Was NMA an "immediate" band for you?

[Otter]

was pretty frightened at the age of 11 listening to the chart rundown, waiting for a-ha & hearing vagabonds at number 37 or something.

Couple of years later someone lent me the goth compilation "absolution" which had No Rest on it. Went out the next weekend & spent 6 weeks of paper round money on History, T&C & Raw Melody Men....

Got into The Mission from that compilation too. Tower of Strength was on there i think...

[Jerry]

Talking of liking the name, Jerry, I used to see a chap in the mid eighties walking round our estate wearing the classic white NMA t-shirt. It really caught my eye and stuck in my mind as a striking piece of imagery. I liked the name too but didn't even know it was a band back then (and I'd certainly not heard of the original New Model Army either!)

The name!!!!
That stirs up a hornets nest on this side of the water.I did'nt know the conotations of the name at the time either.Now I know that the original New Model Army was a very admirable idea hijacked by a ******* bloodthirsty,murderous bastard-surely another thread.
I also remember this little gem from way back then.N.M.A. were coming to Dublin and "An Phoblacht" which was the I.R.A.'s newspaper did a little article on this fine anti-Thatcher group of gentlemen.They obviously did'nt get the name at the time either.

[Danny]

First I heard them was in some goth club in 1990, aged 19 (the song was Get Me Out, and the DJ used to play it every week); I loved it straight away and a friend of mine then made me a tape with Impurity on one side and Thunder and Consolation on the other. I liked both albums but, but it wasn't until I saw them live (Brixton 91) that I was hooked - after that gig I never looked back, got all the back catalogue and loved all of it, and bought all the new releases as soon as they've come out. I have to say, of the post-TLOHC material some albums (Today Is a Good Day, Carnival) were easier for me to get into straight away than others, and to this day I can't say I really like Strange Brotherhood as a whole. I mean, there are some great songs on it, but the album on the whole is (in my opinion, of course) the weakest and the one I listen to least.

[Pazza]

I got in via Joolz' artwork, strangely - or not really if you think about how complementary it is to the whole piece that is NMA. The cover in question was the Vengeance album on Abstract and I bought it from (Revolver was it?) an indie record shop in Newcastle upon Tyne when I was at college in the eighties. Bought the first two singles soon after and was straight into NRFTW, tho I wasn't wholly convinced by that at the time and much preferred GOC and the T&C when they came out. Saw NMA in Newcastle in I think 1984 at Tiffanys, still have the bootleg on tape, carried on buying the albums over the years, remember liking TLOHC briefly but then there were the lean years and SB is for me the most offbeat of the NMA albums, always liked it but was well out of the gigging circuit by this point. I actually thought Eight ushered in a new era of more clearly folk orientated 'mature' NMA and I think Carnival is a blinding album in its simplicity. The High tour got me back in after 17 years away from the gig scene and the last four years has been a real rush. High took a few listens, as did TIAGD, I agree the classics are GOC, T&C I would add Impurity but there ain't one bad album among them and yes, repeated listens just make them more and more special. I still feel I discover new things in the songs to this day, particularly when JS or the full band give a lesser known album track an airing and it puts the song back in your mind, like with Sky in your Eyes on the recent acoustic mini tour.

[dilla]

Went to Brockwell Park to see the Damned and Spear of Destiny in 1984.NMA Had a half hour set and blew me away.Justin apologised for no encore due to time schedules and crowd went ape.DJ played Vengeance a couple of times to try to calm the crowd ::)Seem to remember most other acts getting cans thrown at them after that.Came home to rural Wales after finally buying Vengeance and played it to death mush to the annoyance of my housemates(2 of who eventually got it and came to many gigs in the late 80's and 90's)Hi Nugz if you're ever on here :)Being a big Stranglers fan,Stuarts bass was on a par with JJ Burnel who was IMHO the best bassist around.From then on went to as many gigs as work permitted.Donated my "The Price" single to local pub jukebox and it well down pretty well with locals.Learned early on that if a new album didn't hit the mark on first listen,it would after a few listens.Never been disappointed

[scrat]

No, I remember being at college one friday and one of my fellow inmates asked if id seen top of the pops the night before, because there was one of 'your types of band on'. At the time i was into Stiff Little Fingers, The Damned, Dead Kennedys and similar type punky stuff. He continued to tell me about the performance and what they were wearing until finally he gave me the band name NEW MODEL ARMY.
Being a regular Sounds magazine reader i had read alot about NMA and had noticed they seemed to be at the top of the alternative charts for some considrable time with previous releases, so it was time to investigate.
That dinner we all went round to the local Woolworths who used to let you listen before you buy, found the No Rest single on the rack and asked if i could have a listen, i think i may have got halfway through the song before walking out totally unimpressed.
Then in the next 6 months i had all their back catalogue, 7"+12" singles more or less given to me for £5 (cheers Moggy) and been to my first gig at Rock City in early 1986, the rest is history.

