Another interview with Bernard

http://www.popmatters.com/pm/feature/123244-maybe-you-do-want-to-grow-up-after-all-an-interview-with-bernard-sum/

Bernard talks some interesting stuff in that one, yeah.Thanks.

Leather Girl you beat me to it, thanks.

linus sulanki wrote: Leather Girl you beat me to it, thanks.

Thanks Eimi. Nice interview....cheers

I'll keep that for later to read in work,

Cheers Eimi

Good interview, thanks

"In New Order, I played about 95% of the synths. It’s not much fun for the other guys in the band when I’m playing my synth parts. Steve would help out, but most of it I did. So, back then, it was just me sitting in front of a computer in the studio while everyone else was standing around twiddling their thumbs."

Really good interview and an interesting insight to the BL story so far....

Major Tarantino wrote: "In New Order, I played about 95% of the synths. It’s not much fun for the other guys in the band when I’m playing my synth parts. Steve would help out, but most of it I did. So, back then, it was just me sitting in front of a computer in the studio while everyone else was standing around twiddling their thumbs."

Common knowledge that Bernard did most of the synth parts in New Order. He is just saying that the other didn't have much to do when he was doing the synth parts, which makes sense.

Here's one from Dagens Nyheter, Sweden's biggest broadsheet. It's a couple of weeks old now, but I only just got around to translating it. So if the language is a bit clunky, that's my fault.

Incidentally - what a shame that the Swedish date is a festival. From a selfish perspective, the main advantage of BL is the prospect of seeing the guys in a little club. There's a bunch of attractive small venues in Stockholm that I would have loved to see them play.

Anyhow........

*********************************************************** Bernard Sumner takes charge again

This week, it's confirmed that Bernard Sumner of Joy Division and New Order will play at the Hultsfred festival with his new band, Bad Lieutenant. [DN's Robert Börjesson] talks bad memories and future plans with the singer/guitarist.

__________________________________________________________

Bassist Peter Hook had formed Freebass, a group comprising three bassists, with Mani from the Stone Roses and Andy Rourke from The Smiths. That says everything about how much Sumner and Hook hated each other during their final years as New Order. Since then, Hook has reviewed Sumner’s new band with the words: “It sounds like New Order without the bass”.

When Sumner calls me from his home, in exclusive Alderley Edge outside Manchester, he doesn’t exactly sound crushed by Hook’s verdict. He tells me that any guitarist can play bass and that Bad Lieutenant didn’t even have to use Blur’s Alex James for bass duties on their debut album,Never Cry Another Tear. Sumner seems to find it particularly amusing that he’s using a “lollipop guy who works at Manchester airport" to replace Hook.

It’s easy to imagine the atmosphere in New Order’s recording studio towards the end of the band. Bernard Sumner says it’s a relief to finally let go of all the fighting within New Order.

“It’s just a stupid rock myth that arguments help creativity. In my experience, it’s never about creative minds fighting for their ideas. It’s all about egos, and you just end up hating [each other]. Just misery. Look at Oasis. Such a big part of a band’s existence consists of going out on tour together, or being locked up together in a studio. If I’ve got to be with someone every day, it’s a lot more fun being with people I like to hang out with – like now, with Bad Lieutenant."

New Order formed from the remains of the influential post-punk band Joy Division after the singer Ian Curtis took his own life. The same day of the suicide, the other band members – Sumner, Hook and drummer Stephen Morris – took the decision to continue. Almost 30 years later, it’s not a one-off tragedy that has broken them, but the constant squabbling.

“Me and Hooky have never got on”, says Sumner. “It got worse with time. I knew from the start that it was going to end in tears, but it was only recently I realized it would turn out this bad.”

- So why did you stay together?

“Money. The last few years of New Order were only about the money. We’ve got bills to pay, like anyone else. We had to do it. To be honest, New Order’s been a corpse for a long while.”

- Peter Hook’s been very communicative since the split, but you’ve kept quiet.

“I can’t say anything about him, honestly, that wouldn’t be bitching. That’s why I say nothing. These days I just keep my mouth shut so that we can get along to the extent that we can share the proceeds of the back catalogue without fighting. New Order is still a business, even if we don’t play together anymore.

