http://www.virginmedia.c...at-now-for-new-order.phpThirty three years into their career, have New Order reached an impasse? What will probably be their last album with bassist Peter Hook is an extended EP of rarities – stuff they've already recorded and reworked. Will there ever be anything new from the band who brought us hits like Blue Monday and True Faith. Luke Turner examines if and why we still need them.
...Are they still relevant?
It sometimes feels that there are so many heritage groups going that new bands must struggle to get a way in. And it's fair to say that those who just wearily trawl around the lucrative gig circuit without writing any new material ought to be sent out to pasture - here's looking at you, Pixies.
But now Peter Hook has quit New Order - and has wasted no time in putting across his side of the story - the rest of the band have things to prove: That they're not spent as a creative force, and can carry on without him. Hopefully this will give them the creative impetus they need to go on and write more great New Order material that'll hopefully continue to evolve their sound.
New Order's story is a long, tortuous and, at times painful one. As everyone knows, they formed after the suicide of Ian Curtis put an end to Joy Division - at first, it wasn't even that clear that Bernard Sumner would end up as their singer. For the last thirty years, New Order's career has been a very British mess of making do, including bankruptcy and the occasional blizzard of acrimony and dubious financial decisions. The Blue Monday sleeve that lost the band a fortune merely the most famous anecdote, followed by the painful collapse of Factory Records. It'd be a shame if they were now to end with a bitter split and one mini LP (good though it is) of outtakes.
The love for New Order stretches across music boundaries
The first time I saw New Order was in Finsbury Park in 2002 when I was a skinny, feckless youth. It had been raining all day, and the park was a mud bath. Yet when New Order came onstage, the skies suddenly cleared, Concord flew overhead en-route to Heathrow, and when the band played Joy Division songs for the first time in years, the vibes in the crowd went up to 11.
Halfway through Bizarre Love Triangle, my leg felt strangely warm… I turned round and realised 19 stone of skinhead lunatic was urinating on my leg. Even that couldn't ruin what was an amazing gig. The New Order crowd is a really diverse one - there are the now-affluent middle class males who were into them back in the day, the 80s rave casualties, loutish indie kids, techno heads, pop fans - New Order have something for everyone.
No Hooky, but what about Gillian?
For many years, New Order were without their fourth member, synth player Gillian Gilbert. Funnily enough, back then you didn't find people screaming "It's not New Order without Gillian" as they do now about Peter Hook leaving the band, and the rest carrying on under the New Order name. This seems to be a rather unpleasant case of rockist sexism - we can't do without the big lumbering bloke playing a bass guitar down by his knees, but the woman delivering the killer-synth lines isn't important.
The underrated powerhouse of New Order is man machine Stephen Morris - he's the one who had the geeky fascination with electronics and drum machines. Morris and Gilbert (who are partners and live on a farm outside Macclesfield) have previously recorded albums under the name The Other Two (a pointed dig at those who thought them anonymous compared to Hook and Sumner). The absence of Hook, and presence of Gillian working with Morris and Sumner, is going to be interesting as New Order continue.
Why we need New Order today
There aren't many groups who've managed to combine art (see the bonkers video for True Faith) and pop (the only decent World Cup song ever) quite like New Order. For whatever reason, at the moment there seems to be a view that art and pop are chalk and well, cheese. Electronic pop at the moment relies on steroid beats sourced from the sort of music that used to make us cringe on holiday visits to European clubs, and the curse of processed, Auto-tune vocals shows no sign of going away.
There's also been a separation between club music and what gets on the radio - gone are the days when a record could get played in sweaty basements, before making their way to the top of the charts. Could a rejuvenated New Order come up with new material that's as smart and accessible as their 80s heyday bring some intelligence, wit and genuine dancefloor energy back to mainstream British music?
Do you think New Order can continue without Peter Hook? Is it time the band called it a day? Let us know on Twitter @MusicOnVM.
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