Like the question says - we have so many things to talk about the band, but how many of us have actually met the our heroes (and heroine) in question and shared a joke or two, maybe exchanged an insult, a compliment, shared a pint, a fag, a boiled sweet, a Big Mac - what-the-fuck-ever? There must be some intriguing anecdotes. Me, I've never met them in person myself. I've only ever seen them live ONCE - back in 1986 fer Chrissakes. I've happened across Hooky (but never to speak to) and his former missus Caroline Aherne on a few occasions when the latter was compering at the Frog and Bucket open mike comedy night in Manchester a good eight years or so ago before her Mrs Merton persona catapulted her into the mainstream and massive success. How about all you others?
How many of you have actually met and chatted to New Order?
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Never met them, just as well coz I wouldn't have a clue what to say to them!
You've only seen them once, yer joking aren't you
but how many of us have actually met the our heroes (and heroine) in question
not me :( havent even seen them live yet. but if i did happen to meet one of them i reckon i wouldnt be able to get a word out, what with not being the most talkative of people. i`d probably just say someting really daft and then run away...
I meet them regularly, chat, go out drinking, generally have fun with them all....
and... then i wake up... arse
Liv
I met barney in 1996 when they were signing autographs
yeah i froze
then i asked if he still kept in touch with the rest of New Order...he said he saw Peter at a party a month ago so this disproves claims that they never saw each other for 5-6 years
then he added "they're fucking assholes...just kidding"
Well, me lucky bastard, for interviews, I've met once with Hooky (and Pottsy) for the 1st Monaco album and once with Barney (and Johnny Marr) for the last Electronic album.
All very nice people, really...
Well, Buster, some guys have all the luck!! Nice to hear.
Nope, I myself never met them, other than seeing them 1 time on stage. Standing in the front row I yelled to Peter: "congratulations!", which he seemed to like.
And velocity girl, I hope you will be able to see them live soon!
I offered to buy Barney a drink in the Hac once, but he declined. I wasn't offended.
As a sad teenager in the 80's, I did write to the band quite a lot. To his credit, Hooky would always reply personally.
Akira, explain the Brighton and Hove Albion comment please!!
not spoken exactly but once nearly ran over by them when queueing to get into the nec for the technique gig & the band were in the back of a little hatchback being driven to the stage door - gillian & hooky were in the passenger seats & barney & steve were rammed in the back! v funny.
second time was walking into reading after the 1st appearance there (again on technique tour) & realised that was following barney, was going to say hi etc but he met his(?) kid in the foyer so we bottled it.
Well...as I've said once or twice, there we were, my ex-wife and I were sitting in the back area at Starplex Amphitheatre in 1993 the day before the opening of their North American Republic tour, when Hooky himself walks out with some hideous young woman. It was a windy day, and Pierre pulls out his Marlboro Menthols, and a book of matches. After about 4 abortive attempts at lighting his fag, I summon up my courage and ask him if he would like to use my zippo...He says "thanks...mumble..." and then I ask him if he would sign something for me, he does, I say thanks, he says thanks for the light again, and I go home,a happy young man. The next night the ex (and yes, we were married at this time) squeezes through a back gate and meets Barney and Gillian, and has them sign the shirt she has on (which, was mine of course!). She said Barney was so drunk, she couldn't understand a thing he said, while Gillian was looking all over for Steven, and that she refused to move her mouth as she talked. Can't verify this, cuz I was stuck outside, since I couldn't squeeze through the gate!!! Now you know why I divorced her!! 
Originally posted by Old Blue I offered to buy Barney a drink in the Hac once, but he declined. I wasn't offended.As a sad teenager in the 80's, I did write to the band quite a lot. To his credit, Hooky would always reply personally. Akira, explain the Brighton and Hove Albion comment please!!
A man after my own heart. I wrote to the band in about 1984 and received a hilariously (handwritten - or should I say scrawled) insulting reply from Hooky - something about ramming his bass down my throat if I ever shouted for any JD songs at gigs. Needless to say I treasured it for many years.
I used to see him quite regularly in Dry but could never summon up the courage to speak to him.
I once stood right behind Barney in Euston concourse and was completely lost for words. That was in about 1997 and he was a right porker.
Temptation Gig, Alexandra Palace, NYE, 1998
I was absolutely cutting some serious style at the front of the main arena dance floor while Luke Slater provided the breakbeats, circa 4am.. Anyhow, I looked up to identify the unmistakeable Barney jig but a few metres away from me, with a few roadie-types in tow.. I grooved his way, keen for a touch of the "Look Mr Sumner, don't mind me I'm a diehard fan who's just travelled thousands of miles and I just wanted to shake your hand" type business...
