First NMA Experience

[RobertJohn1]

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

[adetheleveller]

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

[ChristianS]

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!

[Dobbie]

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...

[bigbadalex]

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

[Rusco]

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.

[A]

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 .   

[Prawn]

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!

[andyC321]

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!!

[ian@leeds]

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.

[sam]

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.

[Nobsworth]

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

[Stephanie D.]

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... :/

[Patrice]

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 !

[[OAP]Stan_Laurel]

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.