New Model Army are an English rock band formed in Bradford, West Yorkshire, in 1980 by lead vocalist, guitarist and principal songwriter Justin Sullivan, bassist Stuart Morrow and drummer Phil Tompkins.

By the time they began making their first records in 1983, Robert Heaton, a former drum technician for space rock band Hawkwind, had replaced Waddington.

[4] In February 1984, they were invited to play on popular music television programme The Tube, being introduced by Scottish host Muriel Gray as "the ugliest band in rock and roll".

[4] Following this performance, the band's debut studio album Vengeance reached Number 1 in the UK independent chart in early 1984, pushing the Smiths from that position.

[3] After a further single "The Price" also reached a high placing in the independent charts, the band signed a recording contract with major label EMI.

[4] Thunder and Consolation was released in February 1989, and saw the band moving towards a more folk rock sound, especially on the tracks including violinist Ed Alleyne-Johnson.

[5] The Love of Hopeless Causes, New Model Army's only release on Epic Records, appeared in 1993 and led with the single "Here Comes the War", which spawned controversy when it came packaged with instructions on how to construct a nuclear weapon.

[18] The band had previously decided to take a year out to concentrate on personal and other musical issues, and reconvened in late 1994 with Dean White, playing keyboards and guitar, replacing Alleyne-Johnson.

The tour suffered a slight setback when the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services again denied the band visas; this time the issue was relatively quickly resolved[25] and the dates rescheduled for early 2008.

Today Is a Good Day was a far more uncompromising album, the heavy rock title track and others directly referencing the stock market crash of 2008.

[27][28] Towards the end of 2010, the band's 30th anniversary was celebrated with special shows across four continents every weekend from September until early December; in most cities, the shows were across two nights with completely different sets,[29] the band having promised to play at least four songs from each of their eleven studio albums plus Lost Songs (2002) and B-Sides and Abandoned Tracks (1994), their rarities and B-sides collections.

[30][31] The final shows at the Forum Kentish Town in London were collected on a double CD and DVD release containing all 58 songs played over the nights of 3 and 4 December.

[46] The band toured the album in early 2024, with Nguyen Green on keyboards enabling Dean White to play guitar on those songs requiring two instruments.

[49] Joolz Denby, long-time collaborator of Sullivan[50] and the band's main artist[51] has referred to the Family as "not a formal, contrived organisation, but a spontaneous sense of fellowship that has developed over the years",[52] whilst elsewhere it has been described as "sanctuary ... and acceptance".