Peter Hook

Peter Hook is a true pioneer of music, having been a part of Joy Division and New Order, the music speaks for itself. His involvement with education and books certainly proves he’s a unique and stalwart figure, as well as significant contributor to British culture. Having recently been on tour with his band Peter Hook and The Light and Hacienda Classical, I was fortune to catch up with the busy man!

You’re a tad busy at the moment? How’s the tour been going?
Things have really been amping up this year! Hacienda Classical is on tour again and I’m doing the new set; it’s very Graeme Park! I must admit, he’s taught me a lot to be honest. I feel very lucky although I might change my mind tomorrow!
[The Peter Hook and The Light] ‘Substance’ tour has also been going great, I always suspected it would go down well and even though a lot of the Joy Division tracks aren’t well known, surprisingly it’s those tracks that are doing down the best, a lot of the time the Joy Division tracks go down better than the New Order ones. You can never tell what the response is going to be, but I guess it’s no coincidence that most people at the gigs have got Joy Division T-shirts on. You see the odd New Order T-shirt, but predominately it’s Joy Division, it does depend on each gig. I’m not sure what the is reason, however, it’s nice whatever to get a good response regardless.

Any gig highlights to mention?
Do you know what, they’ve all been great, we feel very well-rehearsed, we haven’t had a bad gig yet. Each one is selling out, considering in 2010 we were playing to one to two hundred people, to now be playing to over a thousand, it’s really grown. It seems we’re doing something right! It’s no wonder that New Order are pissed off! Unfortunately we haven’t reached an agreement with them, so it’s very sad, but you have to stand up to what you believe in.
Playing Mexico City was incredible, they went nuts! The reaction was amazing. They did a survey about which band was chosen the most to play and it was Joy Division, it blew our minds! Not what we expected. The guide told us the Stone Roses played there last week and they got 5000 people and we got 4992, so we’re coming after you Ian!

Continue reading: Peter Hook - 2017 Interview

Peter Hook is a legend of our time, not only because of the bands he's been in but he's also a true contributor to the music industry whose passion for music has continued with his recent new band Peter Hook & The Light, which play Joy Division and New Order songs live. Contactmusic.com met up with Hooky at Made Festival in Birmingham where he was performing with his band and Hacienda Classical. Peter's down to earth demeanour, informative perspective and obvious gratitude for his life was inspiring to say the least.

You just got off stage with your band Peter Hook & The Light, how did it go?
I do the sound, so it's was a bit nerve racking. I run back, do 'Blue Monday' and then go back and finish the sound off, but it was nice! It started off a bit weird, took us a while to get used to the acoustics, but then towards the end it sounded fantastic, I must admit. Once the numbers pick up, because the first half is quite soulful and a bit down, people don't know what to expect, but it builds up quite nicely, if I say so myself!

I'm sure the old Joy Division and New Order song are really emotive for you, how do you feel still playing them?
The strange thing is that I think people really appreciate seeing them performed live, because while they may know them all, they've never seen them performed like that, but it's one of those things, that performing them gives the songs that edge, that passion and that enthusiasm, and people really respond to it, it's nice. I must admit when we started I was a little skeptical, I thought how's this gonna work, I just couldn't see it, but every gig we've done has gone down fantastically, and all of sudden you're sitting there thinking sh*t, I've got something here!

Continue reading: Peter Hook - Interview

Contact Music caught up with Peter Hook, renowned bass player with New Order during the period in which their use of emerging technology made them Britain's most innovative band. At home in Manchester, "Hooky" told us about Hacienda 30, a new release cataloguing the sounds and DJ's who made the legendary Hacienda one of the most famous clubs in the world, amongst many other things...

CM: Tell us more about Hacienda 30...
PH: We finished off (Factory's) 30th birthday celebrations with a party in May in the car park at the apartments which are where the Hacienda used to be. It was part of a number of events, and we wanted to put together a release that celebrated the DJ's during the club's most famous era as a venue, between 1988 and 1991, so we chose probably the two most prominent ones, Graeme Park and Mike Pickering. I'm amazed that it's been thirty years since we opened the place!

CM: Your own mix features Manchester favourites The Stone Roses and Happy Mondays, but how did you choose the rest of the tracks?
PH: After doing the original mix (Hacienda Acid House Classics, released in 2009) I wanted to delve a bit deeper into some of the tracks that might've been missed. What really surprised me at that time was that there were still quite a few licensing problems which meant I couldn't use certain ones at that point, but this time round some of those issues had been sorted out. I've found that your mind plays tricks on you sometimes as well, and music that you thought was great, in hindsight isn't as good as you remember it, and vice versa. I wanted to do a Madchester one as well as I felt that was so important. That may well see the light of day next.

Continue reading: Peter Hook - Interview