Was NMA an "immediate" band for you?

[NickyG]

No way could I say it was immediate - it took me over 5 years between first seeing them in 1984 to the T&C tour in 1989 to completely get it! I saw them a fair few times in the intervening years but was always very wary about trouble down the front, plus we tended more to go see Conflict and anarcho-type bands during the mid-80s, and there was the EMI thing and so on going on then as well.  A mate of mine who used to follow the Army in those days and then moved to the Sisters and then Ghost Dance used to say that people who were into them right from the start rated Vengeance the best album, those who came along a bit later rated T&C the best. Whatever, I have to say that although I was into all the earlier albums it was really the 1989 gigs, Reading, and T&C that ultimately did it for me. I remember getting T&C and the first time I played the cassette turning it over and my jaw dropping when I actually listed to the lyrics of Bodmin Pill and Family Life. Brilliant songs to see you through tough times...  difficult to describe...

Personally I like the fact that it took me so long to get there – for me it makes it all feel more real, like when you grow with something or somebody over time, and it evolves and it keeps going and growing, rather than being an instant hit that you can’t repeat.  Like, last year I was chatting to someone who reminded me how long they had been going and how many quality albums compared with everyone else. It really did make me think:  even if all of them up to and including T&C had not been made, you would still have Eight, High, Impurity, Hopeless Causes and so on which would still make them top band in my book, and as for TIAGD... I mean, it sounds as fresh as a first album.... I mean, how do they do that?!

[burningark]

the thread of this band is woven through my life with all the good and bad - i can watch em live and feel the buzz - the songs make me sing out loud the songs make me angry and they can also make me cry - and all things inbetween

[Stoney]

the thread of this band is woven through my life with all the good and bad - i can watch em live and feel the buzz - the songs make me sing out loud the songs make me angry and they can also make me cry - and all things inbetween

That's a very true point...... There was alot of very emotional, not normally emotional people at the 30 th gigs....... i know for myself, and from talking to alot of people there and since.........

Prime example was Bradford to be fair the other week. A very old mate just happened to call at the Fighting C0Ck, he, John and me go WAY WAY back....... Don't see each other much now, but he's always been into NMA. But not a follower, but still.......
So after a while of talking and a few beers, he decided to wander up and met us at the Justin gig. Half way through he whispered to me that he felt like he shouldn't be there because everyone was in such reverance, said how honoured he felt to share in such a charged emotional experience. Despite the fact that he saw NMA before me in 86 I think..... Even he got emotional at "To absent friends....." for Green n Grey.....I think the songs and lyrics that NMA have in their cannon have a way of connecting somehow that very verey few bands have got close to.........

[burningark]

no other band does this to me

[ottodeth]

it was immediate for me 1st tuned to the lads by a woman a few years my senior, Price 12in single. I was in love with NMA at that point. But it was about 1985 or 86 and a few months later 51st State came out making my 1st full length Ghost Of Cain.

Good stuff, I was rather impressed that Moose filled in Stuarts shoes very well, i remember being shocked and bummed out that the bassist wasn't the same. But impressed greatly by Moose's playing.

[ForeverFound]

Immediate interest but slow burning love , first saw them in late eighties , liked ghost of Cain , then blown away by T&C, drifted a bit , then started playing old vinyl to new BF in 2000 , realised how fantastic it was and in love ever since.
Yesterday was at a friends house with our 3 year olds when she asked what songs they were known for , her husband went on tube and found vengeance . My friend then said " i loved that song" but hadn't known who it was by.

We then all danced madly and played musical bumps to vengeance with husband turning volume down at appropriate places ( we all know which bits they are). Rougher than any mosh pit I can tell you 

[Goosebumps]

My first exposure to NMA's music was in the environmental political drama 'Edge of Darkness'. There was this scene where a political activist was being tracked down and as the police entered his house and climb the stairs 'Christian Militia'  was playing loudly in the background, the scene ends with the guy laying in the bath clutching a plugged in electric radio, dead. Powerful stuff, I remember thinking what band is that? I still get goosebumps when ever I remember it. Soon after I went to them at Mersea Island in 1986, the ruck was something else and from then on, I was hooked.

