Sonic Youth Gossip - New Model Army barred from touring USA

80s Band in a Post-9/11 America!
by Guymon Adams
September 5, 2007

The widely popular late 80s post-punk band New Model Army was scheduled for a U.S. tour beginning this September. Based out of Europe, New Model Army has written dozens of underground hits since the 1980s, including their revolutionary anthems "I Love the World" and "51st State of America" and have been consistentlly hard working musicians, releasing their latest full length CD "High" earlier this year. As a staple of the independent post-punk scene, they have toured the States multiple times throughout their extensive career.

However, in 2007 post-9/11 America, their passports have now been denied! The official reason for this was due to their name, the word "Army" apparently raising some manufactured red flag. The State Department literally stated "they may incite terrorism."

While it is well known that New Model Army has always had socio-politically driven lyrics and themes, they have never once incited violence towards anyone. Indeed, while quite intellectually provoking, their lyrics might be considered tame by many people's standards when compared to any number of wildly popular, multi-million dollar, platinum selling artists actually residing in the U.S.

So the question to ask is, what kind of precedent does this set? Freedom of speech? Well, apparently even artists with a long, successful history, and millions of fans in the U.S. are not permitted to exercise such rights. Was this merely a case of an overzealous fledgeling graduate from some "Criminal Justice" course at ITT? Or is this a fresh example of the State Department specifically discriminating against a musical group based outside of the U.S. for their political statements, and their potential influence thereof? And perhaps even more so, what does this say about our treatment of legitimate working foreigners when compared to our otherwise wide open Southern borders?

John Wickham of Elysium Night Club in Austin, TX, among many other club owners across the country, have now begun writing letters of reference to the U.S. State Department on behalf of New Model Army, demanding that they be allowed to travel to the U.S. and perform as any other artist would. In the meantime, all U.S. tour dates have been cancelled, and are expected to be rescheduled for no later than the spring of 2008.... Approval pending.

The official statement from New Model Army's website:
"We have regrettably been forced to cancel the North American tour that was due to start this week. The US Citizenship and Immigration Service have denied the visas that the band require to travel to the USA and so until this matter is resolved all shows are on hold.

The band and management are extremely disappointed by this result as the tour was destined to be one of the greats. The new album is out, there is media attention in every city and the expectations are (were) high from the thousands of fans who had bought advance tickets.

The dates will be re-booked once the Immigration situation is resolved. In the meantime, ticket refunds are available from the point of purchase."

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