning their career.
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I was kind of aware of them as I'd heard the odd track at my local alternative night. Also my little sister was a fan. However, it wasn't untill I heard 'Purity' that I was intreaged enough to go out and buy anything. I'd gone to buy the CD single but then noticed that the Album was on a promotional discount as it had just been released, so I chanced my arm......
The following weekend I went straight out and bought T & C and The Ghost Of Cain!
Impurity is still one of my fav NMA albums!
Live, it was some time before I had a opportunity to see them. In fact the first time was JS and DB at the Phoenix Festival in 1995. A set which left me utterly speachless (particularly as it was the first time I'd heard 'No Pain'). First full band was the 3'rd Battle Of Newbury gig at the Shepards Bush Empire, which is still up in my favourite top five gigs. Awsome night!
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First time I heard NMA was in 1984 at a club in Bradford called Time n Place, the songs were Vengeance and Christian Militia been hooked ever since...
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Went to Brockwell Park in 1984, remember seeing the Damned but not NMA, the curse of drink eh? My first "proper gig was Dec 1984 at Electric Ballroom, not looked back since
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1st nma gig was leicester de montford, about 1987? with dave (RIP).
Justin said 'if you want something really badly, you'll get it really badly' as introduction to a song (which I forget now, it was a long time ago and I'm now old and brie-headed) and that stuck with him for years. It became one of his favourite sayings, and was quoted at his funeral earlier this year.
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I suppose it was late '82 or early '83, all the bands I'd been following at the time seemed to be splitting up (particularly the Jam and SLF, but the Clash had gone a little odd as well (took me a long time to get the hang of Sandanista!) and I kept hearing whispers about a band from Bradford who seemed to be around Wolverhampton occasionally (a rare thing in those days, live music from outside the West Midlands...) and were dubbed by Sounds as the "new Clash" so when Bittersweet came out, and they played Wolves Poly, it was the natural place to be. Had the odd rest, but never looked back really. The perfect band for that time of my life...
Cheers Rick
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First experience was Green & Grey when it was in the charts (1989 i guess, seems like forever ago) - liked it from the first. Got T&C soon after and really liked that too which was kinda odd 'cos like Brian-DC i was a bit of a metalhead back then, but it just really clicked with me.
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A mate of mine played me Ghost of Cain and as NMA were playing at Rock City a couple of weeks later(Feb '87) we went .
Totally hooked immediately.
Best NMA gigs are a choice of these,always enjoyed any at Town and Country Club,my hometown gigs at Scunthorpe Baths(now partly demolished hopefully rebuilt by 2011),Windsor Baths Bradford,any Rock City especially Xmas shows and Shepherds Bush 3rd Battle of Newbury.
Been to that many can't pick just one.
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We here at the board HQ rather like the idea of this thread. We realise that this topic has been done before and many of you have contributed previously, but many of those great stories have been lost in the ether of the net. We would be delighted if you could take the time to contribute to this thread as we would like to create a permanent archive for these wonderful stories.
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back in 1988/89 i used to work for a shop fitting company in sheffield on the shop floor making cabinates, bars etc. there was a radio in the corner permanently tuned (unfortunately) to radio 1. the daytime dj, an orange perma-taned bloke by the name of gary davis, took it upon himself to play stupid questions in amongst all the usual banality. i was a bit of a metalhead back then, big on metallica (who had still to record the dreadful 'black' album), iron maiden, marillion etc. so was much more atune to guitary stuff. anyway, davis played SQ a few times over a couple of weeks and i was hooked. went out a bought T & C and i had found my new favourite band. a position in my affections NMA have held ever since.
the best thing about not being there from the start like some of the other poster (although i wish i had been if only for the memores) is that i didn't have to wait months/years for new releases, i just popped down to hmv/virgin and bought all the back catalogue, hehe, plenty to go at! i also trawled the saturday morning record fairs in sheffield and over a year or two had amassed an almost complete collection of singles.
my first gig was in leeds on the impurity tour, a magical experience.
well thats my story and may i just add a big thanks to justin, the various other members of the band, the occassional musicians and all those who have put time and effort into keeping the band working and recording. ta.
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Went to Brockwell Park in 1984,
Me too - went to see the headliners and fave band at the time, The Damned, but seeing NMA and hearing Vengeance in particular caught my attention and decided to find out more and have never looked back. Must of been to well over 100 NMA gigs now, the one I remember as being 'the one' that took NMA from being one of the bands I really liked into THE band that I love was the 'Secret' gig at The Venue in Oxford in 1992 - not sure why, but for me it all just clicked into place that evening.
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My first experience of NMA was THAT top of the pops with No Rest.. i thought Wow these are good must look them up but never quite got around to it until a [few?] years later when i had a young goth lodger called Joe who lent me T+C on cassette.. I think i gave it back ...
I then borrowed the videos from a well known (in Plymouth) alternative DJ and never really looked back...
Living down in the south west and being perpetually skint the first live 'experience' was the Finsbury Park Mission gig (that my ex wife dragged me to coz I still really dislike them) I was not looking forward to it until I saw NMA on the bill.... (Sorry Spud I mentioned it again) It took me a few years to see them again and I still regret being skint for the 96(?) cooperage gig in Plymouth that Taz and Spud kept reminding me about (to their credit I think they even offered to get me a ticket, but I knew at that time I couldn't repay them)...
Bea says her first experience was being in Uni and having someone try to teach her Vengeance on a bass guitar that was too big for her (she has n't grown much since then either)
(edit) just realised the NMA cooperage gig was actually '98)
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Got into them at uni, I was at newcastle and saw them at tiffanys and also in manchester around the same time which would have been vengeance in album terms so must have been 82 to 83. there was something about them then that lifted them above many other (good) bands at the time, something that has kept me hooked for the last 25 plus years. I had a long spell where I didn't see them live between 90 and two years ago and I always used to see the albums in hmv about a year after they came out. But well back in the groove now and looking forward to NMA gigs four and five since getting back into things at Exeter Phoenix in 2007 (have also seen a couple of JS gigs since then too!) Can't wait for Brighton.. ; ~ D
They are part of what I am as well so echo a previous post. The music is amazing but the lyrics are quite unlike any other band I've been into..
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Listened the tune "Vengeance" for the first time on a french punk radio in 1984, and I found this song amazing. Bought the mini-LP straight afterwards. Was fond of punk and new-wave, but never listened to something like that : these songs were powerful, furious, sensitive , poetic, brilliant ! The bass line was clever and impressive. The Price : so romantic. Then bought all the LP's and Ep's we could get in France.
First gig in November 1986 in Paris... it was in a small venue (Rex Club) and it was really like a storm for me and my best friend. Christian Militia in opening was a blast, and I remember an awesome cover of "in a rut"... maybe my best gig ever. Justin was so charismatic... and still is.
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Mate at school did me a tape of No Rest and Ghost of Cain in 1986. Totally enraptured by the sound. First live experience White Coats tour Cambridge September 1987 - never looked back, been an integral part of my life ever since.
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My First experience was 51st State playing all the time at the local clubs in the middle/late eighties. However, I was never a big fan although I liked Thunder & Consolation, but I only had the tape. Then I re-discovered Army with Big guitar in little Europe, around '96. A friend copied my a tape and i was thrilled. I didnt liked the Strange Brotherhood album that much, but after the 20th anniversy concert in Cologne I was hooked.
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Must have been sometime in 1985. I was at school and obsessed with Killing Joke and similar bands. I heard No Rest and loved it (especially the chorus). But my first live experience was not for another 4 years at Reading Festival. That was the life changing bit.
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Brockwell park for me too.weren't allowed an encore due time schedules and crowd went ape.DJ played vengeance a few times to try to keep crowd happy.spent a month looking for vengeance in record shops before realising it hadn't been released.
Finally got it and it was played to death in our young ones type house till all were converted.
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It was in 1990. I was 17 and my boy friend maked me NMA tapes. I really remember very strongs feelings with T&C album. Especially with I love the word. The way JS sang/sings this song with so much intensity and pasion was too much for my sweat heart :-)
It gave me goose pimples and I frequently cried listenning this song... 20 years later I can listen it with dry eyes but I am still touched in live... Girls can be so emotional :-)
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A bit later than it should have been really, as by that time I'd already long discovered and got into all the other bands I love(d), but I put it down to the fact at the time I was living in the wrong country at the time and NMA were really unknown there (even in the alternative scene).
Anyway it was 1990 and among the songs the DJ at the local goth/alternative club played pretty much every week there was this one I particularly liked, that went "Get me ouuut!!". After hearing (and dancing to it) a few times I asked the DJ who they were - this band called New Model Army apparently, who I had surprisingly never heard of (I liked to think of myself as quite knowledgeable in the field of alternative music). A friend of mine steps in and goes something like "oh yeah, I know them - got a couple of albums of theirs, I'll make you a tape). He did ad the two albums turned out to be Thunder and Consolation and Impurity, and in a very short time that tape became one of those I took with me everywhere.
About a year later I was in London and they were playing Brixton; I went to the gig and the rest, as they say, is history.
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It will have been about 1988 or so, I was really into my metal/ thrash or whatever at the time. Me & a few like minded mates used to meet up on a Saturday afternoon in the Pig & Whistle in the Merrion Centre, Leeds for a few jars. We'd then head off through town stopping maybe at the Phono & Whitelocks & then into Scrumpies just before the entrance fee went up from 50p to a quid at 10pm!
There was a lad that went in Scrumpies now and again, no idea what he was called though. I think he used to wear a long army style coat & an NMA logo t-shirt. Everytime he was in they'd play 51st State & I remember him dancing & sort of acting out the words as it were, tipping his hat, a fluttery flag effect with his hand etc haha!!!
A year or so later I went to see NMA at the Queens Hall in Bradford I think with my then girlfriend. She was into Erasure, Ricky Astley etc etc - no accounting for taste I suppose. Hey, she was fit ok haha!!!! I remember being stood down the front with her at the start of the gig. Bad move! When the music started I thought it had all kicked off but later realised they were just dancing! Anyway, I was hooked.
Zen
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I asked a friend of a friend of mine about a The Cure tape, he added Temple of love by the Sisters and Vagabonds to it. That was in 89, I was 13. I bought T&C in 1990 and love it still. Went to my first gig in 1993 at D'dorf.
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My 1st experience with NMA . It was watching MTV mid 80's They had a show called 120 minutes It was there late nite programming. I saw the White Coats video and I was Hooked from that point . Went and brought the white coats ep single within a week . Then a local Rock radio station here in Long Island NY had a program on Sunday nites called Off the Boat which was showcasing all the latest imports this is around 1986-87 and I heard Stupid Questions and it was like Wow this band rocks. I can get into these guys. :)
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Im almost certain I saw them either in a pub or what is now the cinema in Hebden Bridge in 1981 and I remember buying the Bittersweet single with flexi based on thir performance at the gig. Idefinitely saw the twice at the Funhouse Bar in Keighley in 1981 and at the Kings Head pub and from then I was hooked
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I am almost sure i was at those Keighley gigs. One of the Funhouse gigs was recorded on tape which i have. I remember they played The Cause twice, once as Ashley cartright was being thrown out for vigorous dancing. Then again much faster and with great passion as Justin dedicated it to him.
Ashley wrote the words for 51st State.
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I was about 14 I think and a friend of mines sister recorded me Levelling the Land on one side of a tape & The Love Of Hopeless Causes on another. I then went on a family holiday & had the tape glued to my portable tape player the whole time. I remember clearly that it was 'These Words' that really took me - the lyrics, the build up of Justin's voice. (my favourite Levellers track from LTL was 'The Game' incidentally!).
I came back and then started to put any pennies into buying all the New Model Army albums - on tape - I since had to re buy on CD & I tunes! (I'm a long time lurker here & read the debate re copying music / theft etc with interest - all the time thinking back to my friends sister & her recording me that tape - how it ended up me paying alot of money towards NMA / Joolz products).
I went out and bought the 'Here Comes The War' t-shirt (which I wore until in fell off! I must dig it out & frame it), a massive 'Get ME Out' poster, Joolz's poetry books etc. A teacher at my school was a big fan and very kindly recorded me 2 x Bootlegs and told me all about the gigs etc (Damien - if you're still following the band - and I'm sure you are - thanks very much!)
I wanted them to be my first proper gig - but they weren't touring at the time - well not that I knew of. My first gig ended up being Carter USM - it was good - but I actually really wanted to go and see The Levellers at the same venue (Reading Rivermead) the night before - it was sold out & I was gutted in a way only a 14 year old can be!! I remember Jim Bob walking on stage, picking up a piece of paper and reading it out to the audience "Sorry about the smell, the Levellers were here last night!" :)
I finally got to see them on the Nobody Else Tour in Portsmouth & was right down the front going mental - finally singing the songs I loved out loud with like minded people. I last saw them in Cork on the High tour & it made me feel just the same as the first gig (as have the other shows I've managed to see in-between).
They've been one of the few bands I've listened to constantly - always getting new releases, checking to see if I can make a gig. They never let me down - there's always something on an album - a lyric, a bass line, the way Justin sings a line ("Please god, make it ok" from the new album being a prime example).
I look forward to the next stage with excitement!
Rob
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Would have been at school around 1986 when some friends had NMA records, but truly got into them after seeing them at Reading Festival 1989
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Another Top of the Pops convert!!! - Went out and bought the 12" double pack the following Saturday!
I was going through a Metal to Indie/Goth stage at the time (I would have been 14!) - and this filled the gap nicely!
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My first NMA experience was No Rest on Top Of The Pops, Tuned in to watch The Unforgetable Fire video by U2. So I have Bono to thank for getting me into NMA...
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I saw the Top of the Pops spot, and bought No Rest and loved it, but I didn't really 'get it' until I came across the acoustic ep shortly afterwards (Better than them, No sense, Adrenalin, Trust). I'd never really heard anyone do acoustic stuff before, and those 4 songs became a part of me in a way I've never quite understood to this day.
I've wondered away from the Army a few times over the years, went of and did the crusty raver bit etc, but there's been very few days that if someone asked me who my favourite band was, that I wouldn't immediately mention NMA.
What a long strange road it's been :)
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My first experience goes back to the year -90. I was 17 years old, tired with the eighties metal era, and I listened mainly to punk, crust & grindcore stuff. There was a demo program in radio I used to listen and someone mentioned the New Model Army. Strange name, I thought. I bought the T&C vinyl and maybe thought the music was then too intelligent for my taste :))). Well, then there was The Radio Sessions 83-84, Impurity and all the rest.
I think it's quite funny that there were some friends with who we shared always the love for NMA - used to talk about it, and listen to it. But after the hills and gaps, problems and periods of depressions of the long ninetees era, we tried other things in our lives as well. So the life changes and you come back to your roots in some way. Only very good friends new that I was always a New Model Army fan, but nowadays I don't hesitate to show it. :)
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My boyfriend had been to the Brockwell Park all dayer and came back raving about this amazing new band and bought a copy of Vengeance . I first saw them a few months later - december 1984 - at Clifton Poly in Nottingham . It was a cold evening and trying to snow , we arrived at this very small union bar where the gig was , they started playing and I was blown away ! The power of the lyrics and the bass line (particularly ) was incredible ! I have been to see NMA many times over the years in venues big and small - a tiny sweaty Preston gig springs to mind - but that 1st gig was very special - I've still got the ticket .
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In the front seat of my mate Keith's car sitting on Peebles High Street in the Scottish Borders, 92 I think. He had a mix-tape with Sisters of Mercy, Levs, various good stuff on it, then this song came on that grabbed me by the throat and said 'I'm a brilliant tune!' That tune was 11 years and very quickly I copied (and later bought!) everything I could get my hands on. Been totally hooked ever since, see them whenever they come to Scotland and was delighted and privileged to make it to the Astoria last year (won't forget the world's biggest arsehole of a bouncer though...) Without doubt I will love this fantastic band for life (my 4 year old daughter loves them too.... the legacy will go on and on) Roll on Sunday in Glasgow!
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1984 at The Lyceum - was there to see The Alarm only to be blown away by the support band - NMA - I couldn't believe the energy and left the Lyceum talking about NMA and not The Alarm. Like many others in 1984, I rushed out to buy Vengeance and the rest is history!!
NMA are the only band I've seen across three decades - the 80s, 90s and now in to the 2000's - if that makes sense.
Can't wait for Amsterdam!!
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I just returned from travelling in Asia around 1985 and a mate played me Ghost of Gain and i never looked back. I continued travelling for another 4 years and when i had moments of doubt about the life i was leading NMA inspired me to continue.
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In 1989 I got set up on a blind date! The guy said he was taking me to see a great band play at Portsmouth Guildhall. I was hooked...on the band not the guy! (He was great fun too though!)
I was a convert and immediately had to hear all the back catalogue and proceeded to spend the next few years following at every gig and after a while I had children so couldnt manage so many but always managed to attend a few every tour and one offs!
Now my children are getting older and I can get out more and more !!!
The music has seen me through some great times and some horrendous times and it has been a constant companion to me when there was nothing else...when my husband died and I had two young children to bring up on my own and had to be strong..the music was there carrying me through the darkness and although when I hear certain songs still I just break a bit the light is shining again!
I have lost contact with a lot of people who used to follow and generally go to gigs on my own as none of my friends 'fancy it' they tell me 'how can you go on your own' but there is always kind friendly faces who you remember and smile and chat away to you and I remember I am part of something good.
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I had first seen them on The Tube doing Christian Militia + Smalltown England. Slade the Leveller said "We've got a new single out, this isn't it!" then Stuart Morrow does stuff with a bass that I haven't seen since JJ Burnell - brilliant! A very original band and got me into them.
