NEW MODEL ARMY… An Interview with JUSTIN SULLIVAN

ATHENS CALLING: Hi Justin! Nice to meeting you! Look it is a big surprise for us to chatting with you! I have to tell you that we are fans since 1980 till today and also we are very very happy that your band will be at the great NOVA ROCK FESTIVAL in Austria. Tell us something, about your show at NOVA ROCK FESTIVAL 2019

JUSTIN SULLIVAN (NEW MODEL ARMY): Looking forward to it. It’s a great bill!

ATHENS CALLING: … And about Austria and for the inhabitants (people) of Austria?

JUSTIN SULLIVAN (NEW MODEL ARMY): I’ve always rather liked Austrians and of course much of the country is stunningly beautiful. There’s always that divide between Vienna, a truly sophisticated multi-cultural city that still seems like a small town, and the rest of the country.

ATHENS CALLING: O.K! Let’s talk now about your band name. I mean who was the God father of your band name.

JUSTIN SULLIVAN (NEW MODEL ARMY): The original New Model Army was the army that won the English Revolution against the monarchy in the 1640s, professional, trained and highly motivated politically and religiously. As we formed in 1980 during the early Thatcher years, it represented a strong idea of revolution and resistance. But we didn’t think deeply about it – we only really formed to play two little gigs in our hometown and had no plan beyond that.

ATHENS CALLING: You are the main composer of the band 40 years… since 1980 till today. In fact how easy or difficult is it?

JUSTIN SULLIVAN (NEW MODEL ARMY):That’s a question I’ve never thought about… it’s just what I do, like breathing.

ATHENS CALLING: … And 14 studios albums. What is your favorite?

JUSTIN SULLIVAN (NEW MODEL ARMY): The one we’ve just finished, “From Here”, that comes out in August? I don’t have a favourite album really, some songs or parts of songs or just musical ‘moments’ where I think we got it right…

ATHENS CALLING: Tell us about the music and the lyrics of your songs. I mean in what occasion created the music and the lyrics?

JUSTIN SULLIVAN (NEW MODEL ARMY): The way we write songs is to have two cupboards. One is marked musical ideas – like drumbeats, chord sequences, bits of melody, bass-lines, jam sessions, anything collected from all members of the band. The other is marked lyrical ideas and at all time I have notebooks with me in which I write – sometimes just a line or idea, sometimes a whole story or rambling thought. When both cupboards are full I sit down and start to put things together; it’s important to wait until both cupboards are full and not be stuck in a studio scratching heads looking for inspiration. If you’ve got enough in storage, the process becomes pretty easy – just takes time.

ATHENS CALLING: I think that all the fans of NEW MODEL ARMY band, we will have your new album in the end of this Summer Tell us please about it.

JUSTIN SULLIVAN (NEW MODEL ARMY): This was perhaps my favourite album to make. It was written pretty quickly and it was recorded in just nine days at what is probably the most beautiful recording studio in the world, on a tiny Norwegian island. The whole project has been an adventure – and it has a very strong sense of time and place.

ATHENS CALLING: … Can ask you now, something else … about BREXIT, what is your opinion about it

JUSTIN SULLIVAN (NEW MODEL ARMY): It’s utterly stupid. I could say a lot more but I really don’t want to. The UK faces a lot of problems – none of them have been caused by the EU. The EU has just become a scapegoat used by the ruthless right-wing for their own very scary agenda.

ATHENS CALLING: And about my country… I mean about Greece! What do you have to tell us?

JUSTIN SULLIVAN (NEW MODEL ARMY): The first and most important thing is that I LOVE Greece. I have been there many, many times since I first spent a whole summer in Evia when I was 14 (a very long time ago). It’s a special and magical place to me.

ATHENS CALLING: Many thanks for your interview dear Justin and I must say to you good bye for the moment, cause we will meet you again … Friday 14 June 2019 at your NOVA ROCK FESTIVAL 2019 live show !

JUSTIN SULLIVAN (NEW MODEL ARMY): See you there!