Unfortunately during my approach I was somewhat distracted by the gangly image of Bez (Happy Mondays) working some moves on my sister.. Not being the most agreeable circumstance at the best of times, I was also dirty at the maracca-shaking loon for the calamity that was Blue Monday earlier on the evening.. So I made my way over and diplomatically liberated her from the jaws of the uber-gurner..
After that I returned to Bernard's direction but just had the feeling that at that stage of proceedings he wasn't looking for doting fan types.. I said something like "Great gig"- which was clearly BS and left it at that.
Maybe we'll continue our memorable dialogue when they're down this way in a couple of months. ;)
I met Ian Curtis a few times, most notably at the Scala Cinema at a Factory all nighter with ACR and section 25 (i think). We had just come fron seeing JD at the moonlight club in Hampstead, Me and a mate sat chatting with Ian Curtis - can't remember what about - but we both couldn't get hold of Sordide sentimental so he sent us a copy each. I know my mate got a handwritten letter with his copy. So DODO if you are on this website drop me an eeeeeee do you still have enourmouse hair.
Met New order many times, normally to blag our way into a gig - Hookey hated londoners so we had no chance with him, misery he was- Barney occassionally obliged, via a back door.
Originally posted by Akira Boreham Jr. I have met OZ does that count?God Bless Brighton & Hove Albion!
OZ!!! My god - their old sound engineer/tape op/assistant studio man??? Most Intriguing.....
You're the only person on this whole message board who has mentioned the mysterious OZ!!
For that, I will salute you Akira!!! 
Now do you all want me to tell you something REALLY astonishing? I may not have ever met and spoken to New Order face to face, but I used to know (used to, in the sense that between 1994 and 1996, I was in touch regularly with them as drinking/clubbing buddies, but now , due to some tragic turn of events, I have lost touch of their whereabouts - unless they're still living in the same place?) a couple who lived in Macclesfield and - here's the best bit - did not realise that the house they resided at - a terrace house on 77 Barton Street in the town, once belonged to Ian and Deborah Curtis . This is TRUE! Absolutely. They did eventually find out when they kept seeing blokes turning up and staring outside their house. They found out the reason when one day they accosted two young lads and was toldby them whom the house belonged to. Which explained their gawping.... Weird eh? Anyway, Paul, the husband, was sort of a Joy Division admirer but was never big on them. His wife, Andrea, was a Smiths fan, oddly enough., as was their friend, Lee - a teacher at Macclesfield Tech College.
Any way, I was elated when they told me this news, but bizarrely I never called in at their house just to have a nose around - as you would if you happen to be told of this amazing fact - so I kind of regret this now. What's more, their car was a white Skoda, which I can attest to as, in an big indepth article on Ian Curtis/Joy Division in a 1995 edition (can't remember which month exactly) of Select Magazine, which featured a picture of Ian's former house, with its red door, the rear of a white Skoda (Paul and Andrea's) can clearly be seen at the edge of the pic. !!
Well, a couple of years on, I lost touch of them but Lee, their friend, told me some tragic news - they had lost their first baby daughter just 8 months into her life: a tragic case of cot-death. Thing is, this could only be a terrible, dreadful coincidence, bearing in mind the history of the house..... But, more unnerving still, I remember asking Paul what the vibes in the house were when he eventually found out about its past, and he said, there was a definite vibe - an unsettled one. Now I don't know if he himself was just being sensational, but he once said he came home to find that a gas ring had been left on in the kitchen (where Ian was found back then), and when he questioned his wife, she was adamant she had turned the thing off, never being absent-minded enough to do such a thing. So, there was definitely still a strange vibe lurking in there somehow. Excuse me if this sounds a bit ghoulish - I certainly don't mean for it to be such. Far from it. In fact I always thought that this revelation from two friends whom I've not seen for five years has always sounded so incredible I never knew what anyone would make of it if I DID recount it to other New Order/Joy Division fans. And even now, this explains why I have only just brought the matter up in this thread. Somehow it seems TOO incredible and implausible to be true. But I'm telling you, it just happens to be. The truth, that is.
martin u really are a bit of a gobshite aren`t u... are u as talkative in real life as u are on these pages?
