Dear All,
The following is an article i wrote today after an interview i did last night. For those of you who know me well and those who were there when we were 16 years old and sitting round Lee Drury's flat listening to New Order, you'll know how big a deal for me it was to interview Peter Hook, New Order's bassist. I don't think any of realise how much of what i write is directly related to what we all got up to back when we were clubbing and partying and discovering bands and DJs. So i'm just writinng to say thank you for helping me out and i hope you enjoy my piece;)
XX
Cat
STANDFIRST: This month Peter Hook hits Beijing for a DJ set at Babyface. Catherine Cook finds out why he¡¯s swapped his bass guitar for a set of decks.
PULL QUOTE: ¡®Apparently Andrew Fletcher from Depeche Mode recently toured and he was fucking rubbish¡I can¡¯t wait to see him and take the piss¡¯
OR
¡®Mani out of Primal Scream who told me it¡¯s a great way to get pissed for nothing¡and low and behold he was right¡¯
There¡¯s a scene in the film 24 Hour Party People where Steve Coogan¡¯s character explains how the band New Order came to be.
¡®No band ever survives the death of their lead singer,¡¯ says Coogan in the guise of Factory Record label owner Tony Wilson to whom New Order, and Joy Division before them, were signed. ¡®So when Joy Division became New Order, no-one expected them to succeed.¡¯
Fast forward to April 2006 and Joy Division and New Order bassist Peter Hook is booked to play a DJ set at Babyface. His history with clubland (he once co-owned the Hacienda nightclub in Manchester, England, the place where the UK¡¯s dance phenomenon started) is well documented as is the success of one of his many bands New Order. But nothing speaks louder than seminal track Blue Monday, the biggest selling 12inch record ever. New Order, however, never saw a penny of the money from that record. All profits from the track were swallowed up by The Hacienda¡¯s mounting debts.
¡®We¡¯ve finally finished paying for it now, thank the lord,¡¯ says Hook in a rather blas¨¦ manner. ¡®You wouldn¡¯t give a bunch of monkeys the keys to NASA and that¡¯s what happened,¡¯ he says in an amusingly self-deprecating way. ¡®Someone gave the keys to a nightclub to a bunch of idiots and we drank the profits away. They were fucking great days though and it¡¯s like my accountant says, it only hurts when you¡¯ve got no money.¡¯
The sound of Blue Monday still resonates through today¡¯s contemporary dance music, something Hook is well aware of. ¡®Blue Monday was a big stroke of luck mixed with talent. I listen to a lot of dance music now because of the DJing and when I hear it I just think ¡°Oh fuck, it just sounds like Blue Monday.¡± Recently a mate of mine gave me a load of Creamfields and Ministry of Sound CDs and I thought, ¡°God, this is crap,¡± so when I got asked to do my own Hacienda compilation I thought, ¡°yeah, I¡¯ll have a go.¡± But I¡¯ll let you into a secret. They usually pay someone else to listen to all the music and put it together for you but I said ¡°No, fuck that, I¡¯m doing it myself.¡± After five two hour sessions and literally hundreds and hundreds of tracks, I was begging someone else to do it for me. The truth is I don¡¯t remember much of anything from that period. I¡¯ve had some great arguments with people about what makes a Hacienda track.¡¯
Whilst it may seem like a step in the wrong direction to go from playing sold out gigs to thousands of fans at concerts and festivals across the globe to playing Babyface with a maximum capacity of 800 people, Hooky has really come full circle.
¡®I¡¯m a work alcoholic and I do love my job and every aspect of it. But the rest of New Order don¡¯t gig a lot and I like playing out, it¡¯s a great way to see the world¡¯ he says in thick Manchester tones. ¡®After recording so many albums I¡¯ve become jaded with the studio. DJing has given me a great opportunity to listen to music again. It gave me back the love of the music.¡¯
There¡¯s also another reason for his new found respect for DJing. ¡®I was introduced to this by Mani out of Primal Scream who told me it¡¯s a great way to get pissed for nothing¡and low and behold he was right.¡¯
This April, Hook, best known for his low-slung bass playing antics with New Order and the tragic Joy Division, will do a DJ tour of Asia with dates in Beijing, Shangahi, Chengdu, Shenzhen and Guangzhou. But can he mix?
¡®Errrrrrr¡,¡¯ he pauses, ¡®it¡¯s definitely interesting. The guy who¡¯s booking the tour in China made me send a tape first. I¡¯ve never done that before. Apparently Andrew Fletcher from Depeche Mode recently toured and he was fucking rubbish¡I can¡¯t wait to see him and take the piss,¡¯ he says delightedly. ¡®But yeah, I got asked to do this mixed tape and it was like doing a tape for your girlfriend or something, but they¡¯ve booked me so it can¡¯t have been that bad.
There are two films in production this year on Joy Division. Ian Curtis may have cut his life short in 1980 at the tender age of 23, but Love Will Tear Us Apart is still as infectious today as it was when it was originally released in 1980 and the demand for their music continues. Plans are in the pipeline for another New Order album in 2006. But for the meantime, Hook is feeling quite at home behind the decks.
¡®DJing is about the music and traveling and realising how lucky you are to experience life like that. The DJ booth can be the loneliest place on earth. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn¡¯t. I usually get ignored. I was DJing last night and two drunken twats came in and had a roll about on the floor and that was my night. If you¡¯re going to take the money, you¡¯ve got to take the flack as well. Once upon a time I was playing live gigs and getting bottled of stage so things are marginally better. It¡¯s about having the balls to get up there in the first place,¡¯ he says, ¡®that and standing behind a set of decks and looking like a prick showing off.¡¯
Peter Hook plays Babyface on Friday 28. See listings for more details.
The above is an Interview with Peter Hook on 17th March,by Cathrine Cook of Redcar..an old mate of mine,cheers Catty,keep up the good work Mrs
Cheers for the interview. :D