Born out of the post-punk era of British New Wave, New Model Army has always been a mutable band, with issues and sounds that changed between albums, tours and interviews.
But their prominent politics was not the original idea behind the formation of the act. “From the beginning we were interested in various political and environmental causes,” claims lead singer Justin Sullivan. “Although these have not dictated or compromised our work as artists.
“Contrary to legend, we didn’t begin the band with a political agenda; rather it was (and remains) the music and sense of energy, soul and spirit that comes first.”
Sullivan prefers to think of New Model Army as a vehicle for personal growth and a spiritual outlet. “It is difficult to explain. As an individual I have a belief in certain things but as a writer, I don’t feel that all our songs have to follow a particular creed.
“In fact, I don’t like much music that is a backdrop for a particular political philosophy because music is about soul and emotions and emotions are contradictory. And it is partly these contradictions that make our lyrics interesting.
“Perhaps as a result, Greenpeace once refused to have us on a bill because we couldn’t be relied on to be exactly ‘on message’. Having said that, I completely support their aims and I do get involved in direct political action because it is important to sometimes make a stand and to remind oneself that there are thousands of other people who feel the same way about the world that I do. But artistic freedom and the musical side of my life have always come first.”
The band’s arrival in South Africa this week is an occurrence that would not have been likely prior to 1994. But these days, New Model Army and its members are more concerned with personal growth than political change.
“It’s always interesting to play somewhere new, I try not to have any preconceptions about places — that way, everything is more interesting when we arrive,” explains Sullivan.
“Of course, the world has changed a great deal in our 23-year history and, also, we have changed as individuals. So externally everything is different. But to me, politics — which is about the power relationships between people — is as much part of life as any other, and so there is always an element of this in the lyrics.”
In an age of instant pop icons and massive record sales, this kind of attitude seems dinosauric. But New Model Army continues as though that, at least, has not changed.
“I never think we’re trying to convert anyone,” muses the singer when asked how the band tries to keep up with a youth market more concerned with image than content.
“We write what is true for us and our audiences may take or leave it as they choose. But I think that most of the best music is inspired by a sense of belief in something, whether or not an audience is aware of it. There will always be music — even if it gets tougher for us musicians to make it. It is the greatest and most wonderful form of communication ever. It has saved countless souls — including my own.”
But, for the band, there is still fire and rage against the current world ideology as well as the industry in which they work.
“The fact that the hugely self-congratulatory, vain and wasteful business structures [of the music industry] set-up in the Seventies are dying is not necessarily a bad thing. I don’t think that saving the music business from itself is of any interest to us. TV is the great global opiate and many people around the world, from all different circumstances, have bought into its Western liberal creed of individual aspiration and materialism.
“Secondly, the alternatives are not obvious at this time, apart from the current rise of interest in religious fundamentalism. The power of ‘the market’ seems as unassailable as the power of a feudal ruler, perhaps more so. But this period of ‘drift’ will not last indefinitely.
“Everything changes — this is the most basic law of nature. Apart from anything else, unlimited individual aspiration is unsustainable — either politically or ecologically. I believe that by the end of the century there will not be any more people in the world than there are now, which points [to] catastrophic changes.”