In this exclusive interview, Peter opens up about his journey through two of the most influential bands in modern music. He reflects on the creative highs, the personal challenges, and what it means to perform Joy Division’s music live today. Honest, engaging, and always passionate, Peter Hook is a figure who has never been afraid to speak his mind or push musical boundaries, and his insights offer a fascinating glimpse into a truly remarkable career.

 

You’ve been a pivotal part of both Joy Division and New Order. How do you feel each band shaped the evolution of music, and what did each represent to you personally?

The interesting thing was when we began, the evolution of music was very far from our minds. All we wanted to do was play and we just wanted to be free to do that. We were enjoying writing cos it was like our first time. It’s amazing how easy songs are to write when you don’t have any and then when you start getting a few under your belt they become much more difficult to write.

 

I suppose the whole thing about bands is, it comes down to chemistry and chemistry is quite an intangible thing; sometimes don’t even know that you have got it. When we began as Joy Division, we didn’t know we had it. So, we just did what came naturally and we were looking at other people and we emulated other bands as much as we could but whenever we emulated anybody, we seemed to sound unique and not like the source material, so we were very lucky in that respect.

 

As for the evolution of music, God what can you say? We were enjoying writing, we had a wonderful lyricist great guitarist, great bassist, it was the perfect combination for music, so we couldn’t go wrong really but obviously the only way it did go wrong was losing Ian in 1980 and then it was like driving with three wheels on your car instead of four and that carried on for a long time, but even with that handicap and not having Ian, the three of us managed to carry on writing and creating great music, it just took longer.

 

The wonderful compliment is when people listen to you and use you as a starting point; that is a wonderful compliment. It was exactly what we did with The Sex Pistols, The Clash, Kraftwerk, Lou Reed and the Velvet Underground, all those bands... you need somewhere to start. With the Sex pistols it was all the attitude and the image, it was about telling everyone to **** off which felt great when you were 20 years old. I was looking at Jonny Rotten and I thought that’s what I want to do. So we decided to form a band, and once you form a band everything becomes completely different. It becomes a 24-hour vocation and an obsession, and I have never recovered from that obsession. But it is a great compliment when people use you as a starting point or quote you as an influence.

The evolution of music is a tricky one. We used the Joy Division money to fund New Order’s technological breakthrough if you like.

 

Well, it’s massively different; one band’s sound is completely different from the other?

Well, I wouldn’t say it was completely different. I’d say you have three strong threads running through it: me, Steve and Barney, and the technology helped us develop a different type of sound, whereas Joy Division was a very pure rock. New Order became Rock with Dance.

 

Was it a conscious decision to do that?

Yes, it was a conscious decision, Barney wanted to mess around with synthesisers. I wasn’t that bothered myself as I was happily ensconced in playing bass and I was happy making rock music. I was dragged into that world of synthesisers and rock, but luckily we were able to change and able to use it very much to our own devices. As an evolution the equipment at that time was really a revolution at that time: late ’70s early ’80s, and our manager was very forward-thinking. He sort of realised way before we did. We balked at the cost of all the equipment. For example, we spent £2000 in 1980, which is the equivalent of £25000 now!

 

Your bass playing style is iconic and quite unique. How did you develop that distinctive sound, and who were your early influences?

My early influences were Jean-Jaques Burnel from the Stranglers, for the sound, and Paul Simonon from the Clash for the length of strap because I thought he looked really cool with his guitar so low. So, once I had the sound and the strap length really you couldn’t stop me.

 

With Joy Division, the band’s music and lyrics often reflected darker themes. How did the atmosphere within the band change after Ian Curtis's death, and how did that influence the formation of New Order? The whole period of the ’80s, compared to the ’70s, I think was much brighter and much more modern, if you like, so I think we were instrumental in sort of just lighting up. When we started Joy Division we were very serious about punk music and very serious about sounding dark and strong and rocky and we just followed our noses. When we started New Order we didn’t say come on we don’t want to sound like Joy Division, we knew it wasn’t Joy Division right from the start and as we progressed through the song writing phases we did, whether it was unconsciously or consciously, we did lighten up. The thing about synthesisers is that they’re very bright sounding, so it encouraged you to be a bit more melodic. So, it was a bit like being directed down the right street.

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What comes first, the tune or the lyrics?

