my first encounter with NMA was seeing 'no rest for the wicked' in my local library, in peterculter, aberdeenshire, when i was something like 10 years old - definitely still in primary school. i'd been able to get the adult lending library ticket because i was always in there, a good kid and all that, and they knew me.
NMA's artwork was what caught me first - without joolz's art, well, yes, i'm sure i'd still have found them, but not for years after. because of her cover for no rest, i *had* to listen to the band....
i taped the album, listened to it thru a summer...and then drifted away for a few years with school...hit punk, metal, the wilder bits of john peel, all-sorts, and started going in to 1-Up in aberdeen, a proper, eclectic, indie, non-denominational music shop where they had second-hand racks.
seeing the cover of 'brave new world', every note and - importantly - every word i had quietly in the back of my head from years before - grandmother's footsteps, my country, no rest - told me to buy it.
and that, right there, is why i'm still here, with them, now.
so, yes and no. they were immediate, musically and lyrically....once i picked them up, and listened.
but without Joolz's artwork, it would have taken much longer for me to notice them. for me, the two simply can't be separated.