I was still at school so didn't get a chance to see them until a little later, when a friend of mine said that he was going on the NMA tour and would I like to come along in his VW Dormobile - hell yeah! We went on the Brave New World tour 1985 and started off in Bornmouth of all places for the rehearsal. Dr & the Inmates (aka The Psycho Surgeons) were support & Joolz to boot. We ended up packing merchandise whilst watching the reheasals and Tommy came round with a clipboard and put us all on the guest list for the whole tour - fantastic! Haven't been on it since but I've had a job so I've been able to pay = no complaints.
Remember being a Shepherd's Bush Empire in 97 when they did that accoustic 1st set, my wife was pregnant with our first child. Got 3 of the buggers now!
Still see them when I can - generally once or twice a tour. Never been aboard though.
Cheers
Nobby
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First NMA experience ...
was when I was 17 years old I think, I was a huge U2, Cure and Damned fan when my brother listenned all day long NMA, especially Thunder and Consolation. I don't know why I did not like NMA, maybe because my brother listenned all the time to the same record..lol
I did not want to listen to that band, did not like the sound, the voice ..
But one day, I've changed my mind when I saw NMA live in Brittany in a festival. I was there for That Petrol Emotion and I stayed to listen and see NMA. And from that day in 1990, I like them very much ...the sound, the lyrics, the voice ! lol
I think when we see for the first time a New Model Army gig , it's really something that is print in our mind forever and don't leave you.. :)
after it's a deep feeling we can have listenning to some of their songs.
and what I can add to the text above is that NMA is like a good wine to me, the more it get older the more it's really good and Rock ! almost 30 years and it's more and more better!
Sorry for my broken english... :/
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First NMA experience ? hmmm that's interesting
I was 15 years old and I was doing a fanzine about the old computer Amstrad CPC. I was in touch with other fanzine makers and one of them in Brittany was always talking about New Model Army in his fanzine (called Microzine). I was a bit curious about it because I didn't know this band. One day I asked him some info about this band. I had no answer, but one day I received a tape: Impurity. He sent me freely a copy of his tape, and of course, first time listening, I loved !
so, my collection began in 1990, I bought every LP,CD,7",12" ....but unfortunatly I didn't see them live until 1998 ! 8 years wasted I would say !
one other gig in 2000 and then again a break for 5 years due to my son birth.
but now, from 2005 to nowadays I try to see them live 2 times/year or more and I'm very impatient about the 30th anniversary !
so, I will never thank this guy enough, thank you Bruno !
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My first experience of NMA, that I remember was when I was 19 in 1986. My memory is not great on this. As Thunder & Consolation was in 1989. Anyway,. I met the lovely Maxine when I was 19, just as she set off to work in the lake district. She lent me a tape which must have been Thunder & Consolation. Unless Green and Gray was out before the album? So my memory is of being sat on a National Express coach going to see her. The one that sticks was Green & Gray, driving through the Derbyshire Dales, and Lakes. Hehe. We now have two lovely children, and cats. Both big fans.
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I then borrowed the videos from a well known (in Plymouth) alternative DJ and never really looked back...
ooh, Mark Williams? Tony? I look back on the Plymouth alternative clubs with a lot of fondness - heard a load of great stuff for the first time there (and now have a Club Zoo Classics playlist on iTunes)
what's that? New Model who? Oh them, yeah.
What to say? I'm a 37 year old bloke, but end up sounding like an excitable schoolgirl when I talk about this band. No one else has ever come close to having the same impact on me (although Nobody Else were quite good, as I recall ;) ). The only artist I've listened to for as long is Springsteen, but even he hasn't influenced the way I live my life and the way I look at things in the same fashion NMA have.
My first real memory is buying T&C on cassette from Rival Records in Plymouth in 1989 with some Christmas money, inspired by the hit singles off the album. I remember listening to it endlessly on my walkman on the school bus through Devonport. Impurity was the first one I bought on release day, and I've done the same with every one since.
My first gig was Chippenham Goldiggers in Dec 1991. I remember driving back to Plymouth at a snail's pace through thick fog, still amazed at what I'd just seen. Did a few gigs on the Hopeless Causes tour (Leicester, Cambridge off the top of my head). The years after that were kind of wilderness years for the band, I suppose, but in a funny way it's that period between LOHC and SB that really sealed my love for them, and made me reaiise that I was in this for life. It was the excitement of odd one off gigs in out of the way places and the need to get to them that stands out from this time. I remember going to Buckley Tivoli, the SBE Newbury gig a few people have mentioned, somewhere in Hatfield, the Josephs Well gig that was Michael's first, and the Cooperage show (sorry, fatcat)...listening to the songs that'd come out on SB as they made their earliest appearances, knowing even years before the album was finally released that No Pain was one of the best things the band had ever done, hearing Rainy Night 65 for the first time in Buckley, still being amazed to this day that Brother wasn't on the album (but then one of the standout tracks from that first Chippenham show was Knife, so I shouldn't have been surprised).
I was around for a few more gigs on the Eight tour, including a memorable night in Manchester where Justin missed his cue for a verse of Stranger, so Nelson took over. The song finished, and a clearly pissed off Justin announced they were going to play it again - that next rendition had teeth, ladies and gentlemen. Real life took over for a bit after that as I moved to Dublin for a couple of years, coinciding exactly with the time that NMA didn't play in Ireland, although I did see a cracking Justin & Friends gig in Whelans. Not long after that I went properly overseas, to Japan, with just one show on the Carnival tour under my belt. I think this may be why High is not one of my favourite records - I didn't see any gigs around release, and there weren't a lot of people in my circle out there i could get excited about it with. I kept listening though.
I came back to the UK early last year, and have settled in Bristol for the time being, where I saw the Justin solo show at The Thunderbolt this summer, and made it down to Frome for Tommystock. I'd say the fire has been rekindled, especially off the back of TIAGD being such a good album, but you know what?
It never went out.
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a mate of mine who got me into most of the bands around that time told me about NMA, so got Bittersweet with the flexi (still in mint condition), and thought, yep , like em! First saw them live at Futurama 5, Leeds Queens Hall in Sept '83, and the live bands that played that day were NMA, Play Dead, Death Cult, with Killing Joke headlining what a line up! Have stayed with the band ever since, and consider myself lucky to be part of an era when these
bands were starting out, they were different to anything else out there, and they have stood the test of time. Happy Days........!
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I saw them for the first time at the Futurama festival in Leeds 83 as well!
I'd gone to see Death Cult and came away with a new band to love!
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This is my first post & it is wondeful to read all the first experiences from you guys of my time!I'm now 42 & I saw NMA when I was 16 in 1984 at Tiffanys in Newcastle.I never looked back.
The 'Militia' was still small then although very concentrated in their passion for the band & of course the ropehauling in the early days was outstanding!!!
I always felt in the early days that the followers did dominate the gigs where as now i feel it is much more of a shared experience.Who followed & on which tours????Were the halceon days 89 with 300 Militia & kitbags to the roof or is it now?What do you think.I do miss the bare topped pony tailed clogged up (Thanks Walkleys) ropehauling days but enjoy a bit of a back seat these days.Manchester just passed was a great gig & the passion say of 85-89 was there for me.Long may it last!!!!!!!Keep clog dancing.peace.
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New Model Army struck me when I was 10 years old, back in 1989. I asked my mother to make a New Model Army mixtape from her records for my walkman :)
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I was 16 back in '92 and really liked the Levellers, who wasn't back then, and I read somewhere that they were influenced by NMA. Not having much money and since it was nearly christmas time, I suggested to my sister to get me T&C as a present. And she did...wooooooooooowwww I was immediatly hooked. And I still am, 17 years later, and every year it just seems to get worse :-)
But I got to see NMA live for the first time in '98 ("strange brotherhood"-tour) in Brussels, but ooooh what a night or better what a day. My best friend managed to get "a meet and greet" for my birthday. He just wrote to the venue and we were already granted access to the venue at noon... so I got to see the complete soundcheck in the afternoon (I was the only one there in the middle of the room), could chit chat with everyone before the gig. Well I really don't know if they really understood my broken english and plus I was acting like a real dumb 16-year-old groupie around them and just forgot to talk about real serious things. Anyhow after the gig we got invited backstage to have a beer and talked about "African Eskimo's", dreams/hopes and activism with Justin. :-)
And, btw Justin (if you also read this), I still tell that story about "the African kid who became an Eskimo" sometimes to the kids I work with at camp or at the children's library,... well, I might have changed a few bits (made it more simple), but hey, it's still about following your dreams and never losing hope and faith ;-)
I hope that they will someday also pass this story on...
And while I'm writing this, and remember it all, I really ask myself if the band knew they were going to be bugged by my that day, if they really understood me (probably not but were just being polite to really say), if .....
Hope I didn't make to many jealous, but I think this was a once in a lifetime and life changing thing, for me ;-)
So yes, my first real live expierence with NMA, was actually a soundcheck ;-)
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I was in a pub in Sunderland and White Coats came on the jukebox (for younger readers, a jukebox is - oh never mind). I didn't know who it was by or what it was called but I thought it sounded good. This must have been about '89 because it was the CD version of T&C. I did'nt go and check out the details, but next time I was in the pub it came on again. I still didn't check it out. The next time I was in it came on again. This time I made a point of finding out who it was. I was a bit surprised because although I'd heard of the band I must have had a misconception as to what their "sound" was.
The next day I got T&C out of my local library. I didn't commit to a purchase straight away - what if the rest of their stuff was crap (d'oh!)?
Needless to say I commited to a purchase very quickly after that plus the catalogue and whatever else I could find. After that it was just a question of seeing them live. I can't remember when it was but it was at Middlesbrough Arena with Ed Alleyne-Johnson supporting. Seen them several times since, usually I'm geographically restricted to the north-east but I've seen a couple a little further afield.
Thank you to whoever kept putting White Coats on 20 years ago (bloody hell).
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First time I heard NMA was in 1984 at a club in Bradford called Time n Place, the songs were Vengeance and Christian Militia been hooked ever since...
ha ha, ditto...you, me an plenty of others I suspect....!
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I had been into NMA since the mid 80's but due to living abroad I never managed to get to see them. My first gig was in Greenock, Scotland in a tiny club called Ricos or Nicos, probably in 1992. I never knew anything about it the tour and only spotted a small advert in a local record shop, I remember thinking I was dreaming, the hairs on my neck stood up. I immediately bought 3 tickets for me and my mates.
The gig was better than I could ever have imagined.
Long may it continue
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Back in the late 80's, I remember hearing of them, but I didn't really get into them until the early 90's when I dated a guy who had some of their albums. Thankfully, I had enough sense to lose the guy (despite his excellent musical taste, he was no good), but I remained a fan of the band ever since that time. Given that I live in the US, it hasn't always been easy to see them live, but they've come through Chicago (where I've lived most of my life) enough times since that time that I've managed to get to four shows and enjoyed myself immensely each time. This past autumn was show number 4 and it was fabulous.
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In 83 a good friend of mine had Vengeance.
I was a big Jam fan and had seen them twice in 82 - their split left a big gap and I had started listening to the alternative bands at the time Stranglers/banshees/Bunnymen etc - non of them grabbed me as been really 'for the people' and turned out as I suspected to be a sound for a period of time and no more.
Hearing NMA for the first time was unbelievable.
I was playing bass in a band and the sound of Morrows bass completely got me, sharp twangy but soooooo rhythmic.
A tight sound with lyrics that made you feel empowered - I actually did 'Run in the Rain' after hearing the song.
Having just 8 songs on the album was actually a good thing for me as none of them were weak.
The first gig was the same year at the Powerhouse in Birmingham, great gig but back then the boys didn't have that much material as they were still early on in their career.
The next gig was more memorable as it was on the 'No Rest' tour. Stuart Morrow had departed mid tour and the acoustic EP was the freshest sound we had to go on - with no bass in it.
My friends wondered how they could go on without the all important bass man.
The Bierkeller in Bristol was the venue, and small and intimate it was.
I bumped into mousse in the gents and did'nt realise it was him!
The point that stands out for me was this-
A fan was shouting at Justin mid song(imagine how loud it was) telling him to stop playing.
He did and was told that a bouncer was attacking a fan, the guitar hit the floor and a clog wearing Sulavin ran through the crowd and confronted the bouncer.
After a couple of minutes of confusion, and a wonder if the gig would be cancelled, JS returned to the stage and said-
"anyone who saw what happened please report it after the gig to the police as it was about time justice was done 'on our side for once'
The gig continued and it was amazing.
On leaving the gig we walked back to the car -past the Police station, there was a queue of fans, all lined up outside the station waiting to give statements - the funny part was that there must have been over 50 of them, and there was no way all of them could have seen the incident, but were following JS 's instructions to ensure justice was done!
Seen them many times since - most recently at Cambridge on the 25th November.
There has been no one ever that has created such a quality of sound, lyrics and loyalty as NMA.
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remember that gig well.The bouncer did a runner,but Joolz said on stage that they'd got his name and address and would prosecute.Bouncers were a pain that night,had to hand in studded belt and clog straps before being allowed in.
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It was also my first introduction to the colossus that is the NMA live show for me. What was the outcome of the night after, does anyone know?
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That Bierkeller show was waaaaay before my time, but I go there fairly regularly for metal nights- people will be happy to know that the bouncers are now very friendly!
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I first saw New Model Army at Reading Festival in 89, I went to see the Mission but was blown away by New Model Army and have never looked back,they are the only band that I will travel the country to see. My mates all take the piss at the amount of times I go to see them but they don't understand about the power and passion of the gigs. Its through these gigs I have also visited so many places I doubt I would ever have gone to. Roll on the next 20 years of following the Army.
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I first saw the band on Channel 4's The Tube and was struck by the raw energy and Stuart's incredible bass playing. Also the moshing looked a little different to the pogo-ing I was used to. This is now on youtube and it still looks great.
A couple of weeks later, I saw NMA were supporting The Alarm at the Lyceum, which I was already going to, so I made sure I got to the gig earlier than usual - all my mates went to the pub first and missed an amazing performance. I was truly gobsmacked at the raw power, different sound, and passion from the great man. I seem to remember someone handing out a flyer advertising a forthcoming tour with a few dates in London, and the rest as they is history. I have done about 60 gigs now - I know that's nowhere near as many as most on the board but no-one else I know likes NMA and I'm not a huge fan of my own company.
Had the pleasure of meeting JS in Brighton a couple of years ago before the gig but was completely starstruck (much to his amusement). I had about 250 questions I wanted to ask him...could I remember any?
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I think it was about 85 ish up at Franks in Colne !!!!, a small but well formed venue that any one who was any one came to and i just remember the sound of the clogs as everyone tramped up the stairs to watch them kick some serious arse upstairs , truly magical and to this day they are one if not the best live bands i`ve ver seen and i was fortunate enought to review NMA at Cambridge for wohomusic a few weeks ago and to meet the band was just like coming back home to your family a real credit to why they`ve allmost reached 30 yrs dodging the corporate restraints of the music buisness .
If any one fancys listening or even reading the article then come and check us out .
www.wohomusic.net
http://www.wohomusic.net/profiles/blogs/nma-interview
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First time I ever heard NMA was at my boyfriend`s (first love actually), Thunder and Consolation.... I was only 16 and that was in 1995, loved the music from the start. Listened to it pratically every single day which drove my dad nuts (ah, his moaning and nagging still rings in my ears). After some time my parents finally realised that I didn`t just listen to crap, fell head over heals for NMA and bought every album released by then.
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I first heard of them when I was 15, I only started paying any interest because an older boy I liked was known to be a big fan. Was instantly hooked and NMA stayed with me long after my forgotten crush.
My first gig experience was a very long 14 years later, in Oxford, with the same boy who had lit the fuse all those years before. Bad Old World was the song I remember most from that night and I have travelled solo to many gigs since.
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I've heard Justin Sullivan say that NMA was only ever formed with the idea of a couple of small gigs in Bradford, with no great plan.
It feels like a similar unplotted journey when it comes to how I got into them.
I think a mate mentioned them to me in around 1990, his new girlfriend was well into them, and she was alot older than him and therefore knew what she was on about! Somehow I ended up listening to "Great Expectations" and thinking it sounded like The Cure for some reason. I don't remember being blown away, but somehow that moment has extended slowly into 17 years of resonance.
First saw them live first in '91 I think, at the gig that was recorded for TV at the Town and Country club. My mates new girlfriend was pregnant by then....he spent the whole gig trying to protect her from bodies hurling themselves in her general direction from the moshpit.
We lost touch and I never found out what became of the baby....or the TV show for that matter....
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I suppose I came into the Family fairly late on as most of my friends at school were into crap music to be honest... The first time I heard of NMA was in about 1999, when after an awful year living in uni halls with people I hated, I moved into a little terraced house in with two good friends, who I still see today.
One of the guys was/is still into the band, and I remember hearing it often, but never got round to buying any albums being a skint student. Eventually, I got a job the year after and bought a couple of albums, and the became a regular soundtrack to my life.
The first time I saw them live was in August 2001, when they were due to play at Wollaton Hall near Nottingham, but was moved to the Viccy Embankment next to the Trent (so we didn't get foot and mouth from the deer in the park). I went with my friends who were either into NMA, or Terrorvision who also played. That gig cemented my love for the band from there on.
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First time i heard NMA? must be about '86 at Rock City... loved em since and seen them whenever i could.
The most stand out gigs are when Army played the double set at Rock City in 2000 and last night at warsop.. great gig and i only live about 5 mile from warsop
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Hi !
I'm new on this forum but I'm 1st NMA experience was in 1991 in Nimes (South of France) as guest of Simple Minds. I didn't know the band at the time.. unforgettable...
