As some of you probably know, Hooky agreed to answer some more questions, sit back and enjoy! Freebass
Q1 What’s the latest re. progress on Freebass? Can we expect to hear a release soon? Is there going to be some live work as well, or will that be saved for next year’s festivals?
A1 To be honest freebass is suffering from us all being so busy djin, I have sworn to put some time away in winter to finish it off, we have 8 songs written , but not recorded, gary is doing really well, if its not done by spring or I WILL EAT MY BASS! Gigs to follow obviously.
DJing
Q1 Any plans to DJ in South Africa at all? You’ve done pretty much everywhere else it seems!!!!
A1 Ive never been to south Africa or north , for that matter , had a few offers but they came to naught!
Books The book is progressing , the publisher has brought in another author to help claude and I , get it to fruition, its looking really interesting. JD stuff
Q1 With that live take of Reaction proving so popular on your MySpace site, are there any other tracks most of us won’t have heard that could see the light of day? Tension and Visions In The Sky would be the two that we’ve heard of but not heard, maybe also the early Ice Age and Day Of The Lords?
A1 I have a predicament with this ? I think this is an important part of our history and should be released , we are working on releasing a series of concerts on our own website soon , so hopefully the Warsaw gig and rehearsal will be one of them?
Q2 Everyone’s always wondered this about Ian’s comment after Sister Ray at the Moonlight. Did you actually play Louie Louie ever, or was it just with Jon The Postman? Also always been rumours of Riders On The Storm and The Passenger (have heard version of that at soundcheck in 82)
A2 id love to hear that? I certainly played loiue loiue many times , but cant remember if we did as joy div ?, I t featured jon the postman on vocals , I just cant remember? We have played a few over the years including anarchy , do the ostrich etc
Q3 Besides Passover, Heart And Soul and In A Lonely Place, did you use the Shergold on any other JD songs? I’ve always wondered about A Means To An End.
A3 Ill have to think about this the eternal was 6 string so was means to an end and a couple of others id have to hear them really!
Q4 On the subject of In A Lonely Place – was the abrupt ending on the “detail” version put on the box set down to the tape running out, or was it done as a matter of taste, given it was immediately before that verse?
A4 Don’t know ,in a lonely place was recorded first by a guy called stewart pickering, produced by martin , in graveyard studios in prestwich , no pun intended , funnily enough I saw stewart the other night?
Q5 Any nearer getting the masters back? And stopping Hewitt from peddling fakes and shoddy bootlegs?
A5 I have a meeting with him today actually?
Q6 Have any other JD tapes turned up in your vaults? A6 Yes the problem is in listening to them ,
Q7 Who came up with the title for Ceremony – it appeared on that High Hall setlist as “new one” – did the title emerge as JD or NO? Same question for In A Lonely Place.
A7 High hall? Whats that? Don’t know would have to be the answer I think it was jd?
Q8 One or two early 1979 setlists have a first song listed as “soundtrack” – was that a working title for I Remember Nothing? Most of the sets around that time seem to be fairly similar, with the song titles determined, but this one stands out. There is another one around that time where the opener was “new one”, probably She’s Lost Control we think, given what was and what wasn’t on the set . A8 Don’t know?
Q9 Was Decades played more than just the once as JD? Nobody seems to know about the Derby Hall set at Bury where Simon Topping stood in for Ian, and there is an unsubstantiated Rainbow Theatre setlist including it, but no evidence of this. Same question for Komakino, we’ve only ever heard the Lyceum recording.
A9 I think we played them a few times each we always made a point of playing new stuff,. I just cant remember?
NO stuff
Q1 Why does much of the 'Live In Glasgow' DVD2 footage seem to take the piss out of Bernard, and how on earth did BS even agree to let it out? A1 why so? footnote: only Steve and Hooky were involved in the selection of video for the Glasgow discs
Q2 Are the rest of those videos ever going to see the light of day? The Cork 83 stuff in particular would be fabulous, as the only existing audio tape has only 5 songs on it, which didn’t include Leave Me Alone. Same problem with the Cork 86 show, something about Irish bootleggers!!
A2 steve is the expert on that , if we are successful inlaunching the website, so we can sell this stuff , I suppose the answer would be yes?
Q3 I understand that the NO remasters will follow the same format as the JD ones, i.e a live show on bonus disc. Have these gigs been selected yet?
A3 the companion discs will have no live tracks on , mainly due to me , they seem out of context? We are planning to release a companion set of 5 live gigs either on the website or physically , we haven’t decided yet!
Q4 This Hurrahs video from Merrill is gonna be a fantastic artefact, I’ve seen clips of all seven songs, interesting to see Steve singing on Ceremony after you’d recorded it with Bernard singing in the studio. Also DNE and Procession on a 4 string – presumably because this was just after the gear had been nicked? No Homage at this gig, surprising given the relatively few songs to choose from – was this only played on the Shergold?
A4 Homage was 6 string , yes the gig was on borrowed gear , so its strange , were hoping to develop the film into something more substantial? I have a cassette of us with our own gear from maxwells new jersey , which we are hoping to do something with?
Q5 Were any of the songs that featured on the July 1980 Western Works Demo (besides Ceremony of course) already part work in progress before Ian died? Had the riffs emerged at that stage? Many people on NOOL recently have wanted to know whether the early NO tunes were a continuation of what was being jammed in May 1980, whether the songs formed from what could have become JD riffs.
A5 no we started writing again after ians death the only jd songs we had were ceremony and in a lonely , we then started again!
Q6 Whatever happened to Too Late, that only appeared on that 1982 Peel Session?
A6 wasn’t that a cover version ill check!
Q7 What happened with the finalisation of Low Life, when Let’s Go didn’t make it, Elegia got edited and a version of Perfect Kiss got included, and Skullcrusher disappeared altogether? We’ve all heard the original vocal version of Let’s Go, was it ever finished?
A7 cant remember to be honest youd have to ask steve?
Q8 What is the record being scratched at the end of Every Little Counts?
A8 Cant remember either probably one that was lay about in windmill lane?
Q9 What happened to that wonderful bass work on the demo of Dream Attack that was not included on the Technique release? It’s like the final version was almost the exact opposite, hardly any bass at all, yet the demo was the most fantastic bass intro.
A9 Well that’s the problem isn’t it? Ive not heard the demo send us a copy? so presume it was just mixed out ah well!
Q10 What’s going to happen with the seven tracks that were leftovers from the recording of Sirens Call, now that things have come to a halt with New Order? I remember hearing the one at one of your DJ sets, and seem to recall you playing something new at the Wembley soundcheck, at least part of an unreleased song if not the full song.
A10 They are part of our plans we just haven’t decided yet , ive listened recently and they sound very good actually
