Roskilde 2010: Bad Lieutenant

When it comes to English rock royalty, you really can’t get much bigger than Bernard Sumner, a founding member of two of the most important bands of the modern age, Joy Division and New Order. Some fans would be happy if Sumner went on the reunion tour circuit like the Psychedelic Furs and played all the hits from his two famous former bands but recently, he and New Order compadre Phil Cunningham soldiered on to create an entirely new band.

I was as sceptical as the average obsessive Joy Division / New Order fan when I first heard of Bad Lieutenant, wondering what direction this group was going towards. First impressions are always important; from the first time I heard the opening guitar riff of ‘Sink or Swim’, I was smitten. Pop songs are notoriously difficult to write, and Bad Lieutenant had penned a corker. Grounded by the Icelandic volcano mess in April, the band couldn’t play Coachella or a string of scheduled North American dates, so Roskilde would be the first time I would catch the band in action.

When the band starts with ‘This is Home’, a song from their 2009 album ‘Never Cry Another Tear’, Arena is not filled up at all, and this is cause for inward groaning. Denmark, this is Bernard Sumner for pete’s sake. Just watching Sumner and Cunningham play their guitars so effortlessly is worth the price of admission. These guys are masters. I would have been happy with an all-Bad Lieutenant set but then the second song startsand ears across Arena perk up like antennae. Could it really be New Order’s ‘Regret’?

Sumner’s Mancunian wit further brightens the mood between numbers, commenting wryly, ‘it’s sunnier in England. Except where the English footballers live’. An obvious dig at the English squad’s terrible defeat to Germany the weekend before, but the football-loving Danish audience laughs heartily. ‘Sink or Swim’ goes down a treat with its shoegazey guitars and holds its own alongside New Order’s ‘Ceremony’.

Multiple electronic snafus delay Sumner’s blatant desire to give the crowd something he knows they want – the classic ‘Bizarre Love Triangle’ – and judging from his swearing, he is tetchy. Bad Lieutenant track ‘Twist of Fate’ is proffered as a temporary substitute, and wow, it’s a rollicking rock number that can easily take Muse-inclined punters’ minds off any ‘80s synth-laden track. But whatever was giving his crew problems before is sorted, the oh so familiar synths rev up to loud applause, and Sumner ditches his guitar. He tells the lighting crew, ‘turn the lights down, we’re in competition with the sun’. What he really should have said: stars will be shining right there, onstage, in just a few moments. He is charismatic as any frontman today, offering his version of the Running Man and kneeling down for, what else? The immortal line of ‘every time I see you falling, I get down on my knees and pray’. It’s a wondrous, tear-inducing sight to see. And his voice is as beautiful as it was over 20 years ago.

The crowning moment was the set ender - a massive singalong to Joy Division’s ‘Love Will Tear Us Apart’, complete with Sumner strumming his guitar while shouting ‘come on!’ to rally the fans. With Ian Curtis’s death so many years ago, I never thought I’d get to hear this song live ever, so what a wonderful surprise ending. Sumner tearing at his guitar like it was yesterday: proof positive that he and Bad Lieutenant can successfully bridge the new garde with the old. Audience cheers were deafening when Sumner, slightly winded, eked out his appreciation, ‘cheers, thank you very much, you’ve been a fantastic audience’. Message to Bad Lieutenant: we salute you.

http://www.thisisfakediy.co.uk/articles/live/roskilde-2010-bad-lieutenant

Not every studio is Abbey Road, and New Order co-founder Bernard Sumner, now playing guitar and singing with Bad Lieutenant, has plied his trade in some real dumps.

“I remember playing a rehearsal studio with New Order that had rats in it,” recalls Sumner.

As far as Sumner knows, the home studio of his Bad Lieutenant band mate, Jake Evans, is free of vermin. That’s a plus. But the facility does present its own unique set of challenges, ones Bad Lieutenant had to overcome while recording parts of their fall 2009 album “Never Cry Another Tear.”