I'll be tomorrow at Christmas show in Paris...if I arrive at La maroquinerie (no RER & snow...grrrrr)
LN
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I was working in a record shop in 1985 after getting out of college...picked up the 3rd single: Brave New World. It came as a double 12" with somewhat frightening cover art...curiously I was fascinated by the artwork and had to know what kind of music would be inside the jacket. I was immediately hooked and here we are 25 years later, thanks JS!
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I discovered the Army on a video tape of The Tube,i used to work every friday evening so recorded it religiously. And it wasnt until the No Rest tour in Bradford the following year that i first saw them.16 years old and fighting with my mum to go to a gig.
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"I ended up listening to "Great Expectations" and thinking it sounded like The Cure for some reason."
When i got into the band by listening to "White Coats" in the pub I thought it might have been The Cure as well before I knew better. lol.
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my mate deck made me a cassette in the mid eighties and i had never heard them before. white coats blew my mind when i heard it. then i lot touch for a while and found them again twice, once early 90s, once early 00s
best band in the world ever and i know a lot about good bands
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Elephant Fayre 1985, a 'Peace Child'. No what a great introduction to my socialist roots. Ambition and Vengeance what great songs.
JME
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The really short and to the point answer is this:
Hearing the commercial alt/rock station WFNX in Boston play the tracks Stupid Questions and I Love the World.
Immediately caught my attention, and, well, you all know how it goes from there ;D
I doubt I ever heard them on commercial radio again after that, though I cannot recall for certain.
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Had my first NMA experience april 1986 at the Breekend Festival in Bree Belgium. I wanted to see TC Matic (Belgians best alternative band ever, it was their final show) and Fad Gadget. I had never heard of NMA before and was a bit surprised as I saw about 50 Family members get out of a big bus, all with strange heavy boots and and wildly coloured jackets and hairdresses.
And then Justin and friends came on stage and just blew me -and my friends - away !
Since then we've seen most of their gigs in Belgium, a few in Holland and we went about 7 or 8 times to the Christmas shows in Köln. And since a few years my son Maarten (16) and daughter Kaat (15) also come along... I didn't have to convince them in any way. NMA did it for me.
There's just one thing my kids asked me to mention here. In a few months from now we go to their gig in Aarschot. For the kids it will be the 4th time they will see NMA. Now, because at Köln 2008 and Durbuy 2009 NMA didn't play it and because last december in Köln I have been so stupid to leave immediately after the first encores (we only heard afterwards that they came back a second time...), the kids still haven't heard '51st state' live...
Would be sooooo nice....
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My first NMA experience was the Tube appearance, noticing Stuart's great bass playing in particular (being a disciple of Jean Jacques Burnel!). My first live experience was the T&C gig in October 86 followed soon after by another T&C gig that December (with the drum & bass only version of the Hunt!). I've seen them all around the country from Manchester to Middlebrough to Chippenham, clocking up around 50 gigs in 23 years. I've always found the loyalty & dedication of NMA's following inspirational...
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I think I did this kind of backwards.I was heavily into the usual suspects through the eighties - Cure, Banshees, Sisters, Nephilim,.... So, I knew of NMA, but hadn't really connected with them properly. I'd got into The Mission after the Sisters split and saw quite few of their early gigs, and I seem to recall that there was some kind of animosity between the camps of hardcore fans.... so I somehow didn't pursue them.
Had I been paying attention, I'd have known I'd already got some NMA - I bought Love Is by Joolz when it came out and loved it, I just hadn't realized who was PLAYING on the record. Still... I'm sure by the early 90s, I knew loosely of songs like Stupid Questions, and I remember a bloke I was in a band with had NMA written somewhere on his leather, but still I didn't bite.
But they were slowly worming their way into my consciousness - largely courtesy of Vengeance being played almost every time I went to Full Tilt at the Electric Ballroom in Camden. "Yeah, I like that one of theirs - but aren't they the dour northern blokes whose fans wear clogs and are stuck in the dark ages...??" Not ready for them, quite yet then... until.... until I bought a load of back issues of a fanzine called House of Dolls, which came with a free 7-inch single each issue. I just recorded the whole lot onto a C90 and played it in the car - random bands, random tracks, The Host (whoever they were) was my favourite, and there was Every New Dead Ghost, Shark Taboo, Pop Will Eat Itself doing Wake Up Time To Die, and New Model Army doing 125 mph. Then it began to make sense. I might have borrowed Vengeance from the library and (ahem) taped it. But I didn't really listen to it - only got it because of the title track...
But I'd heard they were good live, and we knew a couple of friends who were over in England working as au pairs and who quite fancied going to see them, so I gritted my teeth and when History came out, I bought it to see if I was missing out. I was expecting Stupid Questions, I knew that one vaguely. I think I knew 51st State vaguely too. "We were singing in the rain, yeah, like we wrote that song". That got me first. I played that one again. But nothing prepared me for side two. That night I sat up till quite late playing Green and Grey over and over... So I got tickets, how could I not? And I saw them live for the first time at The Venue in New Cross, May 92. They must have known about my earlier doubts, cos they were billed as the "Grim Northern Bastards". The next few weeks were spent hoovering up their back catalogue. Finally, I'd got it and it wasn't just for Christmas, this was for life....
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good on yer caterpillar :)
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I had been listening to the band since 1987, when a classmate of mine introduced them to me. He lent me “The ghost of Cain” and I was blown away. After school the next day I went straight to my local record store (Musicland Spandau) and bought “No rest for the wicked” in addition. This album is still my all-time-favorite to this day. It took some time to see them live though.
I don’t know why, but I missed NMA at the "Rock Salute to Berlin" in 1987 where they were playing in front of the Reichstag right before David Bowie (Moose has put up some backstage pics from that gig on FB). I had to wait until March 16th, 1989 to see them on stage at Metropol-Theater am Nollendorfplatz (now a club called “Goya”).
The place was packed, and “Die Abstürzenden Brieftauben” from Hannover were opening. Although I always liked these two guys (and did see them several times) they did not really fit in. The crowd went crazy anyway …
And finally: NMA. I remember them beginning with “Heroes” but after this I cannot remember any more titles. I am really grateful to have the set-list now.
I loved (and still love) the bands' high energy level. The crowd was great as well. A lot of moshing, many people just singing and having a good time, and also some guys standing on other peoples’ shoulders and doing strange things with their arms during certain songs :) I was speechless, and due to the heat and constant movement also completely and utterly destroyed after 90+ minutes.
I have seen the band many times since then, but I will never forget this gig. Looking forward to seeing them again in March ...
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I first heard NMA's music in cover form, first "I Love the World" on Anacrusis's Manic Impressions album, and then "The Hunt" on Sepultura's Chaos A.D.. After hearing "The Hunt" I knew I had to track down the original, but this was in semi-rural Pennsylvania in the early 90s. I was a metal dude through and through and I had no idea how to find an NMA disc. Eventually, a tape-trading penpal of mine made me a copy of Vengeance, and even though it didn't sound anything like what I expected (and didn't include either song I really wanted to hear) I was hooked. Not long after, on a trip to Boston, I found used copies of Singles, that BBC sessions disc, Vengeance, and Impurity at the same shop. It wasn't long after that I ordered the rest from CDNow.com (remember that?) NMA really opened a lot of doors for me: I became more politically engaged, started listening to a lot more post-punk stuff, and generally grew up quite a bit. I've since seen them more than ten times since they've started touring the US again, and I've made quite a few hardcore NMA fans out of various metal buddies of mine. It's an easy sell, really.
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1988 i think, maybe 89. Had never heard of NMA when i saw a cassette of T&C at a local chain record store in Connecticut USA. I recall thinking " any band with a cool name like that is worth checking out..." (i was 17 at the time) bought the tape. went to car, insert cassette. Opening
rumble, "The roll of distant thunder breaks..." - "Damn" I remember thinking "This shit's gonna be good..."
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First saw them live in 1986. Was reluctantly being dragged along by some friends. Glad I went!
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*putting this here as it doesn't deserve a new thread*
On a "rate the track above you" thread on another forum, someone's response when I posted island:
7/10, not that bad actually. Would be a good song for an extreme sports vid because it has an awesome base.
XXXTREEEEME
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My first wast in Madrid, 1993 Sala Revolver. Incredible concert. More audience that venue resist... Without air for breathing... Monumental concert with electric violin opening the show. Impossible forget it. :)
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Late 83/early 84 .I remember reading an interview with NMA in Melody Maker and their look and varied tastes in music and how well Justin came accorss in the interview really hit me. I had been a massive Clash fan and wanted something vital to take their place after their pitiful demise...
I saw them on 'The Tube' which blew me away and swiftly and bought either 'Great Expectations' /'Waiting' or the album 'Vengeance' first - cant remember which, followed by going to see them as soon as I could after that, which happened to be supporting The Alarm at The Lyceum...I couldnt stand the Alarm, but wanted to see NMA so much...and boy was it worth it...they were on fire and I'd witnessed the most powerful support act ever who blew every band they could offstage...I then saw them destroy Sex gang Children, Xmal and even Brockwell Park stealling the limelight from The Damned and all the other acts on the day...
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My first experience was back in 1990, at the age of sweet 16. A classmate of mine gave me T&C - "you will love it", he said. He was right.
Soon after that I`ve seen my first gig, in Bochum. I don`t remember the whole gig but I will never forget my first impressions: the high level of energy and the feeling that "this guy really lives in his songs". So, that was it for me. 20 years later I am still with the bands music and love it (just came back home from Aarschot and am still thrilled..). Soon after that I bought "No rest" and the other older stuff and remember me and my friends discussing alot about the lyrics. I would say that maybe I would be a different person if my socialisation would not have been linked to NMA. Gave me alot to think and to feel. So, thanks, Hase, that you gave me this CD and many thanks to the band for being a part of my life :)
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first heard the Vengeance, Small Town England stuff in 83/84 Saw them for the first time on the Ghost of Cain tour at Manchester International.
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Up until 1986 the only band constant in my affections were Pink Floyd and apart from that blip of prog rock, I was mainly mainstream metal and punk. Then I fell in with a group of lads from a bigger village a few miles away and they were into a load of music that appealed to something primal without going overboard into either deep depression or psychotic stuff and in no time at all I was listening to Ghost, No Rest and Vengence over and over. Other bands' albums that got a look in there were Infected by The The, Bikini Red by Screaming Blue Messiahs and 101 Damnations by Carter USM. Was mainly a Glastonbury fan back then (not really for the music though; went 3 times and only saw 1 band!) but went to Reading in 1989 just to see NMA and chuffin' loved it. When Impurity came out, I didn't much like it and kinda lost interest. Then when they tried to do the USA with 'WAR' I really lost interest ( reminded me of the 'young ones' being the 'Bad News Band' and their song 'Warriors of Ghengis Khan'.....lol) Then I moved to Holland in 1992 and couldn't believe how many dutch guys were into NMA. Must admit, I've never been into music much since those days and couldn't believe it when I saw that NMA were still touring and they're coming to a venue near me in less than a fortnight. Guess I've got some back albums to catch up on eh?
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I was 16, so it was either late '86 or early '87; a friend of mine gave me an awful multi-generation tape copy of "The Ghost of Cain." It sounded terrible, but I was hooked anyway and eventually tracked down the LP (not such an easy task in suburban America). And the "No Rest" LP (got that one in Germany, actually)... and then T&C came out... and so it went.
First gig I was able to catch was on the Hopeless Causes tour, June of 1993 at the 9:30 Club in Washington DC. A few songs from the end of the show, I received the flailing limb of a crowdsurfer to my forehead, opening up a gash in my eyebrow that bled considerably (the looks people gave me as I was walking out after the show were priceless; didn't understand why till I got to the car and looked at myself in the mirror), and I still have a scar from it to this day.
--mark
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My first memory or experience??!! Can't flippin remember! Way before the picket line at Church Warsop. Gig at the Blue Note? in Derby, must have heard of them before then? Hazy hazy hazy! Lots of memories since, but hasn't everyone?!
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1984, The Roxy in York. For many weeks 'danced' myself ragged to a track that me and my mates were convinced was called 'Getting The Bastards'. Eventually found out who it was and it's real title. Bought the album shortly after that. The buggers had snared me. Have had a few wilderness moments in the intervening years, due to work, relationships etc, etc, but never stopped buying the new albums as they were released. Life wouldn't be the same........
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A friend from school introduced me to T&C back in 1990. I was totally swept away by "I love the world" and "225".
Later, summer of -91, I bought a Sony Discman in Andorra La Vella during a vacation.
Two CDs were bought as well: Impurity and RMM. The trip back to Sweden was wonderful. NMA all the way.
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I've been listening to RMM today in the car and I think it's a great CD along with the front cover.
Happy listening.
JME
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Would love to say have listened from the start - but would be a lie, my friends found Bros (or something equally bad) and I heard 51st state - boughtGOC and got totally hooked (in about 1986) but my first live concert was not until 30 April 1993 (at Bournemouth) which was mind blowing!!!! :) so now in 21st centry finally got my act together and joined the forum!!!
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I worked in the one record store in my sad little town in southern virginia. we would get lps that would never sell and send them back to the distributor after a few weeks of collecting dust. i, of course, had to open them up first if they looked at all interesting. this would have been 1986 i think. i got fired from there in less then a year. in that year i found NMA's White Coats ep, the Pogues Red Roses, New Order's Substance (maybe) and Black Uhuru. These were all records that were gonna be returned to wherever they came from cause no one in petersburg va wanted to buy em. what a surprise. we had no college radio, or access to anything other then what was top 40 or classic rock on the radio. I had this one friend with an uncle who would play stuff for us. i remember hearing my first smith's song: the boy with the thorn in his side. about a year or two before this i was introduced to the clash, x, generation x and siouxsie by a surf punk from nags head north carolina.
i kept that White Coats ep, and on my next trip to NYC (ah, you young kids have no idea what we had to do to get records 20 years ago) i came home with the first three LPs and a few bootlegs and 12 inches. i still love the 12inch extended i have of Brave New World I found on that trip...
My first show was 1989 (i think) at the old 930 Club in Washington DC. I stood behind the pit, mesmerized. I still have one of the two shirts I bought that night. Its barely wearable now....
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Hi all - stumbled across the site by way of a nostalgic afternoon via google. It is great to think back to crazy times as a youth in the early 80's. Like others, I was a huge Jam, Clash & Stranglers fan and found NMA in a club in Glasgow called Nite Moves, Sunday nights were awesome following on from the previous nights at either Glasgow Tech or Strathclyde Uni level 8.
Following that outstanding appearance on the Tube, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kkTFo-AZysQ
I first saw the guys in May 84 at Nite Moves, again in December 84' at the Heathery Bar followed by Ayr Pavilion where an altercation with some Skinheads took place and then again in May 85 at Glasgow Uni QMU. Not sure what happened after that but that was the last time I saw them.
Some memories- although a bit fuzzy- travelling to Wishaw on a Friday night 5 spikey haired leather clad degenerates in the back of an Austin Maxi, Heathery Bar was really small with very low ceiling awesome intimate gig, same team again for Ayr on the Sunday evening, for some reason some skins attended and started causing a bit of bother in the mosh, our mob faced up to them and they backed off.
Travelled down to London in the Feb to see Killing Joke at Hammersmith Palais, spent a day in Camden Market, picked up a NMA bootleg in tape form and a massive Tour poster which was promptly put on my bedroom wall when i got back.
Glasgow Uni QMU- as luck would have it, we blagged our way into the dressing room, and chatted for a good half hour, I remember discussing with Slade the length of time it took for my "Only Stupid B'strds use Heroin" T Shirt to arrive, I can't remember how I ordered it pre web, must have been through a music paper. Had a long chat with Joolz about a recent holiday to Newquay, lovely lady, she signed my T shirt.
Joolz did the support that night and sadly wasn't well received, I think she finally walked off, NMA hit the stage in blistering form, Slade was not impressed by the gobbing from some Idiots.
The idiotic point for me was crowd surfing off the stage, thankfully it was near the end when the bouncers had clearly had enough by my third surf and ejected me , oh well, it was a great night.
I must have a look around my parents house to see if that poster is in the attic, suspect it has probably been binned, I do know though that there is a live VHS video there.
Happy memories - will try and get to a gig soon
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Listening to John Peel way back in 1982. He played 'Bittersweet', I taped it and was hooked... ;D
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I HEARD VENGEANCE AT A FRIENDS HOUSE IN 1985 THEN I SEEN THEM ON TOP OF THE POPS PLAYING LIVE AND LOVED IT .i BOUGHT NO REST AND THEN WAS RIGHT AT THE FRONT AT THE RITZ IN MANCHESTER A FEW WEEKS LATER .
SEEN THEM AROUND TWENTY TIMES SINCE LOVED MOST ALBUMS THINK jUSTIN IS A HIGHLY UNDERATED WRITER .GOD BLESS NMA
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My first experience was seeing NMA live in Keithley in the early 80's with a mate who lived near Wharfedale and he had heard good things about 'this new local band'. I was immediately touched by the sheer passion that is still with the band today. My best live experience was Reading 89, I had left the front of the stage as my nose had took an elbow and was bleeding, the drum intro to Love songs started and , for some reason, I was just taken with the whole moment, the sun going down, the festival smells, the damp smell in the air......everything just seemed to be right. Still makes the hairs stand up on the back of my neck.
