Peter Hook's book came out last week in America. He is currently doing a brief run of author events across the country (see info below). My review of the title and overview of last Friday's LA appearance follows...
Unknown Pleasures: Inside Joy Division
It Books
Hardcover, 386 pgs.
$27.99
[Also available as eBook from HarperCollins]
Joy Division emerged from the late ‘70s post-punk era and
over the next
decade, heavily influenced what would become known as alternative music.
Together for just a few years, the Manchester, England band put out two
entrancing studio albums featuring songs of alienation while still a touring
entity.
Here in America,
many people first became aware of the quartet’s music via college radio and the
1980 single “Love Will Tear Us Apart” - released in the aftermath of singer Ian
Curtis’ tragic suicide.
Now founding bassist Peter Hook (formerly of New Order) has traced
the band’s brief history in a compelling new book, Unknown Pleasures: Inside
Joy Division. It is the follow up to his acclaimed, UK-only 2009 publication,
The Hacienda: How Not to Run a Club.
 |
| pictured: Bernard Sumner, Peter Hook, Ian Curtis |
The black cover is designed to mirror the
original namesake album's pulsar line artwork.
Pictures
of old ticket stubs (including the infamous June 4, 1976 concert in Manchester by
the Sex Pistols that prompted the Joy Division members and countless others to
form their own bands), handwritten notes, lyric sheets, contracts, posters, instruments
and various archival snapshots are placed throughout the book. There’s even a
handy index.
Divided into five parts and 31 chapters, Hook provides specific
timelines, where he goes into greater detail about events like recording
sessions and gigs (complete with setlists from later tours).
On the first page, he writes “this book is the truth, the
whole truth and nothing but the truth…as I remember it.” Everything starts off with
an anecdote about Joy Division’s first gig under that name (having ditched the
Stiff Kittens and Warsaw
moniker from 1977 tours) in January ‘78 before 30 people at Pips Discotheque in
Manchester. The
bassist struggled to prevent a string from popping out as he played and a fight
ensued. Offenders were thrown out and the musicians ended up finishing the set
to an empty room.
Keeping with Hook’s usual sense of humor, the chapter headings
include memorable quotes: “The twats were flicking the V’s up at us,” “I
told him exactly where he could stick his vibrators,” “It was like The X Factor
for punks,” “He thought we were pricks and how right he was” and plenty more.
Despite Joy Division’s reputation as gloom merchants, Hook partially
dispels that notion by revealing that the twentysomething males also had fun
times (practical jokes on The Buzzcocks, hijinks with roadies, a William
Burroughs author signing, winding up each other and producer
Martin Hannett) and uncovers how he came up with that distinctive bass guitar
sound.
The recollections are rife with a sense of bravado that is
distinctly Hooky: at different points, he tells what some people were really
like early in their career (Midge Ure and Factory label mates OMD were nice
guys; The Cure? Apparently not).
While playing a 1979 show with Robert
Smith & Co., he says they probably “resented us in some way because we’d managed to stay
cool, credible and independent and they’d sort of sold out a bit…I think they
thought, ‘wish we were Joy Division.’”
That one paragraph has recently drawn attention by
international music media, as has the fact that current members of New Order have
predictably denounced the book.
Longtime enthusiasts should revel in the detailed track by
track guide to Unknown Pleasures and Closer, which Hook suggests reading as the
albums are played. Although I’d interviewed Hook twice in the past, even I was fascinated by some details.
For example, on “She’s Lost Control,” an aerosol can was used for some
drum effects and Hannett recorded a flight case being kicked around. Before recording “Love
Will Tear Us Apart,” Factory Records head Tony Wilson encouraged Curtis to sing like
Frank Sinatra.
Hook writes that he regrets missing signs of Curtis’ downward spiral,
yet attributes some of it to youthful ignorance. Plus whenever the singer was asked, he always said
everything was fine.