With New Order it was nearly always the music; the lyrics and vocal melodies came after. It was the same in Joy Division. I remember Ian coming in one day and saying I have an idea for a song and it goes ‘de de dede da da da’ and we went, right ok. That idea became ‘Failures of the Modern Man’! Some of them can grow from tiny seeds. Some take hours and some take months and some take years. ‘Blue Monday’ took six months and ‘Love Will Tear Us Apart’ took three hours.

 

The weird thing is you get all these music colleges, and there are lots of them now, but none of them teach songwriting, because song writing is the dark art. If you look at David Bowie as a musician and you look at him as a song writer my God, it’s like he’s sold his soul to the Devil. To write the music that he did, and even me as a songwriting musician who has written 500-600 songs, I look at Bowie’s output and I think ‘Wow! Neil Young Wow!’ There are certain people who are born to write songs. You can’t explain how to write a song, you can either do it or you can’t. 

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You’ve written memoirs about your time in both bands. Was revisiting your past a cathartic experience, or did it bring back difficult memories you’d rather leave behind?

Both! It was cathartic and it made me realise how much we had done at a very bad time. My three books were written after New Order split so there was no joy in doing it, because of the way New Order split. It was very painful and it still is. I still disagree with them entirely, with them trying to pass themselves as New Order. They are not New Order and they never will be. To me they are an affront to the fans that they pretend to be New Order. None of my books had a happy ending, which is really sad. I am now halfway through my fourth book which is called ‘How Not To Be A DJ’, which goes through the New Order court case. It was so painful and frustrating writing it.

 

Looking back now, do you see any chance of reconciliation or collaboration in the future?

Mate, I would rather die than go on stage with them ****kers. It’s a crazy mix of ego, stubbornness, creativity and the thwarting you feel. It’s the classic story of betrayal isn’t it...

 

You’ve toured extensively, performing Joy Division’s albums live. What drives you to continue sharing that part of your history, and how do fans today respond to it?

I don’t see a difference, from a musical thing or a song point of view, to songs that I wrote in Joy Division and New Order. When I started celebrating the Joy Division albums, I had ignored the albums for 30 years and it was really interesting when I got “you’re cashing in” comments, when you had ignored them for so long. I must be the world’s worst casher-inner! But once I had started it I didn’t want to let it go. My ambition then became to play every song that Joy Division wrote and recorded, which I did, and I even finished a couple of Joy Division songs that had been written but not recorded or finished.

 

We actually played them all in one gig. We played all 54 songs in the church where Ian Curtis used to be in the choir when he was a kid. We did it to raise money as the building needed rebuilding. Once I had done that, I realised I should do it with the New Order songs, so I started going through the New Order albums. My hope is to do every New Order song that we have ever written and recorded. I’m well on the way and I’ve only got two more albums to go through, after we have done ‘Get Ready’ next year in Manchester.

 

Did the fans come across from Joy Division to New Order?

No, I don’t think they came. When we first started playing Joy Division and New Order songs, and we played the New Order stuff first, the Joy Division fans would go to the bar. And if we played the Joy Division stuff first then the New Order fans would go to the bar. What I notice now, with ‘Substances’ in particular, now nobody goes to the bar! So, in a funny way, not only have we educated ourselves, but we have brought the fans along with us which is wonderful.

 

Manchester has been such an important part of your musical career. How do you think the city’s music scene has changed since the days of Factory Records and the Haçienda?

I was part of four huge movements: Punk, Post-Punk, Acid House and Madchester, and in all fairness, I have done enough. I am not a great fan of bands coming back. I remember the Stone Roses when they were glorious, and when they came back and I was watching them at Man City; they didn’t have the same feel, but that could have been me.  

 

As someone who’s been a musician for decades, how do you feel about the current state of the music industry, especially with streaming and the shift away from traditional album sales... and what advice would you give to young musicians?

I was lucky as we were part of what they call the golden period of music. We were selling so many records that everything was done for us. Now if you get played on Spotify you pretty much get nothing, which is split between the manager of the record company and the band, so at the end of it you’re getting nowhere near anything like. As a new band you pretty much have to do everything, as there is no one there to do anything for you. You have to do your own design, upload your music, post out your tee shirts, fund it yourself pretty much everything.