Hooky Filter-Mag interview

http://www.filter-mag.com/index.php?id=18526&c=1

EXCLUSIVE: Peter Hook Talks War Child, Joy Division's Legacy: Pt. 1 by Michelle Lanz | 02.23.2009

Peter Hook is a big deal. As the co-founder of Manchester greats Joy Division and a driving force behind New Order, the man has been a bass-wielding god for over three decades. For a new compilation called "Heroes" being released by the War Child International Charity, Hooky gave British electro-pop fivesome Hot Chip his blessing for their cover of the legendary Joy Division track “Transmission.” In part one of our five-part series, Hook chats with FILTER about his involvement with War Child and his reaction to Hot Chip’s version of his favorite Joy Division song. He opens up about Ian Curtis, New Order and the digital revolution a little later. Stay tuned.

War Child approached you to pick a band and a song for that band to cover. So why choose Hot Chip? Steven Morris [New Order’s percussionist/keyboardist] is a really big fan of Hot Chip and he was telling me about them before I had even heard of them. With DJing, I was going out and hearing this really wacky music that I eventually found out was Hot Chip. For this comp, Steve suggested Hot Chip and I thought they were a perfect choice. I like the way they look at the music and I am inspired the influences they pull in. They sound very current, very fresh and they have a great irreverent attitude to this business that we’re in.

How did you get involved with War Child? I was first approached by War Child three years ago for another sampler CD. It’s so important and breaks your heart as a parent to think that there are children that don’t have access to a great childhood. When this came about it was an interesting way to look at the compilation in general and it's really done well so far in England. The people that are involved in putting this together are music fans themselves. It’s nice to be included, now that we’re at home now and New Order is no more it’s nice that people still remember us.

How did you feel when you heard the Hot Chip cover for the first time? Strange thing was it really made me smile. I thought it was quite irreverent. The way Joy Division did it was very angry and aggressive and Hot Chip made it very endearing and warm and it’s more personal that way. With a song like “Transmission,” it's the best song we wrote. It’s sort of hard for me to remove myself from the song, but their version really did make me smile.

preview/buy Hot Chip's Transmission here http://www.7digital.com/stores/war/productDetail.aspx?pid=368161

part 2: http://www.filter-mag.com/index.php?id=18527&c=1

Hooky's Top Three Joy Division Covers by Michelle Lanz | 02.24.2009

Peter Hook has grown used to hearing other bands butcher his precious Joy Division and New Order tracks. But he admits he hears a pretty damn good cover once in a while. In part two of our five-part interview with the post-punk legend, he discusses his top three Joy Division covers of all time.

This year is the 30th anniversary of “Transmission.” It’s also the last single you recorded before Ian’s death. Is that why you chose to have this song covered for the War Child comp? Well, Hot Chip had been doing “Temptation” live. Steve [Morris] went to see them he didn’t know they were going to play “Temptation,” but we left the choice to them. With “Transmission,” there haven’t been many cover versions of it, but I think now that this one is in my top three Joy Division covers: Moby's “New Dawn Fades,” Killers' “Shadowplay,” and now this one. I think I might do a compilation of all the New Order and Joy Division covers [laughs].

part 3: http://www.filter-mag.com/index.php?id=18529&c=1

Joy Division Legacy Lives On by Michelle Lanz | 02.25.2009

Hook’s got a lot to say, especially about Joy Division, the band that launched his career and whose tragic end changed his life. In part three of five, Hook talks about Joy Division’s undying legacy and how Ian Curtis’ death made him realize how lucky he really is.

Do you ever feel especially protective over Joy Division songs and not want people to cover them? The great thing about age is you end up taking your life in stride, so that has gotten easier. You learn not be too precious about it. Because of Ian's death I was more protective of Joy Division songs than with New Order. I was on a flight once and there was a French cover version of “Love Will Tear Us Apart,” and it was great. It’s something I have gotten used to. A friend sent me a house remix of “Love Will Tear Us Apart,” that was just fantastic. It’s when you get something that’s so odd that works when it's great, but then there is as ugly side of it: cover versions that don’t work.

Have you been approached a lot by people to cover Joy Division songs and have you passed on giving them the rights to cover them? I must admit in the old days we used to. When I DJ I play cover versions by people because they have to come to you first, but a lot of the times they don't end up releasing them on records. I have this remix of “Love Will Tear Us Apart” that Malcolm McClaren did with this group Nova Nova. It's just fantastic, but it was never released. These days we tend to be more easygoing. It’s more of a compliment now.

