In a new interview with NME, Sumner talks about a ‘rivalry’ running through New Order, leading the group to eventually reunite without their bass player in 2011. “The final straw was this tornado of self-righteous rage at our audacity in feeling we had a right to 50 per cent of ‘his’ Haçienda,” he states.
“I think that if you’re on the same team, you should be pushing in the same direction. But this perceived rivalry has been there all the time. It gradually got worse till it was unbearable for us to work together. And if you end up in that situation, what’s the point of working together?”
That reunion, initially for shows in Brussels and Paris, led to more headline and festival appearances, while they have just signed a new deal with Mute in anticipation of a tenth studio album release.