Peter Hook Q&A: An Online Exclusive
by David Iskra | 00.00.0000

Peter Hook doesn’t look like a rock star.

He could be your friend’s cool dad. Perhaps he could be your electrician.

But your friend’s dad doesn’t DJ, and your electrician sure as hell wasn’t a member of Joy Division.

Peter Hook is the legendary bass player for New Order and right now he’s touring the States as a DJ. I sat down with him over breakfast to figure out what this was all about.


It seems like a few years ago we thought we’d never hear from you again. Suddenly there is a new album, another new album in the can, a Revenge re-release, a DVD box set, a singles collection, some touring and now you are a DJ. Did you ever think you’d be this productive again?
We were all working really hard on our own projects. None of us ever actually stopped. When we stopped New Order and had to start again there was obviously going to be a gap, which to the fans seemed like a quite long one. I’ve never stopped. It’s not like I sat at home doing nothing. Actually when we stopped New Order I was busier than ever. The only gaps have been while we’ve been writing. One of the sad facts of this world is that as you try and balance your group life against your home life, everything takes longer. To record takes a long time and unfortunately is getting longer (laughs). This LP from start to finish is the longest we’ve ever done, which was three and a half years. God knows how long the next one’s gonna be.

What was the reason of that? Was it writer’s block or...
No, no, no, it was just juggling. The fact is that you don’t want to be away forever, but you want to lead a normal life. We did years and years of disappearing for six months and nine months and not seeing your kids grow up and stuff like that. The thing is you don’t want to do that. In fact I couldn’t do that again. It’s very difficult being away like this for ten days as it is. It’s just one of those things that has to be juggled around. So you have to find a way and unfortunately the way New Order write isn’t the fastest in the world. But I mean I don’t think any large group--any established group--like say U2, do anything quickly. It’s just a fact of life really.

The industry cycle has become record-tour-record...
We don’t do that! (laughs)

It’s also gotten to be that you don’t want to flood the market with albums, when in fact it used to be that the Beatles put out album after album in the same year.
We don’t do that either! (laughs) We do things in a very normal way.

Word has it you finished two albums worth of material while recording Waiting for the Siren’s Call. How much of that second album is done? Does it have to be tweaked a little bit?
There are seven songs finished and on par with any that are on Siren’s.

That’s a good start.
It’s funny. We came straight out of the studio into six months of promotion then into festivals for six months. We’ve never really had any time off. This September and October is the first time we’ve had off from each other, which is really healthy. So this is our break, if you like. And I chose to come out and DJ.

It seems like you never take a break. Between DJ-ing, New Order and Freebass, you seem quite rambunctious.
Yeah, I still feel as if I have things to do really. I’m not ready to stop. When you balance it against New Order, New Order don’t work or tour relentlessly. We definitely work in our own way and sometimes it’s a bit too slow for me, so I like to plan ahead and fill my time up. I still need to work. I can’t afford not to work.

Do you just feel its bubbling up and you have to get it out?
Nah, not really. I can quite happily sit at home, but when I start looking at my tax bills and utility bills and I realize ‘Fuckin’ hell, thanks to the Hacienda, I still need to work!’

A lot of people have that misconception that as soon you get famous, you can take limos everywhere. They don’t realize you have the same problems as everyone else.
It’s the same misconception I used to have. I meet people and think they’re millionaires and they’re not. I used to think The Pet Shop Boys would be millionaires and they’re not! They’re skint! (Laughs) They have to do gigs to pay off their tax bill. It’s quite a popular misconception even amongst our own.

I think “MTV Cribs” gives off that idea: big houses and flashy cars.
Yeah, but its all rented.

It’s a four-year lifestyle. It doesn’t last long.
I think that you have to bear in mind that music is about escape, and it’s not unreasonable to think the music business would be based around escapism.

Now the seven new songs, are they in the same vein or are they more rock-oriented?
No, no, they’re quite New Order-y; very much like Siren’s.

Back to touring--will you ever do a proper US tour again or is that behind you?
I don’t know. To be honest, we’ve now gotten to the point where we are going to talk about that. Because as my wife says, New Order are the only band that need to have a meeting about having a fucking meeting! (laughs) In fact we are having a meeting to talk about organizing a meeting to talk about going to America.

Where I work we have meetings about meetings in meetings and in the middle of that another meeting breaks out. But I guess sometimes that’s necessary and the way it has to be.
It’s a luxury that we have.

It’s good to be democratic.
Well, I wouldn’t say democratic. Democracy for us tends to be has to do with who shouts the loudest! It’s a funny thing because in any business you have to be realistic. The funny thing about deejaying over here is that this is the first time New Order fans have had a chance to talk to a New Order member face to face for years and it’s been really nice. I’ve not met or felt or been intimidated by any of the fans on this tour.

No crazy fans?
Oh no, there have been ton of crazy fans! But it’s been great.

Good crazy fans!
All of its good. It’s been nice, really nice. In fact when I get back and see Bernard and Steven, I’ll tell them the fans are alive and well and they’re really nice.

I spoke to several fans last night. Many of them have driven from far away. A few found out about the show last minute and piled in a car.
Yeah, we had a load of fans on the stage at the end of the night.

They’re still here and raring to go. We are waiting for a tour.
At my age I’ll tell them to go home and rest up! (laughs) Groups are made of personalities, and the interesting thing about them is chemistry. Nobody is the same. If we were all the same it would be bloody boring. We need to talk about what we are going to do and see and decide. We’ll have to wait and see. The market for music has changed a lot. With downloading and stuff, people have got back to wanting to see groups play live.

It’s funny that you bring up downloads. A lot of your singles have only come out as imports. Before downloading, fans had to hunt and search for the remixes and b-sides. With iTunes I was able to download the “remix only” album and catch up.
Yeah, but the excitement of driving around town is palpable. My experience with downloading is not…I’m not computer friendly. My children are! (Laughs)

I agree about the thrill of the hunt. Something stuck out to me while watching “New Order Story” (1993, PolyGram video). Rob Gretton talked about the relationship between a band and its fans. You are selling them a product, so make it worth buying, and that has always been reflected in New Order’s album art and single art. It’s been collectible. I’ve always felt like I was getting my money’s worth. You’ve always respected that relationship with your fans.
There is a quality and ideal in the way that we handled ourselves, which was down to Rob Gretton and Tony Wilson. We all felt like putting the band on the cover was so crap. We wanted to do something more. The thing about that is it’s easy to make mistakes, like the sleeve of “Blue Monday.” It was an amazing mistake to lose 10p on every copy because your sleeve is so expensive.
The biggest selling 12-inch of all time! It was bit of a bloody beginners’ mistake, huh? It made it special, but it means I still have to come out and DJ when I should be at home with my kids and tribe of servants! (laughs)

True, but what other band could put out a book and have an exhibition of their sleeves? That visual identity is a great thing and really rare nowadays.
That was Saville again. The thing I love about the artistic side of it is it makes things very volatile.
Pete Saville in particular was a very volatile character. I love that Peter used to think that people bought our albums just for his sleeves. And not because of the music! (laughs) The chemistry involved made everything Factory did quite special. We used to argue all the time. They don’t play your sleeves on the radio. Do they? They don’t come and see your sleeves in concert. He would say “Yes, but they would, Hooky.” (laughs)

I scour eBay quite often searching for posters and singles. I do miss driving around to the stores seeking things out.
Are you getting The Singles Collection here?

No, it will be on import.
I thought it was cheesy when I first heard the idea but it then I got it. Oh my God, it’s fantastic. It’s really nice. Really. Even I was excited.

I know fans were really excited for the DVD set. Our VHS copies were burnt out.
Yeah, it really brings the collector out, doesn’t it? My son was with me in an interview where I was talking about the new album. He turned to me and said “What’s an album?” He s 15 and he’s never seen an album. In fact, Steven’s daughter didn’t know what a CD was. They don’t want to be bothered to put one on. They want to push a computer button.

