New Order have moved to deny allegations made by their former bassist Peter Hook that his replacement in the band, Tom Chapman, has been ‘miming’ along to his bass parts during live performances.
“I’ve watched so-called New Order playing in Auckland and Tom Chapman is miming along to my bass on tape,” Hook told NME. “‘Round & Round’. Have a look at it. He’s got his fingers on the low and you can hear my high bass in the background. So he’s miming. It’s the Milli Vanilli of bass.”
New Order have been quick to respond, insisting the high bass is being played as part of the backing track due to Chapman’s other duties on the song. “On the chorus of ‘Round & Round’ there is a low bass part, a high bass part and Tom sings backing vocals,” they said in a statement also released to NME.
“It’s more than one person can manage so Tom recorded his high bass part and it’s replayed as part of the backing track sequence. We strongly refute the allegation that New Order are using any of Mr Hook’s bass playing in our live performance.”
“When Mr Hook was part of New Order he tracked his parts that couldn’t be played live because they coincided with other parts. We are simply doing the same with our new bass player.” People living in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones or their recent fake DJing YouTube hit might need to be recalled. Keep watching.”