New Model Army -

New Model Army was an English post-punk band that emerged with two 1983 singles, followed by the 1984 album Vengeance on small-press Abstract Records. Between 1985 and 1991, the band released five albums and assorted shortplayers on EMI.

Members: Justin Sullivan (vocals, guitar, keyboards), Stuart Morrow (bass 1980-87), Phil Tompkins (drums, 1980-82), Rob Heaton (drums 1982-98), Jason “Moose” Harris (bass 1988-89), Ricky Warwick (guitar, 1987), Chris McLaughlin (guitar, 1988-89), Ed Alleyne-Johnson (violin, 1988-94), Peter Nelson (bass, 1989-2012), Adrian Portas (guitar 1989-92)

Formation

New Model Army formed in Bradford, West Yorkshire, in the autumn of 1980 when singer–guitarist Justin Sullivan teamed with bassist Stuart Morrow. They took their name from the standing army composed of Parliamentarians: anti-monarchist Roundheads led by Oliver Cromwell during the English Civil War (1642–1651).

The band made their concert debut in October 1980 with drummer Phil Tompkins, who soon cleared for Rob Waddington. In 1983, the lineup stabilized with drummer Robert Heaton, a onetime drum tech for Hawkwind. Sullivan performed under the name “Slade the Leveller” (Levellers were a radical Roundhead faction).

1983 Singles

In March 1983, New Model Army made their vinyl debut with a maxi-single: “Bittersweet” backed with “Betcha” and “Tension” — three originals by Justin Sullivan and Stuart Morrow. The single appeared as a standard 45rpm 7″. Select copies contained a bonus one-sided flexi-disc (33rpm) with two additional Sullivan/Morrow songs: “Fashion” and “Cause.”

A. “Bittersweet”

B1. “Betcha”
B2. “Tension”

C1. “Fashion”
C2. “Cause”

The “Bittersweet” EP appeared on Quiet Records, a London post-punk indie that also issued singles by the Vibrators offshoot Troops of Tomorrow, Scottish punks The Actives, and Athens (US) new wavers The Method Actors. Quiet catalogued the EP #QF 001 with no producer info but a credit to their manager, Nigel Morton. His other client, poet/spoken-word performer Joolz Denby (Julianne Mumford), receives credit as a “kickarse.”

On November 4, 1983, New Model Army released their second single: “Great Expectations,” a Sullivan/Murrow track backed with Sullivan’s “Waiting.”

A. “Great Expectations”
B. “Waiting”

On December 14, 1983, New Model Army cut a session for BBC Radio One DJ John Peel, whose January 4, 1984, broadcast aired four songs: “Christian Militia,” “Small Town England,” “Running,” “Falklands Spirit” — all slated for their upcoming album (the last retitled “Spirit of the Falklands”).

In February 1984, they performed “Christian Militia” (in lieu of the planned yet lyrically controversial “Vengeance”) on the Channel 4 music program The Tube.

Vengeance

New Model Army released their debut album, Vengeance, on April 4, 1984, on Abstract.

Guitarist/singer Justin Sullivan (credited here under his “Slade the Leveller” monicker) wrote “Vengeance” and “Running in the Rain” and co-wrote the rest with bassist Stuart Morrow. Drummer Rob Heaton received a third-writer credit on “Sex (The Black Angel).”

A1. “Christian Militia” (3:25)
A2. “Notice Me” (2:36)
A3. “Small Town England” (3:19)
A4. “A Liberal Education” (5:27)

B1. “Vengeance” (4:06)
B2. “Sex (The Black Angel)” (3:25)
B3. “Running in the Rain” (3:52)
B4. “Spirit of the Falklands” (3:43)

Sessions took place at Alaska Studios in Waterloo, London, where New Model Army co-produced the album with Ray “Mond” Cowie, the guitarist of Angelic Upstarts. Alaska staffer Ian O’Higgins engineered Vengeance in sequence with 1983/84 titles by 1000 Mexicans, !Action Pact!, Combat 84, Dead Man’s Shadow, The Enemy, Gorpestra, June Brides, Lost Cherrees, The Scabs, and the Angelic’s fifth album, Reason Why?

Vengeance appeared in an off-white sleeve with the New Model Army bullseye logo and a charcoal sketch of a beastly profile by Joolz. The album reached No. 1 on the UK Indie Charts.

The Price (EP)

In October 1984, New Model Army released their third standalone single: “The Price,” a Sullivan/Murrow original backed with Sullivan’s “1984,” both Cowie-produced songs with backing vocals by The Cadets.

Both songs also appeared as Side A of an EP titled The Price with three b-sides: the self-produced Sullivan exclusive “No Man’s Land” and two earlier songs, “Great Expectations” and “Notice Me,” culled from a session for BBC Radio One DJ David ‘Kid’ Jensen.

