You can't buy class.
Peter Hook
Nobody is the same. If we were all the same it would be bloody boring.
For the first 18 months of Joy Division, we used our jobs to fund the band. We'd all chip in three, five quid to go and do a gig. But it was worth it. It was amazing we could afford to feed ourselves. But we were so creatively and artistically satisfied. You can't explain that to somebody who's never been there.
Originally, I didn't play any New Order when I deejayed. I suppose it comes from being a little embarrassed or humble or whatever. But people were coming to see me because of New Order, so in the end, I had to realize that if they were using my name on the poster, then maybe I should play some of the music.
What I've learned is that life is a balance between idealism and realism.
I've watched so-called 'New Order' playing in Auckland, and Tom Chapman is miming along to my bass on tape... He's got his fingers on the low, and you can hear my high bass in the background. So he's miming.
I'd rather have ten people who are mad for it than ten thousand who aren't.
I've stayed in hotels where you were scared to even put your feet on the floor, or had to sleep in a chair.
You don't get many chances in the world, and you don't want to throw them away.
At my age, I only travel business class because I just don't bend anymore; my body can't cope with it.
The worst words I could ever hear as a bass player was, 'Can you play the root notes?'
There are so little outtakes from the Joy Division era. We didn't have much money. You couldn't be very generous in recording, so we were very thrifty in how we recorded. Everything was very, very well looked after financially because we just couldn't afford it.
The scary thing is when I did my set in Texas everyone was excited. The show was great. I was done and the next DJ put something on vinyl and the difference! The quality!!
I'm not a good flyer. Because I do it so much, I think the odds of something going wrong are not in my favour.
Yeah, I still feel as if I have things to do really. I'm not ready to stop.
I am always working on new material with my production partner Phil Murphy in our guise as Man Ray; we do a lot of soundtrack work & some great collaborations.
I was reading an article about Kings of Leon's bass player, who said that he was directly influenced by Joy Division and by me. I was like, 'Woah!' It surprised me. It's a great compliment.
Dance music tends to be a solitary affair.
Any coalition, especially where one party is more powerful than the other, it's always bound to have a pecking order.
I've been very grateful and humbled by the fact that young people really dig Joy Division's music. It's a great testament to the chemistry and the songwriting prowess between the four original members.
I think people expect mud at festivals, I think you'd be asking for your money back if you didn't get it.
To be in one band that changed the world musically is pretty good, but to be in two bands that changed the world musically, that's amazing.
You look at 30 Seconds to Mars, and you don't think, 'Ooh, I bet they're angry.' No one really does anger these days. I suppose it's a turn-off.
Over the years, Joy Division has become a huge part of music culture.
When I started DJing years ago, I took great delight in annoying the audience. Playing Johnny Cash in the middle of a banging night.
There are so many bootlegged Joy Division/Martin Hannett tapes, a lot of really bad bootlegs on the Internet.
America stopped making vinyl and phased out the single but Germany held out and refused. Warner's never phased out vinyl in Germany. Now America imports it!
I am man enough to be able to admit my own mistakes. I think that is an important trait to have.
What was punk all about? To me, it was if you really want to do something, go ahead and do it.
Bass players are always the underdogs of the band, but I made sure that I was never viewed as one. I went out of my way to steal as much limelight as I could.
It was nice doing my own Joy Division book to be able to put forward the fact that Ian was actually quite a nice guy and very hardworking, ambitious and loyal. But the thing was, he was battling such a dreadful illness in an era when they really didn't know how to treat it.
There are seven songs finished and on par with any that are on Siren's.
'Love Will Tear Us Apart' is very simply written.
Madonna's like a black widow spider. She tends to use people, then they shrivel up and disappear.
New Order never celebrated anything to do with Joy Division.
A poetic, sensitive, tortured soul, the Ian Curtis of the myth - he was definitely that.
Democracy for us tends to be has to do with who shouts the loudest!
Sarcasm is a Manchester trait.
Knowing very little about a band only adds to the allure.
The reason Joy Division and New Order are as influential and successful as they are is because of the unique playing of all the individuals.
There are lots of Joy Division songs that are so powerful when played live, some of which we did either never play or played very rarely.
People go and hide, but I don't. I'm a fighter.
It's really nice to be able to do what I'm doing without having to compromise with another musician.
I just like keeping busy and having ten things on the go.
When I play a gig and look out at the audience, you're literally looking at a sea of Joy Division T-shirts.
I'm one of those old cynics that thinks, whoever you vote for, the government always gets in.
I regularly go to concerts with my children sharing the music.
I look back on Joy Division very fondly indeed. I know that, of course, the band came to a tragic end, but that does not change the fact that Joy Division was a great band to be a part of.
I don't find imitating other people's music easy at all. I remember being fifth in line for a Rolling Stones tour, early '90s, when Bill Wyman left, and I was hoping against hope that I wouldn't get the call to audition. I wouldn't be able to play a Stones song if you put a gun to my head.
'Unknown Pleasures' is a very important record for me. It was the first LP that I recorded.
