What is your best New Model Army memory?

[Gonzo]

best NMA memory, wow, have many, but up there at the top, with many others has to be Ris Orangis outside Paris 91 with me GF who's now my wife. took ages to find the place, even the band apologised for being late as they had trouble finding Le Plan as well. small compact venue, 80 francs to get in, remember them, great gig and then the SNCF decided to go on strike. couldnt get back to paris so started walking along the motorway with another couple. got picked up by the old bill and taken down the cop shop, thought we were gonna get charged and trumped up. they made us coffee and let us get warm again then back in the mariah to the paris outskirts. they let us out and said to us you need to take so and so line to get back to where you need to be. so we said thank you and goodbye and me and me gf just walked together back into central paris at dawn just as the day was about to break. great cherished memory.

[eastmidswhizzkid]

i think brixton acadamy has to be one of the best days of my entire life. a  transit van full of us drove down from leicester first thing, all of us speeding our faces off. to this day i dont know where we parked but it was north of the river and the pub we spent the first half of the day in had holsten pils on draught- something i had never seen before or since. after outstaying our welcome there (simply by being loudly exuberant and dominating the pool table) we headed across london to brixton where it was surreal as ****. we must have literally seemed like an invading army to the locals. 4000 people dressed like the figures on the radio sessions sleeve, wearing clogs and carrying kit bags lol. all of the shops were baricaded at the door so you couldnt go in and browse, but also ordinary houses had stalls out front selling beer and stuff. both "sides" wary of each other but totally respectful and absolutely no trouble. and zero police as i remember 'cause they would have caused trouble.
at the gig i remember being blown away by the audience, as it  was the first time i had seen an NMA gig purely full of the faithful (like they are now). other gigs of the time there was always the militia -the family-  stood in a big ring so the  those who wanted to dance could without being mosh-pitted, and keeping their distance warily behind were the other concert goers. at brixton it was all family or so it seemed. an awesome venue with its tiered auditoreum from when it was a theater/cinema meant everyone could see. eddie laine did an amazing fiddle set and i was so pissed i tried to lift my bro on my shoulders and we both fell backwards over a row of seats.
and afterwards nearly getting arrested for seeing who could climb up the very tall lampposts the furthest.
when i hear 11 years the line about brixton always makes me glow and tell anyone who will listen "thats us he's singing about!"

[Coumarin]

Hi Andrew. ..... Been a few years.....

[Talltigger]

A stranger NMA memory... on either the 'T&C' or 'Impurity' tour, seeing the band play in Swansea and kipping in a car that night with mates. The following day deciding to go to the leisure centre for some reason (I think we needed the toilet and it was the only place available).

Bearing in mind that this was part way through the tour and those of us with season tickets had been sleeping on floors / in cars for a while and we probably not terribly clean at this stage... I remember glancing through the viewing area into the swimming pool and seeing a few other followers with season tickets taking a swim. They'd obviously figured that it would be the cheapest / easiest way of getting a cheap bath and had planned it, taking swimming costumes.

The best thing about it was seeing the ring of muck spread away from them as they entered the swimming pool and the looks on people's faces as these tattoo'd and wonderful people entered the pool. Fantastically funny.

Tales of the road!

[Simon73]

my very forst one. i was around 18 in a music shop in Innsbruck Austria and I picked up Thunder and Consolation vynil by chance.I played it at the wrong speed still I found it good...............i was (and am) into lot of fast and furious music so.........was noyt bad anyway. at home i played it at the 33 speed and ...............that was it.
since them am a family member.
then much later i even went to study at the university of bradford for a while met there justin the first time and so on.................
and justin and all never disappoint always delivered great lyrics and music.
looking forward to the gig now............again.
simon

[Isaac(Black Eagle Rising)]

The year 1999 March 26 Ankara..The capital town of Türkiye. First NMA gig ever.Actually there are many stories to tell and write about this legendary gig but will write shortly.Gig was one of the wildest NMA gigs ever I believe.(Even band has shared their thanks about JS&Friends gig at website to Ankara audience but now don't remember when)A small club.And there was a totally gone wild crowd on the street.My closest friends were even looking like they were members of Exploited with sprayed hairs and mohawks and everyone was too hungry for New Model Army.We had a phone call from friends from Istanbul and they said Istanbul was excellent and now they re coming to Ankara and we are on the road too.We watched New Model Army maan and it was real.Before the show starts somehow I managed to get inside but don't remember how.
All mates gave me the cd's and told me to get them signed.There was a barbed wire in the club before the backstage..
I saw Tommy Tee behind it...I shouted him
-Are you english? !!!!!!! (original stupid question in the moment of that drunkness)
-Yes he replied
-So could you please get those cd's signed by the band members?
-Ok he said and told me to wait a few minutes while I was trying to catch his hand and passing him the cd"s.
And after a while a he turned back with the cd's signed and a few was Thunder and Cain and my one and only precious Hopeless Causes.Nelson's sign was unforgettable he even draw a cartoon picture of himself. so I turned back to street to friends with signed cd's and that was the glory.We opened more beers and lighted up many cigarettes.There was party on the street..It was magical..
When they first appeared on stage and with the first keyboard tune of White Light,everyone was screaming high and Justin was too high showing us his middle finger in anger and wildness and holding his brilliant sg..So nothing ever remained same..With the first lights of morning I left the town after a terrace party.

