Well this is an easy question. My best NMA memory, one of my proudest moments as a musician, and equally one that's tinged with sadness because of what might have been... was the day I nearly joined New Model Army as their bassist.
It was 1989, I was working for a charity and played in local bands, as a bassist/vocalist. I use to follow Fields of the Nephilim on tour and NMA were also one of my favourite bands and main influences. Following the release of the mighty Thunder and Consolation and the tour, with the band in the UK charts with Vagabonds (arguably the most commercially successful point in their career, certainly in the UK), the music press announced the departure of Moose and NMA ran adverts seeking a new bass player.
I recorded several of their songs (bass and drum track only) and had a photo shoot done, and was thrilled to get a call inviting me to London to audition for the band. Nik the Frog chatted to me whilst I nervously waited my turn: "How long does this take?" I asked. "it depends how much they like you" he said.
They called me in, I shook hands and plugged in my bass ready to go. Justin was quiet and cautious, Rob was smiling and friendly. Justin asked me which numbers I knew, and we played Stupid Questions, Christian Militia and I think Poison Street. Rob asked me if I knew Green and Grey (which I'm sure most of you know was his creation). It wasn't one I'd worked out and Rob got out from behind the drumkit to quickly show me the main riff. "Ok, lets see how quickly you can learn things", he said. And we played it, even though I'd had about five minutes to get my head round it at most...
Justin asked me if I knew "No rest". I had most of it down but there were parts of the solo I hadn't yet sorted so I said no. Rob gave me a useful tip on that one..
Justin asked me to do backing vocals and also asked to hear some of my own material. He then asked me if I could leave my job etc. I said you bet (betcha?). I asked how the auditions were going and he indicated there were about 4 of us (inc me) they were interested in.
All in all, it seemed to go well. I wished them the best and went home, still buzzing with the idea I might actually be about to leave my job and join one of my favourite bands and could be touring the world with them in a matter of months.
A few days later I got a call, maybe from Joolz I can't recall. She was very polite, very positive and complementary, but they had decided to stick with Nelson who they kind of already had 'in the bag'.
Gutted, obviously. After the 'Hopeless causes' album I lost touch and interest in NMA and have only returned to the fold recently. I missed the point that Nelson left and their search for another bass player, otherwise, who knows...
Jon
