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Scotsman.com
'We are living legends'
UNLIKELY AS IT SOUNDS, JERRY LEE LEWIS almost appeared on New Order’s latest album. Sadly, we will never get to hear this musical meeting between 1980s electronic pop legends and a 1950s rock’n’roll legend, because Lewis told New Order he wouldn’t do it for less than £10,000. "We weren’t going to shell out that kind of cash for anyone, so we dumped the track and told his people to f*** off," explains New Order’s bassist, Peter Hook, with characteristic bluntness.
It’s mid-February, and Hook, Bernard Sumner, Stephen Morris and new member Phil Cunningham (not the accordion-playing former Silly Wizard, but a guitarist who joined the band in 2003) have gathered to talk about their comeback. With or without Jerry Lee Lewis, Waiting for the Siren’s Call sounds like the strongest New Order album in years. Nothing quite as sublime as Temptation or Bizarre Love Triangle, but Working Overtime is a wonderful slab of accelerated rock, and both the title track and the first single, Krafty, are catchy pop tunes with sugary hooks.
It’s mid-February, and Hook, Bernard Sumner, Stephen Morris and new member Phil Cunningham (not the accordion-playing former Silly Wizard, but a guitarist who joined the band in 2003) have gathered to talk about their comeback. With or without Jerry Lee Lewis, Waiting for the Siren’s Call sounds like the strongest New Order album in years. Nothing quite as sublime as Temptation or Bizarre Love Triangle, but Working Overtime is a wonderful slab of accelerated rock, and both the title track and the first single, Krafty, are catchy pop tunes with sugary hooks.
UNLIKELY AS IT SOUNDS, JERRY LEE LEWIS almost appeared on New Order’s latest album. Sadly, we will never get to hear this musical meeting between 1980s electronic pop legends and a 1950s rock’n’roll legend, because Lewis told New Order he wouldn’t do it for less than £10,000. "We weren’t going to shell out that kind of cash for anyone, so we dumped the track and told his people to f*** off," explains New Order’s bassist, Peter Hook, with characteristic bluntness.
It’s mid-February, and Hook, Bernard Sumner, Stephen Morris and new member Phil Cunningham (not the accordion-playing former Silly Wizard, but a guitarist who joined the band in 2003) have gathered to talk about their comeback. With or without Jerry Lee Lewis, Waiting for the Siren’s Call sounds like the strongest New Order album in years. Nothing quite as sublime as Temptation or Bizarre Love Triangle, but Working Overtime is a wonderful slab of accelerated rock, and both the title track and the first single, Krafty, are catchy pop tunes with sugary hooks.
Its release is timely, too; the influence of both New Order and its former incarnation, Joy Division, looms large over the current wave of pop bands, from Interpol and Franz Ferdinand to Bloc Party. When I point out how many new bands playing dark, angular pop while dressed in black shirts and ties have emerged over the last year, New Order smile knowingly.
After years of garage, they’re happy to see bands with guitars again, and if some of these bands happen to borrow a bassline or drumbeat, they don’t mind. But they get annoyed when they’re ripped off without acknowledgment. Hook suggests listening to Interpol and The Killers back to back with Joy Division’s Unknown Pleasures. "They’ve obviously tried to be creative with their influences, but you can still hear us in there."
Despite all this, and after 28 years, the band still find making their own music a mysterious and exhausting process. "Whenever we’ve made a record I always go through a period of thinking it’s complete rubbish," says Sumner. "I thought that wasn’t going to happen with this album, but of course it did."
Hook concurs: "I wish I could leave the studio feeling overjoyed, but it’s never the case. I put so much into making each record, I always go through a whole rollercoaster of emotions. I’ve always been jealous of people who wake up in the middle of the night and have to run downstairs to record the riffs in their head. Every bassline I’ve come up with has been the result of pure perspiration and jamming."
Waiting for the Siren’s Call took 12 months to write and seven months to record, with various producers passing through the doors of Peter Gabriel’s Real World studios. "We worked so hard on every track," grimaces Morris. "I can still hear certain melodies and chord changes in my head every time I try to sleep."
Then again, New Order are notorious perfectionists. Sumner allegedly spent three days working on the bass drum of their influential Blue Monday, and Hook still finds it impossible to listen to their early albums.