[Master Ray]

Great story, BER...

[Isaac(Black Eagle Rising)]

Great story, BER...

Thank you man
Let's have another drink in the memory of great good Tommy Tee.

[kabe]

i know this sounds dull but my best memory is my first listen to each album.  these are the markers on the road of my life, to be honest.  it doesn't so much matter how i first react to the album, it's the opening of the whole, the new, the hearing of words that connect.

[Adrian]

First NMA gig, Dunstable, 1985.

(didnt  see them again until Brighton, last night..)

[ManxPat]

I suppose technically not a NMA memory but a Joolz/Justin one:
I'd gone to watch JS on his Navigating by the Stars tour in, I think, Northampton. Having spent the preceeding couple of hours in a nearby pub I was fairly oiled when I got to the gig and got talking to this incredibly interesting lady on the merch stand who of course turned out to be Joolz. Not only were there the usual cds, T-shirts etc on display but also several copies of two of Joolz's books. Anyway, chatting away animatedly to Joolz I threw my arms out and crash, bang, wallop knocked my pint of Guinness flying all over her merch stand. soaking everything in its path!! Guinness swimming everywhere Joolz picks up two of her now very soggy books and says " Well, you might as well have these! " She was so kind and generous of spirit that she didn't raise more than an eyebrow at my drunken mayhem!! We carried on talking for the entire gig and I didn't see Justin play one song to my shame. To this day I still haven't seen him or the band play live. Has never stopped me loving them to absolute bit though. Cheers.

[Anna Woman von NRW]

To this day I still haven't seen him or the band play live.

P'raps you should try again  Nice little story 

[Damien60]

I'm 45 now and a fan since a long time : I saw them many times during the last 25 years, and I could have highlight the first one (they were opening for a band and I discovered them at this moment), the one at the Locomotive in Paris for their 25 years, the 30 years tour, a concert in Marseille (around 91 I think) but finally I choose Vaureal last week. Indeed, I was there my with my 12yo son. Since he was born, he "listens" to NMA with me in my car, at home but he never listened by himself NMA (in fact, he doesn't really listen music by himself but more with us). He was me with me at Le Divan du Monde last december, but we were on the upper level, so very static.
When I learned for the Vaureal concert, I asked myself if I have to take him with me as he's a bit a small format child and it was a small venue, and I finally I bought tickets. And this was my most fantastic experience at a NMA concert : I know fans are amazing people, but all the people were so sweet with him, when we were dancing in the middle of the crowd, sitting on my shoulders, when they helped me to get him standing on my shoulders during G&G, giving him hugs, sending us pictures ... and a F...... amazing sentiment to see your own son enjoying so much the music ! If someone would have tell me 20 years ago it will happen (even 5 years ago !), I would have laughed ! So a big thank you to all the fans, and to the band and the crew for the after show.
See you all in december

[Master Ray]

I'm 45 now and a fan since a long time : I saw them many times during the last 25 years, and I could have highlight the first one (they were opening for a band and I discovered them at this moment), the one at the Locomotive in Paris for their 25 years, the 30 years tour, a concert in Marseille (around 91 I think) but finally I choose Vaureal last week. Indeed, I was there my with my 12yo son. Since he was born, he "listens" to NMA with me in my car, at home but he never listened by himself NMA (in fact, he doesn't really listen music by himself but more with us). He was me with me at Le Divan du Monde last december, but we were on the upper level, so very static.
When I learned for the Vaureal concert, I asked myself if I have to take him with me as he's a bit a small format child and it was a small venue, and I finally I bought tickets. And this was my most fantastic experience at a NMA concert : I know fans are amazing people, but all the people were so sweet with him, when we were dancing in the middle of the crowd, sitting on my shoulders, when they helped me to get him standing on my shoulders during G&G, giving him hugs, sending us pictures ... and a F...... amazing sentiment to see your own son enjoying so much the music ! If someone would have tell me 20 years ago it will happen (even 5 years ago !), I would have laughed ! So a big thank you to all the fans, and to the band and the crew for the after show.
See you all in december

Fantastic story, almost makes me wish I'd had kids!  He seems like a fine young chap and you might be in for some kind of 'father of the year' award...

[Gary Tompsett]

Brixton Academy. Year? On the morning before the gig I ran a 10 mile XC run relay leg on the North Downs (Kent), took a wrong turn, got stuck in a field corner, clambered through a mass of shoulder high stinging nettles, stung all over, soon took a really bad reaction + I had bad hayfever already. Finished. Threw up. Started to have breathing difficulties. Drove 5 miles home. Started to go anaphylactic, struggling to breath, drove myself to a hospital A&E. They treated me urgently, and pumped me full of STEROIDS. After some observation, I was released, visited a nearby friend's new refurbished house. Threw up in his newly refurbished bathroom. Went home. REMEMBERED that I had a ticket for the gig. Drove 50 miles to London. Danced with abundant energy without one rest. Drove home. Slept well. That Day was a Good Day!