Random but memorable experience, driving home from a Derby gig on Bonfire night, I think 1984. Me and my mate had borrowed another friends rather battered 'plastic pig' (Reliant Robin to the unfamiliar, basically a fibreglass car with three wheels, like the Trotter mobile from Only Fools and Horses), anyway, on a dark windy country road, with the Vengance tape blaring out from the tape player (I will not call it a stereo cos I think it only had one pathetic speaker) when we discovered that the Robin did not in fact handle like a motorcycle (at the time you did not need a full car licence to drive a R-Robin, a motorcycle licence covered you) as we tried to take a sharp right bend but ended up on two wheels going sort of staright ahead, straight through an open gateway into a ploughed field ! Iwas thrown around and when the thing came to a halt (on its side) all was dark and eerily quiet. I remember thinking that maybe I was dead, until the Bass harmonic intro to Vengeance seemed to some out of nowhere, flollowed by my friends expletive laced reaction to our mishap. What was even more amazing was the three miners (on their way to a night shift) who saw us go into the field. These three helped us get the car back onto three wheels and push it back onto the road, one even gave me a cup of coffee out of his flask before asking me how I managed to keep my Mohican sticking up like that !! At the same time we could still see fireworks going off all around, what a night. Needless to say, Vengeance brings that night back to me every time I hear it.
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My first experience with NMA was so fitting that it should be made into a movie. I was running away from home at 15. I snuck out the window and into my boyfriend's car and as we were driving away from the house and the city, "Family Life" blared out of his stereo.
That was all it took for me.
Over 20 years later now and not only is NMA still my favorite band in the world, but "Family Life" will forever encompass that decision in my life...and the ensuing freedom that came with choosing the amazing Family that I have around me now.
Guess I ought to thank you boys. It's a little late, but thanks NMA.
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When I was about 14 (1990/91) I used to spend any spare money I had on music. Although I was out of my time with it I was really attracted to the 'old school' Goth of the early eighties - I loved the music, the titles and lyrics, and the artwork, I went for it all - it all felt like home, and still does. That isn't to class NMA as being anything to do with Goth, but they certainly had the same cult appeal I was attracted to.
I bought Impurity on tape pretty much on impulse because I'd heard of NMA here and there and was intrigued. They were something of an enigma to me at the time, and I loved the artwork and mystique of it all. I remember taking it back to a mate's house and playing it and I fell for it instantly, it was exactly what I'd been looking for. When I first heard 'Eleven Years' it sent shivers down my spine, and quite often it still does when I listen to it to this day. That song, and the whole album, has so many memories and so much nostalgia attached to it that it's quite hard to put into words. So I won't try too hard to do it, I'll just say a big thank you to everyone that's been involved with NMA since the beginning. I don't have a favourite band, there are far too many that I like so much, but I can honestly say I've never had the same experiences I've had watching NMA live with any other band. They are unique. Thank you x
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My dad used to go all over the shop to see NMA, so my earliest memory is probably washing the pots about aged 12, listening to the ghost of cain in our old CD player, saw them live for the first time at HMV forum in december, and against in leamington spa recently!
now just want to save up for the anniversary stuff, so i can finally hear some of the more obscure older songs that i havent heard live
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Being a young 'un, I never had the oppurtunity to listen properly when they were in their heyday, but having parents who adored them helped. First real memory is my Mum bounding through the house singing Vagabonds and me as a 5 year old singing along...
I happened to hear Vengeance a few years later, went straight out and bought Raw Melody Men. The passion and intensity caight me immediately and I've been hooked ever since :)
Haven't been able to see them live yet, sadly...
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Hi,
It all started back in 1986 when I was 12 years old and used to hang with a gang of punks ( or those who at least wanted to become punks :) :)
One day a guy came along . we`re just killing time in some park, and his jacket immediately caught my attention : it had all kinds of stickers on it and one big of them was the NMA logo.
I was totally fascinated and asked him what it mean.He was kind enough to explainthe band history and the meaning of your work to me-I remeber him saying that NMA wasnt just another 80 ´s punk band but a special project with lyrics that capture your soul and had guided him trough life ever since.Needless to say that I bought my first NMA LP No rest for the wicked :) the very next day-very much to my parents regrets cause I put it on infinite loop for months.
I should I´ve konwn by then if I got inti this it will be for life -thank God, I ignored the guy warning and here I today , still a soldier on duty, never regretted a second of it. :D
Now at 36 years of age , my husband and 2 kids have accepted my addiction and even got infected to some level as well.They support me in any way they can,accompany me at the concerts and other activities because they know that thios is my source of strenght.
The NMA family as I liketo call both the followers and the band itself
( Inkluding Joolz ;) thanks a million for the amazing art work - you totally saved my wardrobe from beeing all plain black, now I can wear a different t-shirt every day of the week) helps to handling my daily life and keep me inner balance.
At this point I´d like to thank the guys for being one of the rare reliable things in my life-through your music I learned to seeevery day as a good day
cheers witch
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went with a mate in a customised black ford capri from preston for an adventure, to a spot in bradford called scamps in 1980 to see a band I'd never heard of....fell in love, went to the 20:2000 gigs at rock city and still here after all these years with tix for the 30th in nottingham on the same date it all started for me.
my only wish would have been back in bradford for that date, esp as my journey has brought me to live within a spit now
sometimes I feel dead old, then I crank up the music and I'm a teenager again. Thanks for the love affair
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Tomorrow night !!!!!!
I have never seen the band, but have a good friend who had got me listening to some stuff.
Going to the Canterbury gig tomorrow, and Pole in August and London in December.
So i have it all to come
:)
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You're going to have such a great time and I'm jealous that you've got it all still to come. Make yourself known, as it's much more than just seeing a band.
Cheers
jc
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First time I ever heard them was hearing 'Great Expectations' and was grabbed by not only Justins voice but by the growling bass sound! Having been a Stranglers fan for a few years prior to this, hearing a bass player that could not only give a certain JJ Burnel a good run for his money but equal him in so many was, was an instant hit with me. First visual experience was the Tube and after that had to catch them live for real, in the flesh so to speak, in London that year.
Have followed them ever since although I am rather lacking in the gig count as my first love has always been The Stranglers, but I have to admit that as a song writer and lyricist, in my opinion Justin has very few equals if any.
I also take full responsibility for introducing Miss Claireinblack to the band and whilst tomorrow night in Canterbury will be an interesting experience for her (and for me as never seen Justin and Dean together before), can't wait to see her reaction in Poole at her first full on gig!!! She has been warned about the mosh!!!!!
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She has been warned about the mosh!!!!!
Yeah she must be careful of the glare from all of the smiling teeth!
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Yeah she must be careful of the glare from all of the smiling teeth!
Well i am used to Stranglers fans, and they don't have teeth.......
;D
Seriously, the Canterbury gig was great, i really enjoyed it, and looking forward to hearing a full band set even more now.
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hi friends, ok,my 1st nma experiance was a cold cold tuesday night,the 6th november 1984... i was living,if you can call it that, in a squat sharing all the usual misery and heartache that was THATCHERS britain at the time,between 1980 and 1984,Amebix,subhumans,Crass and killing joke gigs were my favourite nights out,,nights IN were spent creating new and interesting friendships with Many punks,goths and crustys who passed through our Open unhinged door,, i remember the weeks b4 the 1st NMA gig,we spent time getting stoned listening2Coctaue twins,,killing joke etc etc,, Two men came2our squat 1 night,they needed shelter and we let them stay even tho we knew that 1 of these guys was a bad BAD man;;the Other guy i got on very well with,he came from Bristol and it was Him who had an album under his arm,,Vengance by New Model Army,he gave me the album as a thank u 4letting him stay,,he left4Swindon2start a job after spending a couple of weeks with us stoned and sadly NEVER saw him again,,strangely we didnt actually play the album while He stayed with us,, it was October 1984 when i got round2playing the Album with my soulmate buddie Olly,,
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i remember looking at my mate,and my mate Beaming back at me as we both heard4THE 1ST TIME the twanging Bass of Vengance,,AWSUM,,we knew instantly that we were hearing something that would HONESTLY change our Pathway through LIFE,,, that album at that time Changed Everything,,4 the BETTER,, i cant remember playing any other album SO MUCH and experiancing the hair on my neck Tingling EVERY TIME i played it,,,,that STILL happens Now,, the gig came a few weeks later and must admit i remember Moaning about the OVER price bristol bierkeller were asking2see this New Model Army band,,, TWO POUND FIFTY hahaha,,, YES, TWO POUND FIFTY,,, that gig was,life changing, fantastic, bloody Scarey2,, ,,thank you phil who gave me VENGANCE the album,, thank you NEWMODELARMY 4 playing Bristol bierkeller on the 6th nov 1984,,im at more NMA gigs now than Ever and hand on heart loving it MORE now than ever2,,, justin sullivan IS RIGHT,,the older you get,,,the BETTER IT GETS,,,,, See you all again somewhere soon eh,,love and Peace,,BLUE.......
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I first saw them when the "ghost of cain" came out back in '86(I think). "The hunt" was getting a bit of radio play here in Boston. They show was great, and I remember being a little dissappointed they didn't do "the hunt". I got over it and managed to see them almost every time they've come to Boston. I especially enjoyed the tour when Justin's wife Joolz read her poetry. She was a great warm up act!
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I must have been only about 15. No please don't remind me how many years ago that would be now....Sitting one evening listening to the radio and on came Vengence. I was already getting into alternative bands, I just didn't seem to conform and it blew me away. Someone said to me recently how they are a "realist" rather than an optimist or a pessimist. I realised thats what I am as well and it's why I love NMAs songs so much. They face reality, warts and all.
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Catching a ten second glimse of Stupid Questions on the 'Breakers' section of Top of the Pops. Ten seconds was enough to get me.
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My first show was holmfirth on thursday, my god it was amazing. I'm still fairly new to a lot of their songs, but thank god i knew at least half their set. They played 'what a wonderful way to go' and 'today is a good day' so i was REALLY happy bunny.
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My first NMA experience ... must of been when i was about 14 or so back in 1986 ... my cousin came back from bristol uni in the summer with some great music ... remember playin runequest (like D&D) to the 'No Rest' Album on tape in the background ... was hooked from then on ... first gig was May friday 13th (88 or 89) at liverpool university (alien heat supperted) which was a life changing experience .... the rest as they say is history
matty
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The first thing I remember was in 1984 when a friend played some NMA songs. First I didn't listened because I was concentrated on some stupid homework from school. But then, I felt like beeing hit by a stroke. "Great Expectations". I asked him which band that is. From that point NMA is an important part of my life. There were so many situations in my life where I only found support by listenings to that one special band. There are so many lyrics that say what I feel... Recent example "High". This is exactly the way I'm feeling all my life without beeing able to find the right words. "High on the high hill" - far away from all the unimportant things most of us are taking so serious.
Thanks for your lyrics, your music, your concerts! Get going for the next 30 years. We need you.
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There were so many situations in my life where I only found support by listenings to that one special band. There are so many lyrics that say what I feel... Recent example "High". This is exactly the way I'm feeling all my life without beeing able to find the right words. "High on the high hill" - far away from all the unimportant things most of us are taking so serious.
i agree...i thought about the lyrics of this song these last months,when i had some difficult times...the lyrics,chorus of this song is very true,very important...beautiful...."From high on the high hills it all looks like nothing"...think about it when everyone of us has difficult times in his life! ;)
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My first experience of 'em was in '86, Rob and Justin and I think Brett walking into my old bands practice room to see what the hell we were doing! A rather noisy version of D.R.I. it was (VERY FAST, VERY LOUD with no real drums and a lad knocking the stuffing out of Addiss buckets, plastic oil drums and a fire extinguisher! -cymbal!)......... the look a bewilderment was funny I admit..... I'd heard of them, being a Bradford native, (lucky me!), but only heard bits of things, and I was Mr hardcore punk rock, and thought they were a bit GOTH fer my tastes! WRONG.... I got to know Rob a couple of years later, after I'd woke up and started goin' to NMA gigs, we sat in the Westleigh and it dawned on him it was me with the cheap flying V in the grotty room. He laughed his back off!
First one of many gigs was White Coats Tour at St Georges Hall with Ricky on guitar! Still a brilliant gig memory! Following just seemed to happen somehow......
It was talking to Justin on the Impurity tour in, I think Town n Coutry Club, that I realised that "real" people could be in a band with that much power and song writing skill. Previously, I'd known loads of punk bands and met some big metal bands, but there was always a divide between the smaller bands doing pubs and the HALLS type bands. Even Metallica in 86 had something "otherworldly " about them. But Justin and Rob especially have a huge talent, earnestness and humility that somehow got me to pull my finger out and do it myself and mean it. Weird when I know alot of bands, but I know it was the talk with Justin that set me off properly, coz I'd not really pursued being in a band much after '87.... But that changed after '91! Thanx Justin you were right I did need to "JUST DO IT!", I'm still playin' in pubs mostly, but I love it just the same!
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i'm lucky kinda got in to NMA twice!! first time saw them support the cure at the brits awards. the next day when to hmv and got about three or four albums then with the mission at finsbury park. followed them for several years then marriage and kids stopped all that. one divorce later and a move to basingstoke saw them in reading and all the great times came back. seeing them in poole next week then both dates in london. i believe they are even better second time around!!
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First gig I was able to catch was on the Hopeless Causes tour, June of 1993 at the 9:30 Club in Washington DC. A few songs from the end of the show, I received the flailing limb of a crowdsurfer to my forehead, opening up a gash in my eyebrow that bled considerably (the looks people gave me as I was walking out after the show were priceless; didn't understand why till I got to the car and looked at myself in the mirror), and I still have a scar from it to this day.
--mark
Mark, the date of that 9.30 gig was the 16th. I know because I was there! That gig, featuring Ed and Joolz, was my first encounter with the band. (I don't recall seeing a tall somebody getting pelted, and from the sounds of it, if I had, I would definitely remember. What a memorable night for both of us!)
That 9.30 gig was probably my third or fourth date with Brian-DC, and it was a big deal. I was just getting out of the music industry, so by the time he'd suggested we hear a band play at the 9.30, I'd heard as many crap bands as I ever wanted to. All he told me was that this band out of England never came to the States, but in the back of his mind he's thinking bringing me to see them live would tell him everything he needed to know about me, not to mention there was no way he was missing out on seeing NMA in the States. So from his point of view and mine: If I didn't like them, we were over. Of course, we didn't tell each other how much rested on this one date... But then, it went without saying...
Brian may have played me a cut or two in his car on the way to the gig - I can't remember. But in my mind, my first exposure to NMA is 100% live. As for the gig itself, I don't remember the set list (which kills me since I'm a set list junkie), although of course I know it was The Love of Hopeless Causes tour so I could make educated guesses. But what I know for sure is that the band were IMMENSE. Joolz's spoken word set was riveting, especially as I am a poet / writer who had never heard someone else whose topics were anything approximating mine (of course she's a billion times better...). Add to that this amazing electric violin played passionately and soulfully by Ed, and the vibe from the packed room. I was hooked. Everything was perfect (except of course that Mark got hurt). The club itself (RIP) was a character - a rat-infested snot & hanky with paint melting off the walls, sweat oozing off every scummy surface, and it was dark, with choppy spaces, the kind that shouldn't work but somehow do. That night was perfect. That night I remember knowing -believing- music was no longer dead to me, that it was real, hungry, urgent, necessary, impatient, intense, vital. The industry hadn't destroyed it. Hadn't destroyed me. All was not lost. Five years later I married Brian-DC. And all these years later, NMA remains inextricably intertwined in who we are. Couldn't imagine my life without NMA any more than I could imagine it without Brian. Perhaps it goes without saying...
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First gig I was able to catch was on the Hopeless Causes tour, June of 1993 at the 9:30 Club in Washington DC. A few songs from the end of the show, I received the flailing limb of a crowdsurfer to my forehead, opening up a gash in my eyebrow that bled considerably (the looks people gave me as I was walking out after the show were priceless; didn't understand why till I got to the car and looked at myself in the mirror), and I still have a scar from it to this day.
--mark
Mark, the date of that 9.30 gig was the 16th. I know because I was there! That gig, featuring Ed and Joolz, was my first encounter with the band. (I don't recall seeing a tall somebody getting pelted, and from the sounds of it, if I had, I would definitely remember. What a memorable night for both of us!)
That 9.30 gig was probably my third or fourth date with Brian-DC, and it was a big deal. I was just getting out of the music industry, so by the time he'd suggested we hear a band play at the 9.30, I'd heard as many crap bands as I ever wanted to. All he told me was that this band out of England never came to the States, but in the back of his mind he's thinking bringing me to see them live would tell him everything he needed to know about me, not to mention there was no way he was missing out on seeing NMA in the States. So from his point of view and mine: If I didn't like them, we were over. Of course, we didn't tell each other how much rested on this one date... But then, it went without saying...
Brian may have played me a cut or two in his car on the way to the gig - I can't remember. But in my mind, my first exposure to NMA is 100% live. As for the gig itself, I don't remember the set list (which kills me since I'm a set list junkie), although of course I know it was The Love of Hopeless Causes tour so I could make educated guesses. But what I know for sure is that the band were IMMENSE. Joolz's spoken word set was riveting, especially as I am a poet / writer who had never heard someone else whose topics were anything approximating mine (of course she's a billion times better...). Add to that this amazing electric violin played passionately and soulfully by Ed, and the vibe from the packed room. I was hooked. Everything was perfect (except of course that Mark got hurt). The club itself (RIP) was a character - a rat-infested snot & hanky with paint melting off the walls, sweat oozing off every scummy surface, and it was dark, with choppy spaces, the kind that shouldn't work but somehow do. That night was perfect. That night I remember knowing -believing- music was no longer dead to me, that it was real, hungry, urgent, necessary, impatient, intense, vital. The industry hadn't destroyed it. Hadn't destroyed me. All was not lost. Five years later I married Brian-DC. And all these years later, NMA remains inextricably intertwined in who we are. Couldn't imagine my life without NMA any more than I could imagine it without Brian. Perhaps it goes without saying...