Ironically, the main reason this one took so long was that they had too many songs. "We didn’t hear any B-sides or fillers, we just heard 18 great songs," says Sumner.
He implies that he had to resort to hard liquor to write the lyrics. "It sounds stupid, but I remember waking up day after day, thinking: ‘I have to finish at least one song today. What do I feel like writing about?’ And the answer was usually, ‘Absolutely f***ing nothing’. It was like having my teeth extracted one by one."
The business of the other three didn’t help. "In the past, Hooky and Steve have been twiddling their thumbs when I’ve disappeared to write the lyrics," says Sumner. "Having a new member in the band allowed them to carry on writing and jamming without me. Every time I re-emerged there’d be a handful of new ideas waiting."
Cunningham became a permanent member in early 2003 after touring on the last album, Get Ready. He jokes that’s he’s taken over the hedonistic mantle from Hook and brought "a few manners and common decency" to the band. In retaliation, the others claim they’ve rescued him from a life of dodgy blues licks and self-indulgent guitar solos.
One other new face on Waiting for the Siren’s Call is Ana Matronic from Scissor Sisters - another outfit that acknowledges New Order’s influence. "I’d heard the Scissor Sisters album, but couldn’t imagine Ana singing on any of our tracks," Sumner says. He was talked round by the band’s producer, Stuart Price, who thought she should do backing vocals on Jetstream. "Stuart persuaded me to give her a chance and I think she did a really fantastic job. Her voice sounds really fat and complements mine perfectly ... It would be great if she could join us on stage at Glastonbury."
The irony of Joy Division being bigger than ever 25 years after the suicide of lead singer Ian Curtis is not lost on the three surviving members. Morris makes a wry joke about being out of step with the rest of the world, while Hook reminisces about their late manager, Rob Gretton. "Whenever we were really struggling, he’d say, ‘I wouldn’t worry, Joy Division are going to be huge in ten years.’ Since we were completely broke and depressed at the time, we’d all think, ‘Thanks Rob, that’s a great help.’ As it turned out, he was totally right. He would have loved Love Will Tear Us Apart being nominated for a Brit and he’d have been excited there’s a film being made about the band."
But the band members fidget and avoid eye contact when asked about Deborah Curtis’s autobiography (Touching From A Distance) being adapted for screen. Part of their discomfort stems from the fact that the production company hasn’t approached them to get their blessing yet, and the rest stems from the prospect of opening up old wounds. "None of us ever envisaged we’d have one film made about us, let alone two," sighs Morris, referring to Michael Winterbottom’s 24 Hour Party People. "We just have to hope that this time they focus on the music more than Ian’s death."
Hook says: "I suppose it’s nice that someone’s making a film about us while we’re still alive, but the thing that puzzles me is, no-one seems to realise there’s obviously a very limited audience for this kind of thing. Then again, we are living legends."
With a defiant smile, Sumner adds: "Living legends and godlike geniuses of cool."
• Krafty is released 7 March on London records; Waiting for the Siren’s Call follows on 28 March. New Order will play T in the Park on 9 July.
It’s mid-February, and Hook, Bernard Sumner, Stephen Morris and new member Phil Cunningham (not the accordion-playing former Silly Wizard, but a guitarist who joined the band in 2003) have gathered to talk about their comeback. With or without Jerry Lee Lewis, Waiting for the Siren’s Call sounds like the strongest New Order album in years. Nothing quite as sublime as Temptation or Bizarre Love Triangle, but Working Overtime is a wonderful slab of accelerated rock, and both the title track and the first single, Krafty, are catchy pop tunes with sugary hooks.
Its release is timely, too; the influence of both New Order and its former incarnation, Joy Division, looms large over the current wave of pop bands, from Interpol and Franz Ferdinand to Bloc Party. When I point out how many new bands playing dark, angular pop while dressed in black shirts and ties have emerged over the last year, New Order smile knowingly.
After years of garage, they’re happy to see bands with guitars again, and if some of these bands happen to borrow a bassline or drumbeat, they don’t mind. But they get annoyed when they’re ripped off without acknowledgment. Hook suggests listening to Interpol and The Killers back to back with Joy Division’s Unknown Pleasures. "They’ve obviously tried to be creative with their influences, but you can still hear us in there."
