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PETER HOOK

NOT MANY PEOPLE CAN claim to have been in one of the most influential bands of all time. Peter Hook can claim to have been in two. Not only that, but his trademark melodic bass-lines were the defining sonic feature of both.
The first was Joy Division, the great lost post-punk poets of exquisite gloom, cut off in their prime by the 1980 suicide of singer Ian Curtis, aged 23.
That seismic tragedy prompted the birth of the second, New Order, and through the 1980s their sound evolved into a uniquely zeitgeist-snatching dance-rock hybrid that proved to be as enduringly popular as it was furiously catchy.
Hook and fellow remaining band members Bernard Sumner and Stephen Morris formed New Order along with the latter's girlfriend Gillian Gilbert. The band decided to bury the Joy Division name along with Curtis, and said that they would no longer perform the songs they released in their previous incarnation.
The result: for many years, some of the most critically acclaimed, and deeply revered, music of the past 50 years had only rarely, if ever, been performed live.
That all changed four years ago when Hook, who had left New Order in 2007, announced that his new band Peter Hook and The Light would play the whole of Unknown Pleasures, Joy Division's debut album, as a tribute to Curtis on the 30th anniversary of his death.
"We were only supposed to be doing one gig, back in 2010," says Hook. "But because of the press it generated, we started to get offers, and then it just snowballed." The band also started to perform Closer, Joy Division's second album, as well as New Order's Movement and Power, Corruption & Lies.
Hong Kong is next on the itinerary, with the band set to perform Unknown Pleasures at Kitec in Kowloon Bay on March 31.
"It was great to rediscover the songs, especially as we had ignored them as a band for many years," says Hook. "Playing them again really made me realise how great the albums are, and that we were all guilty of overlooking a critical part of the history of our band. It's great to finally be able to celebrate these records."
The way The Light perform those songs, he adds, draws more on the recorded versions than the original live renditions. "When we came to perform as The Light, I realised that most people coming to the concerts would have heard the records, as opposed to seeing Joy Division live," he says.
"So I thought we should try to replicate the sound of the records live. I listened to the albums intensely, and included as many of Martin Hannett's production tricks as I could. I think it is more satisfying for the audience." Hook's distinctive high-pitched bass-lines came about because of Sumner's penchant for a deeper, more rhythmical style of guitar playing, and because their equipment was so basic that he could only hear himself if he focused on high notes. These days Hook shares bass duties on stage with his son, Jack Bates, and focuses mainly on his vocals. Singing Curtis' lyrics, he says, was nerve-wracking at first.
"I had one thought in my mind: you have to do this as yourself, as Peter Hook, not as if you were Ian Curtis. Because there is no one else who can be Ian Curtis, no one else who can match his energy, stage presence, musical ability, and his talent with lyrics. When we started performing Joy Division [tracks], it was hard to escape the history, and the baggage which comes with the back catalogue."
Hook says that a less-than-enthusiastic reaction to the idea of him playing the revered tracks didn't help. "But now people have come to see the show, they realise that we are entirely respectful to the works, so that seems to have changed."
Part of that negative reaction came from his former bandmates, and Hook has been involved in a rancorous and protracted falling out with them.
Hook says he is pleased that the audience is made up of old and new fans. "I thought the audience for The Light would be full of old blokes like me. But I was astonished to see the amount of young people coming to the gigs. I remember one gig we did in Barcelona and the entire front row was all 15- or 16-year-old girls, crying."
48hours@scmp.com
 
A Joy Division Celebration from Peter Hook and The Light, March 31, 8pm, Star Hall, Kitec, 1 Trademart Drive, Kowloon Bay, HK$380-HK$580, HK Ticketing. Inquiries: 2783 0135
 


Bassist Peter Hook revisits Joy Division’s seminal debut

Peter Hook performs with The Light. Photo: Timothy Norris

Left to right: Bernard Sumner, Stephen Morris, Hook and Ian Curtis as Joy Division. 

Magazines

48 Hours

Joy Division co-founder Peter Hook is revisiting the band's post-punk masterpiece, and the results will appeal to new and old fans alike, writes Richard Lord


Joy Division co-founder Peter Hook is revisiting the band's post-punk masterpiece, and the results will appeal to new and old fans alike, writes Richard Lord.
