New Model Army

Among their fiercely loyal devotees, New Model Army stand out as one of the standout post-punk acts to arise from Great Britain. Their sound fused punk's raw physical impact with the sweeping political drive associated with U2 and the Alarm, alongside the city-based protest folk style linked to Billy Bragg, resulting in a style unlike most contemporaries exploring comparable post-punk ground. The band's approach stayed lean, forceful, and exact, yet over the years it grew equally apt at presenting contemporary folk-rock that incorporated acoustic guitar, violin, and harmonica. Across their entire run they stayed committed supporters of the British working class, at times softening their radical, anti-Thatcher political anger with passages of private reflection. Their communal anthems frequently drew on the stadium-chant energy of Oi!, yet New Model Army steered clear of mere provocation, choosing instead a stance of thoughtful opposition. While this approach could occasionally veer into didactic rhetoric, the group's strongest material won them widespread praise in the U.K., where their singles consistently appeared in the lower regions of the national charts. Lyrics filled with Britain-specific allusions, together with visa complications that periodically hindered touring, kept them largely unnoticed in the United States. Even so, they sustained a robust audience across Europe, allowing frontman Justin Sullivan to sustain the project for over twenty years.

New Model Army originated in the Yorkshire city of Bradford during 1980. Reflecting the ensemble's thoughtful outlook, the name derived from Oliver Cromwell's parliamentary army, an organization whose ranks advanced according to merit rather than inherited status and that briefly displaced the crown in the mid-seventeenth century. Guitarist, vocalist, and principal songwriter Justin Sullivan early on used the stage alias Slade the Leveller, an allusion, despite its combative tone, to the Levellers, the egalitarian movement connected to Cromwell's circle. The idea for the band took shape after Sullivan met writer Joolz Denby, who later earned recognition as a poet, novelist, and spoken-word performer; the pair also remained lifelong romantic partners. Bassist Stuart Morrow came aboard first, and following several temporary drummers Rob Heaton joined permanently while becoming Sullivan's regular co-writer. Denby initially handled management duties, though the role grew too demanding; she nevertheless continued creating the band's artwork and supplied occasional studio backing vocals, while the group in turn supported her on multiple releases issued under the name Joolz.

The band spent several years performing throughout Yorkshire and generating considerable attention in the British music press. During 1983 they released their debut single, "Bittersweet," which secured a contract with the independent label Abstract before the year ended. Their opening Abstract release, the politically pointed single "Great Expectations," entered the British indie singles chart and paved the way for the first album, Vengeance, issued in 1984. Tracks such as the antiwar "Spirit of the Falklands," the discontented "Small Town England," and the confrontational title song further clarified the group's stance. Soon afterward the non-album single "The Price" achieved major success on the indie charts, prompting major label EMI to offer a contract.

New Model Army's initial EMI single, "No Rest," reached the British Top 30 in early 1985 and became the first of twelve national chart entries. It was quickly followed by the album No Rest for the Wicked, though bassist Stuart Morrow exited in May before the record appeared. Sullivan and Heaton recorded the largely acoustic Better Than Them EP prior to recruiting seventeen-year-old Jason "Moose" Harris as the permanent bassist. After the non-album single "Brave New World," Harris appeared on the 1986 album The Ghost of Cain, produced by Glyn Johns, which broadened the group's acoustic folk leanings and included harmonica contributions from Mark Feltham. The single "51st State," examining Britain's ties to the United States, succeeded across Europe, while a dance remix of "Poison Street" performed well in the U.K.; in addition, the album-opening track "The Hunt" was later interpreted by Brazilian metal band Sepultura.

"White Coats," drawn from a 1987 self-titled EP, marked one of the band's stronger chart showings at the time by introducing keyboards into the sound. Guitarist Ricky Warwick joined the touring lineup briefly that year before departing to form the Almighty. Partially produced by Tom Dowd, the next album, 1989's Thunder and Consolation, received broad recognition as the group's finest work, displaying an intensified folk dimension highlighted by violinist Ed Alleyne-Johnson. The single "Green and Grey" was singled out as a career peak, while both "Stupid Questions" and "Vagabonds" entered the U.K. charts. Chris McLaughlin added a second guitar for the ensuing tour, after which bassist Harris left and Peter Nelson, previously of Brotherhood of Lizards, took over. Nelson first appeared on 1990's Impurity, which also introduced second guitarist Adrian Portas.

Following one further EMI release, the 1991 double-live set Raw Melody Men, New Model Army moved to Epic. They issued only a single studio album there, 1993's The Love of Hopeless Causes, which yielded the single "Here Comes the War." Numerous CD anthologies compiling singles, B-sides, radio sessions, and other material surfaced during the early-1990s reissue wave. The band itself remained largely inactive through the middle of the decade. In that interval Sullivan and Joolz established the four-person performance group Red Sky Coven, presenting an eclectic blend of music, poetry, comedy, and spoken word. Sullivan reassembled New Model Army in 1998, retaining core members Nelson and Heaton alongside additional guitarists and keyboardists Dave Blomberg and Dean White. This configuration, augmented by strings and brass, recorded Strange Brotherhood for the U.K. label Eagle. The subsequent European tour generated the double-disc live album ...& Nobody Else, issued by Attack Attack. That same label released the studio follow-up Eight in 2000, the first album without longtime drummer Heaton, who had been succeeded by Michael Dean. The odds-and-ends collection Lost Songs appeared in 2001, followed by Sullivan's solo album Navigating by the Stars in 2003.

Heaton's death in 2004 brought sorrow, yet New Model Army marked their twenty-fifth anniversary by continuing onward. The studio album Carnival emerged on Attack Attack in August 2005, featuring Sullivan, Dean, Nelson, Blomberg, and White. High followed from the same lineup in 2007, and Today Is a Good Day arrived in 2009. After completing a series of releases they viewed as conventional and reminiscent of a "band in a room," the members chose to pursue a more refined production approach. Consequently they tracked their 2013 album Between Dog and Wolf with engineer Joe Barresi, known for work with Queens of the Stone Age and Tool, handling the mix. Following the Between Dog and Wolf world tour, the group assembled live recordings together with six new songs into the mini-album Between Wine & Blood, released in September 2014. They returned in 2016 with their fourteenth studio album, Winter. After touring that record across Europe and the U.K. throughout 2017 and at select dates in 2018, Sullivan and the others entered the studio the next year to begin work on what became their fifteenth studio album. Captured at the secluded Ocean Sound Recording Studio on Norway's Giske island, Ear Music issued From Here near the close of 2019, introduced by the energetic single "End of Days."