KEEPING THE LIGHT ON FORMER BANDS’ LEGACIES
Bassist and co-founder of New Order revisits catalogue, adding touch of Joy Division into mix
Since 2010, and following his less-than-amicable split with New Order in 2007, Peter Hook has been on a mission to play live and tour every song he recorded with his former band.
Now on his third tour with his group The Light, the latest chapter focuses on records No. 5 and 6, Technique (1989) and Republic (1993). Hook and The Light are playing both in their entirety, along with an opening set of material by Joy Division, the group that morphed into New Order following the 1980 suicide of lead singer Ian Curtis.
We talked to the voluble Englishman about singing, difficult bandmates, and rules of the road.
Q For these tours, you’ve gone from playing bass to singing as well. What has that been like for you?
A I was singing in Revenge and I sang in Monaco (two of Hook’s previous projects). But Ian Curtis’ role was a big one on to fill, there was a lot of expectation; that was a tough one. I was very wary and nervous about stepping into Ian’s shoes. It took me about six months, nine months of doing Joy Division before I actually began to enjoy it without being nervous. Because Barney (Bernard Sumner, New Order lead vocalist) has a higher register than me, I’m lucky because I have Pottsy (David Potts, former guitarist in Monaco) with me. He’s in the same register as Barney. So if a song is too high for me, then Pottsy does it. On Technique, I suppose there’s more Pottsy actually, which is quite nice. It allows me to play. That’s the role I’m used to over
the years, and the one I love. I’m a singer by default.
Q You’ve said that you thought that the songs on Technique would be easier to learn, or replicate live, and the songs from Republic would be difficult, but that both turned out to be hard. In what ways?
A From a band standpoint, there are some songs that only work on LP. What we did in New Order was just dump them! Because my gimmick, if you like, is to play the records, and if I get to a difficult song, for whatever reason, I can’t do that, can I? I’m doing what I said I was going to do, which is play every track. The thing is, while some of them are difficult, for many reasons actually — if you look at Liar and Everyone Everywhere on Republic — they are very gentle ... like naked songs. So you do feel vulnerable doing them. What is interesting about these albums is they contain a lot of tracks that were never played live by New Order, ever. It was a challenge. The trouble with Republic was it was never really finished because we were getting on so badly.
Q After Republic, the band members went their separate ways, but were forced to make another album (2001’s Get Ready) to help bail out the record label (Factory) and the Manchester club that New Order financed with Factory, The Hacienda. Would it have been better if you hadn’t reformed?
A We had so many personal guarantees, that if we hadn’t done that record we all would probably have gone bankrupt, not through any fault of our own but because of the way the club and the record label were handled. The thing is, we got back together in ’97 or ’98 because Rob (Gretton, New Order manager) was getting a lot of inquiries. Looking back, I wish we hadn’t got back together, because of the way things turned out.
Q You’re playing two-and-a-half hour sets. You must love playing these songs, and touring.
A My greatest frustration in New Order was that we played so little. It was awful. It was like having a Costco and someone wouldn’t let you open it. The Costco of songs. But you can’t make someone do what they don’t want to do, and if Barney didn’t want to do it then it was pointless. He loved being in the studio, but he hated touring.
Q In a recent list of 10 books you like to take on the road, you mention a book about etiquette (Peas & Queues). Do you have any rules of etiquette for being on tour?
A Rules of etiquette for the road are very simple: Don’t mess with anyone’s room, don’t mess with anyone’s suitcase. You respect people’s personal space and you just be nice. And you have to look after everybody. It’s my responsibility. When you’re in a band like mine, I’m in charge. If I see something wrong, I put a stop to it. If someone’s unhappy for whatever reason, it’s my responsibility to make the band work. In a band that’s written together, as in New Order, there was a different etiquette. Everyone’s jockeying for position, you have little perceived beefs against everyone and the atmosphere is sullied by all the years of bad experiences. You tend to remember the bad experiences but not the good ones.