It’s like this: in interviews, musicians either lie, or keep quiet about the bad things. Without naming names, some people might paint a picture of themselves as a better or nicer person than they actually are. I think it’s smarter to keep quiet. Shit happens. And the best you can do when shit does happen is move on."

- Many fans are hoping, almost expecting, that you’re going to get back together, despite everything.

“Fans who think we’re going to get back together are extremely naïve. But fans always think the best about their favourite band, blissfully unaware of the truth.”

- Do you feel ready to return to a simpler life? I don’t suppose that Bad Lieutenant, with just one record behind them, have the resources to tour around the world in the same comfort as New Order?

“We hade a meeting about that today, actually”, laughs Sumner. "Me and Stephen Morris, who’s playing live with us, are gonna fly first class while the others are flying economy. I’ve done my years of sleeping in a cold van with the mist seeping in, I’ve got the medals, now it’s their turn to take the knocks. They’re just scumbags who haven’t proved anything yet."

New Order’s greatness lay in how they never stopped evolving, pioneers constantly influenced by new develpments in dance music. Their greatest success, Blue Monday, inspired by the club scene of early-80s New York, still holds a place in the history books as the biggest-selling 12” of all time. But today, Sumner struggles to listen to new music.

- There was a time when you couldn’t write music without drugs. Then last time we talked, you were working on the side-project Electronic with Johnny Marr, and you’d swapped the narcotics for dance music and Prozac. What’s the situation now?

“I’ve quit all that now. I don’t go clubbing. I don’t even listen to music anymore. These days, when I’ve spent a whole working day writing and recording music, I just want to watch really banal, family-friendly TV so I can relax. Just give me some homely entertainment, then I’m happy."

thanks for that...great read

Obvious question but if Bernard played 95% of the synths in the band,what did Gillian do? When Stephan Hague was interviewed about the recording of True Faith he said that Gillian wrote keyboard parts for that track,and on the tracks on Republic which have no bass guitar,did Peter Hook not make any contribution?

Thanks for the Swedish article/interview! That was a good read too.

cranelane wrote: Obvious question but if Bernard played 95% of the synths in the band,what did Gillian do? When Stephan Hague was interviewed about the recording of True Faith he said that Gillian wrote keyboard parts for that track,and on the tracks on Republic which have no bass guitar,did Peter Hook not make any contribution?

I think Hooky himself has answered that, he was largely absent for a lot of Republic.

thanks for the interviews the swedish one is quite heart-crushing

“Me and Hooky have never got on” I just can't believe that, they seemed very friendly during the golden days yeah, I may be being naïve about this, just as Bernard said, but I just can't look at all that history and believe that they've never got on

I don't think this is the whole story. There are always things you cannot say in an interview. But a fact is he and Hook have very different characters, everyone can see that.

Tony Casanova wrote: ...I just want to watch really banal, family-friendly TV so I can relax. Just give me some homely entertainment, then I’m happy."

Here's the end of indie spirit. Where's anarchy in the UK?

I'm not sure if this has been posted yet, but here's another one I found.

Bernard Sumner is Glad the Failed Marriage of New Order is Over

(from above interview- "We love each other and it does feel like a new band, although I did have a bit of an argument with Jake last week over having 30 of his friends in the dressing room after the gig we played in the north of England somewhere. But all is forgiven, so so far, so good.")

leather_girl wrote: (from above interview- "We love each other and it does feel like a new band, although I did have a bit of an argument with Jake last week over having 30 of his friends in the dressing room after the gig we played in the north of England somewhere. But all is forgiven, so so far, so good.")

I wonder who they were?

leather_girl wrote: I'm not sure if this has been posted yet, but here's another one I found.

Bernard Sumner is Glad the Failed Marriage of New Order is Over

(from above interview- "We love each other and it does feel like a new band, although I did have a bit of an argument with Jake last week over having 30 of his friends in the dressing room after the gig we played in the north of England somewhere. But all is forgiven, so so far, so good.")

Nice read

Cool to see mr. Sumner speak about Stephen Morris. They must be getting along pretty well, since Stephen is still hanging out with him