About the albums, I think  Vengeance, NRFTW, GOC and T&C take some beating, may be it's my life experiences and the times that makes the music just stand out. Collectively, NMAs overall musicial output takes some beating. Throughout their career they still come up with personally uplifting, passionate and thoughtful music.

[Simon73]

I was 18 yrs hanging around in Innsbruck as usual checking underground music shops. I ended up in a small but great vinyl shops with a lot of great and mostly unknown stuff for me. I check so many vinyl covers and I ended up picking this one white with this kind of Celtic symbol on the front. The guy of the shop played it for me (I had headphones) sounded pretty good I was stoned too so great. When after my trip I went back to Turin (my native city) I play the vinyl for the 1st real time at home. But it sounds so different. It s good though……but different. I realize that the 1 time I heard Thunder and Consolation in Innsbruck the vinyl has been played at the wrong speed !! I was 18 and used to a lot of punk (still I am) and metal stuff so it sounded well anyway. But for sure, only once at home I learned to listen to this band (at the right speed) read their lyrics, sing their songs. Now I am 38 and I still love them so much.

[Peanut]

Pretty much. One listen of Bittersweet and that was it really.

-P-

[Guillaume]

awith albums since T&C the 'getting to know you' phase has varied in length with SB and Carnival taking several listens to 'tune in'. impurity, TLOAHC and high not so many listens and eight and TIAGD were love at first listen.
(it always amazes me that eight is regarded by many to be not up to NMA's usual standard but i can remember lying on my bed with some late evening sunshine coming through the window and loving every note).  

THUNDER AND CONSOLATION, IMPURITY, HIGH and THE GHOST OF CAIN were love at first listen...so many melodic tunes on these albums!
I didn't like too much STRANGE BROTHERHOOD, TODAY IS A GOOD DAY and CARNIVAL at first listen and i still struggle a bit with some of their tracks but all of these albums offer gems, of course!
I agree with what you're saying about EIGHT...i fell in love instantly with "You weren't there" and "Orange tree roads", for me EIGHT was a welcome return to the simple, fresh vitality of NMA's sound after the uneven STRANGE BROTHERHOOD...same case with the brillant HIGH after the uneven CARNIVAL.
My fav NMA albums are still THUNDER AND CONSOLATION and THE GHOST OF CAIN, and for the last 10 years my vote goes for HIGH (and i don't forget the wonderful Justin Sullivan solo album) 

[Guillaume]

However, I find the newer albums are much more difficult to get into. For me, TIAGD still only has one absolutely stunning track (North Star). I don't quite know why. As for 8, funny enough, I think it's the last great studio album from start to finish...hopefully not the last though...   

I tend to agree with this, aside from the fact that i really like HIGH too!

[Pumpkin]

Ah yes, Guillaume, I see we're still at the same point here as we were a few years ago. 

Time isn't helping. Any other ideas? 

[rick a.]

I was hooked the first time I heard "the hunt" on a local radio station. The music was intense and the lyrics told a great story. That was the first and last song I've ever heard on Boston radio too. Never missed them in Boston live either.The 12 year abscense was tough but then they returned with the best full band show I had seen by them. So many great songs released during the time they stayed away.
So, to answer, yes, they were an immediate band for me.

[eccentric]

yes, I still remember the first time I heard vengeanse,,,11 or 12 years ago?

[mudgeek]

I first heard 'No Rest', back in the late 80's, at a friend's house where I used to go to on Sundays afternoon. He had a nice collection of imports and he was a great illustrator (still is - he did the cover for one issue of T'Mershi Duween, a FZ fanzine). Every time he introduced me to some new stuff he asked me 'Have you heard of them?' I hadn't and was not that impressed; but then I bought TGOC (as I couldn't find 'No Rest') and IT BLEW ME AWAY! The rest, as they say, is potted history. Needless to say, I saw them here in Sao Paulo three times: in 1991 (at the late Dama Xoc venue, second show), at the Clash Club 2007 (two shows) and at the Citibank Hall (twice!).  \m/