“The control room is a reasonably sized control room, but the only way to describe it is, it’s shaped like a coffin,” says Sumner. “You put the speakers at one end, which is not ideal. It has all the ambiance of a Gestapo interrogation room. There’s a light bulb hanging off the ceiling. There are no chairs in there.”

Though spotless, perhaps even antiseptic, the studio’s Spartan atmosphere offers little inspiration for creative types like Sumner. The other distractions, including a karate studio upstairs, made it even tougher for Bad Lieutenant to get anything done.

“The studio is typical of Jake’s organization skills,” jokes Sumner, who seems to take real pleasure in busting his band mate’s chops. “The studio is good, clean. That’s the only good thing about it. Like most musicians, Jake gets to work late. He starts about 1 p.m. Then school gets out, and karate class starts about 4 p.m. And then, about 4:30 p.m., there’s a heavy-metal drummer, and he’s got a tribute band in the next room playing away.”

If that was the only studio Bad Lieutenant had access to, “Never Cry Another Tear” might never have reached the finish line. But Sumner, Evans and Phil Cunningham, part of the last incarnation of New Order, and Sumner’s former Joy Division band mate, drummer Stephen Morris, plus bassist Tom Chapman, didn’t spend all their time at Evans’ studio.

True DIY vagabonds, Bad Lieutenant pieced “Never Cry Another Tear” in various home studios. And those familiar with New Order will hear echoes of Sumner’s other band in Bad Lieutenant, the pristine, with streamlined guitar parts that Sumner is famous for at front and center, along with his earnest vocals.

That doesn’t mean Sumner dominates the proceedings. Along with sharing vocals with Evans, Sumner shares guitar duties with Cunningham and Evans, and their melodic, hook-filled parts are woven together to cast a magical spell of sparklingly danceable, New-Wave rock brimming with romance and ennui.

Some have wondered when Sumner might embark on a solo project. This is not it. Bad Lieutenant is a product of various points of view and contributions from all involved, including Blur’s Alex James. In fact, Bad Lieutenant would conduct three-day studio sessions to get everyone together to write.

“It was very much a band thing,” says Sumner. “Everyone chipped in. It’s been said to me, ‘Are you going to make a solo album?’ But it should be fun. I enjoy working with people if they’re the right people. You get better results with three brains and three sets of tastes.”

Still, it took time for all the parts of Bad Lieutenant to come together. The first four months, according to Sumner, were spent trying to get to know everyone, even though Sumner knew Cunningham from New Order and James “ … is a long-standing friend of mine,” says Sumner.

As for Evans, he was a bit of a wild card. Hailing from Macclesfield in the U.K., a place where Morris and tragic hero Ian Curtis met to plot out Joy Division’s Dark Wave revolution, Evans leads the upstart U.K. combo Rambo And Leroy. He’s also a friend of Cunningham’s. Sumner first heard him sing and play a Neil Young song at a birthday party. Then, Rambo And Leroy supported New Order at the band’s last gig, and for Evans, a big New Order fan, that led to a part in Sumner’s new project.

“Yeah, we met at a friend’s birthday party,” recalls Sumner. “A guy was playing acoustic guitar, and Jake, not being very organized, had not brought a present. He claims he was on the dole, which is partially true, but instead of a present, he would play a song. It was ‘Like A Hurricane’ or something, and when he did it, I thought, ‘The guy’s got a lot of balls to get up in a crowded restaurant and do it note-perfect.’”

NEW ORDER (circa 1989), which formed from the ashes of Joy Division, put Bernard Sumner in the spotlight as lead singer. Photo courtesy Andrew Catlin/courtesy of Warner Bros. Records Bad Lieutenant began rehearsing at James’ British home, and James wound up playing on some of the “Never Cry Another Tear” tracks. But people who heard of James hooking up with Sumner would be sorely disappointed when they found out that Bad Lieutenant was not going to be a Blur/New Order supergroup.

On the new album, Sumner is particularly pleased with how the song “Sink Or Swim” turned out. “It’s so simple. No overdubs whatsoever,” he says.