Very cool little story! I'm even more peeved my gig at the 9.30 Club got cancelled...... didn't know it was goine or that NMA had played there???? Only the Minor Threat, Bad Brains, Misfits n Iron Cross legends had reached my ears....... We were supposed to play there with Murphys Law in 99. My old mob LOWLIFE UK did an East Coast tour from NY to West Palm Beach n back. That gig and 2 others got pulled while we we were on the road........... Bugger......
Glad it all still goes well fer you n Brian's NMA bonding tho!!!!!! :)
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Great stories. I don't have any scars to show for all the years I've been going to gigs. Just a few teeshirts and a number of headaches the next morning!
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Back in art college around 1985, a friend gave me a compilation tape (C90 - yeah... I am getting on) and I immediately fell in love with 'No Rest'. This began the start of a long love affair with the band.
A fine time was had, when The Damned had their 10th Anniversary Tea Party gig at Finsbury Park 1986 in a big top featuring New Model Army, The Fall and Pete Shelley (Buzzcocks). Absolutely AWESOME to watch all of these together in what I would regard, a small, often chaotic venue! The only downside was that it rained travelling up via rail and my ultra cool punked up hair style got totally washed out, hell by the end of the gig I was wet through with sweat and had forgotten any trivial detail.
Ah... the memories.
Great news about the box set, I really am stoked!
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I guess I am quite lucky really as my first experience of NMA was supporting them at the first ever gig I played with my band Impact at Feltham Football Club in west London in 1983. Bit of a story. After we had finished our set me and a mate decided to take our gear back to my place (I lived in Hounslow West). Whilst we were away someone decided to remove the fuses from the back of NMA's amps (Marshalls I think). Someone mistakenly put 2 and 2 together, thinking that we had sabotaged the gear and cleared off and we returned to the venue to be confronted by a very irate and angry Joolz who accused us of nicking the fuses. It was one of the band (can't recall who) who acted as peace maker and all was calm for the rest of the night!!! Happy days lol.
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My mate Jenni played me RMM in about 1994 and I was sold straight away. I can still remember the goosebumps.
There has been no other band that's even come close to the passion that NMA inspire in me.
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Folkestone Leas Cliff Hall 1984. Hooked from then on. Hope to get to a gig this autumn/winter. Hi everyone.
Best NMA experience as follows ..... mid summer. competed in a relay running race and ended up on the wrong side of a hedge. got badly stung by stinging nettles. admitted to hospital with some kind of anaphylactic shock. pumped with steroids and observed for a few hours. released. visited a friend - threw up (the drugs?). drove to Brixton Academy. Danced like a dervish. drove home (to Kent). A most entertaining day.
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Met Fluffy Wytch in 1989 and at some point she got me hooked.
Did not get to see them until 1998 Portsmouth Pyramids (I had an amazing ability to find out about the gigs several days after they happened)
Now trying to catch up for all the time and live experiences missed
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Mine was Rock City 30 years ago and looking forward to seeing them there this weekend both nights.
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1981...was having a 'little' drink in bierkeller one lunchtime when a mate heard that NMA were playing in keighley...I misheard and that it was tubeway army...hehehe...didnt realise until there and was blown away....ahhhh, the good old days
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porta, was that at the fun house? There's a bootleg of a 1981 nma gig record there on ottodeth's web page, could be the one!
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porta, was that at the fun house? There's a bootleg of a 1981 nma gig record there on ottodeth's web page, could be the one!
do you know...i have absolutely no bl00dy idea...LoL ;D
too old and too long ago
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My first was on BBC news many years ago, probably about 83-84. Not really about the band more a piece about the sales of clogs and NMA influence. can't remember what was played in the background but it caught me slightly, then a few years later i heard Green & Grey and from then there was no looking back
Fave tracks of all time in no particular order
G&G
Poison Street
The Cause
The Charge
Ambition
No Mirror, No Shadow
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My first was on BBC news many years ago, probably about 83-84. Not really about the band more a piece about the sales of clogs and NMA influence. can't remember what was played in the background but it caught me slightly, then a few years later i heard Green & Grey and from then there was no looking back
Fave tracks of all time in no particular order
G&G
Poison Street
The Cause
The Charge
Ambition
No Mirror, No Shadow
That footage is classic! I have it on video I think! Old Nelson happily taping away making the fine Walkey clogs! I'm sure that was his name, middle aged architype Yorkshireman, grey hair swept back, glasses driest sense of humour in the world! Spent many a happy hour there, tryin' to stop the ex buying Xmas gubbins upstairs. I got my combat boots made at the dean Clough unit while the old mill was rebuilt after tye fire...... Wish I still had them...... :'(
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Left school in '80 but shortly before that a friend of mine claimed to have seem a band called New Model Army at the Victoria Hotel in Keighley, the name stuck in my head. Sometime later two guys (band members?) tried to sell me a 'demo' tape of a band called New Model Army (that name sounds familiar?) in The Albert, Keighley one Friday night, it was getting close to last orders and I only had a couple of quid left so I declined. Only a year or two later in the Funhouse (I think) I heard a song played which through the drunken stupor I thought was called 'Gary The Bastard' I had to have it! Finally found it on an album called Veangeance by New Model Army (that name again!) and the rest as they say is History.
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I believe in Justin, I believe in Victor, I believe in Gary the Bastard, Gary the Bastard, Gary the Bastard. very funny mate - that's made me smile!
My first memory was an art lesson at school in 1987 - we could bring our own music in as it was the sixth form(!!) and this dreadlocked, bearded fellow pupil called Babs (damn good lad) played Heroes. I've loved them ever since. Didn't see them until Leicester De Monfort on the Impurity Tour (October 19 1991 from memory) and then a couple of days later in Aston Villa Leisure Centre. I was amazed to see all the Following with their green kitbags having washes and cleaning their teeth in the bogs - hardened musos one and all. Ventured near the dreaded circle when they kicked off with Whirlwind, received plenty of bruises by the time Justin began the chorus so quickly moved to the side. After getting on for 40 NMA gigs now, I can honestly say no band has the magic they do. Absolutely amazing and I could watch them every night!
:)
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Ha ha!!!!!!!! That was me getting washed in the lavs!!!!! We did get some pretty odd looks I admit! Newport was the same aswell. You're in the leisure centre, they have warm water don't they? Bingo!!!!!!
Otherwise it was motorway service stations. You should see the looks we got in those places! These days they'd probably call the police on us! lol >:(
Happy days indeed!!!!!!! That whole tour was one of my happiest times full stop!!!!!! ;D
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Saw them on top of the pops ... thought they were terrible :-)
Some years later my sisters boyfriend, Vince, kept bringing his NMA tapes round and I loved it. Took me a while to realise it was the same band. Saw them for the first time in '89 at The Reading Festival. Have seen them countless times since .. Still my favourite band .. and I still wear my leather with the Ghost of Cain artwork on it
My sons first experience of them was when he was born .. had no rest for the wicked playing :-) Took him to his first Army gig at Rock city last friday .. hes the same age I was at my fist army gig ..sweet 16
(and he enjoyed it too)
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My first was on BBC news many years ago, probably about 83-84. Not really about the band more a piece about the sales of clogs and NMA influence. can't remember what was played in the background but it caught me slightly, then a few years later i heard Green & Grey and from then there was no looking back
I totally remember this! Thought I'd made it up, as years ago I had a letter in the NMAFC magazine asking about it, but the reply described me as "Slightly tonto....". I reckon it as T&C era though, as I seem to remember a clip of the Stupid Questions video alongside it
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Met Fluffy Wytch in 1989 and at some point she got me hooked.
Did not get to see them until 1998 Portsmouth Pyramids (I had an amazing ability to find out about the gigs several days after they happened)
Now trying to catch up for all the time and live experiences missed
I was at that Pompey gig - living there at the time which made it a great kick off to the Strange Brotherhood tour. If you remember someone climbing up a pyramid ready for a bit posing at the beginning of what he thought was Before I Get Old only to hurriedly scramble down when he realised it was WWTG....that was me
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I'd listened to the music through the 80's but being a pup had no real way of getting around, then back in december 91 NMA came to my home town and things kicked up a pace :D
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I'd listened to the music through the 80's but being a pup had no real way of getting around, then back in december 91 NMA came to my home town and things kicked up a pace :D
Which gig was that?
Brum', Chester, Chippenham, Bratfud (that's just how we roll hombre'! lol), Brixton, I forget the others....... it'll come tho........ happy days!
it was fuckin' cold sleeping in the van I tell you that much!!!!! Oh my god........ :'(
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i didnt listen to them much in the early days , my girlfreind was into them and all the political stuff so after a few months i slowly started to pay attention - the bomb dropped when i bought ghost of cain on cassette but by this time i had swapped girlfreinds and the new one hated NMA but she didnt last but my love for NEW MODEL ARMY did and still does , every day , and my wife likes em nearly as much as me BINGO :) :)
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i didnt listen to them much in the early days , my girlfreind was into them and all the political stuff so after a few months i slowly started to pay attention - the bomb dropped when i bought ghost of cain on cassette but by this time i had swapped girlfreinds and the new one hated NMA but she didnt last but my love for NEW MODEL ARMY did and still does , every day , and my wife likes em nearly as much as me BINGO :) :)
good choice then!
My mrs had in her vast collection of Gothness
New Model Army - History (and a ton of comp tapes) and MISFITS - Walk Among Us (the best record by them and in my all time top 3 still!).......... I was hooked..........
Justin James Stone followed along in a coupleof years!!!!!!!!!! 8)
".........tryin' for a clan of our own...!" ;D
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i didnt listen to them much in the early days , my girlfreind was into them and all the political stuff so after a few months i slowly started to pay attention - the bomb dropped when i bought ghost of cain on cassette but by this time i had swapped girlfreinds and the new one hated NMA but she didnt last but my love for NEW MODEL ARMY did and still does , every day , and my wife likes em nearly as much as me BINGO :) :)
good choice then!
My mrs had in her vast collection of Gothness
New Model Army - History (and a ton of comp tapes) and MISFITS - Walk Among Us (the best record by them and in my all time top 3 still!).......... I was hooked..........
Justin James Stone followed along in a coupleof years!!!!!!!!!! 8) when we was doing a name shortlist for our second child -sex unknown - top of my boys name was sullivan ahaahahhahaah - but we ad a girl - violet eloise
".........tryin' for a clan of our own...!" ;D
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when we was doing a name shortlist for our second child -sex unknown - top of my boys name was sullivan ahaahahhahaah - but we ad a girl - violet eloise
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when we was doing a name shortlist for our second child -sex unknown - top of my boys name was sullivan ahaahahhahaah - but we ad a girl - violet eloise
That is THE most original name I ever did hear of!!!!!!! Brilliant, wish I'd thought of it!!!!!! Genius sir!
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cheers mate
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a good few years ago me and my wife went to see joolz do a poetry gig at the old angel notts , it was in a small room upstairs and i sat and watched her do her stuff for about an hour or so and didnt pay any attention to the bloke sitting next to me , when the gig had done we left and my wife turned to me and said - did you know who was sitting next to you - NO WHY - it was justin sullivan - WHAT A **** I AM - SHE NEVER LETS ME FORGET THAT
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a good few years ago me and my wife went to see joolz do a poetry gig at the old angel notts , it was in a small room upstairs and i sat and watched her do her stuff for about an hour or so and didnt pay any attention to the bloke sitting next to me , when the gig had done we left and my wife turned to me and said - did you know who was sitting next to you - NO WHY - it was justin sullivan - WHAT A **** I AM - SHE NEVER LETS ME FORGET THAT
Lmao!!!!!!!!!! Nice one mate........ we've all been there at some point!
We were in York on fathers Day this year and for ages we could hear the strains of a defltly played stinged instrument........ I was goin' "hmmmmmmm I know that melody, that's Teen Spirit, that's Cold Play blah blah blah..... Ohh it'll be some spotty student tryin' to Ed Johnson the plank. Thy are good mind....."
Eventually 30 minutes into the conversation near the Disney shop ..........
"Ere, fuckin' hell it IS Ed!!!!!!!!!!!!"........... I am a dunderheed!!!!!!!!!!!! :-[
Still, bless him, he did vagabonds fer us and had a good natter with him fer a bit! Made my day!!!!!!! 8)
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I totally remember this! Thought I'd made it up, as years ago I had a letter in the NMAFC magazine asking about it, but the reply described me as "Slightly tonto....". I reckon it as T&C era though, as I seem to remember a clip of the Stupid Questions video alongside it
I saw that on TV as well, I'm sure it was on BBC 2 on a sunday morning. I'm sure I taped it, but I doubt I have the tape anymore... :-\
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I totally remember this! Thought I'd made it up, as years ago I had a letter in the NMAFC magazine asking about it, but the reply described me as "Slightly tonto....". I reckon it as T&C era though, as I seem to remember a clip of the Stupid Questions video alongside it
I saw that on TV as well, I'm sure it was on BBC 2 on a sunday morning. I'm sure I taped it, but I doubt I have the tape anymore... :-\
No we aint Tonto, nor slighty tonto......... I recall it, and might still have it on VHS!
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I totally remember this! Thought I'd made it up, as years ago I had a letter in the NMAFC magazine asking about it, but the reply described me as "Slightly tonto....". I reckon it as T&C era though, as I seem to remember a clip of the Stupid Questions video alongside it
I saw that on TV as well, I'm sure it was on BBC 2 on a sunday morning. I'm sure I taped it, but I doubt I have the tape anymore... :-\
No we aint Tonto, nor slighty tonto......... I recall it, and might still have it on VHS!
If you could find some way to put it on here it would bring a few memories back
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1985 was when I first heard them.
On an A-level geography field-trip of all things. The only person with the wit to have brought along a ghetto-blaster so that we could all have some music* on the way up to Yorkshire from Bristol in the minibus was really into NMA, The Cult, Bauhaus and so on. I'd certainly not heard of NMA at the time, as I was still into mostly metal at that stage, and here was this great new set of musical vistas opening up in front of me, which made an instant and indelible impression. So I can say that I first heard "Vengeance" whilst going through the M5 / M6 interchange at Birmingham :)
I'm not sure that most of the rest of the minibus appreciated the tape, but it was their loss :P
* For the benefit of our younger readers, Walkmans cost an absolute fortune at that point, and there was a radio but no tape-player in the bus. ;D
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I'd listened to the music through the 80's but being a pup had no real way of getting around, then back in december 91 NMA came to my home town and things kicked up a pace :D
Which gig was that?
Brum', Chester, Chippenham, Bratfud (that's just how we roll hombre'! lol), Brixton, I forget the others....... it'll come tho........ happy days!
it was fuckin' cold sleeping in the van I tell you that much!!!!! Oh my god........ :'(
Chippenham in December 91 was my first NMA gig. Great fun, and much better than crawling down the motorway back to Plymouth afterwards in heavy fog....
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My first encounter listening to NMA was when I worked at a record (yes, it was selling records only - giving my age away) store here in the greater Toronto area. "No rest for the wicked" was just released. This was sometime in 1985, if memory serves me right.
I remember putting on side one and getting blown away by the emotional intensity of Justin's voice and lyrics hearing "Frightened" for the first time. Then, hearing the rest of the album, I was, to say the least, impressed. It's always a once in a lifetime experience hearing something amazing for the first time. There were similar impressive bands for me around at the time, like Husker Du and The Bad Brains, but NMA have had the consistancy of quality songwriting and musicianship to be one of the few classic bands ever. Having saide this though, Bob Mould/Grant Hart are excellent songwriters as well.
I met two fans who came from the UK to Toronto just for the "High" tour show a few years ago. They told me about a fan in Ireland who had seen NMA live more than 300 times! Amazing music will do that.
Cheers, Gord
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I'd listened to the music through the 80's but being a pup had no real way of getting around, then back in december 91 NMA came to my home town and things kicked up a pace :D
Which gig was that?
Brum', Chester, Chippenham, Bratfud (that's just how we roll hombre'! lol), Brixton, I forget the others....... it'll come tho........ happy days!
it was fuckin' cold sleeping in the van I tell you that much!!!!! Oh my god........ :'(
Chippenham in December 91 was my first NMA gig. Great fun, and much better than crawling down the motorway back to Plymouth afterwards in heavy fog....
That Chippenham gig was a really good one! The light rig was brand new and it worked possibly the best of that tour in Golddiggers!!!!!! It was f'in' freezin' tho', and really bad fog as you rightly say!!!!!!!!! As I recall, the gig got moved to Chippenham from Bristol Studio 54 or whatever it was called aswell???? 99% sure tht's what happened, maybe a week or 2 before the tour kicked off. Oh and I still have my Xmas 2 Dogs tour pass!!!!! 8) Plus the log sleeved shirt aswell!!!! 8) 8)
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Yep, it was supposed to be in the Studio, but it got closed for "re-furbishment" as I recall.
That gig in Golddiggers was awesome!
Odd someone should mention Plymouth, because I had just graduated from Plymouth, living back in Bristol, and was thinking "Thank god I don't have to go back to Plymouth tonight" :)
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Rock City in 1987 if I remember correctly. I had been a fairly devoted follower of Killing Joke for about four years prior to that and had always overlooked NMA in their favour. Then a (now long lost) friend bought me a ticket hoping to change that trend.
I don't remember too much about the actual gig as I was half cut on cheap cider (typical student), but I do remember being an annoying little oik in the mosh and getting berated, then beaten up for wearing inappropriate footwear (which I think were white Puma trainers). Thankfully, my taste in footwear has improved and most of that element of the audience has dissapeared from the NMA hardcore now. I subsequently persevered and haven't looked back for the last 23 years, although I still get KJ tickets before NMA's ;)
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my first experience of nma was a free gig in Leeds in early 89 part of an anti nf day I think. I was as many seem to have been heavily into metal at the time maiden metallica motorhead etc and tagged along with a few mates from college, as something to do on a sat. Have never looked back as was totally blown away by the experience.
