Peter Hook Says the Future of Freebass Is 'Unknown'

Posted on Feb 2nd 2011 5:00PM by Kenneth Partridge
Comments

24 Hour Service Station

It didn't last long, but Gary "Mani" Mounfield's public spat with Peter Hook sure was ugly. In September 2010, Mani blasted his partner in the all-bass supergroup Freebass, accusing Hook via Twitter of "hawking his mate's corpse around to get paid." The "mate" in question was Ian Curtis, late lead singer of Hook's first band, Joy Division. Hook has spent much of the year singing Curtis' songs, revisiting the group's 1979 debut, 'Unknown Pleasures' on a tour that crossed the United States this month.

Mani apologized days after his vicious Tweet, calling his rant "a venomous, spiteful reaction to a lot of things that are going on in my life," but it begs the question: Is this the end of Freebass, a group whose long-awaited debut album, 'It's a Beautiful Life,' was finally released in December?

"That's a good question," Hook tells Spinner. "I'd have to say I don't know at the moment."

Given the members' busy schedules, the future of Freebass was always a little uncertain. Earlier this year, Mani, formerly of the Stone Roses, announced he would join Primal Scream in staging several full-album performances of their 1991 classic 'Screamadelica.' The group has since added a string of dates, expanding the tour into March.

"Both Mani and I knew we had big projects coming up," Hook says. "We were both aware what we were doing with Freebass took second place -- the pair of them would have to be in tandem. We'd already committed ourselves to that, regardless of the fact Mani and I fell out for that short period. The truth is, it would have gone on the back burner anyway. The pair of us has to earn a living. Any new band anytime is difficult, so to indulge yourself in 'Unknown Pleasures' and 'Screamadelica' was too tempting to turn down."

Should Freebass call it quits, capping its output at one album and one EP, Hook says he'll have plenty to keep him busy.

"I've got a project I'm working on with a close friend called Man Ray that's more dance-based, and we've been doing some good stuff with that," the bassist says. "I've never really stopped. I do a lot all the time, so the thing is Freebass, I followed it through to its conclusion, which was to finish the record and I'm very happy with the record and the EP. We did some gigs and it didn't work out. In the old days, I would have soldiered on, but these days, at my age, I think that's not working. I want to move onto something else. I'm just carrying on. I'm having a great time."

"'Unknown Pleasures' is very, very enjoyable," he adds. "It's sort of given a new lease on life. I never thought for one minute it would be anywhere near as popular or as appreciated as it has. I'm really glad I made the decision to do that May celebration, because it has given me my own music back again, and that's a great gift, to get my music back again."

As for Mani's comments about profiting on Curtis' memory, Hook says he's not doing anything Bernard Sumner and Stephen Morris -- his former bandmates in both Joy Division and its offshoot, New Order -- haven't done with their new band, Bad Lieutenant.

"Maybe they haven't got a concept. Maybe they're just playing songs," Hook says. "The concept of what I do is playing the album start to finish, and I must say, it's one of the best decisions I've ever made."

Freebass' 'You Don't Know (This About Me)'