[ian]

I new the name New Model Army but not the music until I went to Reading Festival in 1989. I was blown away and went and bought all the albums over the next few pay days and have never looked back. I must of spent loads of money on the band over the years but it is all worth it and it has taken me to many towns and cities I may have never visited.

[Wessexy Witch]

The Tube and the music papers made me have a closer look/listen.
Have been doing so since 85.

 

[BlackCountryMaggiD]

Was taken by a mate to The Victoria in Keighley in Nov 1983.
I thought they were "OK"!
Didn't take long for me to realise I'd seen something special though!
28 years - Blimey!

[Guy]

Everyone is talking about being 'hooked'.

So to stay with the inappropriate drug metaphors I suppose I first dabbled on a casual basis while listening to various compilation cassettes (remember them?) made by friends. There was little peer pressure so I suppose I only have myself and my own curiosity to blame. I bought No Rest. The title track & My Country immediately stood out. Though at the time I was still pretty much in control. Just listening occasionally, usually in conjunction with softer alternatives like the Mish and the Nephs.

Then came Reading Festival 89. By this stage I had heard several horror stories about clogs and circles so I was wary and decided just to take a look at the live thing. So I could say I'd had the 'experience'. I suppose I was in a weakened state that day after disappointing sets from several other bands so I dropped my guard. Anyway from the opening twangs of Vengence to the final crash in Betcha I became consumed by the band and their ability to blow my mind. I can only wonder how different life could have been had I gone to the NME tent instead.....

[Greboicus]

I just don't think they are an immediate kind of band. As has been said before every album personally speaking can only really be judged after the 5/6th listen up to then it is almost as if there is too much to take in and after the requisite number of listens it all falls into place. Interestingly the album i found easiest to "get into" was T and C which is probably my least favourite album overall

[andyC321]

First heard/saw them at the same time supporting The Alarm at the Lyceum in London and was totally wrapped up by the stuff that they played - the energy, the lyrics, the topics of the songs (Falklands etc).

Next day I was out buying the LP and was hooked/addicted from that moment on.

Probably slipped a bit in the 1990s, but back stronger over the last 10 years or so.

[Andrew]

Yep, pretty much immediate, the music made me feel like I was at home when I listened to them. It was different to most of the music around at the time, much more interesting with a high musical quality.

[Scruff225]

Well for me it took a while. Funny that people mention The Tube which I saw at the time and put a mental note in the back of my mind (I was living in nowhere Northern Ireland so live bands and good record shop we not really an option). It really was a mix tape that a friend gave me that got me hooked - it had 51st State, no rest, vengeance, white coats and Christian Militia on it with a bunch of Husker Du, Cramps, Dead Kennedys, etc on it. I was hooked. Then came the Stupid Questions single and T&C and I was fully on board. Like a lot of people I did wander a little (actually for a long time)... for me it was after Impurity. Just that time of my life. I moved to the US and kind of lost touch with them as the music press was more Maximum R&R rather than NME/Sounds and not much Army coverage. It was the buying of CDs to replace my aging vinyl that got me into the army back catalog and it re-ignited the fire. Carnival was that "oh my god I can't wait" moment again but had to wait until the High tour to see them in the flesh again. Since then it is more of devouring the back catalog and getting to as many gigs as possible.

Now my wife is another story.
I have tried over the years to get her on board by always putting Army tapes/CDs in the car and forcing her to listen to the new albums. She said they sounded ok but too folky (cue Vengeance and No Rest  ). So the drip drip drip water torture approach really was not working over the years. So the Brooklyn 30th Ani gig came up and I convinced her a long weekend in NY would be good - we could do the museums, shopping etc and little NMA. I made her a playlist of my guess of the 4 from every album to listen to at the gym a couple of weeks before the gig.  So off to the Brooklyn gig and bang... she was absolutely hooked (the music, the band, the people). She then proceeded to book trips to Dublin and Paris (had to cancel  ) and London ( ) and lately to see JS&DW in Galway and Dublin. Remember we live near to San Francisco so these are quite a hike! 

A couple of weeks ago, she said to me "You have spoiled my music for me"  . I was pretty confused by this but she explained that all the music she used to listen to is more boring after listening to NMA. 

[shefsmog]

for me, not straight away

as i said on another thread, my first intro was on the news article about clogs.  A few of mates were getting into No Rest lp, but it wasn't really hitting me at the time.  Then i really got into it more when i used to go to blaises in Middlesbrough, from around 87 ish, regularly played vengeance, 51st state, poison street, smalltown england and moving through the years to the likes of whitecoats, G&G, GMO, purity.  and the rest as they say is history........

I agree with stony about the best 3 for me being Ghost, Thunder & Impurity, really like high and no rest, but not a particular fan of carnival - some really good songs on there but it doesn't grip me like the others do

I'm really lucky as my missus is also well into NMA and has probably seen them more times than me