NMA had taken position as My Favorite Band some years ago but I was always resistant to any sort of "we're in this together" attitude. Maybe my cold and unfriendly New England background, maybe being the only punk type kid at school (before Kurt Cobain died and it was cool to be a freak), whatever the reason, any sort of group identification set my teeth on edge. As deeply as I felt their music and as much as their shows were glorious, raucous and redemptive, I could not help but sneer a bit at the cult of the whole thing. My sister and best friend came along for the ride and experienced it all much the same way.
Then I found myself dragging a broken heart across the Atlantic to Ireland. I remembered Joolz and an exceptional email/mail order encounter with her from a couple years ago so I scheduled a tattoo appointment and extended my tramp to England. I was intimidated, I was being tattooed by one of my favorite visual artists and a woman I knew to be pretty badass. Of course, meeting Joolz was nothing short of remarkable. She even assisted this hapless vegan in experiencing Essential British Junkfood. I am saving more space on my skin for her because one is simply not enough.
Two days after that I dragged my hungover, tired and road weary carcass to Frome for Tommystock. I watched Joolz perform a poem called "Boy You Need The Road", as I was on my first ever adventure of that kind. I watched Ed come out and as he finished his set realized he was leading into Vagabonds; New Model Army took the stage and performed like I'd never seen them and you all know the weight a statement like that, about them, carries.
Later, Joolz would find me and present me with a bag of fruit ("it's hard to be vegan in England") and a book of her poetry. She pulled me by the arm to show Justin the seahorse tattoo and she introduced me to an acquaintance who offered me his car to sleep in for the night; if you're reading this, thanks again man, I really needed that. I went to a lock in that night and drank til 4 in the morning with my favorite band in the world and a whole bunch of other fantastic people.
All that, and it wasn't even the charity and genuine friendship offered without reservation. All that simply solidified the feeling. It was somewhere in the middle of that first song when it hit me. This was happening and I was part of it. I remember thinking "okay, I give in, I'll join the ******* cult, where do I sign?" It's not a movement, it's not a club or a label. It's a shared perspective and a mutual understanding and goddamn, it is awesome. In the year and a half since then, every show I've seen, every story I've told, the release of Today Is A Good Day and the weekend in Brooklyn with my sister; it's all taken on a whole new dimension and I'll be carrying this with me for the rest of my life. Thank you to everyone who helps create this.
