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Peter Hook interview with Filter Magazine
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.
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.
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.
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].
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.
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.
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.
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].
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.
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.
Read the full article on Filter ↗
Summary by NewOrderOnline. Full article remains with the original publisher.