I can't realy say i met them , just bumped into them. On my way with some mates to a revenge gig in A'dam a bloke dressed in black leather walked in front of us. As we passed some trees , he stopped and was holding a branch of a tree that would otherwise have hit us in the face. Then i saw who it was: Hooky!! We thanked him and wished him all the best for tonights gig. You see , underneath all that leather and rough looks, he is still a gentle man! As for Barney: On our way in to the 1985 gig in Rotterdam he was suddenly standing besides me And was not allowed in by the doorman. We said he's the fucking singer/guitarplayer for tonights band! Thats what they all say , replied the ignorant doorman. It took someone from management to persuade the guy and finally Barney was allowed in and it became a great concert.
not realy shocking meetings, but for me very nice and very neworderish
Mario
I.ve met Bernard a few times - but since I live and go out in Mcr that's no surprise.
I was out on the infamous night when Johnny and Bernard lost Karl Bartos in the Hacienda and we all ended p at ahouse party in Rusholme.
Originally posted by velocity girl martin u really are a bit of a gobshite aren`t u...are u as talkative in real life as u are on these pages?
Now, what the fuck do you mean, GOBSHITE?? Do you want to pop over here and meet up with us and I'll take you to Paul and Andrea's house and introduce you to them then (allowing for the fact that I'll have to get back in touch with them first, which I'm pretty sure won't be the easiset thing to do in light of what they'd gone through over the past few years....)? Cause, if that's what it takes, I will boggin' well do it. If only to satisfy what I surely suspect is your curiosity/intrigue albeit disguising itself through a cynically derisory comment such as that. Of course it sounds too incredible to be true - but then, if you choose to scoff.....then, fine.
Actually, VG, I'm pretty insulted that you choose to question my credibility in such a way. Really!!!
Originally posted by phil I.ve met Bernard a few times - but since I live and go out in Mcr that's no surprise.I was out on the infamous night when Johnny and Bernard lost Karl Bartos in the Hacienda and we all ended p at ahouse party in Rusholme.
When was this, Phil? God, that sounds intriguing, do tell us more!!! Ha ha ha ha ha.....
I forgot about the time at the Revenge concert, when I grabbed one of Hooky's broken drumsticks, this must have pissed him off slightly...because as they were walking off stage, I reached up and snagged the set list, and he yelled back, "don't you have enough fucking shit yet?" I guess that doesn't exactly count as chatting though does it?
*protests* ..but i was only teasing.
sorry martin, i should have clarified myself. i wasnt referring to your white skoda revelations, but simply making a cheeky comment about your often verbose posts. in belfast "gobshite" isnt considered much of an insult; it refers more to talkativeness and the gift for banter than anything derisory.
Are you from Belfast then? Blimey! This gets weirder - there's most of us under the impression that you were middle-aged, American, and not female at all, and now......this......come on VG, do as most of us have done ...get yer profile up there and we can then finally see what all the mystery is about! This is gone on too long!!
[Mind you - the reason for the delay in getting the Factory 12" to you is seeing that I assumed I was posting to the US, there have been all those restrictions on parcel post heading trans-Atlantic-wise in the wake of all those fucking Anthrax scares, so I decided just to leave it a while until all the shit had calmed down - there's nothing worse than rushing into things and then having the inevitable happen: my parcel to your abode going missing or, worse, being intercepted and destroyed. That would be a fucking waste wouldn't it? Not good.
But I will keep you informed, unless you do otherwise......]
I'm suprised anyone would know who I am talking about. I have read your past posts, and now have a totally new respect for your crazy arse! 
Originally posted by Martin Gray > Originally posted by Akira Boreham Jr.> I have met OZ does that count?> > God Bless Brighton & Hove Albion!
OZ!!! My god - their old sound engineer/tape op/assistant studio man??? Most Intriguing.....
You're the only person on this whole message board who has mentioned the mysterious OZ!!
For that, I will salute you Akira!!!
what mystery? now, now martin u cant seriously have thought i was a middle-aged, american fella, not with all my refuting; it was simply an exercise tube tugging...and yes belfast is my home (hopefully not for much longer mind)and we do tend to be rather rude over here, so i do apologise if u were insulted..but i cant guarantee i won`t do it again, its kind of instilled unfortunately.
I met Hooky a few times (hence part of my nickname on here), mostly at Revenge gigs at the International in Manchester. Met his wife of the time too, I think she was tour manager or something, phwoar. I've no idea what I said though, as I'd only recently discovered the special qualities of drinking lots and lots of Stella. Met the Inspiral Carpets one of the same nights too, and annoyed the hell out of Tom Hingley for most of the gig. Those were the days of LFO, Pineapple Face etc