A. “The Price” (3:25)
B. “1984” (3:15)
B. “No Man’s Land” (3:32)

New Model Army recorded the three new tracks in August/September 1984 at The Point Studios, a 24-track facility in London’s Belgravia district. The two Jensen-session tracks were produced by Dale Griffin, the former Mott the Hoople drummer since employed as a BBC soundman.

No Rest for the Wicked

New Model Army released their second album, No Rest for the Wicked, in May 1985 on EMI.

Justin Sullivan wrote “Ambition,” “The Attack,” and co-wrote two songs (“Better Than Them,” “Shot 18”) with drummer Robert Heaton. The trio group-wrote “No Greater Love,” “Drag It Down,” and the album’s partial title-track, “No Rest.” Sullivan co-wrote the balance with Stuart Morrow.

“Better Than Them” reappeared in acoustic form on a subsequent EP.

A1. “Frightened” (3:41)
A2. “Ambition” (3:08)
A3. “Grandmother’s Footsteps” (4:21)
A4. “Better Than Them” (3:13)
A5. “My Country” (3:40)
A6. “No Greater Love” (3:30)

B1. “No Rest” (5:20)
B2. “Young, Gifted and Skint” (3:09)
B3. “Drag It Down” (3:29)
B4. “Shot 18” (3:11)
B5. “The Attack” (3:36)

New Model Army recorded the album with producer/engineer Mark Freegard, a soundman on 1984/85 titles by The Farmer’s Boys, Marillion, Private Lives, Swans Way, and The Special AKA.

Joolz designed the No Rest cover art, which features a backside quote from Magna Carta: “To no man will we sell, or deny, or delay right or justice” (June 15, 1215).

“No Rest” first appeared as an April 1985 single, backed with the non-album “Heroin,” a Joolz co-authored Sullivan exclusive (not the Velvet Underground song).

B. “Heroin” (4:09)

No Rest for the Wicked reached No. 22 on the UK Albums Chart.

Better Than Them (EP)

In July 1985, New Model Army released Better Than Them, an acoustic EP titled after the one track redone from their recent album.

The EP contains two Sullivan–Heaton numbers (Side A) and two Sullivan lone-writes.

A1. “Better Than Them” (3:09)
A2. “No Sense” (2:40)

B1. “Adrenalin” (3:47)
B2. “Trust” (2:26)

Freegard produced the EP tracks in sequence with No Rest for the Wicked and Misplaced Childhood, the 1985 third album by Marillion.

“Brave New World”

In November 1985, New Model Army released their fourth standalone single:

A. “Brave New World” (3:27)
B. “R.I.P.” (4:12)

New Model Army self-produced the single at Alvic Studios in West Kensington.

EMI also issued the single as a double-12″ (45rpm) with an extended “Brave New World” (5:42) and a second disc with live versions of two prior album tracks, “Sex (The Black Angel)” and “Young, Gifted and Skint,” both sourced from an October 9 Radio-Bellevue session in Lyon, France.

“Brave New World” reappeared in two forms — the extended 12″ mix and a shorter piano version (3:24) — on Adrenalin, a March 1986 EP on the Japanese branch of EMI.

Adrenalin also includes a shorter mix of “R.I.P.” (4:09), a 12″ extended mix of the rare b-side “Heroin” (5:26), and the three unique songs from the Better Than Them EP (barring its title-song).

Between the second and third album, Stuart Morrow cleared for bassist Jason “Moose” Harris, a seventeen-year-old apprentice electronics engineer.

The Ghost of Cain

New Model Army released their third album, The Ghost of Cain, on September 1, 1986, on EMI.

Justin Sullivan sole-composed the album’s last three songs and co-wrote the balance with drummer Robert Heaton.

Side A contains a cover, “51st State,” an unrecorded live number by The Shakes, a DIY punk band that disbanded after their 1982 single “Funeral Rites” (b/w “I Kill God”). Their former singer, Ashley Cartwright, authored the song.

Two tracks (“Poison Street,” “Ballad”) feature harmonica by Mark ‘The Harp’ Feltham, a former member of Nine Below Zero.

A1. “The Hunt” (4:11)
A2. “Lights Go Out” (3:55)
A3. “51st State” (2:34)
A4. “All of This” (3:29)
A5. “Poison Street” (3:05)

B1. “Western Dream” (3:51)
B2. “Lovesongs” (3:00)
B3. “Heroes” (4:03)
B4. “Ballad” (3:52)
B5. “Master Race” (2:59)

New Model Army recorded the album with veteran producer/engineer Glyn Johns, a decorated Sixties soundman (Chris Farlowe, The Easybeats, The Rolling Stones, Twice as Much) with credits on Seventies classics by Faces, Led Zeppelin, Quicksand, The Who, and recent titles by The Big Dish, Immaculate Fools, Roaring Boys, and Telephone.

