As co-founder and bassist in pioneering post-punk bands Joy Division and New Order, performing since 2010 with Peter Hook & the Light, ‘Hooky’ easily qualifies for legendary status. Ahead of the Get Ready album tour, he gave his thoughts.
Joy Division’s 1979 breakout album Unknown Pleasures was propelled by a distinctive sound. Its success and endurance are often credited to Hook’s unique playing style: ‘high neck’, melodic bass-driven tracks.
His description of the genre-defining creative process makes it seem much more relatable. A bass novice facing guitarist Bernard’s powerful amplifier – “this wonderful Vox UD30 that was ridiculously loud” – Hook “could only hear [himself] when [he] played high”. In practices, “Ian Curtis, our very sadly deceased lead singer, would immediately go ‘Whoa that sounds great’, […] and that was how it started,” building the songs ‘against’ a bassline.
Leading with bass, for Hooky, is “a curse and a blessing” – an iconic musical signature, but not without challenges, finding himself incompatible with other bands; they just end up sounding like New Order, apparently. He poses the cliche of bass backing the guitar, and “the most hateful thing” he’s heard in his career: “can’t you just follow the guitar?” – something he “never could do” as “I can’t do the low bit”.
After Curtis’s death and New Order’s beginning, their adoption of changing technologies found Hook “fighting with lots of keyboards”. “As tastes changed […] it became more of a tussle”, contributing to Hooky’s ultimate departure from the band.
In advice to aspiring bassists, Hook offers encouragement; “my start was inauspicious – I didn’t even know what a bloody bass guitar was!”. Though this didn’t come unqualified: “I’ve been very lucky […] It’s literally 50:50 snakes and ladders in this business,”. Seeing the industry landscape restructure throughout his career and the internet age, Hook is emphatic that making money from music is harder nowadays, citing collapses in artist revenue compared to New Order’s heyday. “All I had to do was play the music and record and write. Now […] they have to do everything themselves,”. He maintains that careers are still possible. “You can earn a living gigging, which is nice. We’re like wandering minstrels, but the way music is consumed is not nice,”.
It’s not just the industry that’s changed – the audience has too. Younger fans are discovering the discography through social media, TV, and their parents. Finding this new generation of listeners is “the greatest compliment in the world”. Originally struck seeing younger faces in Peter Hook & The Light crowds, it’s perhaps unsurprising – “You’re hearing music made by young people and it does carry through”. The magnificent staying power of the music is not lost on him, emphasising “for Unknown Pleasures still to be even more important now than it was when we made it is a wonderful compliment to all four musicians involved”.
Photo: Northern Life Magazine
Not wholly caught up in the nostalgia, touring as Peter Hook & The Light brings refreshment. Each tour spotlights a past album in its entirety (alongside the hits, of course), “In New Order we got stuck in a deep groove of playing the same songs […]for 30 years, I would’ve known 20 songs. With Peter Hook & the Light, I can play 150”.
This passion for cherishing the albums motivates him to share them on stage. Comparing his original performances and upcoming tour, “My skin’s a lot wrinklier and my hair’s a lot thinner. But I do like to think I have the same attitude […] that I think our music’s great. And to be able to share it in a room full of other people who think it’s great is the perfect thing for me to do.”
On the topic of a changed live music scene, Hook admits student venues “were very, very important in the start of our career as Joy Division and New Order,”. I asked Hooky if he’s interested in reviving the once-great venue Mandela Hall: “absolutely,” – fingers crossed!
PETER HOOK & THE LIGHT kick off their UK GET READY tour on 6 November 2025, playing Assembly Hall in Worthing. Tickets are available at www.peterhookandthelight.live.
