Peter Hook Courtesy of Fac51/Stefano Maselli

Peter Hook and the Light
March 27
Klub Palladium
ul. Złota 9
Warsaw

Peter Hook, bass player and founding member of the seminal Manchester bands Joy Division and New Order, returns to Warsaw this March just over 12 months on from his new band’s first show here. This time round they will be playing both of Joy Division’s critically acclaimed albums “Unknown Pleasures” and “Closer” in their entirety, in what will be the band’s 150th live show since they formed in 2011. Here “Hooky” talks to WBJ about Joy Division, New Order, and his upcoming Warsaw gig.

David Ingham: Joy Division were originally named after the Polish capital. Why was that?

Peter Hook: Well at first the band was called the Stiff Kittens but that was very early on in our career when we hadn’t really done anything of note. We changed our name to Warsaw because we thought it sounded cool and it was under that name that we recorded a lot of early material which was very punky. We actually changed our name to Joy Division initially because at the time there was another band called The Warsaw Pact who were bigger than we were and whenever we tried to get gigs the person on the other end of the phone would just say “Oh you’re not The Warsaw Pact?” then they wouldn’t book us.

What do you make of Warsaw and the Polish fans?

I think Warsaw is a fantastic city, I will always hold good memories of playing there. I must say our gig in Warsaw last year was amazing. My god, what an audience they were, it really blew us away. We were initially booked to play at a smaller venue. … But when we got to Palladium we were really surprised because it’s a great venue and it was packed out. And I couldn’t believe the range of people there, there were people who looked about 16, then there were others who looked even older than I am.

Will we ever see the original New Order lineup back together on stage again?

I really don’t think the original New Order lineup will ever play together again. It’s a great shame but that’s just the way it is now unfortunately. We are fighting each other through our lawyers at the moment. It’s sad and frustrating but they won’t negotiate with me so it looks like it won’t be ending any time soon. Of course I miss playing in New Order, but I’m having the best time I ever had on tour with my band now, so it all worked out in the end.