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Kings Head Keighley 1980
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ok folks, sorry if I've posted this before! I first became aware of the band in 1983, through a school mate who had introduced me to Killing Joke, Theatre of Hate, UK Decay etc. Unlike those bands though, I actually bought the NMA debut single with flexi disc on Saturday 28th May of that year. Then I saw the band live for the first time at Futurama Queens Hall Leeds, Sunday 18th Sept
Killing Joke were headlining, but Play Dead, Death Cult and NMA were there too, and although I cant remember what my day pass cost, the quality of the gigs was worth every penny! I still get the same buzz hearing Bittersweet, Tension and Waiting as I did back then, and it gives me enormous satisfaction to have known their music for the last 27 years of my life. I hope there are many more to come! Sean - CITY MANCHESTER ENGLAND.
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ok folks, sorry if I've posted this before! I first became aware of the band in 1983, through a school mate who had introduced me to Killing Joke, Theatre of Hate, UK Decay etc. Unlike those bands though, I actually bought the NMA debut single with flexi disc on Saturday 28th May of that year. Then I saw the band live for the first time at Futurama Queens Hall Leeds, Sunday 18th Sept
Killing Joke were headlining, but Play Dead, Death Cult and NMA were there too, and although I cant remember what my day pass cost, the quality of the gigs was worth every penny! I still get the same buzz hearing Bittersweet, Tension and Waiting as I did back then, and it gives me enormous satisfaction to have known their music for the last 27 years of my life. I hope there are many more to come! Sean - CITY MANCHESTER ENGLAND.
THATS ONE HELL OF A LINE-UP
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Queens Hall had some really top drawer line ups back in the day.......
Black Flag played there, Dead Kennedys I think, Cro-Mags in 87 was amazing!, Exploited, Discharge, there was a huge raft of good all dayer's put on there. Most often by John Kurd who owed XYZ Records (Meteors/Anti-Nowhere League etc) and managed Siouxsie & The Banshees, The Who fer a bit...... Big profile promoter who was always decent with me n my mob back in the 90's.......
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Queens Hall had some really top drawer line ups back in the day.......
Cro-Mags in 87 was amazing!,
I was there that day. CRO-MAGS were brilliant. I also went to the Christmas On Earth '83 gig when the DAMNED, GBH, UK SUBS, NEWTOWN NEUROTICS, ENGLISH DOGS, PARTISANS, ANGELIC UPSTARTS, ABRASIVE WHEELS, CHELSEA & SCREAMING LORD SUTCH... what a day! :D
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Queens Hall had some really top drawer line ups back in the day.......
Cro-Mags in 87 was amazing!,
I was there that day. CRO-MAGS were brilliant. I also went to the Christmas On Earth '83 gig when the DAMNED, GBH, UK SUBS, NEWTOWN NEUROTICS, ENGLISH DOGS, PARTISANS, ANGELIC UPSTARTS, ABRASIVE WHEELS, CHELSEA & SCREAMING LORD SUTCH... what a day! :D
Screaming Lord Such - What a treat, did he do 'jack the ripper'.
JME
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Chippenham Goldiggers, was it 1985 or 1986, can't remember :-[
Saw them many times there and also in Bristol, Newport and Brixton.
Fabulous live band although embarressed to admit I've not seen them since 1991.
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Queens Hall had some really top drawer line ups back in the day.......
Cro-Mags in 87 was amazing!,
I was there that day. CRO-MAGS were brilliant. I also went to the Christmas On Earth '83 gig when the DAMNED, GBH, UK SUBS, NEWTOWN NEUROTICS, ENGLISH DOGS, PARTISANS, ANGELIC UPSTARTS, ABRASIVE WHEELS, CHELSEA & SCREAMING LORD SUTCH... what a day! :D
Cro-Mags were band of the day by a country mile, just played Rebellion Fest in August with 'em aswell, again a truly outstanding gig! 8)
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Screaming Lord Such - What a treat, did he do 'jack the ripper'.
JME
If I could answer that question I would, but...
1. It's that long ago I can't remember &
2. I wouldn't know any of his songs if I heard them... :-\ :-[
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The brother of one of my school friends was in a band, they were 4 yrs older than us and had really wide musical taste, they had a fanzine in which they reviewed No Rest for the Wicked as it was released.
Listened to the album and was captured by the power of the lyrics and taken somewhere new by the music.
Life long fan ever since, first gigs mid 80's at Powerhouse in Birmingham & Nottingham Rock City; then donned some glogs and hitched the country
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I can't remember when I first became aware of them, I certainly knew people with NMA tee shirts and jacket designs from the mid 80s onwards. First time I saw them was at an Amnesty International Festival in Milton Keynes in 1988. Ashamed to say that I didn't get into them at the time. Saw them at Reading Festival the following year and definitely did get into them. I went tomy local Our Price (remember them) as soon as I was home and bought Thunder and Consolation, which pleased the shop's clog wearing manager who I vaguely knew from Cardiacs gigs.
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I first heard of NMA through a friend of a friend and then managed to see them at the Marquee in London 3 times early mid 80`s. I also saw them support(I think) the Stranglers in London but cant remember where.I`ve always followed them musically even if I did`nt get to see them again until last Friday and they still have such power,passion and honesty that they will always be a big part of my life.
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Reading Festival 1989 for me - had been listening to them a lot longer (since Vengeance, first thing I ever heard by them was Sex The Black Angel) but this was my first LIVE Experience
::)
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Hi been mean to do this So my First experiece Was Red sky coven tour89 in small pub in Newcastle Staffs.I got there late as ya do and Joolz was doing a reading .and told me my mate to come and sit down,but its was the start of amazing road trip.and follwing Nma and rev hamer,around for 6 years ever ware from down south up to Shetland and would not of miss it for World :)The people i meet places i got to see on me Motor cycle what more can i say ,if your just start to follow the band .Your about to start a great addventre. Enjoy and see ya all next year 8)
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Reading Festival 1989 for me - had been listening to them a lot longer (since Vengeance, first thing I ever heard by them was Sex The Black Angel) but this was my first LIVE Experience
::)
Reading 89 was a great show as was the whole day.
JME
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A mate of mine at school (cheers Fred) let me borrow Vengeance and I never looked back. Fred got me into a lot of good music back in the day. I think it was Stuart's bass work which first attracted me to NMA and they were probably the first band with lyrics that actually spoke to me. (Them and Crass). A friend of mine used to go out with Moose and I can remember him coming into our local (The Lamb, Devizes) with a jacket with one of Joolz's artworks on the back. First live experience, I'm ashamed to say, was last year at The Forum, then both of this year's. Been following them for 26 years and only just got round to seeing them live, outrageous!
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Reading Festival 1989 for me - had been listening to them a lot longer (since Vengeance, first thing I ever heard by them was Sex The Black Angel) but this was my first LIVE Experience
Reading 89 was a great show as was the whole day.
Totally agree, the show AND the day were brilliant.
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Trent Poly, Nottingham, 1984 - I think it was November - at Clifton Campus (south of the city across the River Trent). I seem to remember it was a bitterly cold winter (so not much has changed there then!). My girlfriend at the time used to play Smalltown England over and over, and both of us came from small/remote places. Having spent much of my time at school wishing I had been in London watching the Clash under the Westway, it was good to hear someone singing about the highs and lows of living in places more like the ones we knew. Several years later at Rock City (1989?) they dedicated the Green and the Grey to the people who had travelled in from the small towns and villages in rural Notts which seemed a typically touching thing to do.
I have to confess that although it was a great gig in 1984 I wasn't an immediate all-out convert. They were different from the bands I usually used to see in those days (Conflict, Subhumans etc) and I was into a particular sound then. It was only later that I really began to fully appreciate their breadth, dynamism, and soul, and that, yes, you could have great songs played with intensity, power, and emotion on acoustic guitars! So for me it was a slow-burning passion that developed over the following years. But while I have forgotten many gigs from way back then, I still remember the way their presence and spikiness filled that hall in 1984.
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Hi NickyG,
I saw a lot of gigs at Clifton Campus and was especially into NMA and GBOA as well as Rock city alternative nights when the sounds of clogs would introduce any NMA song. We probably partied in the same places as i was into the "crustie" scene and drank at places like the sal - and later the angel
Welcome to the board 8)
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Hi FF, and thank you for your welcome - and especially as you know Nottingham! Are you living in Notts now? I moved away late 1990, but it was such a great place. Rock City on a Saturday night - of course! And the Garage, and little gigs in the back of pubs (Vale Social Club Colwick? Queens Walk Community Centre?). It was also easy to get the National Express up to Sheffield for the Leadmill or the George IV, or Leeds for Adam and Eves, and still be able to get the coach back the same night after the gig. Good times!
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Adam & Eve's was a great, scuzzy little venue! saw some great gigs there over the years!
Nick Toczek put some really good bands on there. He works for the BBC now. Nice bloke, clever n very committed to his promoting back then!
He put everything on from SCREAM (before DAVE GROHL!), NMA I'm sure did an early gig there..., Conflict, Napalm Death a few times, EXTREME NOISE TERROR, Discharge, Onslaught, ENGLISH DOGS a load of times.... Happy days indeed!
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Hey Stoney, That’s right it was great! Yep - Conflict, The Icons, Civilised Society, The A-heads, The Sears – do you remember them (that’s Sears with an ‘A’, like the shop in the States, not the Seers)? They were a bit like a cross between the Skeletal Family and Vice Squad on the Subhumans’ label – there’s very little online about them although I just noticed someone’s posted a track on youtube last month – nice people too. I was going to apologise for going off topic, but you say the Army played Adam and Eves??! That must have been something! Talk about intimate! How would you describe how small Adam and Eves was - stage about a foot off the ground and about 20 foot wide? Capacity of about what – around 2-300?
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I'm sure there was something on one of Nick's flyers about it. I didn't go coz I was Mr UBER HARDCORE PUNK/THRASH METAL dude then. Venom, Metallica, CHAOS UK, Discharge, you get the idea?
Also I am sure they did the 1 in 12 for a benefit thing, I know the Southern Death Cult did a gig for them. Before the move to the Mill it's now obviously.... I think there's a flyer, or used to be for the NMA thing in there, but I've not set foot in the place in about 12 or 13 years.... I went to see Logical Nonsense from Santa fe who were brilliant. Like a mental Neurosis, Discharge, Fear Factory hybrid. Very D.I.Y. hardcore thing.
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LOGICAL NONSENSE were awesome. Love their LPs.
As for THE SEARS, their LP was one of my faves from the 80's. Love their version of Free Money.
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LOGICAL NONSENSE were awesome. Love their LPs.
As for THE SEARS, their LP was one of my faves from the 80's. Love their version of Free Money.
They were indeed..... I saw completely by chance supporting Neurosis at the Whiskey in Hollywood. It must've been right around them getting signed to Alternative Tentacles. I was instantly a fan. Soul Pollution is a brilliant chunk of rabid d'beat/hardcore/thrash..... They blew me away to be honest.... Man Is The Bastard were on after them, and I was unimpressed by comparrison. Neurosis played a long set of mid paced stuff and loads of Neurot tribal stuff, then a track of the first lp that sent the crowd into appoplexy....... ;D
I only went coz my mates were goin' and it was punk gig athe Whiskey!!!!! Good timing for my holidays for once. Though I missed FEAR by 2 days...... >:( DAMN IT!!!!!!
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Only ever been the once, but I couldn’t quite figure out the Whiskey - I thought it would be a smaller place like the 100 Club or like I imagined CBGBs would have been, but it seemed much bigger and nothing like that. I honestly can’t remember who was playing, I think it was indie night and through the haze of time it was someone like Curve, or the Sundays, or a sub-Gogos type band (it was around April 97). Don’t get me wrong, the bands were good, it was a good night, but as an event it didn’t really move me much... That said, I went because I was in LA and wanted to see what the clubs were like and not necessarily to see any particular band .... and also I had travelled 5,000 miles and managed to miss the UK Subs by 2 days – Doh!!!
Discharge – normally I like a bit more of a tune, but you know, whatever your mindset you have got to respect them for putting it out there and being the first to do that thrash stuff way back when no-one much else was - Decontrol, They Declare It, the one note bass solo in the middle of Aint No Feeble B’stard.... good stuff !
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Too true, Bones n the lads are really nice blokes. Done a few gigs with them, eveb went to Rotterdam and used all their backline. Not many bands of their level and years who'd lend you gear!
Rainy is actually a blinding bass player, really melodic despite the distortion levels!
I know what you mean about the Whisley. CBGB's, you'll be glad to know was exactly thr flea pit it should be. Played there in 2000! Much to my total pride!!!!! Ricky Warwick told me "aye, I did Donnington, but YOU've done CBGB's mate! I went there, but you PLAYED THE PLACE! I can't now aswell, coz it's gone!...." A proud moment for me I can tell you!!!! ;)
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LOGICAL NONSENSE were awesome. Love their LPs.
As for THE SEARS, their LP was one of my faves from the 80's. Love their version of Free Money.
Couldn't agree more about the Sears - one of the great lost bands of the early 80's. I didn't think anyone except me remebered them. My old band Contempt supported them and the Subhumans a few times a long long time ago. Sadly they seemed to lose something after their original drummer died in about 85 or 86. excellent band though.
Cheers Rick
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CONTEMPT were pretty good as well. I still like what they're doing now!
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CONTEMPT were pretty good as well. I still like what they're doing now!
They are, I'm still in touch wth Martin and Borstal, though only Martin's left from the original lineup. they've got a new album coming out soon (It may be out already) and are playing with the Anti Nowhere League in Bilston quite soon. They actually seem a lot more together than we did back in the old days!
Cheers Rick
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I'm sure I played a gig with Contempt in Ashton Under Lyme years ago. When I was in LOWLIFE UK. In a pub beer garden in July 2000 I think. Had Ivor The Diver on drums? I think it was CONTEMPT anyways.... Good lads, played a cover of BANNED FROM THE PUBS I think.........
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"Banned from the pubs"? As in Peter and the Test-Tube Babies?
Did you do "Elvis is dead" as well?
Always loved "Pissed and Proud" :)
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I'm sure I played a gig with Contempt in Ashton Under Lyme years ago. When I was in LOWLIFE UK. In a pub beer garden in July 2000 I think. Had Ivor The Diver on drums? I think it was CONTEMPT anyways.... Good lads, played a cover of BANNED FROM THE PUBS I think.........
That's the band! A bit after my time though. Almost certainly the Testies , but the only things I remember covering were Motorhead by Motorhead/Hawkwind and Right to Work by Chelsea (more often then not rewritten as Right to SHIRK!) In my day we were far too right on to br playing covers...
Cheers Rick
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I'm sure I played a gig with Contempt in Ashton Under Lyme years ago. When I was in LOWLIFE UK. In a pub beer garden in July 2000 I think. Had Ivor The Diver on drums? I think it was CONTEMPT anyways.... Good lads, played a cover of BANNED FROM THE PUBS I think.........
That's the band! A bit after my time though. Almost certainly the Testies , but the only things I remember covering were Motorhead by Motorhead/Hawkwind and Right to Work by Chelsea (more often then not rewritten as Right to SHIRK!) In my day we were far too right on to br playing covers...
Cheers Rick
Class band, Ivor is one of those lads that every thrash metal/crossover fan knew if you travelled to gigs in the 80's! He's a crackin' lad, and I was surprised to see he had become a really good drummer too!!!!!! 8)
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summer 1996 and vagabonds ...love at the first sight (actually hearing )
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It was the Fall of 1986 during my freshman year in college. I was living on the 10th floor of my dorm and we had a pyromaniac who kept lighting fires in the wee hours of the morning. After a week or two, and as mid-terms approached, I grew tired of waking up and having to go down and then back up the stairs so I decided to go home for a few days to get some proper rest. While at home, I happened to put on MTV’s 120-minutes and caught the video for “51st State.” I’m not sure if it was the beat or the lyrics that peaked my interest, but I went out and bought Ghost of Cain on cassette and the rest is history.
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ah yes, in a record shop, remember them? it was in market harborough
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I think mine must have been Rock City. Ive never looked back
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No Rest - Top of the Pops - and on Radio 1.
First live experience at Leeds in the Autumn of 85 - or possibly Sping 86 (memories fade, but the scars still linger)
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Ok, my turn I guess.
First heard the music on a 3rd or 4th generation taped copy of Vengeance and No Rest in 1986, and at the time I hated Vengeance and loved No Rest! Before anyone has a pop, that was 'at the time'!
First saw them live at the Cambridge Corn Exchange in 1987. I was still at school, and managed to convince a girl I had a desperate crush on, to come along. I got us places down the front against the barrier right underneath Mr Sullivan. The girl hated the people there, hated the music, but thought the band were 'ok' looking! The crush and the girl disappeared, but the Army remained.
Now, 25 years on with some 'loved and losts' and 2 children, I still love the people and I still love the music, but I'm still not sure if the band are 'ok' looking!
;)
CSM
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Well, feels a little bit strange to post my short story after the veterans' ones :o
My sister-in-law - who is a long time fan - introduced me to the music of NMA. I've heard 51st state and Vagabonds on some of her parties...
So she took me to the 2009 TIAGD gig in Berlin - we were standing first row and NMA literally blew me away. I was so full of their music, the lyrics, the reactions of the audience etc. etc. I still can remember how "High" made me shiver and how impressed I was.
Last year I've been to the anniversary show, this year I hopped to the Dublin gig and am planning to do at least one of the UK shows and the XMas gig at Cologne...so I'm just at the beginning :)
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Welcome to the Family!!!!!!!! It's a bloody great place to be........ Full of interesting people and experiences! ;D
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Cant believe that until yesterday at Rock and Bike fest, I had never seen the Army, never really got them tbh, have liked similar'ish bands for years and kept trying and trying to actualy get the Army, listened to various albums over and over and it just never made sense!!