I get frustrated because if I buy a CD I can’t listen to it on the way home. I have to go home and import it to my iPod.
Ahhh, you use your iPod in your car. (laughs) I wouldn’t have an iPod, because it’s something about the laziness that I don’t like. I don’t like having it that available.

I love having everything accessible at work, in my car. It’s a great thing. But I also still collect.
The scary thing is when I did my set in Texas everyone was excited. The show was great. I was done and the next DJ put something on vinyl and the difference! The quality!!

The Waiting for the Siren’s single is only on vinyl.
I know! It’s great, isn’t it? Too bad most record players nowadays are crap. You know what’s funny? It’s come full circle. America stopped making vinyl and phased out the single but Germany held out and refused. Warner’s never phased out vinyl in Germany. Now America imports it! I went to HMV back home to seek out some b-sides for my sets. There were no CD singles but a massive rack of vinyl. Twelve-inches and singles. Bloody vinyl’s come back!

I love b-sides and singles! I can’t get enough.
Well, what amazed me about b-sides was when I was putting together the Monaco LP again. This guy put together all of our b-sides as part of the record. Our record was so much better with the b-sides. Some of the b-sides stood up better than the tracks on the record.

It bothered me when they changed the law or ruling that you couldn’t have more than three tracks on a single or it wasn’t eligible for the charts. Thus the import single Part 1 and Part 2 was born.
Its funny you call it a law. Who was that? It was your lot again, wasn’t it?

Might have been. Americans are always screwing things up for everyone else. (laughs) Bands used to put out 4-5 remixes on a single. Now we are lucky to get one or two.
They amaze me most of those remixes. Some of them are crap. But every time I complain, someone comes up and says they are for a different market that you don’t understand. Some of the New Order ones are really great, though.

Tell me about Freebass. You started a band with Mani from the Stone Roses, Andy Rourke of the Smiths and yourself. Three bass players. Is this just going to be a recording project or will it be live as well?
It’s going to be a live as well. The interesting thing about Freebass is that Mani and I are very much live-based. It seems obvious really that we’d get together. Whether that bodes trouble or not, I don’t know. Whether or not bass players have a different mindset than the other members of groups. I don’t know. We’ll have to find out. It was just one drunken night and I floated the idea. And basically what gave me the most impetus was that everyone laughed! Three bass players on an album! Everyone absolutely pissed themselves. (laughs)

Where are you with that? When will we hear it?
We have about 19 ideas. Twelve of them are ready for vocals. We’ve had a problem finding a vocalist. We have not been lucky yet to find the one. I think the problem is that the three of us have such a pedigree of vocalist, that if we come out with someone that’s not good we’ll obviously be slated! You’ve got Ian Brown, bloody Bobby Gillespie, Ian Curtis, Bernard (Sumner) and Morrissey. Those are big shoes to fill, especially collectively.

It would also be daunting to come in a room and see you three staring at me.
Yeah, we want someone young with something to say. Someone new. We don’t to be some kind of rock supergroup for the sake of being a supergroup. You want to change things and say something fresh and new so you appeal to people as a new group. It has been difficult. Every time I see "Pop Idol" or "X-Factor," I chuckle and think maybe we need to do this. "Miserable Factor"! Let’s see who can get the most miserable single! (Laughs.) Maybe we have to go to Seattle where it’s rainy.

Is it rocking? Is it rhythmic or dance?
Ironically enough…it sounds like New Order with a bit of the Stone Roses and a bit of Smiths and some Northern Soul. Andy and Mani, they DJ and they play a lot of Northern Soul. Quite Northern English, you’ll see.

With three bass players, do you feel like you are playing over each other?
No, no. It was important to me when we began because of the amount of ridicule involved that it was important to use the three basses. All of the songs--and they are songs at the moment minus vocals--they all have three basses. Mani does the low part, Andy Rourke in the middle and I do the high bit. (laughs) But it works out quite well.