All told, Unknown Pleasures: Inside Joy Division is a
must-read for fans.
* * * *
Peter Hook appeared at Skylight Books in Los Angeles on
Feb. 1 to promote his book.
At least a couple hundred people packed into the small store to
watch the former Joy Division/New Order bassist chat with
British music journalist/author Simon Reynolds for an hour and take a few questions from the audience.
They discussed how it was a testament to the influence of Joy Division - not exactly a commercial success during its run - that it was portrayed in two feature films ("24 Hour Party People," "Control"), while mega groups like Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd had not.
Hook said "24 Hour" director Michael Winterbottom was
going for a more comedic aesthetic in the manner of the old British “Carry On” films,
while Anton Corbijn sought authenticity with "Control."
Corbijn prepped the actors
more, instructing them, “Ian wouldn’t do that.” Hook joked that he thought Sam Riley was too good-looking
to play Curtis in "Control," but the portrayal of Curtis in "24 Hour" seemed true to form.
A macabre moment in the talk came while Hook was discussing Curtis
and one of the bookstore’s light fixtures suddenly came crashing down and the
bassist inferred it was Curtis giving us a sign. Fortunately nobody was hurt.
Hook said he and Bernard Sumner didn’t have
an inkling about starting a band until they saw the infamous Sex Pistols gig at
the Lesser Free Trade Hall in 1976.
“We were into heavy metal bands like Deep Purple and
Santana.”
Once the pair was blown away by the sheer din of the Pistols
and impressed by the opening act, they knew they had to
start a band. But Hook didn’t even know what a bass guitar was.
“I went to
the instrument shop and said ‘give me a bass.’ The guy said, ‘which one’ and I
said, ‘that will do.’”
A funny anecdote found Hook describing a tour-ending prank directed at The Buzzcocks where Joy Division gathered maggots, shaving crème and mice to unleash on them.
Once the Skylight program was opened up to fans’ questions, Hook
relayed that his all-time fave New Order album was "Technique" (“I don’t know
how we even managed to finish it”) and that he listened to New Order's just released "Lost
Sirens" album of outtakes and was pleased about how good it sounded.
Likewise, Hook found a fresh appreciation for the first two New Order albums while preparing them for a tour with his own band The Light (he plans on touring the US in the
fall).
Hook said that Ian Curtis was so simpatico with Joy Division producer
Martin Hannett that after Curtis died, the remaining members didn’t really know what to
do in the studio at first.
“There was no one around to say this or that was a
good bit, so we’d play for 20 minutes, listen back on tape and figure it out.”
Curtis turned the guys onto a lot of cool music they’d never
heard like Iggy & the Stooges, The Doors and Velvet Underground.
“Ian would come over and
say, ‘Listen to this album’…people used to say we sounded like The Doors and I
was like, ‘Who?’ Later, we’d play ‘Riders on the Storm’ live and nobody
noticed!”
After a question about early Joy Division sessions with Martin
Rushent (Human League), Hook said he thought he and Sumner were
the best producers of their own material.
Touching upon Joy Division’s unique sound, the bassist said Hannett was
a master at creating space in the songs.
And finally, will the current sour relationship with
remaining members of New Order and attendant legal issues with them ever be resolved?
"It’s like you’re
divorcing the wife, then she’s taking the scissors to all your clothes and someone
asks, ‘do you think you’ll get back together?’”.
Upcoming Peter Hook author appearances:
Tuesday, Feb. 5 | 6 PM
Museum of Contemporary Art
220 E. Chicago Ave., Chicago, IL
Wednesday, Feb. 6 | 7 PM
Book Revue
313 New York Ave., Huntington, NY
Thursday, Feb. 7 | 7 PM
Brookline
Booksmith
279 Harvard St., Brookline, MA
Friday, Feb. 8 | 7 PM
Porter
Square Books
25 White St., Porter Square Shopping Center, Cambridge, MA
harpercollins.com
peterhook.co.uk
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