Much of “Never Cry Another Tear” sounds just as effortless. And soon America will get to hear Bad Lieutenant live on a tour that was supposed to happen last fall.

“That was an administrative error,” says Sumner. “Someone made a boo-boo with the visas.”

Of course, the set list will be made up of Bad Lieutenant material. However, this tour will also offer a Sumner retrospective of sorts, as Bad Lieutenant plans on playing songs from Joy Division, New Order and other one-offs Sumner has done with other groups. “Which is really the first time I’ll ever have played them live,” he says.

Talking about the set list, Sumner adds, “We’ve spent a lot of time putting it together, gluing it together. There was a bit of to-ing and fro-ing involved. Jake just wanted to play Bad Lieutenant songs, but people want to hear the old stuff.”

What about the Joy Division songs? Hearing Sumner play them again will certainly bring back a lot of memories, including Curtis’ suicide, which brought Joy Division to an end.

“I dropped {Joy Division songs] when Ian died, and for 10 years I didn’t play any Joy Division songs,” says Sumner. “The decision [to play them again] is ethical. Jake’s enjoying it. It’s his first time on tour, and it’s nice seeing it through his eyes. He loves playing live. They’re a good bunch of guys to be with. I enjoy playing with those guys more than I’ve enjoying playing with anybody in a long time, which is what it’s about. If it became a job, I wouldn’t like doing it. Being in a band is like eternal adolescence. I don’t want to be 95 and buy a house and cut the grass. In my head, I do feel that eternal adolescence.”

http://www.goldminemag.com/article/bad-lieutenant-is-eternal-adolescence-for-bernard-sumner

Good interviews!

Thx. Nice review. Yes, in my opininion the BL was the best gig in Roskilde this year.

and no volcano...

Setlist (From Setlist FM):

This Is Home Summer Days On Holiday Regret Twist Of Fate Ceremony Sink Or Swim Shine Like The Sun Bizarre Love Triangle Running Out Of Luck Crystal Tighten Up Out of Control Temptation Transmission Love Will Tear Us Apart

Really wish that they would get Poisonous Intent back in the set!

Zachery Starkey wrote: Really wish that they would get Poisonous Intent back in the set!

Was any of Bad Loo's set broadcast on FM/digital radio?

confusion wrote:

Zachery Starkey wrote: Really wish that they would get Poisonous Intent back in the set!

Glad you agree! I think it's their best song, very New Ordery (it's a better dance track than the ones on WFTSC),and the live version of it is cracking! It seems to get left out of festival setlists (and the PSB dates) because of it's length, though I'd rather hear PI than LWTUA.

Zachery Starkey wrote: Setlist (From Setlist FM):

This Is Home Summer Days On Holiday Regret Twist Of Fate Ceremony Sink Or Swim Shine Like The Sun Bizarre Love Triangle Running Out Of Luck Crystal Tighten Up Out of Control Temptation Transmission Love Will Tear Us Apart

Really wish that they would get Poisonous Intent back in the set!

Agreed!

Is this not the festival where Barney had the falling on his arse incident in 2002?

everyoneverywhere wrote:

Zachery Starkey wrote: Setlist (From Setlist FM):

This Is Home Summer Days On Holiday Regret Twist Of Fate Ceremony Sink Or Swim Shine Like The Sun Bizarre Love Triangle Running Out Of Luck Crystal Tighten Up Out of Control Temptation Transmission Love Will Tear Us Apart

Really wish that they would get Poisonous Intent back in the set!

Agreed!

Is this not the festival where Barney had the falling on his arse incident in 2002?

I think that was Hultsfred 2002...Barney was really fucking drunk (well the whole band was, it was the World Cup, and he kept making comments about Phil wanting pissed on, Swedes loving pee porn, Bizarre Love Triangle being about Hooky, Phil, and Roger in Prison, and David Beckham. Also featured a sloppy piss drunk version of WIM (rap sung by drunk guitar tech) and Hooky drunkenly singing the chorus after the song is over. All on Youtube!

Fook I gotta see that!

Just look up "New Order Hultsfred 2002" on Youtube, specifically the songs True Faith, BLT, BM, and WIM. Hilarious!

Zachery Starkey wrote: Just look up "New Order Hultsfred 2002" on Youtube, specifically the songs True Faith, BLT, BM, and WIM. Hilarious!

Think he fell down during Crystal :evil:

Big Mouth Julio wrote:

Zachery Starkey wrote: Just look up "New Order Hultsfred 2002" on Youtube, specifically the songs True Faith, BLT, BM, and WIM. Hilarious!

Think he fell down during Crystal :evil:

right you are, and to make up for it with his clever banter was pure class. My guess is he wanted to replicate Glastonbury.

michael preda wrote:

Big Mouth Julio wrote:

Zachery Starkey wrote: Just look up "New Order Hultsfred 2002" on Youtube, specifically the songs True Faith, BLT, BM, and WIM. Hilarious!

Think he fell down during Crystal :evil:

right you are, and to make up for it with his clever banter was pure class. My guess is he wanted to replicate Glastonbury.

Hooky telling all the Sweedish audience to sing along to "EN-GER-LAND" is priceless

I've just pissed myself laughing watching that Hurtsfeld footage on you tube - outstanding stuff, utterly arseholed and still straddling the fine line between genius and awful. Classic New Order.

I think I miss them now more than ever.

Roskilde Festival: Day 3 Review: Bad Lieutenant

Bernard Sumner. The mere mention of his name conjures up the dusty pages of rock’s past. But if the history books were for me to write, I’d be sure there was a large mention of Sumner’s latest project, Bad Lieutenant starring Sumner himself, fellow ex-New Order member Phil Cunningham and ex-Marion guitarist Jake Evans, who shares lead vocal duties in the band with Sumner. For someone who’s been in the music media on and off for more years than I have been alive on this planet, Sumner cuts an imposing figure. But I learned through an engaging set by him and his ‘new’ band that really, he’s just as nostalgic as the rest of us, and he’s a consummate performer eager to entertain.

On Saturday night, it was a hard sell trying to explain to the Danes I ran into who Bad Lieutenant was and what kind of show it was going to be. To be honest, even I didn’t know, because Bad Lieutenant has yet to do a proper tour of the States so I’d never seen them play. I had a feeling there would be at least one or two of the ‘favourites’ from Sumner’s old bands, but I was happily surprised by the tunes he wheeled out for their Roskilde set. The ‘new’ songs from Bad Lieutenant off the album they released last year, ‘Never Cry Another Tear’, are good examples of pop should be done, and they worked swimmingly alongside Joy Division and New Order classics.

At times, Sumner showed his age through his impatience and swearing, mostly when electronics of his band failed to get queued up for an appropriate fanfare to begin New Order’s ‘Bizarre Love Triangle’. Never for his athleticism: for this song, he was doing the Englishman’s answer to the Running Man (which was adorable in itself; can you imagine, watching a vanguard of rock music busting a move his way?) and then doing the appropriate kneeling poses during the lyrics that called for it. I surely wasn’t expecting it, he definitely went above and beyond the call of duty.

But other than these moments of flourish, what really counted was how tight the band sounded as a unit – no matter what era of song they were playing – and how great Sumner’s voice still is today. I wasn’t close enough to see but I have it in my mind that tears must have been welling up for him as he watched the reception for what wonderful music he was responsible for in the past right beside new songs destined to be just as timeless. What a great set.

After the cut: set list.

Bad Lieutenant Set List: This is Home Regret (New Order) Ceremony (New Order) Sink or Swim Twist of Fate Shine Like the Sun Bizarre Love Triangle (New Order) Running Out of Luck Crystal (New Order) Tighten Up (Electronic) Out of Control (Chemical Brothers cover) Temptation (New Order) Transmission (Joy Division) Love Will Tear Us Apart (Joy Division)

http://www.theregoesthefear.com/2010/07/roskilde-festival-day-3-review-bad-lieutenant.php