PETER Hook & The Light launch the British and Irish leg of their Substance world tour at York Barbican on Thursday.
Make that Substance times two in a concert where bassist Hook and co will play those compilation albums by his former bands Joy Division and New Order in full on a 17-date tour that also takes in Bradford St George’s Hall on November 1.
“It still amazes me how enjoyable it is to play the Substance LPs,” said Peter in his tour announcement. “The contrast between Joy Division and New Order is very apparent, but both complement each other very well.
“My only frustration is not being able to play more of our records each night. I am totally looking forward to the next phase. So, let’s enjoy some Substance and get ready for the future. Lots of love, Hooky.”
Hook, now 68, first revisited Joy Division’s Unknown Pleasures in May 2010 for a commemorative charity concert, setting in motion his concert re-play of subsequent albums by both Manchester bands, one per year: Closer, Still, Movement, Power Corruption & Lies, Low Life, Brotherhood, Technique and Republic to this juncture while amassing 600 concerts en route.
Get ready for his re-visit of New Order’s seventh album, Get Ready, next April in Bristol, Manchester and London after focusing on Factory Records’ brace of Substance compilations in Australia, New Zealand, North America and now the UK and Ireland.
“Every time we made a new album, we hardly played it again, so it’s been great to play all those albums live as as I feel they should be played,” says Peter. “Now, because New Order are so commercial, either me or my son came up with idea of doing both Substance albums together because they’re so contrasting.
“Joy Division’s album [Substance 1977-1980] is so intense and full of B-sides, whereas New Order’s album is just hits wall to wall more or less, and everyone knows them all.
“I like Joy Division being more difficult, finishing with our best-known work [Love Will Tear Us Apart],so as long as we do that one well, fine!
“The tracks are just not like New Order [witness Warsaw, Leaders Of Men, Digital, Autosuggestion and Incubation], and it used to be that Joy Division fans would go to the bar during New Order songs and vice versa, but now they watch both.”
The Substance concerts will feature the track listing of both albums in their vinyl editions complemented by 12 tracks per night from the more comprehensive CD versions. “If someone wants to be ornery and throw in one we haven’t done…” challenges Peter.
Hook’s melodic bass remains one of the most distinctive guitar sounds in rock after 48 years. “My mother once said you’ve got to have a gimmick in showbusiness,” he says. “She saw us once at the [Manchester] Arena, but she didn’t like it. ‘I won’t bother again,’ she said. ‘Why don’t you get a proper job like your brother?’. He was a policeman!
“If I knew where that bass playing came from, I’d bottle it and be a millionaire. I do thank Ian Curtis for encouraging me to play that way, whereas Barney [Bernard Sumner] said ‘follow the guitar’. I said I’d only follow it to the bar!
“I’m the driver. I always was and I still am. I want a great melody. I remember people saying I can always tell it’s you, and at first I thought that was bad! You can get paranoid about it, but the more I sound like me, the happier I am. Now, when someone asks me to play on something, they want me to sound like me.
“When you’ve written 400 songs, riffs can become difficult to write, but I’m still enjoying it and I love the fact that people are grateful. Like Wolfgang Flür, from Kraftwerk, asking me to play on two songs or Damon Albarn asking me to play on Aries, a number one for Gorillaz in America.”
Joining Hook on tour will be David Potts, his regular companion from Monaco and Revenge, on guitar and vocals, new addition Martin Rebelski, from Doves, on keyboards, and Paul Kehoe on drums.
“Paul Duffy, who normally plays with The Coral, will be playing with us as my son [bassist Jack Bates] is away with Smashing Pumpkins on a world tour. Jack is the only bass player I’ve met who can play just like me, and he can do other styles as well, so he’s better than me.”
Don’t expect a rapprochement between Hook and his former Joy Division and New Order cohorts Bernard Sumner and Stephen Morris any time soon. “When I started these concerts, Barney and Stephen were so adamant, so desperate, that I shouldn’t do it, but I thought, ‘why are you saying that?,” he says.
“I did wonder who would come, but I’ve been delighted so many young people have come through hearing the songs on the radio or through the film [Control]. What I adore about the audience is that they have great taste in music and without them I’d be nothing.”
Peter Hook & The Light, Substance World Tour, York Barbican, October 10, doors 7pm; start 8pm; curfew 11pm. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk. Also: Tomorrow’s Ghosts Festival, Whitby Pavilion, November 2. Box office: tomorrowsghostsfestival.co.uk.