How is it reliving Joy Division? Because you’ve had a 30-year career outside of that band, how does it feel to relive the music and the time? That’s a tricky one because it’s a very surreal thing… Like for the Control film to be as well received as it was, 30 years after Joy Division was done. My life has been very surreal in a good way. Having someone like Anton Corbijn direct your life is quite surreal. It fits so easily into my life, and I think it's that thing about how you get used to it. I heard recently this band White Lies was compared to Joy Division; sometimes you wonder whether it’s a compliment or just laziness, because everybody gets compared to us. In a strange way—and I guess it’s part in parcel about the way we acted—we stayed very loyal to our group and Manchester, and I think people appreciate that side of our life as well.

How did Ian Curtis’ death inform the rest of your life and career? Did it make you think differently about your life? I think I've been incredibly lucky to still be making music. Those songs that we wrote in 1978 and lasting as long as they have and still give you the ability to do what you do. It’s a testament to the chemistry of Joy Division and New Order. It is amazing to pull it off in Joy Division, but being able to pull it together again in New Order is amazing. We have the credit crunch very bad in England, and we're hearing about people becoming unemployed. The best thing about being a musician is that no one can fire you. People will always listen to you, maybe not as much as in 1985, but you don’t lose your job. I'm a very lucky boy.

part 4:

http://www.filter-mag.com/index.php?id=18530&c=1

Hooky on Freebass and the Hacienda Nightclub by Michelle Lanz | 02.26.2009

Oh you know, besides co-founding Joy Division and New Order (he quit the band back in 2007), Peter Hook also found the time to write a book and start yet another band with ex-Smiths and Stone Roses bassists. In part four of our five-day series, Hook talks about Freebass and explains How Not To Run A Club.

You’re also writing a book called How Not to Run a Club, about your experience at the Hacienda nightclub. What was the motivation to write this—Was it a reaction to films like 24-Hour Party People or Control getting it wrong in your opinion? The story of Hacienda was very difficult and it achieved something no other club has done. When we were doing the Hacienda Classics CD, I was doing the sleeve notes and talking to my friend who is an American journalist. He said “you should tell the story of how difficult it was.” It's quite harrowing, reliving it—the violence, the drugs, the hedonism. It isn’t about struggling to tell the truth, it's about telling the unique story. These days music groups don’t give much back apart from playing live. The Hacienda gave Manchester a place where the “Madchester” genre happened; the dance revolution was being spurred on. While we were good at playing music we were bad a running clubs. At the time we went into it blind, not even thinking about the nuts and bolts of it. But that’s what gave it the aura and the atmosphere; it was that we were doing it for fun. I'm proud to be part of [founder] Tony Wilson's vision and I'm proud to be a part of that. It might not be the truth but it’s a great story [laughs]. It should be out at the end of summer.

You also started a band called Freebass with Andy Rourke of The Smiths and Gary “Mani” Mounfield of The Stone Roses and Primal Scream. Have you released any of the tracks yet? I'm weary about things going up on the Internet, so we’re maniacally keeping hold of it. I've literally sat on all the recordings in my basement. We’ve got 16 songs; I'd say 12 of them are finished, so we’ve got 4 more. We're looking some way of releasing it in this day and age. I'm not sure how groups work these days.

part 5:

http://www.filter-mag.com/index.php?id=18532&c=1

"Hooky" on digital downloads by Michelle Lanz | 02.27.2009

Back when Peter Hook first started making music, the cassette tape was regarded as the most advanced technology in music dissemination. So it’s not surprising he has a hard time wrapping his head around the whole digital music frontier. In the fifth and final segment of our interview with the legendary bassist, Hook talks briefly about his relationship with digital downloads and the importance of paying for music.

Have you thought about releasing the first Freebass album digitally? It’s a difficult thing because this record is being financed. It costs a lot of money to get it where it is. Why give your record away when it has cost you so much time and money? I have a hell of a lot of invested in it. It’s weird to think that now you’re supposed to give it away. It’s difficult to get your head around it. You get to the point where you won't be able to make music because if you put money in it’s scary to think you won’t get back your investment.

Yeah, it seems that people won’t pay for music when they can download it for free. I admit, I download, but the thing is I try and go out and buy the records if I like them…I suppose it’s a generational thing, but people have to realize that music doesn’t just appear. If you do it as a career it’s a huge commitment and maybe they’ll realize that when they get older and start making music of their own. I know now everyone likes the live aspect of music and it’s very popular, but that’s a different phase. As an older musician I'm finding it hard to reconcile, but I'm definitely looking forward to it being reconciled.