Joolz designed the cover art, which shows the back of a customized leather jacket, emblazoned with a light-conducting hand-print repeated on the LP labels and white-on-crimson lyrical inner-sleeve.

In October, New Model Army lifted “51st State” as the first single, backed with “Ten Commandments,” an exclusive Sullivan original. In February 1987, “Poison Street” became the second Ghost of Cain single, backed with the Sullivan/Murrow rarity “Courage,” recorded with earlier soundman Mond Cowie.

B. “Ten Commandments” (3:43)

B. “Courage” (3:18)

“51 States” and “Ten Commandments” also appeared on 12″ with live versions of three earlier numbers: “No Rest,” “No Man’s Land,” and “A Liberal Education.” New Model Army performed both Ghost of Cain a-sides for a 1987 broadcast of the German music program Gut Drauf.

White Coats (EP)

On September 14, 1987, New Model Army released White Coats, a four-track EP with three new songs co-written by Justin Sullivan and Robert Heaton. The fourth track is a live version of the No Rest number “My Country,” performed at Rock City in Nottingham.

A1. “White Coats” (4:58)
A2. “The Charge” (3:25)

B1. “Chinese Whispers” (3:31) The phrase (the title of a 1983 US Cure EP) is an idiom for the distortion of gossip, rumor, and hearsay when spread from person-to-person.
B2. “My Country” (3:33)

New Model Army recorded the album with Nick Davies, a soundman on recent titles by China Crisis, The Housemartins, It Bites, The Pogues, Skeletal Family, and Zerra One.

Thunder and Consolation

New Model Army released their fourth album, Thunder and Consolation, on March 15, 1989, on EMI.

The album contains ten songs with an expanded duration (44:40) enabled by the now-standard CD medium. Justin Sullivan lone-wrote three songs (“Stupid Questions,” “Family Life,” “Vagabonds”) and co-wrote the album’s balance with Robert Heaton.

Heaton supplements Sullivan on guitar and Moose Harris on bass. Sullivan and Harris both multitask on keyboards. They’re joined by a fourth-wheel, violinist Ed Alleyne-Johnson.

1. “I Love the World” (5:08)
2. “Stupid Questions” (3:26)
3. “225” (4:47)
4. “Inheritance” (3:23)
5. “Green and Grey” (5:47)
6. “Ballad of Bodmin Pill” (4:47)
7. “Family” (4:01)
8. “Family Life” (3:00)
9. “Vagabonds” (5:21)
10. “Archway Towers” (4:54)

Sessions occurred at Sawmills Studio in Cornwall with additional work at Richard Branson’s Manor mansion in Oxfordshire. New Model Army self-produced four songs. Veteran American soundman Tom Dowd produced “Stupid Questions” and everything from track five onward (barring “Family Life”).

“Stupid Questions” appeared in early January as an advance single, backed with “Nothing Touches,” a non-album Dowd-produced Sullivan original.

B. “Nothing Touches” (4:10)

In late February, “Vagabonds” became the second single, backed with “Deadeye,” a self-produced Sullivan lone-write.

B. “Deadeye” (4:52)

On May 29, 1989, New Model Army released an edit of “Green and Grey,” backed with the White Coats track “The Charge.”

Thunder and Consolation reached No. 20 on the UK Albums Chart and No. 29 in Germany. Before their next album, Harris left the band.

Impurity

New Model Army released their fifth album, Impurity, in September 1990 on EMI.

The CD album (48:23 duration) contains twelve songs by Justin Sullivan and Robert Heaton.

Impurity introduced a reconfigured trio with bassist Peter ‘Nelson’ Nice, who also plays guitar, keyboards, and spoons. Musical guests include guitarist Adrian Portas and returning violinist Ed Alleyne-Johnson. Joolz adds vocals to “Space,” which credits Nelson as a third writer.

1. “Get Me Out” (3:19)
2. “Space” (3:25)
3. “Innocence” (4:52)
4. “Purity” (4:47)
5. “Whirlwind” (4:14)
6. “Marrakesh” (3:13)
7. “Lust for Power” (4:10)
8. “Bury the Hatchet” (3:18)
9. “Eleven Years” (3:51)
10. “Lurhstaap” (4:36)
11. “Before I Get Old” (3:53)
12. “Vanity” (5:31)

Sessions occurred at Sawmills Studio, Cornwall, where New Model Army co-produced the album with ex-Vibrators bassist Pat Collier.

Impurity reached No. 23 on the UK Albums Chart.

Discography: