The official NMA board

General Category => New Model Army => Topic started by: ManxPat on December 13, 2016, 08:49:30 PM

Title: Did the Levellers ever support NMA?
Post by: ManxPat on December 13, 2016, 08:49:30 PM
i've been told conflicting accounts. Thanks in advance to anyone who can put this niggle to bed for me. One Love
Title: Re: Did the Levellers ever support NMA?
Post by: Pol on December 13, 2016, 09:32:05 PM
Short answer Yes , personally seen them support nma at Glasgow barrowlands
Title: Re: Did the Levellers ever support NMA?
Post by: Master Ray on December 13, 2016, 10:20:06 PM
Yes, Impurity tour.  How I got into them in fact (I'm a huge fan), bought WCTW as soon as I could and was well on board by the time LTL came out...

Has anyone wished you a big HELLO to this Forum?  If not, hello!  Post often, please, we could use some new blood around these parts...   ;)
Title: Re: Did the Levellers ever support NMA?
Post by: Shush on December 13, 2016, 10:49:35 PM
Hello ManxPat  :)

They also supported NMA recently, Cologne December 2013.
Title: Re: Did the Levellers ever support NMA?
Post by: Ragamuffin on December 16, 2016, 08:10:23 PM
Saw the Levs supporting NMA on Impurity tour.
They were excellent!
Don't care about sh*t between the fans. Followed them up until Zeitgeist when they died a death and never recovered.
Title: Re: Did the Levellers ever support NMA?
Post by: Master Ray on December 16, 2016, 08:54:00 PM
Sorry you feel that way, Raga.  Personally, I thought that Truth and Lies and Mouth To Mouth were excellent, but respect if you don't agree.

You should make the effort to see them live if they're ever 'round your way, a huge chunk of the set is usually earlier stuff from the era you mention and they still kick arse live... who knows, give the new stuff a go, you might change your mind!   ;)
Title: Re: Did the Levellers ever support NMA?
Post by: Ragamuffin on December 17, 2016, 07:10:47 AM
Don't get me wrong Ray!  ;)
I still go and see them now and again.
And I still buy the albums, it's just for me they've gone off the boil years ago now. They went from being a band almost as vital to me as NMA to a band of happy memories really.
As I say I do go and see them now and again but I think their reliance on their early material speaks volumes.
Phil
Title: Re: Did the Levellers ever support NMA?
Post by: RobertJohn1 on December 20, 2016, 07:21:08 AM
Agree - was a massive Levs fans - and stuck with them through some dodgy singles / performances (Fantasy & Bozos I remember being very disappointed with singles wise), then Happy Birthday Revolution came along & I gave up...after buying everything the released, I didn't even buy Hello Pig. I tried again for  Green Blade Rising….and some other songs that followed that album like Cholera Wall were decent….caught them at Brixton for the 20th LTL show & thought the stuffies blew them off stage…can’t believe they’re milking the same album 5 years later on a 25th anniversary tour, whilst as you mention, they’ve been playing 70% in live sets in the years between….they’ll always have a place in my heart, but if you compare their quality of output to NMA, they’re really no match.

P.s - think I mentioned this a number years ago on this board and got massive abuse (with someone threatening to get Simon to set his horse on me!)
Title: Re: Did the Levellers ever support NMA?
Post by: Rusco on December 20, 2016, 12:38:03 PM
I've always seen NMA & Levellers tied together in a way or another. Fans that created something of their own. Brought something more and new to it.
Title: Re: Did the Levellers ever support NMA?
Post by: Jimmy M on December 23, 2016, 06:24:19 PM
I think the levellers owe much of their success to NMA.
Their first 2 albums are brilliant but then they faded in my opinion. although Men a Tol is a cracker.
 I did see them in Glasgow recently on the 25th anniversary tour of levelling the land and thought they were good
Title: Re: Did the Levellers ever support NMA?
Post by: Red on December 23, 2016, 08:10:13 PM
I first saw them sometime in 1989, but can't remeber where.

Also saw them on full Impurity tour abd several times in the following years.

I also agree that they went off the boil and thought Hello Pig was absolutley shite and didn't really take much notice after that.

I saw them in Lincoln the other week on the LTL tour and they were good personally thought Ferocious Dog blew them away and myself and a few mates reckon that without FD and Gaz Brookfield they wouldn't have had the ticket sales that they did
Title: Re: Did the Levellers ever support NMA?
Post by: Master Ray on December 23, 2016, 08:49:38 PM
I think the levellers owe much of their success to NMA.
Their first 2 albums are brilliant but then they faded in my opinion. although Men a Tol is a cracker.
 I did see them in Glasgow recently on the 25th anniversary tour of levelling the land and thought they were good

Totally agree!  They were doing the whole 'violin rock' thing at a time when NMA were riding high with that same sound, probably the perfect support band for the Impurity era!
Title: Re: Did the Levellers ever support NMA?
Post by: ManxPat on December 27, 2016, 11:04:03 PM
Hello. Thanks for having me :)
Title: Re: Did the Levellers ever support NMA?
Post by: ManxPat on January 06, 2017, 03:00:34 PM
I pretty much agree about Levs going off the boil after 92 but I can't recommend Static On the Airwaves from 2012 highly enough. By far the best thing they have done in 20 years partly down to the production of Sean Lakeman who seemed to give them a real boost...Interesting aside, Levellers and NMA, two bands who have had members who played with Hawkwind at one point or another.
Title: Re: Did the Levellers ever support NMA?
Post by: JohnnyM on January 08, 2017, 11:31:59 AM
I seem to recall there was a crowd photo at a late 80s Army gig that has a few of the Levellers in it (obvioulsy well before they became successful) - anyone got a copy?
Title: Re: Did the Levellers ever support NMA?
Post by: RobertJohn1 on January 09, 2017, 08:34:19 AM
Some stuff here: http://www.mintsouth.com/2012/2011/03/minterview-simon-friend-from-the-levellers/ & here: http://www.godisinthetvzine.co.uk/2014/10/07/interview-mark-chadwick-talks-about-the-story-of-the-levellers/
Title: Re: Did the Levellers ever support NMA?
Post by: Simon73 on April 04, 2017, 08:43:13 AM
sure even in Koln a few years ago. great gig.
Title: Re: Did the Levellers ever support NMA?
Post by: Mawsley on April 06, 2017, 10:03:20 AM
The thing I found with the Levs is that they ceased producing good albums but still wrote a blinding track or two on each one. Oh, and the live show would benefit greatly from someone losing the didgeridoo.
Title: Re: Did the Levellers ever support NMA?
Post by: Mark Aulton on April 06, 2017, 11:10:46 AM
Saw them on the 25th anniversary and thought they were great, the light show was a bit OTT, more like a 90s rave, been a levs fan from the first time i saw them supporting the army in Leicester on the impurity tour. But i have to say after seeing the army a few days ago it made me realise who is really still kicking ass after all the years. (No disrespect at all ment to the levellers, still my second favourite band of all time)  but the levellers crowd was so, well... normal. You may as well have been at a blur gig. Not 100% but a lot of it was. I don't think you'll ever say that about a NMA show.
Title: Re: Did the Levellers ever support NMA?
Post by: Master Ray on April 06, 2017, 07:01:42 PM
Agree, Mark, I also love the Levs and my introduction to them was the Impurity tour as well... but much as I like much of it, nobody could say The Levs are doing some of the best material of their career, like NMA are with 'Winter'.  Put it like this, if I don't make it to a Levellers tour, I'm not too bothered, I'll catch them whenever... but missing an NMA tour is just unthinkable...  ;)

Title: Re: Did the Levellers ever support NMA?
Post by: JohnnyM on April 10, 2017, 04:49:58 PM
I used to go and watch the Levellers a lot in the early 90s and drifted off around 93 (as the gigs lost their appeal. I still think some of their 91 gigs are amongst the best i've been to by any band) . I saw them once or twice in the intervening 20 years and then have seen them a few time in last few years  - and they still seem to be playing pretty much what they were in 92/93. Fair enough - they're still a good night out - but very much a nostalgia act now. As has been said - it makes you appreciate that NMA are still making and playing good new material.