Despite all this, and after 28 years, the band still find making their own music a mysterious and exhausting process. "Whenever we’ve made a record I always go through a period of thinking it’s complete rubbish," says Sumner. "I thought that wasn’t going to happen with this album, but of course it did."
Hook concurs: "I wish I could leave the studio feeling overjoyed, but it’s never the case. I put so much into making each record, I always go through a whole rollercoaster of emotions. I’ve always been jealous of people who wake up in the middle of the night and have to run downstairs to record the riffs in their head. Every bassline I’ve come up with has been the result of pure perspiration and jamming."
Waiting for the Siren’s Call took 12 months to write and seven months to record, with various producers passing through the doors of Peter Gabriel’s Real World studios. "We worked so hard on every track," grimaces Morris. "I can still hear certain melodies and chord changes in my head every time I try to sleep."
Then again, New Order are notorious perfectionists. Sumner allegedly spent three days working on the bass drum of their influential Blue Monday, and Hook still finds it impossible to listen to their early albums.
Ironically, the main reason this one took so long was that they had too many songs. "We didn’t hear any B-sides or fillers, we just heard 18 great songs," says Sumner.
He implies that he had to resort to hard liquor to write the lyrics. "It sounds stupid, but I remember waking up day after day, thinking: ‘I have to finish at least one song today. What do I feel like writing about?’ And the answer was usually, ‘Absolutely f***ing nothing’. It was like having my teeth extracted one by one."
The business of the other three didn’t help. "In the past, Hooky and Steve have been twiddling their thumbs when I’ve disappeared to write the lyrics," says Sumner. "Having a new member in the band allowed them to carry on writing and jamming without me. Every time I re-emerged there’d be a handful of new ideas waiting."
Cunningham became a permanent member in early 2003 after touring on the last album, Get Ready. He jokes that’s he’s taken over the hedonistic mantle from Hook and brought "a few manners and common decency" to the band. In retaliation, the others claim they’ve rescued him from a life of dodgy blues licks and self-indulgent guitar solos.
One other new face on Waiting for the Siren’s Call is Ana Matronic from Scissor Sisters - another outfit that acknowledges New Order’s influence. "I’d heard the Scissor Sisters album, but couldn’t imagine Ana singing on any of our tracks," Sumner says. He was talked round by the band’s producer, Stuart Price, who thought she should do backing vocals on Jetstream. "Stuart persuaded me to give her a chance and I think she did a really fantastic job. Her voice sounds really fat and complements mine perfectly ... It would be great if she could join us on stage at Glastonbury."
The irony of Joy Division being bigger than ever 25 years after the suicide of lead singer Ian Curtis is not lost on the three surviving members. Morris makes a wry joke about being out of step with the rest of the world, while Hook reminisces about their late manager, Rob Gretton. "Whenever we were really struggling, he’d say, ‘I wouldn’t worry, Joy Division are going to be huge in ten years.’ Since we were completely broke and depressed at the time, we’d all think, ‘Thanks Rob, that’s a great help.’ As it turned out, he was totally right. He would have loved Love Will Tear Us Apart being nominated for a Brit and he’d have been excited there’s a film being made about the band."
But the band members fidget and avoid eye contact when asked about Deborah Curtis’s autobiography (Touching From A Distance) being adapted for screen. Part of their discomfort stems from the fact that the production company hasn’t approached them to get their blessing yet, and the rest stems from the prospect of opening up old wounds. "None of us ever envisaged we’d have one film made about us, let alone two," sighs Morris, referring to Michael Winterbottom’s 24 Hour Party People. "We just have to hope that this time they focus on the music more than Ian’s death."
Hook says: "I suppose it’s nice that someone’s making a film about us while we’re still alive, but the thing that puzzles me is, no-one seems to realise there’s obviously a very limited audience for this kind of thing. Then again, we are living legends."
With a defiant smile, Sumner adds: "Living legends and godlike geniuses of cool."
• Krafty is released 7 March on London records; Waiting for the Siren’s Call follows on 28 March. New Order will play T in the Park on 9 July.
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