First NMA Experience

[jmr1875]

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?

[wohomusic]

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

[Denie Alconn]

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.

[H]

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.

[Tariq]

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....

[muninn]

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.

[kev]

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

[LN76]

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

[koochina1]

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!

[gudge]

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.

[johnmoore666]

"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.

[Heno]

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

[JME]

Elephant Fayre 1985, a 'Peace Child'. No what a great introduction to my socialist roots. Ambition and Vengeance what great songs.

JME

[lou]

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

I doubt I ever heard them on commercial radio again after that, though I cannot recall for certain.

[tist sadist]

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....