Justin Sullivan, singer-songwriter with Bradford cult music heroes New Model Army, is a happy man.

Speaking after a storming performance at Leeds Metropolitan University and six weeks into a world tour, Sullivan is delighted with the way the tour is progressing and the way the new line-up is gelling.

I asked him about the rigours of touring, the response to new material from 2007 album High and that ill-fated trip to America.

"The Leeds gig was one of the best so far," he enthuses. "We love playing Leeds and Bradford and I really like the Met as a venue. It's when we come home. It's not just because we know a lot of people in the audience, which is great; but because so many of our songs are about this region.

"The new material has been very well received. We tried out various possible sets early on but when we get one that works we tend to stick to it. I see a set as having a theme or telling a story.

"The first half of the set is pretty much all new stuff from High.

"We kind of have about 12 big songs. We've never really had a top 20 hit in all the 26 years we've been going. In a way that's quite good because we don't feel we have to play certain songs in certain places.

"Having said that though, there is a feeling that when we're back in Bradford or Leeds we have to play Green And The Grey. That song is so much about the area and people can relate to it.

"Poison Street gets played sometimes and not others, and so does Vagabonds."

The new line-up seems to have gelled exceptionally well and the enjoyment of Sullivan and the rest was evident at Leeds. "Yeah, we are really enjoying it," he said.

"When we first started, between 1982-1985 with Robert (Heaton) and Stuart (Morrow), it was a great band. Since then this is the best version of New Model Army, I think; the most cohesive. We have a lot of trust in each other and everyone understands the band tour ethic."

The tour was to take in North America but a wrangle over visas meant the band were prevented from entering the country. Instead they hope to re-schedule their US dates for next year, pending a successful visa application.

"We have applied and we're waiting to hear. We have had no explanation why we were denied last time.

"Part of me would like to think we were being censored but in reality I think it was a technicality. It's such a bureaucratic mess. The government rules by decree. When the Bush and Blair governments see something in the media they just react but don't set up the resources necessary to carry out their plans.

"I think British culture takes the worst from the US. There is a tendency towards knee-jerk reactions. We are living in a media-ocraty."

One song fans on the tour will probably not hear is classic track Vengeance from the band's debut album.

"We haven't played Vengeance since September 11, 2001. To quote myself, I meant what I said at the time that I said it but I think there's enough vengeance going on in the world. I believe that justice should prevail and be seen to be done.

" We don't really have a really rigid philosophy in the band, which a lot of people seem to think we have; if you look at the songs they're quite contradictory. One Of The Chosen (from High) is about what it would be like to be in a religious cult so in a way that relates to vengeance."

To me the song did not have the negative vigilante style connotations which have sometimes been ascribed to it. It was more about corruption and the lack of justice. I tell Sullivan this.

"Well I wrote the song after watching a documentary on the Klaus Barbie trial. That tells you everything you need to know really," he says.

"The only time I've played the song since September 11 was on an acoustic tour of Germany when the venue was right opposite a blatant neo-nazi shop. At the moment we don't play it, but never say never."

After 26 years does touring still hold the same appeal for Sullivan?

"I think I enjoy it even more now," he says. "Its a very simple way of life. I quite like having the time to potter and think. Most people don't get that time; they go to work then come home and sit in front of the television. I'm very lucky in that respect."

  • New Model Army kick off the Irish leg of their tour next month. Their new album High is available in shops or from the band's website, www.newmodelarmy.org