The Girl-Geek Anthropologist

I was introduced to New Model Army by my first boyfriend in the US. At the time that I was introduced to them, I remember liking them not only because of the singing and the music, but because it was so angry. This was probably one of my first punk bands that I really liked. Before then, when I was still living in Lebanon, I was more into New Wave, and the boppy gay euro-techno like Pet Shop Boys, New Order, etc. So, when NMA came on the scene, I was open to liking them. When KB gave me The Ghost of Cain tape, I just played it over and over and over again.

Here's what's strange. Anyone who knows me, knows that I have a terrible memory. Due to the ant-attention span that I have, I typically tune out after the first six words. For that reason, I only know the first few lines of almost all the songs that I know. And the rest, it's "watermelon, watermelon, watermelon." I listened to Ghost of Cain so much, that almost twenty years later, I can remember almost all the lyrics to all the songs. Every once in a while, they pop up into my head for no apparent reason, and usually I can sing a song, and let it go at that.

A few years ago, I tried to track them down to see if they have any tours in the US. At the time, for some reason, they were denied Visas, so they couldn't perform here, and they had written off ever playing here.

Two days ago, they popped up in my head again, and this time I went to look for them only to find out that they not only have a new album out, but, that they're touring the US! So far, it doesn't look like they're playing Boston. Even if they are, I'm not sure if I would go or not. But, I did download their album, Carnival. I actually like it. There are a couple of songs that I don't particularly care for, but the rest is fantastic. The lead, however, doesn't sound the same for some reason. He still sounds excellent, but his accent is not as pronounced.

Youtube has a bunch of their videos from concerts out. What would we do without Youtube?