Then a mate of mine posted a link to Vengeance from the 30 yr gig last year and it just made sense, then I relistened to the same albums and have loved everything I have heard since...............
One thing for sure it defo wont be the last time I see them, awesome live, evenh though a short set.
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first gig was in "De Vooruit" in Ghent (Belgium) somewhere end eighties ... Impurity tour I think.
first buy was in '86 the 51st state maxi single + a full black untitled bonus 3 songs live EP as an extra.
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1982 - Exeter St Georges Hall - First time I experienced the raw energy, power and uplifting adrenaline rush of a NMA gig. 16 years old at the time - the life changing influence is still with me now at 45! Even now after all these years certain tracks still give me a tingle in the spine or a tear in the eye. Justin you are a legend and I thank you :)
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1982 - Exeter St Georges Hall - First time I experienced the raw energy, power and uplifting adrenaline rush of a NMA gig. 16 years old at the time - the life changing influence is still with me now at 45! Even now after all these years certain tracks still give me a tingle in the spine or a tear in the eye. Justin you are a legend and I thank you :)
Just researched and it was actually June 1985 on the No Rest tour!
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Bit of a latecomer, compared to some of you: Used to listen to T+C at a school friend's house, did me a tape from the CD, but thought it such a fantastic album I bought my own copy and tracked down everything from before that too..
First live experience was the Impurity tour, London Town and Country Club- during Betcha, Justin leaped off the stage, shouted "Cheer up!" at a group of goths, before running across the balcony and back, while still playing.. The first of many times I got knocked flat on my back too!
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Bit of a latecomer, compared to some of you: Used to listen to T+C at a school friend's house, did me a tape from the CD, but thought it such a fantastic album I bought my own copy and tracked down everything from before that too..
First live experience was the Impurity tour, London Town and Country Club- during Betcha, Justin leaped off the stage, shouted "Cheer up!" at a group of goths, before running across the balcony and back, while still playing.. The first of many times I got knocked flat on my back too!
I got some photo's of that! I knew Justin was gonna play with his wireless guitar system so buggered off upstairs with my little 110 camera! ;)
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Bit of a latecomer, compared to some of you: Used to listen to T+C at a school friend's house, did me a tape from the CD, but thought it such a fantastic album I bought my own copy and tracked down everything from before that too..
First live experience was the Impurity tour, London Town and Country Club- during Betcha, Justin leaped off the stage, shouted "Cheer up!" at a group of goths, before running across the balcony and back, while still playing.. The first of many times I got knocked flat on my back too!
I got some photo's of that! I knew Justin was gonna play with his wireless guitar system so buggered off upstairs with my little 110 camera! ;)
Are they online anywhere? Would love to see them..
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Been posting for a few years now but never properly introduced myself. Good place to start this.
First saw them at Reading 89 as an 18 year old and was immediately hooked...started following and have been on most tours for at least one night ever since. Quite a shy bloke so never said much to the "family" although I'm always in the pit and have shared all the love, bruises, cuts, knackered wrists and knackerd fingers.
Must do better and say hello to forum family...if i know what you look like....
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It was in 1992. I was a skater then. My best friend bought a video: "Feasters", from the Birdhouse team. The music chosen by a skater whose name was Willy Santos for his part was "Get me out"(1). We really liked this song, but I did not intend to go further, until this friend bought "Thunder and consolation" and "Impurity" a few weeks later. Suddenly, as I listened to both whole albums with attention, this music, these lyrics, these feelings caught me with them forever -- I think! ::)
(1) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8sRH5k6Crdw (the sound is very low and absolutely aweful...)
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hi Robinairo dont be shy the forum family are a friendly lot just make yourself known.....you cant miss me at gigs just look for a bald head not that there is many of them lol and im only 5ft tall so you my have to look down.hope to see you at one of the up coming gigs
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cheers Patrick..I'll say hello to all next time....
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hi Robinairo dont be shy the forum family are a friendly lot just make yourself known.....you cant miss me at gigs just look for a bald head not that there is many of them lol and im only 5ft tall so you my have to look down.hope to see you at one of the up coming gigs
This is true.............. "diminutive" I believe is the term? But a very fine upstanding if short fellow none the less! ;D
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hi Robinairo dont be shy the forum family are a friendly lot just make yourself known.....you cant miss me at gigs just look for a bald head not that there is many of them lol and im only 5ft tall so you my have to look down.hope to see you at one of the up coming gigs
This is true.............. "diminutive" I believe is the term? But a very fine upstanding if short fellow none the less! ;D
well thank you mr stone your not a bad chap yourself
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This is my first post on this forum so I suppose this thread is the right place to start.
I discovered NMA about 5 years ago and now can not imagine my life before NMA. I have yet to see them live but am working hard on saving up to afford a flight to the U.K.
The first song I heard was Vagabonds. I discovered it on the internet of all places and fell in love with iimmediatelyey as well as Justin's's vocals.
After that I bought "Thunder and Consolation" and was amazed.I then bought all the NMA albums and listened obsessively. I have been a music fan for about 22 years (most of my life) and have yet to find a band that even compares to NMA. I wish they would play America more often. That has to be the most uninteresting story on this thread but it's true.
I have also noticed through intenet social networking sites that NMA seem to have very kind and intelligent fans.
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Welcome Artrat,
we don't all bite, hope to bump in to you one day at a gig.
Cheers
jc
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May be flying over for the Nottingham gig. ;D
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May be flying over for the Nottingham gig. ;D
*Ahem!* May? ;D
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This is my first post on this forum so I suppose this thread is the right place to start.
I discovered NMA about 5 years ago and now can not imagine my life before NMA. I have yet to see them live but am working hard on saving up to afford a flight to the U.K.
The first song I heard was Vagabonds. I discovered it on the internet of all places and fell in love with iimmediatelyey as well as Justin's's vocals.
After that I bought "Thunder and Consolation" and was amazed.I then bought all the NMA albums and listened obsessively. I have been a music fan for about 22 years (most of my life) and have yet to find a band that even compares to NMA. I wish they would play America more often. That has to be the most uninteresting story on this thread but it's true.
I have also noticed through intenet social networking sites that NMA seem to have very kind and intelligent fans.
Welcome to the Forum Artrat - hope you manage to get to the UK - Rock City on 22/12/12 would be a great first gig!
Fine choice of band to follow ;) ;)
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When the "Ghost of cain" was released,I statred hearing "the hunt" on local radio and shortly after the band came to Boston. I was there and still am there whenever I have the opportunity.
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New Model Army is the only good thing that came out of me dating a girl named Tammy St. Jean.
It was the mid-90s, and I was dating TSJ for a few months. I had begun hanging out at the local goth/punk bar at around the same time, and I started hearing the name New Model Army being thrown around by the older punks and assorted people that scared me, but I still really wanted to emulate. TSJ even would talk about them as "this band that I really like, but no one's really heard of," in a rather annoying, self-righteous, embarrassing "I'm a cosmic miracle" kind of way, but I managed to become curious about the band nonetheless.
The only album she ended up owning was the first album I ever heard. It was Thunder And Consolation. I borrowed it from her, and as soon as I heard "225," that was it. I was hooked.
About two weeks later, I found out that she was cheating on me, and had been the entire time I was with her. As I was packing my stuff from her place, I stole her only New Model Army album. I still don't feel bad about it.
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Good move Xombie my brother! No one likes a cheater mate........ Who'da thought you'd end up on my shoulders in October last year in Middlesborough with a smile wider than the Potomac!!!!!!!! =)
Hope yer good matey!!!!!!!!
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Around 1990 when I was about 12 I heard inheritance coming from my brothers room and I guess that was it for me, hooked ever since.
The first cd I bought was Vengeance, I still got it but it's become a see through disc that hardly plays anymore.
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Welcome to this forum Artrat! And... no, your story is not "the most uninteresting one on this thread"!! What is important is that you discovered -- and was sensitive to -- NMA, whatever the conditions of the introduction... ;)
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1990. A friend of mine bought Impurity round to my house. I was a total 'metalhead' at the time. As soon as I heard the double kick drum and bass line of 'Get Me Out' I was hooked. Had all the prior albums to catch up on which was amazing. The good ol' days uh?
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So, I'm going to go bowling with some friends in the late eighties, going down the bypass to Stoke, when my mate, who's driving, sticks on a tape of some band he's just gotten into. I hear a ghostly intro that leads into a great percussive beat... dum, dum, dum-dum-dum-dum-dum, dum-dum-dum-dum-dum... and a great, gritty-yet-soulful voice comes in a little while before the instruments do and, within a couple of minutes, I'm hooked...
'Who is this..?' I say...
'New Model Army', my mate says...
The next day, I'm down at the local record store. They don't have 'Thunder and Consolation', as I now know that album is called, but they have 'The Ghost Of Cain' and I buy it, listen to it and within the first two minutes of 'The Hunt', I know I have found my favourite band.
It's been, what, 25 years since then? I've been to numerous gigs, collected so many rareties (still got the 7" of 'Great Expectations'... any chance of playing that any time soon, lads?) and had so many great times... yeah, that drive to Stoke was a life-changer, alright.
By the way, there was too big a queue at the bowling alley, so we just buggered off home.
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Some time in late '84 the guitarist of the band i was in said "you HAVE to listen to this!"
...so i did,turned out i was listening to Vengeance...and it got straight under my skin and stayed there.
Yesterday, listening to the same album in the car(well,the Small Town England re-issue),i was quite pleased to hear my 7 year old daughter crooning along to "A Liberal Education" (although her favourite NMA track is "51st State",she tells me :))
...oh yeah,and Hi all,it's good to be here! :)
Ade
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No Rest in my local library, must have been around 13 years old, maybe. Grandmother's Footsteps didn't come off my HMV turntable for a long time....
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No Rest in my local library, must have been around 13 years old, maybe. Grandmother's Footsteps didn't come off my HMV turntable for a long time....
Nice one. I remember wearing out Grandmothers Footsteps as well. Great tune with great lyrics. I think it was mainly aimed at American foreign policy in the 1980s, but I think it can be applied to any power dominating foreign countries. For me at the time, it was about the USSR and it control of Eastern Europe. Maybe for people in Commonwealth Countries it was reflective of Great Britain !! Thought provoking clever lyric on that song, and throughout what is still my favourite album of all time :)
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I first saw NMA 30 years ago today!
Where the **** did the years go?
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No Rest in my local library, must have been around 13 years old, maybe. Grandmother's Footsteps didn't come off my HMV turntable for a long time....
Nice one. I remember wearing out Grandmothers Footsteps as well. Great tune with great lyrics. I think it was mainly aimed at American foreign policy in the 1980s, but I think it can be applied to any power dominating foreign countries. For me at the time, it was about the USSR and it control of Eastern Europe. Maybe for people in Commonwealth Countries it was reflective of Great Britain !! Thought provoking clever lyric on that song, and throughout what is still my favourite album of all time :)
Love Grandmothers Footsteps as well... have any of you ever heard it live? Might be one to bring back for the November tour (not so subtle hint)....
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No, I've not heard Grandmothers footsteps live sadly. I bet it would be phenomenal !! I find it hard to resist singing along at the top of my voice to the chorus, arms stretched out and all that.
Gets a bit embarrassing on the bus with the ipod on the go ;D ;D
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Hi all, I'm a former lurker now re-registered here : I used to be on a previous incarnation of the forum back in the early nineties, as 'Ali' I think, when I first got into NMA but wasn't able to access to a computer for a while and then didn't get re-registered when the forum was updated.
As I can remember, I first got to really hear the band when I took a copy of Ghost Of Cain out of the local lending library, mostly because I loved the cover and I was curious to see what the band actually sounded like. I'd been aware of their name (and that wonderful cover) for quite a while, so when I fell in love with the music I was kicking myself that I hadn't had my personal discovery earlier- better late than never I guess! I know I had to wait a year or two before I finally got to see them live, playing as The Gardeners of Eden at Newcastle Riverside, I think it was '94? Have since lost count of the gigs but it's probably around the 20-ish mark, including the 20th anniversary at Nottingham with my then boyfriend now husband - introduced him to the band and happily he loved them too :) - and both London dates on the 30th. Looking forward to Leeds in November now!
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Early 80s, Pretoria, South Africa. I was in high school at the time and tagged along with a friend of mine to his record library. While he was browsing I was listening to the music playing. When he had made his selection and we got to the counter I asked the guy what was playing. He said "New Model Army - Ghost of Cain". My friend said, "Can we take it?" The guy said "Sure," took the LP off the turntable and added it to the stack. Thunder & Consolation is my favourite album, but Ghost of Cain will always be special because of that memory.
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1985 - Berlin - As a feckless youth just saving up and going to gigs, they played the Loft at the Metropol. Once I saw them that was it - Other music catches the heart but I don't think any other band will hook me as much.
I know it sounds weird but I can't believe I can see them live - always feel like it won't be as good as 'last time' but it always is.
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In 1990 a co-worker loaned me his CD of T&C, thinking it was something I'd like. I loved the first song but there wasn't really much in the rest of the album that grabbed me, except for Nothing Touches, which I found strangely haunting in the same way as Bauhaus's Hollow Hills works on me. After half-a-dozen listens I gave the CD back but after a few months I really wanted to hear I Love the World again so I sought out my own copy, put it on in the car and found that I loved most of it.
From there I went out and got No Rest and Impurity and loved both of those from the get-go. Soon after I got Vengeance which is a very different sound but I liked it just the same. I got Love of Hopeless Causes when it came out but it never really worked for me so I kind of lost interest in their new material after that. I skipped Strange Brotherhood and Eight but for lack of anything else new to buy, I got Carnival when it was released but all it did was confirm my suspicion that NMA had lost it.
I eventually got hold of Ghost of Cain when the EMI re-issues came out, along with No Rest, T&C and Impurity, and for a few years it was about the only NMA album I listened to, having played the others to death. I bought High and TIAGD when they were released but it took me ages to really get into either of them, even though they are now amongst my favourites. I pre-ordered BD&W and enjoyed it at first, which made me realise that I was only missing two albums, so I grabbed cheap copies of both Strange Brotherhood and Eight via the Discogs marketplace (a great place to find anything you want at reasonable prices). I love Strange Brotherhood but I think Eight is destined to be my least favourite NMA album, along with Carnival.
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Ahem. I'd like to awake now an old and interesting topic concerning the bands that Darkness, Stoney and NickyG had inside this thread somewhere in 2011:
(...) lots of talk about old legendary crust/anarcho/hc bands in 80`s at Adam & Eve's with you over there (...)
Yeah, you mentioned Civilized Society, Logical Nonsense... Gotta say that CS have been one of my all time faves although it's a rare thing when I play them nowadays. I've heard rumours that before they split up (because of one of the singers that got jailed due to ALF things) they had something like 80 songs that were never released. Do you know what ever happened to the last tapes? Did they end up in any record?
There are some bands that I'd like know a bit more if you have any information or remember them: F.U.A.L. and Internal Autonomy. Do you know them? I've always thought if there were any relations together? Female vocals and quite similar sounding actually. I've almost all of IA's albums too but don't know are they still active? For what I've understood it's /it was sort of a project band and they reformed it at times.
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I heard Vengeance at a mates house when i was about 15 .Then I seen them on top of the pops doing no rest was blown away so seen them at the RiTZ In Manchester on the No Rest tour .I was amazed by Justins attitude and the wonderful musicianship of Rob and Stuart. The fans dancing and tribalness was also enlighteneing.Seen them many times since 40- 50 times I think. I was lucky enough to interview Justin at Strummercamp in 2011.f My favourite albums are Ghost oF Cain ,No Rest and Vengeance though i also really like the new one. Current favourite track probably Kneviel favourite old track The Hunt, Christian Militia ,Family
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Its a long time ago :-\
I grew up in a little place called Crossflatts just outside Keighley and on the road to Bradford. Aged 13-14 i started listening to music,my friends were a little bit older into punk and the like, and were going on about this band who had played at Bingley Arts Centre called New Model Army , had been playing in Keighley also at the time, they had Vengence we listened and the rest is history. I kinda lost touch when I moved away , saw them a few times in Newcastle, then took a hiatus from gigging full stop as the family came along.
My Brother also a big fan suggested we do a gig and I suggested Rock City this past December, we are now doing Holmfirth in April and plan to do more
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My first experience of NMA was summer 84 I was 17 years old and had just finished my 2nd YTS scheme and found myself signing on under the Thatcher government My life was at a musical crossroad, i had been a big fan of punk especially bands like slf ,the clash,damned, ruts etc
I started hanging around with a few new mates,one of them had an older brother who was into the alternative music scene at the time which was totally new to me at the time Anyway he give my mate a few mix tapes and tapes of various lps Among this new and exciting music were bands like the meteors the cramps, sisters of mercy and of course NMA. I straight away loved the songs especially Vengeance and Christian Militia that delivered all the passion and power of the very best punk songs but done in a more intelligent thought provoking way.
My first chance to see the band live didn't come until a couple of years later It was the Ghost of Cain tour at the Town and Country club Kentish Town London (does this place still exist) I still go and see the band whenever they play Glasgow or nearby I was at the BDAW tour in November at the Glasgow garage and still love the band as much if not more than i ever did.
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LOVE reading these stories!
For the record, POL, the Town and Country still exists, only nowadays it's called The Forum... cracking good venue, only been there once, would love to go there again...
