An Interview With New Order's Peter Hook

Normally Peter Hook gets a 12 out of 10 for chirpiness, but today there’s a Peanuts-style black cloud over the legendary Mancunian bass-slinger’s head as he paces around backstage at the Chester Literary Festival.

“It’s sad, really,” the well-preserved 60-year-old reflects. “You write a 752-page book detailing 40-years of your life, and all people want to talk about is this one chapter that’s a tiny part of the overall story. To be honest, the controversy and having to constantly defend myself, has sucked the joy out of it.”

The book in question is Hooky’s Substance: Inside New Order, and the chapter the one in which he accuses the deceased Caroline Aherne of being physically abusive during their three-year marriage.

“Yes I loved her, yes she could be very funny, and there were times I felt privileged to have a private audience with such a great comic talent,” he writes. “But she was also a very troubled person and nowhere did that manifest itself more than in our relationship.

“She attacked me, using her nails to scratch at my neck, tearing off my necklace and ripping my top. Although she was really contrite the next morning it marked the beginning of some serious screaming-banshee behaviour – putting cigarettes out on my arm, attacking me with bottles, knives, chairs and other assorted furniture.”

After enduring several days of lurid tabloid headlines, her brother Patrick Aherne responded: “What sort of man would make these claims after the death of Caroline? Is this because she is not here to defend herself? He’s an excuse of a man.”

Resumes Hooky: “I don’t want to get involved in a slanging match. I wrote what I believe to be a fair, balanced account of the relationship.” I get my first chuckle out of Peter when I mention his documenting of New Order’s disastrous 1983 Irish tour, which started with them being spat at by a Brit-hating old lady in Cork; went further downhill when they caused a riot in Galway and reached its nadir when they went on paraletically drunk in Kilkenny.

“Ireland came out of the disgusting punk spitting phase late, so in order to teach the next person who did it a lesson, we filled one of those Paul Masson carafes with phlegm, piss and cigarette butts,” he explains. “When this bloke gobbed at us in Galway, I smiled and poured what he thought was going to be a lovely drink of wine into his mouth. When he realised we’d done a number on him, he went apeshit and the rest of the crowd joined in. I’ll never hold it against Ireland and I hope Ireland never holds it against me!”

Hook sets his stall out in the introduction when he describes the book as being about “art, money, crass stupidity, blind faith, amazing good luck, girls, cocaine and Barney being a twat.”

Indeed, he has as many words for Mr. Sumner being a twat as Eskimos do for snow.

“They’ve 50 odd, don’t they?” Hooky deadpans. “Yeah, I reckon I can match that!”

Distinctly unimpressed by New Order reforming in 2011 without him, Hook went to the High Court last year seeking £2.3 million in lost earnings and royalties.

“It was as though George Harrison and Ringo Starr had got together at George’s house one Friday night and had acted together to divest Paul McCartney of his shareholding in the Beatles, and didn’t tell Yoko about it either,” his barrister told reporters.

“I was in court last Wednesday morning because they’re appealing a decision which is going to be heard in a month or so,” Hooky says wearily. “I just want to get it over. When Andy Rourke said The Smiths court case was the worst thing he’s ever been through I thought he was being a drama queen, but now I agree with him 100%. I hope nobody ever has to go through something as bad as this.”

Irish devotees will get to see their idol strap his Yamaha BB1200S on again in December when he joins Rowetta, the AMC Gospel Choir and the RTÉ Concert Orchestra at the Hacienda Classical gig in the 3Arena.

“I had trouble getting my head round it at first but one of the Hacienda DJs, Graeme Park, who curates the show sold it to me. These are songs that have soundtracked people’s lives; they’ve lost their virginity, taken their first drugs, met their partners, got married and got divorced to them. You’ve old blokes who only go out once every six months – and then take six months to recover! – plus this whole new audience who are discovering baggy, rave, Madchester or whatever you want to call it for the first time.

“The night starts at a nice gentle 125bpm and builds to this amazing, place-going-nuts climax. It’s by turns one of the most difficult and most rewarding things I’ve done in my career.”