As he prepares to celebrate the music of Joy Division with a new tour beginning shortly in the US, Peter Hook took some time out with the Live4ever Ezine to explain why now feels like a good time to return to the band where it all started, as well as looking back on the acrimonious end of New Order and his many other projects in between.
Where are you right now then Peter?
Spain, Magaluf – DJing right now. We did three festivals over the summer and we kick off touring again in New York in September, and I’m really looking forward to it because I’ve been DJing for the last six years and only really got back into playing this year. I’ve actually missed it so I can’t wait.
What was the impetus behind putting the Joy Division tour (Closer) together?
May 2010 was 30 years of Ian Curtis’ life and I thought it’d be the right time to celebrate that. The original idea was an exhibition of Joy Division songs played by different backing bands and singers, but it didn’t happen so when I saw Primal Scream going on tour with ‘Screamadelica’ I thought I’d do that.
The tour starts in September in the States – Irving Plaza New York. What are the crowds like out there for Joy Division material?
When we did the tour in the US last time it went down really well, some great shows, so I said the next year we’ll do ‘Closer’. I thought we’d take the ‘Closer’ tour out there first and start it all in the US, so I’m really looking forward to playing these dates.
You’ll be touring with your son Jack again, are there ever ‘like father like son’ moments on tour?
He is yes; at first I wanted to get a singer in for the tours, but the problem was no-one fancied it as there was a lot of internet criticism and I think they all felt like they were doing some wrong by doing it, so I stepped up to do it because I thought, ‘I’m not gonna let it go’, so that meant I needed a bass player and that’s when my son stepped in.
He’s 21 – the same age I was when we did ‘Unknown Pleasures’, which was quite spooky but poignant in a way, and yeah when I look over to him on stage it is a little like looking at yourself, which gives me a very strange feeling. But he’s great on the bass and though his musical tastes are a lot different to mine – heavier stuff like Pearl Jam, Queens of the Stone Age – he plays the bass like me so it works out great. Not many Dads can say they know where their 21 year old sons are.
Any plans to release some of the upcoming live shows in the US and South America?
Well it’s a funny thing really because you’re not promoting an album as it was made 33 years ago, and that can make it a bit of a difficult decision to release it or not. The thing is that the band we’ve got are fantastic and I must admit I get a real kick out of it playing with them. Ive played with the keyboard player and the drummer in Monaco, and the guitarist played in Freebass so we have a great musical unit, so the temptation to record new music is there.
What’s the feeling you get playing these albums live again after all these years?
If you think about it, when we went into New Order we literally put Joy Division away, and it’s funny because I didn’t realise how much I’d missed it and how great it is to get the songs back. As much as I love ‘Unknown Pleasures’ my favorite was ‘Closer’, and actually it’s one of my favourite albums anyway, despite the fact I don’t normally like anything played by me because generally I don’t like playing New Order and what not, but now I’m happy about it, playing these songs.
You mentioned Monaco there, after listening to ‘What Do You Want From Me’ the other day it reminded me how good that song sounds, do you ever think about playing material from the other bands you had?
Ironically our guitarist is at home with his new born and off on maternity leave so Pottsey’s stood in for him and we’ve done five gigs with nearly the same line up as Monaco, which was quite spooky, but Monaco was great.
I left Monaco to go back to New Order, but in a lot of ways when I look back I think I would have been better off staying in Monaco because New Order was such a bitter ending. Maybe 1990 would have been a better year to leave New Order and end it, but you live and learn.
Despite that though New Order’s later releases were still successful.
I’m very proud of ‘Get Ready’, ‘Waiting for the Sirens Call’ was OK, but I loved ‘Get Ready’ and thought it was a great come back. A lot of the bands at that time like the Red Hot Chili Peppers suffered because of releases hitting the net first – ‘Sirens Call’ was one of the first illegally downloaded albums actually, a journalist we sent it to put it up and from there it was downloaded. We were in the studio for three years putting that album together which cost £700,000 to record and we got nothing back from it. So if you were to ask me if I’d want to do it again you can guess the answer, but I’ve said this before about the downloading and ultimately we all know it’s bad for the musician and bad for the music.
I assume you’re not that impressed with the Fuc51 site – where their stance is ‘not looking back and being tied down by Manchester’s musical past’, what’s all that about?
Fuc51 was a personal attack and I found out who it was, which wasn’t that difficult to find out, and threatened to smash him in the nose if he was going to do something like that again. Funny thing is that these people who go on the net and say these things and go to all that effort won’t actually face you and talk it through.
So I invited Fuc51 to four separate debates, I offered to set it up in my club, get the press and public in and have a chat about it. A Q & A as well, that type of thing, like human beings with any self respect would do, but that coward turned me down four times and is probably more suited to hiding behind his keyboard. I’m not really into people who criticise but don’t offer any solution in its place – it’s weak.
The argument doesn’t stand up anyhow because Factory are still just as relevant to Manchester – the label, the club and the site, all contributing to the city’s music scene like it always has.
I like to think I’m using the past to give the kids a future, we have new band nights every week at 251, my Hacienda label runs a label that has new bands on it which is what it’s all about isn’t it. There aren’t many movements that have changed music itself; The Sex Pistols playing Manchester changed things. The Madchester movement – Hacienda days were ground breaking and changed the outlook of music massively, the way you did business, the way you looked at music and the way you played.
I was part of that and Im immensely proud of it, so with Factory it gives me the chance to give something back. When I eventually go to the great recording studio in the sky it would be great if people could look back and say ‘he did some thing fantastic’. The same way the Pistols inspired me I’m hoping we can inspire others to go on and make something, and for me that’s what it is all about.
Musically you’ve been busy – with the tour now, the releases last year with Man Ray and Tokyo Joe, as well as putting the book together last year.
The releases like Man Ray was for me in a way, more indulgent. I love old ’88 acid house music and I’ve got a friend of mine called Phil Murphy who loves it as much as I do, and it gave us both the chance to indulge in our passion, it’s great. We’re doing a soundtrack to a Hacienda DVD that’ll hopefully come out at Christmas. I’ve actually got CCTV footage of the Hacienda which will be used and, with making the soundtrack for it as well, it’ll be like giving you that feel of being in the Hacienda round that time, that should give Fuc51 a laugh hey…
Though saying that I do have the yearning to make a new record, but it’s finding the format of doing it and persuading yourself it is a good idea. It’s not the money with these records but the time; locking yourself away for six months and the effort that goes into it. But I’m quite happy and I’m having loads of things to do with the past and loads of things to do with the future.
What would you say to doing something more commercial like Celebrity Coach Trip?
I actually got offered Big Brother and passed it on to Bez as I was having a tough time round then I thought he’d be better off with it than me. I would do celebrity Coach Trip though as I think it’s great, and Come Dine With Me. But you got to be careful with those programmes, like if you said a few years back Shaun Ryder was off into the Jungle on reality TV you’d say, ‘**** off man, he’s too cool for that’, but he went into the jungle and came out as cool as he went in, and that was just class. I really hope if I ever went in there I’d go in and come out just as cool as Shaun did.
(Carl Stanley)
