VERSIÓN EN ESPAÑOL: Peter Hook, bajista y compositor: “La banda que no sonaba a Joy Division, lo hacía como New Order”

1. Today you’re celebrating the 40th anniversary of Joy Division, and also the 10th of the Light. What is your feeling about this big date?

I mean, we were supposed to be playing today, to a sold-out crowd of 200 people in Glasgow; so, obviously, we couldn't do it. I feel disappointed to not be able to celebrate it in the best way; but in a way, I’m very glad to be here, because of this thing, the coronavirus, many people are not with us now. I'm amazed that Joy Divion's still as popular or much more popular now than they were in 1980.

2. It will also be a memorial for Ian Curtis, the former lead singer from Joy Division...

To sing Ian's words and get a new appreciation when I just played the bass, has been wonderful, inspiring, breathless, because of how he made melodies, lyrics. When we were as part of the band, he was a very unusual lead singer, because he wanted me to sing. I never met no one like him then and now. His voice was for poetry, mine is for punk. I never compared myself to him in any way.

3. For the audience, it will be amazing to hear those songs, but how do you manage that nostalgia?

There's very little of Joy Division for the people to listen to, because of the era, the recorders. My take of Joy Division with The Light, is that I play the music as the record. Also, a lot of people just heard about the band only by an album. I celebrate that. I will not play as them, and I'm not pretending to sound like them, I leave that to New Order, pretending something they are not.

4. Also, “Low Life”, one of the most iconic albums of New Order, just reached 35 years since the release. Was this transition from post punk to new wave instinctive?

It never stops to amaze me for how many groups are influenced by Joy Division. The bands that don't sound like Joy Division, sound like New Order. When we were part of the band, we had no idea of the effect that we were gonna have on everybody. We were just living in hope. The fact that groups are impressed and enthused for something that we did 40 years ago, is wild, strange; but theres's also this sadness because of what happened to Ian. With the conception and sound, things were different in New Order.

5. Your influence on the bass also was a firm of an epoch, considering that you were almost self-taught

As a musician, I never studied so well. I was never taught, so I could'nt even tune my instrument. Luckily for me, somebody out there light me and they gave me the ability to please Ian Curtis in particular. The reason that I played high on the bass, was that Bernard's guitar was so loud, that the only way I could hear myself was to play high. Ian loved that, and he encouraged me every time he had the chance to do it. So "She Lost Control", "Insight", "Shadowplay", among others, you're looking at songs that came from that. It became my trade.

6. You said that you never met no one as Ian. Did you ever felt something that amazed you as in the eighties?

No, but it has to do with age. When the eighties begun, I was as miserable as sin, with no career. We started very at the bottom, without anything. To put back Joy Division, when Ian died, was unusual and difficult. The only thing that changed with New Order was that we got more experience.

6:00 morning (local time) The streaming concert is free, and it only will be available for 24 hours. You can also participate in the donation for the Epilepsy Society.

2 platforms in were you can see the concert, Facebook of Joy Division and Peter Hook & The Light Youtube.

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