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New Order Dispute: Peter Hook Addresses Ex-Bandmate Bernard Sumner's Latest Claims

New Order Peter Hook Bernard SumnerPeter Hook and Bernard Sumner in happier times (MJ Kim, Getty)

In an interview with Billboard, former Joy Division and New Order bassist Peter Hook addresses estranged New Order singer Bernard Sumner's recent comments to Spinner, attempting to set the record straight about a variety of accusations made against him.

The embittered former bandmates have waged a public war of words since Hook left the band in 2007, determined to "fuck New Order over in any possible way," as he told Spinner in 2011.

Now however, Hook claims that Sumner, drummer Stephen Morris and keyboardist Gillian Gilbert are the antagonists in the dispute, accusing the trio of reuniting for financial gain.

"At the start it was quite shocking because when I was [with them], they wouldn't gig. And then, all of a sudden, you have an economic crisis and they're they all out there gigging, so God bless them," Hook told Billboard.

"I take it with a pinch of salt. I say it's more about financial stability than it is about music. The thing that I dislike about them most is the way that they just keep playing the greatest hits all the time. That was one of the things that I hated when I was there -- when we were actually New Order, as opposed to a New Order tribute band, which is what I feel that they are now. They are as much New Order as I am Joy Division. In a funny way, now that I'm New Order, they are as much New Order as I am New Order."

Hook also commented on Sumner's claim that the band members are happier without him, referring to his replacement in the band as a "bass player who does what he's told."

"I would imagine that most people who have been backstage after a New Order gig can make up their own minds about that particular statement," Hook said. "But if they are happier, then it must have been me (making them unhappy). I think probably the thing that Bernard is happiest about is that nobody says boo to a goose now, because the whole mantra used to be don't upset Bernard. Well, now he's got nobody to upset him. He's got what he's always wanted, which is a bass player who does what he's told."

To read the interview in full (and if you're a fan, you should definitely do so), click here.


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BetterTasteThnU

Somehow even when he gets the last word Hooky manages to make himself look like the major pain in the ass he'd like us to believe Bernard is. Quite a feat.

January 29 2013 at 5:17 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Alisa Rusu

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January 29 2013 at 8:52 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply