Peter Hook and The Light | |
---|---|
Background information | |
Origin | United Kingdom |
Genres | |
Years active | 2010 | –present
Labels | Haçienda |
Spinoff of | |
Members | Peter Hook Jack Bates Paul Kehoe David Potts Martin Rebelski |
Past members | Andy Poole Nat Wason Fred Sablan Yves Altana Paul Duffy |
Website | peterhookandthelight |
Peter Hook and The Light are an English rock band, formed in May 2010 by bassist and vocalist Peter Hook, formerly of the influential post-punk bands Joy Division and New Order. The band also features Hook's son Jack Bates (bass), as well as Andy Poole (keyboards) and Paul Kehoe (drums), who both played with Hook as part of Monaco, one of Hook's previous groups. From the first gigs in May 2010, Nat Wason (formerly of Haven) was the group's guitarist, however in July 2013 he was replaced by David Potts, another former member of Monaco. [1] [2]
The band is noted for performing the Joy Division and New Order albums live. [3] [4] Their setlists primarily feature the two Joy Division albums, Unknown Pleasures and Closer or the first two New Order albums, Movement and Power, Corruption & Lies, depending on the respective tour. [5] [6] [7] The band gained some criticism from the other New Order members, Bernard Sumner and Stephen Morris (also of Joy Division) and Gillian Gilbert, after New Order's reunion without Hook.
The band is also occasionally accompanied by Rowetta, who performs guest vocals. [2]
The band's debut EP, 1102 | 2011 EP, was released on 9 May 2011. It features four Joy Division covers, one of which is a rework of "Pictures In My Mind" which was unreleased at that time. [2]
Hook was a founding member of Joy Division (1976-1980), which broke up after the suicide of vocalist Ian Curtis. The surviving members soon formed New Order, [8] with Hook handling lead vocals on a few early songs before Bernard Sumner became the band's primary singer. Both bands enjoyed success: Joy Division were recognized (after having disbanded) as an early example of post punk due to their experiments with the genre, [9] and New Order during their career as they fused post-punk with electronic dance music. [10] New Order had several hiatuses due to personal obligations and creative differences. In 2007, Hook stated that he and Sumner were no longer speaking or working together, and in 2009 Sumner announced he no longer wished to make music with New Order. [11] Nonetheless, New Order reunited in 2011 for live performances, without Hook.
Hook and his band began 2011 with more European tour dates, taking in Portugal, France, Spain, Netherlands, Finland and Norway. On 18 & 19 May 2011, one year on from when the band first played Unknown Pleasures live, Peter Hook and The Light performed Joy Division's second album, Closer, live for the first time, again with two sold out nights at Hook's Factory nightclub. The debut Closer shows were followed by more extensive touring, the band visited Brazil for the first time in June 2011 as well as performing at various festivals across Europe. In September 2011, Hook and his band embarked on their second North American tour, this time taking in 9 cities in the USA as well as visiting Canada for the first time to perform in Toronto and Montreal. As in 2010, Hook invited several of his famous friends to join him on stage as guest vocalists. Perry Farrell again joined the band at the Music Box in Los Angeles, this time to sing 'Isolation'. Moby performed a total of 7 songs live with The Light across the two dates in Los Angeles, while Smashing Pumpkins frontman Billy Corgan joined Hook on stage in Chicago to sing 'Transmission' and 'Love Will Tear Us Apart'. Following these dates, The Light played three sold out shows in Mexico, performing in Tijuana, Guadalajara and Mexico City. After these dates, the band took a short break before resuming touring in November with gigs in Israel, Greece, Denmark, Italy and Holland.
The Light began 2012 by performing Unknown Pleasures & Closer shows live in Luxembourg, Spain, Germany, Slovakia, Poland, Czech Republic, Russia, Finland, Norway, Sweden and Japan as well as back at home in the UK. The Light first performed both Joy Division albums live together in the same night at a special hometown show at the Buxton Opera House on 25 February 2012. The band also played 3 tracks from New Order's first album Movement at this show - a precursor of what would follow in 2013. The band's first proper UK tour took place in May/June 2012, and was followed by a second UK tour in November 2012. The Light also continued to tour in Europe with sold out shows in Belgium, France, Holland, Italy & Portugal.
In January 2013, Hook turned his focus from Joy Division to New Order and performed the first two New Order albums, Movement and Power, Corruption & Lies , live for the first time at 3 special shows in the UK. The band performed an intimate, warm-up show at Clwb Ifor Bach, in Cardiff before then performing two large, sold out shows at KOKO in London and the Manchester Cathedral. The Manchester Cathedral show was later released as a live album by online recording company Play Concert. Following these shows, the band took a short break before resuming their shows performing the Joy Division material in more new places including Slovenia, Croatia, Hungary, Switzerland and Austria as well as with return visits to Poland and Russia. Summer 2013 saw The Light perform at various festivals including EJEKT 2013 in Athens, Greece & the 2013 MIDI Festival in the south of France. On 23 June 2013, Peter Hook and The Light performed both Joy Division albums live in Ian Curtis' hometown of Macclesfield, within the unique surroundings of Christ Church. The Light also performed their Movement and Power, Corruption & Lies set for only the fourth time ever by returning to the Buxton Opera House on 23 July 2013.
September 2013 saw Peter Hook and The Light officially begin their Movement and Power, Corruption & Lies world tour, which spanned both North & South America as well as the UK & Ireland. The band also returned to Greece to follow their 2011 Unknown Pleasures shows by performing Closer live in Athens & Thessaloniki.
Following their 2013 tour of Movement and Power, Corruption, and Lies, Peter Hook and the Light embarked on a North American fall tour in 2014, performing the New Order albums Low-life and Brotherhood.
In February 2015 the band toured Australia and New Zealand playing a 50-minute selection of Joy Division tracks, the New Order albums Low-Life and Brotherhood and some New Order singles. On 18 May 2015, the band performed a complete retrospective performance of Joy Division's entire catalogue, in chronological order, in Christ Church. This was to mark the 35th anniversary of the death of Joy Division frontman Ian Curtis. The event sold out in minutes. [12]
In June, Jack Bates became the touring bass player for The Smashing Pumpkins for their The End Times Tour. [13]
In 2016, the band toured Europe and the UK playing singles mainly from Joy Division's Substance album, and on some tour dates the singles from New Order's Substance album. Starting in June, the band continued touring in the UK, and then the United States and Canada where they would play both a New Order set and a Joy Division set with tracks from Substance. [14] [15] [16] In December, the band toured South America. [17] The band continued touring in 2017 with gigs in England and Wales, and plans to tour Australia and the United States. [18] [19] In 2017, for Record Store Day, the band released four live albums covering their concert gigs in Dublin, Leeds, and Manchester, where they covered the Joy Division albums Closer and Unknown Pleasures, as well as the New Order albums Movement and Power Corruption & Lies. [20] [21] In 2018, the band continued touring in Australia, Europe, and the US, this time without Jack Bates.
In 2019, the band covered the New Order albums Technique and Republic while touring the UK and North America. [22] On 5 July 2019, the band performed an orchestral rendition of Joy Division songs with the Manchester Camerata at the Royal Albert Hall. Guest vocalists included Natalie Findlay, Mica Miller and Bastien Marshall. [23] In August, they worked with The Metropolitan Orchestra to perform the set in Australia. [24] [25]
On 18 May 2020, the band video-streamed their 2015 Macclesfield performance under the title So This Is Permanent for 24 hours on YouTube. Donations were requested to help the Epilepsy Society, and a DVD would be released in June. [26]
In October 2021, Peter Hook and the Light announced the “Joy Division: A Celebration" tour across the United States and Canada. The tour set for August and September 2022 has 26 tour stops. [27]
Former touring members
Featured guests
Joy Division were an English rock band formed in Salford in 1976. The group consisted of vocalist, guitarist and lyricist Ian Curtis, guitarist/keyboardist Bernard Sumner, bassist Peter Hook and drummer Stephen Morris.
New Order are an English rock band formed in 1980 by vocalist and guitarist Bernard Sumner, bassist Peter Hook and drummer Stephen Morris. The members regrouped after the disbandment of their previous band Joy Division due to the suicide of lead singer Ian Curtis. They were joined by Gillian Gilbert on keyboards later that year. New Order's integration of post-punk with electronic and dance music made them one of the most acclaimed and influential bands of the 1980s. They were the flagship band for Manchester-based independent record label Factory Records and its nightclub The Haçienda, and they worked in long-term collaboration with graphic designer Peter Saville.
Ian Kevin Curtis was an English singer, songwriter and musician. He was best known as the lead singer, lyricist and occasional guitarist of the post-punk band Joy Division, with whom he released the albums Unknown Pleasures (1979) and Closer (1980). He was noted for his unique dancing style influenced by his experiences with epilepsy, as well as his dark baritone voice. Retrospectively viewed as "one of the finest songwriters of a generation," his intensely introspective and dark lyricism has provoked "visceral and raw emotions" among fans. He was also noted for his distinct on-stage behaviour.
Closer is the second and final studio album by the English rock band Joy Division, released on 18 July 1980 by Factory Records. Produced by Martin Hannett, it was released two months after the suicide of the band's lead singer and lyricist Ian Curtis. The album reached No. 6 on the UK Albums Chart and peaked at No. 3 in New Zealand in September 1981. Closer was also named NME Album of the Year. It was remastered and re-released in 2007.
Peter Hook is an English musician, best known as the bassist and co-founder of the rock bands Joy Division and New Order. Hook often used the bass as a lead instrument, playing melodies on the high strings with a signature heavy chorus effect. In New Order, he would do this, leaving the actual basslines to keyboards or sequencers.
Bernard Sumner is an English musician and record producer. He is a founding member of the bands Joy Division, New Order, Electronic and Bad Lieutenant. Sumner was an early force in several areas, including the post-punk, synthpop, and techno music scenes, as well as their various related genres, and was an early influence on the Manchester music scene that presaged the Madchester movement of the late 1980s centred on Factory Records and The Haçienda club in Manchester.
Unknown Pleasures is the debut studio album by the English rock band Joy Division, released on 15 June 1979 by Factory Records. The album was recorded and mixed over three successive weekends at Stockport's Strawberry Studios in April 1979, with producer Martin Hannett contributing a number of unconventional recording techniques to the group's sound. The cover artwork was designed by artist Peter Saville, using a data plot of signals from a radio pulsar. It is the only Joy Division album released during lead singer Ian Curtis's lifetime.
Monaco are an English rock band, originally formed in 1995 as a side project of New Order bassist Peter Hook, together with David Potts, the only remaining member of Hook's previous New Order side project, Revenge. The group is best known for the 1997 single "What Do You Want from Me?" and the album from which it was taken, Music for Pleasure, which sold over half a million copies. Hook and Potts currently perform together in Peter Hook and the Light.
"The Perfect Kiss" is a song by the English alternative dance and rock band New Order. It was recorded at Britannia Row Studios in London and released on 13 May 1985. It is the first New Order song to be included on a studio album, Low-Life, at the same time as its release as a single. The vinyl version has Factory catalogue number FAC 123 and the video has the opposite number, FAC 321.
"Procession" is the second single by the British group New Order, released in September 1981 on 7" vinyl record. It is a double A side with "Everything's Gone Green". The single's Factory Records catalogue number is FAC 53.
"Ceremony" is a song written by Joy Division, and first released as New Order's debut single in 1981. The track and its B-side, "In a Lonely Place", were recorded as Joy Division prior to the death of Ian Curtis. Both were re-recorded and carried over to Joy Division's re-formation as New Order.
Movement is the debut studio album by English pop group New Order, released on 13 November 1981 by Factory Records. Recorded in the wake of Joy Division frontman Ian Curtis' suicide the previous year, the album is a continuation of the dark post-punk sound of Joy Division's material, increasing the use of synthesizers while still being predominantly rooted in rock. At the time of its release, the album was not particularly well received by critics or audiences, only peaking at number thirty on the UK Albums Chart; the band would gradually shift to a more electronic sound over the course of the next year.
Section 25 are an English post-punk and electronic band, best known for the 1984 single "Looking from a Hilltop", associated with Manchester record label Factory Records.
Robert Leo Gretton was the manager of Joy Division and New Order. He was partner in and co-director of Factory Records and a founding partner of The Haçienda. For ten years until his death in 1999, Gretton ran his own label, Rob’s Records.
Rowetta Idah, also known as Rowetta or Rowetta Satchell, is a British singer. She is best known for her work with the Happy Mondays, recording and touring with the band from 1990 and recently reforming with the original lineup. Her 1989 track "Reach Out" has been sampled by Steve Angello, Laidback Luke and Todd Terry. She was also the last woman standing and was the sixth contestant eliminated, in the first series of The X Factor in 2004.
"Atmosphere" is a song by the English post-punk band Joy Division. It was originally released in March 1980 by the Sordide Sentimental label as the "Licht und Blindheit" package, a France-only limited edition single featuring the track "Dead Souls" as the B-side. Following Ian Curtis's death in May, it was re-released as a 12" single by Factory Records in August with "She's Lost Control" as the B-side.
The discography of English rock band Joy Division consists of two studio albums, four live albums, twelve compilation albums, three extended plays, and five singles. The list does not include material performed by former members of Joy Division that was recorded as New Order or related side projects.
"Atrocity Exhibition" is a song by the English post-punk band Joy Division. It is the opening track on their second and final album Closer. The song was produced by Martin Hannett and Joy Division. It was recorded at Pink Floyd's Britannia Row Studios in London.
"Dead Souls" is an 1980 B-side by the English post-punk band Joy Division. Co-written by band members Ian Curtis, Peter Hook, Bernard Sumner and Stephen Morris (drums). Centred on a circular bassline by Hook that had a significant influence on 1980s Gothic rock, the song was named by Curtis after Nikolai Gogol's 1842 novel Dead Souls. The song contains a lengthy intro designed as the opening for live gigs. The track was recorded in late 1979 during the same sessions as "Atmosphere".