Describe the sound. Does it sound different?
Do you remember the Jean Jacques Burnel album Euroman Cometh? It was a very strange hybrid of music. Very European mixed with The Stranglers. Kind of an acoustic Kraftwerk. A very Teutonic feel. It reminds me of that album, which is purely bleeding coincidental because he is a bass player.

I was thinking Jah Wobble.
Well, it is quite funky.

It’s gotta be loud.
Well, no I don’t think so. We’re separate, you see. A couple of songs, Mani and Andy are much more rhythmic, so I tend to be more melodic. There are songs where they play together and they lock with each other and sound like one super bass line. They lock together really well, which I was really chuffed about. Because we started due to our personalities and when we started I was a bit worried and thought “Oh shit, what was I thinking?!” But we started and it was fine. Our egos cooperate. The music cooperated as well.

You are lucky you are bass players and not drummers or you’d really be open to the jokes.
(Laughs) I’ll always remember the great Peter Gabriel story. When he was working on Up. He wanted a drummer to add character to it. It was a huge technological album. He got nine of the best drummers in the world, world class drummers. He had them play on each of the tracks. He grouped them in subgroups on the faders. The guy says which one do you want and Peter goes “Hmmm…all of them!” and slides all the faders forward! So the point is if you work hard enough you can make anything work. It’s strange. It’s a funny situation to be in because Mani, Rourkey and I out of all the groups in this part of history are the only ones DJ-ing, still playing the game. It’s weird that the three of us DJ, and we DJ together.

Who got you into it?
Mani. In fact, Andy is coming over to tour as well as part of the Anti-Pop festival.

You’ve had a busy year with Revenge as well.
The ironic thing about Revenge is that it was very enjoyable. I’d actually forgotten. Because Revenge was such a learning curve and was a very difficult thing and came at such a difficult point in my life, I never viewed it as being that enjoyable. But when I went back and listened I thought “Ahhh…It’s not bad, this” and because of the technology now I was able to go back and edit and improve things. I went back and recorded songs that weren’t finished and improved things.

It got a quite a good reception, too.
Yeah, it did really well, the remixes put together. I worked on it quite hard. I kept having arguments with the guy who put it out because the guy who put it out was a collector. He said “Listen, we have five versions of “Slave” here, let’s put them all on.” I said “You don’t put five bloody versions of “Slave” on, you put the best one so that in the end it’s like a mix tape.” By the time you listened to five versions you couldn’t tell the difference! I had many arguments about making a cohesive album. But in the end it turned out really well and it made me happy.

I find it funny that the artist is arguing with the collector to make an album.
Yes, I know. (laughs)

In a few hours, you are getting on a plane direct to London to receive the Q Legend Award for Joy Division. Ian Curtis’ daughter is joining you onstage. Tell me about the movie “Control” that Anton Corbijn is directing about Joy Division.
The man from Texas who is helping get the movie made is using Deborah Curtis’ book as a reference point, but the movie is not based upon the book. As it turns out, we have gotten fairly involved with the film.

Is that because of Anton?
Yes, mainly because of Anton. Anton is such a friend of ours and an inspiration.

He is an amazing photographer.
He is the luckiest photographer I know! (laughs)

I just picked up his Director’s Label DVD. What a great body of work...
I’ve not gotten one yet, I should get a free one!

You’re on it, you should.
It’s quite interesting, Anton’s ideas for the film have really inspired us. We are possibly going to do the soundtrack as Joy Division. He’s having set pieces in the film, very much like the “Atmosphere” video. Set pieces divorced from the reality of the film... They’ll come in and out, sort of a crossover. It’ll really push the boundaries of film. The film doesn’t really have any money yet, no funding really. It’s all based on love at the moment--Anton’s love for it. All the work he is putting in still isn’t financed.

I’ll buy another of his books to kind of donate to the film, and I’ll be sure to buy as much New Order stuff as possible to help you hire that tribe of servants. Thank you, Peter.
Thank you.