Peter Hook says he receives DMs from fans complaining about New Order’s gigs.
The 69-year-old musician was the co-founder and bassist of the legendary new wave group, which was formed by the surviving members of post-punk group Joy Division – also including Bernard Sumner and Stephen Morris – following the suicide of frontman Ian Curtis in 1980.
Peter quit New Order in 2007, due to friction with his bandmates, and he went on to form Peter Hook and The Light in 2010, which sees he and his band perform albums by New Order and Joy Division.
New Order also still tour, with their latest jaunt have kicked off in February.
However, not all fans are happy with the bass playing, according to Peter, and neither is he.
Tom Chapman has been their bassist since 2010.
In an interview with The i Paper, Peter lamented: “I don’t think they’re New Order. They don’t sound anything like them. I’ve watched them play songs [online] recently, and they’ve dropped the basslines and play it like some weird, bad cover version of a New Order track. So the animosity is obviously still there now.”
Asked if he thinks it’s a dig at him, he replied: “Well, do you think it makes the song better?”
Revealing the messages he is inundated with from their fans, he added: “They’re like, ‘You can’t hear the bass!’ Obviously, there is a certain smugness one could adopt. But I’m, obviously, way above all that.”
Peter also slammed his former bandmates for not publicly acknowledging Joy Division’s nomination for entry into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame this year.
If they make the Class of 2025, Peter plans to attend.
He said: “I tell you, I’ll be there. But I think I might be on my own.”
He added of their radio silence on the nod: “I think it’s an insult for fans of both bands.”
Peter quipped that if they all turned up, it would turn into fisticuffs.
He joked: “I believe they tried to buy a boxing ring and three pairs of gloves. Straight to MMA!”
Peter also reflected on the tragic loss of Ian and how they never properly grieved the singer, who was just 23 when he passed away.
He said: “We didn’t grieve enough.
“I wish we’d have grieved him more. But we were allowed to sort of ignore it because we were so young.”
They simply buried their feelings and focused on New Order.
Asked how they coped with the trauma, he replied: “Literally, all we did was gather as a group in a pub and sit there. Then we just threw ourselves into New Order and sort of erased before. It’s like getting rid of old pictures of your ex-girlfriend – ‘No, never had anything to do with that!’”
Peter Hook and The Light are performing New Order’s ‘Get Ready’ album on tour between April 17 and 19.