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Thanks for that Ray Is that where the NMA 30th anniversary concerts dvd was shot Surely it cant be then again it was a long time ago when i was there plus it dark and i probably had a few drinks lol
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It was 1986, I was 15 and the charts were full of West End Girls with people Living On a Prayer and being told to Word Up. My mate on the other hand used to walk around with this huge ghetto blaster, playing these strange songs, using words I didn't understand by a band that was totally alien to anything I was used to. The Album was 'The Ghost of Cain' and the song that got me hooked, although looking back a strange choice, was 'All of This.' I bought the album on the strength of that one song and have bought every album in the 28 years since. I have been taken on a magical journey which has been a constant through my teen years to adulthood, through to fatherhood, each album being like a mini time machine transporting me back in time to a particular period of my life.
And last year in 2013 New Model Army released one of their greatest pieces of work with BDAW and I was finally able to share the live experience with my own son, giving him his first memorable experience of NMA and ironically he was 15 too.
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I saw them for the first time at the Futurama festival in Leeds 83 as well!
I'd gone to see Death Cult and came away with a new band to love!
Nice one! Only taken me 5 years to reply, still going strong, still following the band around - love it :-)
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I bought No Rest on vinyl from my mate Simon when I was about 13 or so back in the early 80s, was absolutely blown away by it. The anger and intensity were like nothing I had ever come across, this was during the miners strike and I was living in a pit village in Kent where life was polarized and the sense of being under assault was in the air. Changed my view on life.
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It was 1984, saturday morning in the underground "Oasis market" in Birmingham; loads of colourful alternative stores.
The guy in the record shop showed me the Vengence album and said "this is a brilliant new band, buy the record".
I did, brilliant album, entirely new sound.
A few weeks later, A Liberal Education came to life...
In particular the lines:
"Its your right to do what you like"
"Because we can't really be bothered with you, at all"
This got me on my feet...
The songs & lyrics that followed always make me think. Cheers!
Hopefully NMA will play soon in Birmingham.
(These two lines have been in my mind for 30 years!! - a great 30 years - Thanks)
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growing up on a council estate back in the 70s, believe it or not was a very enjoyable experience, by the time the 80s came and i was in my teens the vinyl industry was the thing for most, but being young gifted and skint I had to make do with copies of stuff on cassette.
One of my buddies was not as skint as the rest of us, he was the first person among us to get his own record player, his family even had a video recorder...lol
Anyhow he told me about this album no rest for the wicked, it was just out and I was 16 at the time and that was it, ever since been hooked
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I think it was when I was at my best friend's place and she had recorded this video - I didn't get any music staions on TV at home and she would always record stuff she thought I might like.
The year was probably 1987 and it was the video for "51st State" - I don't even quite remember my initial reaction to the song, it can't have been bad, though, as we have both been following them ever since.
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Can't remember if I have replied to this thread or an earlier iteration...
The time was when No Rest was charting in the UK- heard it on the radio and saw them on Top of the Pops.
It wasn't too long after that when I saw them in Leeds in the Autumn of 85. I still have a battered recording of that made by a mate with a Walkman in his pocket.....I think the tour was to promote Brave New World
Sadly he didn't record a couple of songs played solo by Justin before the main band came on - one of which was 51st state.
There was one guy who seemed to feel that NMA had sold out and kept shouting that he wanted to hear the old songs. He eventually sprayed the band with a can of cheap beer and was moved away by the security...
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Can't remember if I have replied to this thread or an earlier iteration...
The time was when No Rest was charting in the UK- heard it on the radio and saw them on Top of the Pops.
It wasn't too long after that when I saw them in Leeds in the Autumn of 85. I still have a battered recording of that made by a mate with a Walkman in his pocket.....I think the tour was to promote Brave New World
Sadly he didn't record a couple of songs played solo by Justin before the main band came on - one of which was 51st state.
There was one guy who seemed to feel that NMA had sold out and kept shouting that he wanted to hear the old songs. He eventually sprayed the band with a can of cheap beer and was moved away by the security...
There are still people who do the same today.
It sounds like a good first experience. :)
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The first time NMA really stuck out for me was watching 'No Rest' on 'Top of the Pops' - I was an impressionable fourteen year old living in the rural Midlands, bored and wanting excitement. They blazed into my consciousness with a mix of attitude (the 'Only stupid b*stards use heroin t-shirt' scored extra points to my teenage mind!) , long hair and this catchy tune. They were clearly so different from the prevalent moustache, short hair and 'sports casual' look that dominated the market towns in the eighties - here was someone daring to be different! It seemed like the song was written just for me. I was hooked.
I didn't get to see them live until September 1987, when a close mate and I got a lift to Northampton station (courtesy of his dad in a Ford Cortina) and then a train up to Birmingham New Street, where we mooched along to the Powerhouse venue (now a gym!) and had a magical evening. I was my second gig (the first being 'The Fall' in May at Leicester Poly), but it was INCREDIBLE. It was the 'Whitecoats' tour and it blew me away. I remember my mate and I staggering back to the last train, somewhat worse for wear on the beer, giddy with that special sense of belonging, that someone out there had finally given us words to describe our existence as we felt it to be. Our excitement was short-lived as we had a drunken near-panic on the train, thinking we were on the wrong train, and deciding to leap off the train as it departed the station. The train did an emergency stop, and the guard came bustling along, but ended up laughing gently at us before clarifying that this WAS the right train, and all was well.
I followed the Army a lot from 1989 - 1995 and had a fantastic time, with very memorable events. (Playing five-a-side against / with the band outside venues on a 'small town village halls' tour sometime in the early nineties, sleeping rough outside Cambridge Station because the Police had caught us sleeping in a mate's car etc), an incredible tour of cities and towns and the very best of friendships, inspiration and music that even now sends a shiver up my spine and takes me to a higher place.
My music tastes have diversified as I have got older, but it's a rare week that I don't listen to a NMA album, and it will always hold a special place in my heart and head. I'm hoping to go see them live again this coming tour - my first time since seeing them at the King's Hall in Bradford in 1995. Happy days!
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Great post, Tailtigger, and welcome to the Forum!
Blimey, you were seeing them live well before I was! Jealous!
Be sure to let us know what gig(s) you plan to attend, there's usually a meet before or after. Especially if it's Nottingham... subtle hint there... ;)
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Great post, Tailtigger, and welcome to the Forum!
Blimey, you were seeing them live well before I was! Jealous!
Be sure to let us know what gig(s) you plan to attend, there's usually a meet before or after. Especially if it's Nottingham... subtle hint there... ;)
Dear Master Ray, thanks mate for your kind comments, sorry for my shabby response - you know how life gets in the way sometimes... I'm fascinated by going to see them live again, and enjoying what has changed and what remains the same about the band. I live on the South Coast and I'm unlikely to be able to head that far North, alas. I'll let you know what one(s) I CAN make though, be great to go for a lemonade shandy beforehand. :)
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I got a tape from a penpal and there were 3 NMA-songs on it - not sure which 3 but NO REST was on it for sure.
A few months later I went to a Dutch festival called 'Waterpop' where NMA was performing so I was pretty curious.
And .. well, do I need to say more? I think it was 1988 but I am not sure.
It was the 1st time I saw Die Toten Hosen as well, never heard of the band but their gig "kicked ass" so afterwards
I started buying records of them and of course NMA. I have send an email to the organisation of the festival and
asked for the specific year but never got a reply.
Anyway, it's around 21 years ago and till today .. NMA is my favorite band ever. One thing I hate about dying is to
never be able to hear their songs again. (and I am serious!)
Had to add/comment on this. Back in the day this was how you learned "New Music" you were given a pirate copy on tape, loved it n you bought it and more ,loathed it and you binned it off,never went near it again. My point being the big noise about digital sharing etc ,its how you learn new music ,if you love it you buy it if not ,end of. There will always be n always have been cheapskates that will never purchase music,but true music fans will go on to buy albums and attend gigs.
As for first exp of NMA ,I was invited to go down to the T&C (Town and Country Club now The Forum) back in the 80's by a mate who was a fan. Before leaving we spent a couple of hours drinking (Red Stripe n Merrydown snakebites) as you did back then whilst listening to the 2 albums he had. I wanted an idea of what I was going to hear as they were new to me . On vinyl they were ok ,I was'nt too excited but looking forward to the night out . The live exp tho, by **** it was something else.The live music or is that: The music live ?and the atmosphere was electrifying and with (at the time 50% plus of the crowd wearing wooden soled clogs (young un's check your NMA history) n stamping out the beat, making the floor bounce what felt like 6 inches (15cm for you young un's) it was an almost religious experience,I'd been part of nothing like it before,the crowd were one ,joined together ,merged together with the band .Me I was sold from that point on !!!!
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first NMA experience:
peterculter library, aberdeenshire, 1985 - no rest, staring out from the lending shelf. grandmother's footsteps. dixon's c90 tapes.
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Must have been around 84 on the Tube. I think they played Smalltown England and Christian Militia. Justin introduced one of them by saying "we´ve got a new single out.. this isnt it". I liked the attitude. Was not until 85 that I saw them at Liverpool De Montford Hall. Nobody from school wanted to go (too busy listening to the Cramps, Meteors) so went on my own. As a 15 year old I wasnt sure which way to go from Lime Street and then I saw Rob getting into a van so I knew i could not be far away (I think he came out of an amusement arcade..) . I was nicely suprised by the physicality of the crowd and the policy of picking you up if you went over. 2 years later I lost a Doc Marten shoe about 10 secs into the gig. Yes I deserved that, who wears DM shoes. Muppet.
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In the mid 90s a friend introduced me to this band that had played at the Zillo Festival in Rüsselsheim. The music touched me on a level, that no band had ever done before and never has since. I got immediately hooked and I remember to have a cassette in my car containing T&C on one side and Impurity on the other, which was more or less the only thing that was being played there for quite some time to come.
I saw NMA live for the first time during the Strange Brotherhood tour in Neu-Isenburg in '98 and shortly thereafter in Mainz. The gig in Mainz was the first with my then new girlfriend and now wife. She immediately became as passionate about the band as myself and we have hardly missed a concert in our area since. Sometimes also venturing farther like the 30th birthday concerts in Berlin or the christmas gigs in Cologne and Amsterdam.
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'No Rest', TOTP 1985.
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Late eighties, I think. There used to be a club in my hometown where dj played mostly alternative bands and that`s how I got familiar with NMA in 1987-1988 and then I bought The Ghost of Cain Lp. I still have it, of course!
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Great Expectations on John Peel Show I think. Live, it was at Folkestone Lea Cliffs Hall. Touring No Rest. I'm now about 50 gigs later... with undiminished respect and excitement for any gig at any venue.
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Back in the mist of time ,back in the days of Sounds music paper with the gig listings at the back pages. That would be very early 80's, due to reading the music press I am sure NMA were already part of my consciousness, but I had yet to experience the true essence of the NMA live delivery. I would watch The Tube religiously every Friday, what a kickstart to a weekend that program was. That first time actually being drawn in by Slade the Leveller's stare, transmitting through the screen such a passion and energy for the songs. As they banged out those songs they were etched into my soul from that moment, I had no choice in the matter. NMA delivered something I hadn't realised even existed, or for that matter realised I had needed to make things make sense. Many gigs have passed since and that shiver takes hold every time I hear it again , it's just a New Model Army thing and if you don't get it then thats cool, but if you do, then you're the better for it. Thanks for all those years since and don't ever stop. ;)
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Dont think ive replied on this. First introduced to the music in 89 by a co worker playing Vengeance non stop. Cant say I was really into them, but bought T and C, Impurtity and LOHC. Kinda drifted away for a few years but delved back at some time in the 90's and bought album after album.
First live experience was awful.....but not NMA!!! I only went to gigs once in a blue moon and about 8/9 years ago, I read they were playing the O2( old Dome nightclub) in Brum. Great. So off I went with the ex. Got to the venue in we go. The warm up band were shite.....except it wasnt a warm up band. The O2 has several venues in one building and unbeknowingly, we'd been granted entry to a Christian rock band. Once the reality dawned, the bottom dropped out of my world. The lowest point in an impending divorce with the ex.
Anyhoo, the venue offered an apology and tickets to see NMA elsewhere. Went to Leamington Spa a short time later, fantastic gig and I was hooked. Got a lift back from a couple from Stourbridge, who we only met there as Id missed the last train.
Met the current missus in Wisbech the following day. Havent looked back since and met some great people at gigs Ive been to, MR, Shush, JC, Pol and Ruckedout and others I dont know. Its been a blast but gutted I didnt do it earlier!
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I really couldn't say!!!!
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Must have been around 84 on the Tube. I think they played Smalltown England and Christian Militia. Justin introduced one of them by saying "we´ve got a new single out.. this isnt it". I liked the attitude. Was not until 85 that I saw them at Liverpool De Montford Hall. Nobody from school wanted to go (too busy listening to the Cramps, Meteors) so went on my own. As a 15 year old I wasnt sure which way to go from Lime Street and then I saw Rob getting into a van so I knew i could not be far away (I think he came out of an amusement arcade..) . I was nicely suprised by the physicality of the crowd and the policy of picking you up if you went over. 2 years later I lost a Doc Marten shoe about 10 secs into the gig. Yes I deserved that, who wears DM shoes. Muppet.
I think the Tube was the first time I saw them too. I think Joolz Holland introduced them as the ugliest band in rock.
And I was at that Mountford Hall gig too, but the first time I saw them live was at a GLC bash in Brockwell Park, London in August 84.
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Must have been around 84 on the Tube. I think they played Smalltown England and Christian Militia. Justin introduced one of them by saying "we´ve got a new single out.. this isnt it". I liked the attitude. Was not until 85 that I saw them at Liverpool De Montford Hall. Nobody from school wanted to go (too busy listening to the Cramps, Meteors) so went on my own. As a 15 year old I wasnt sure which way to go from Lime Street and then I saw Rob getting into a van so I knew i could not be far away (I think he came out of an amusement arcade..) . I was nicely suprised by the physicality of the crowd and the policy of picking you up if you went over. 2 years later I lost a Doc Marten shoe about 10 secs into the gig. Yes I deserved that, who wears DM shoes. Muppet.
I think the Tube was the first time I saw them too. I think Joolz Holland introduced them as the ugliest band in rock.
And I was at that Mountford Hall gig too, but the first time I saw them live was at a GLC bash in Brockwell Park, London in August 84.
It was Paula Yates who described them as the ugliest band in rock (or whatever). Yours sincerely, Captain Pedantic. ;) :D
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Aye that braw burd Paula, she was a looker
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Around '92 I was looking after a mate's caravan in the middle of nowhere. Box of tapes from Bach to Black Flag. Among them was a mysterious mix with no label, much of the content fairly blah save a few tracks... one of which I listened to over and over as it fitted the scene so well. Later found out that the song was 'Purity'. It was very much a part of this reflective experience, and became a soundtrack for the damp and desolate landscape. Whenever I need perspective , I go back to that song. It reminds me that change is one of the most essential things in life.
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I was played a copy of Vengeance in 84. Then bought The Price :-)
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OK, I posted my 'first NMA experience' thing a long time ago, but I stumbled across this clip on Youtube from a US dude who actually has a pretty good YT channel (well worth checking out!) and I think this is a lovely story about someone discovering NMA... it's a bit old, posted in 2012, but there's a great story about Tommy... I think you'll enjoy it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-6S4KYGpFx4
;)
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OK, I posted my 'first NMA experience' thing a long time ago, but I stumbled across this clip on Youtube from a US dude who actually has a pretty good YT channel (well worth checking out!) and I think this is a lovely story about someone discovering NMA... it's a bit old, posted in 2012, but there's a great story about Tommy... I think you'll enjoy it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-6S4KYGpFx4
;)
thanks, man...it'd be nice to hear more of those 'first encounters'... not worth much, but i'd love to hear/see/read someone way-under-50 encountering NMA for the first-ish time - i think i'm getting a bit too old........ugh......
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Just adding my first NMA experience...
(TLDR: Salford Uni 1991 - borrowed T&C off a mate)
I was in my first year at Salford Uni in 1991 and my music guru mate Jon lent me T&C after I spotted it in his record collection and thought "New Model Army is a great name for a band, I want to hear that". I'd never heard of them until that point. I loved it on first listen and was well pleased to discover they'd released previous records. Being a record-head at the time I quickly bought the vinyl of No Rest, Ghost of Cain, Impurity, Radio Sessions, Raw Melody Men, The Price ep plus some 12" singles and a couple of 10" singles (for the b sides) - I couldn't believe how they were all different but I loved them all. (For some reason I've never bought Vengeance...).
NMA are not really typical of the music I like / have liked - I've moved through The Smiths, Shoegaze, Beatles / Lennon, EDM, Brtipop etc, etc ... but NMA have also been there, in their own category, special to me.
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So, having not thought about this for several years (and having not visited Birmingham since seeing NMA in Sep 1987) as a family we found ourselves in Birmingham for a couple of days. We were waiting for the library to open at 11am and needed to kill some time. Having told our youngest about my experience many years before, she decided we should go find the venue, so off we went. I was told it was a health club, but it turned out to be boarded up. It certainly gave me goose bumps going back and remembering it all... I have photos of the place now if anyone's interested
(https://www.popdom.de/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/New_Model_Army-concert_tour_-poster-21.9.1987-Birmingham_Powerhouse.jpeg)
The setlist:
https://www.setlist.fm/setlist/new-model-army/1987/the-powerhouse-birmingham-england-13c739e5.html
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My first experience was not my first listening..
I'd been a listener for a couple of years, but was at Reading Festival in 1989 (what a great line up!). NMA were playing just before the Pogues, but I was more a NMA fan than the Pogues so made my way down to the front.
Justin, Moose and Rob walked on stage, and the first few chords of Vengeance sounded out. Almost immediately, 20-30,000 people just surged forward and the front 20 rows or so, start bopping and jumping. I was then that I got hooked on how energetic and powerful they were live.