Interview by Amy Yates Wuelfing

While New Order without Peter Hook was touring this summer, Hook was gearing up for a tour of his own. Referring to the Hookless New Order as “New Odor,” Peter has taken it upon himself to go back and play Joy Division and early New Order songs. What started off as a benefit concert has taken on a new life; Hook and his guitar-playing son recreate the albums—track by track—for appreciative audiences.

When asked why New Order couldn’t or wouldn’t play that material, Peter explains, “The rest of the band never play Joy Division songs. Bernard didn’t, because he just didn’t like those songs, and Stephen didn’t, because he didn’t want to rock the boat.” He also explains that “New Odor” is currently out there playing the hits, using all the wrong equipment.

Peter Hook has always had the reputation of being the spikey member of New Order, the one who was difficult, would speak his mind, and always show up late.
Hook looks back and says, “Well, yes, but that is what makes bands great, that type of chemistry. I never looked the rest of the band, did I? I had people tell me that I looked like I should have been in Judas Priest, which I took as a compliment, actually.”
So what’s like now working with his son?

Hook laughs, “He is more into things like Pearl Jam and Queens of the Stone Age, he wasn’t much into Joy Division and New Order, but he wanted to play in the band. The funny thing is, as Peter Hook and the Light do these gigs and play different albums, he is the exact same age as I was when I recorded them. He was 21 when we did Unknown Pleasures, which is how old I was when I recorded it. He was 22 with Power, Corruption and Lies.”

In 2011, Peter Hook And The Light released 1102 2011 EP, four versions of Joy Division songs, including the previously unrecorded “Pictures In My Mind.” With just sketchy demos to go by, how difficult was recreating that song?

“One thing that Ian Curtis always said,” Hook relates, “is that if you start to write a song, you should always finish it, because someone out there will love it. It will be someone’s favorite song. The song was so close to being done as it was. And sure enough, once we finished it, people love it. It just proved Ian right.”

Speaking of Ian Curtis, his hometown of Macclesfield, England recently schedule a celebration in his honor, only to abruptly cancel it. Why?


Peter explains, “Oddly enough, we played the festival in Macclesfield not long ago, called Barnaby Festival, which has been going on for quite a long time. They asked us if we’d play Joy Division stuff in the church in Macclesfield, called Christ’s Church, and—funny enough—Ian used to actually go to that church as a kid, so that made it all the more special. We played Joy Division in Macclesfield for the first time since Joy Division began 37 years ago, and it was absolutely fantastic. New Order played in Macclesfield, one gig, very early on in our career, but Joy Division never played there. But Macclesfield is a small town, it’s very well-known in England because of the silk trade, but they don’t seem to be very proud of their most famous sons in my mind. I think they should do more to take advantage of it, but they are coming around to it, and you do have a few meetings with people who are trying to do it. It’s just very difficult, especially in this economic situation at the moment.”

Now with an entire tour, Peter Hook and the Light will have a chance to really dig into the material.

“I’m looking forward to the tour for the simple reason that we keep doing these one-offs and they never allow you to relax with the material. I have to keep switching guitars all the time and getting used to it. I I think it’s about 25 songs we’re playing on this tour, maybe more than that.”

And how about "Blue Monday?" Will you do the single version or the 12” remix?

“Everything we play is taken from the record. ‘New Odor’ - it’s important we get that distinction - take liberties with the arrangements and with the songs and interpret them different, but we are staying very faithful to the record. We use a lot of elements on Movement that Martin Hannett gave us, and then on the Power, Corruption & Lies, we use the original sounds and the original orders as they were written for the record, which is a bit of a first, because I think we’re playing some tracks that New Order never played live.”

The very first tour that New Order undertook in the U.S. included a date at Maxwell’s on September 20th,1980. Any memories of that gig?

“It was a great gig, I’ve got a tape of it. It was a really, really good gig for us, strangely enough. We had all our own equipment flown over—a great luxury—and I remember driving through the tunnel to get to Hoboken. The road crew had a massive fight on their way there, because the guy who was driving was a terrible driver. He had three crashes on the way to the gig, unbelievably, so by the time they got there with the gear, they were frazzled. Anyway, we set up and we were very frightened because it was our first gig, but there was a great relief to it actually, by being away from England.

“We played in England a few times as a three piece, but the release of being away and that you were able to relax, you felt that you weren’t under the scrutiny you were under in England. So we were quite relaxed, and if you listen to the tape of the gig, it’s great, and it sounds really good. We sound like we’re enjoying ourselves, in fact it sounds like we’re finding ourselves. Bernard, Stephen and I sang three songs each, and that night, when we drove home, we were very, very happy and very cocky, and really looking forward to the rest of the shows in America. And then all of our gear got stolen that night in New York City.

“That meant that the gigs in Hurrah’s were done with all hired equipment, it was a nightmare. So we had that one little show at Maxwell’s which was like an oasis in the desert, shall we say.”

Peter Hook & the Light play Webster Hall in New York City on Friday, September 13th and The Trocadero in Philadelphia, Saturday September 14th.