The Light resurrects the work of Joy Division

One of the most influential, but ultimately tragic, albums to ever be recorded is Joy Division’s Unknown Pleasures; it’s responsible for influencing everyone from Bloc Party to Nine Inch Nails to R.E.M., but the band itself never really got to reap the fruits of its labor as less than a year after its release in 1979, singer Ian Curtis would take his own life the night before the band was to leave for its inaugural American tour.

Constant, rhythmic bass lines and sparse guitars blend brilliantly with Curtis’ deep, troubled vocals. The album is an absolute masterpiece from front to back, but for the longest time, former members of the group shied away from it following the death of the frontman instantly stunting its growth, resulting in a bold attempt at picking up the pieces and forming New Order.

Recent years have seen that outfit splinter acrimoniously, as singer and guitarist Bernard Sumner and drummer Stephen Morris worked in Bad Lieutenant together and bassist Peter Hook went his own way, working on a variety of projects. One of them now involves resurrecting Unknown Pleasures some three decades after it dropped, and 30 years since the passing of Curtis.

His specially assembled band, The Light, has been performing the album and other Joy Division classics at concerts throughout 2010, and he’s now bringing it to the U.S. for a handful of dates, including one at Voyeur (the renamed Pure downtown) Thursday, Dec. 2.

“The idea, quite an opposition route as a group in New Order where more or less anything that was achieved or done [in Joy Division] had been sort of brushed under the carpet, and I got used to that,” Hook told Rock Music Menu.

Earlier this year Hook was approached to do a recognition and celebratory gig in Macclesfield, Cheshire, where Curtis was born, and the whole thing fell through.

“I was so annoyed that because we hadn’t celebrated it in 30 years and the very moment we got close to celebrating my achievement with Joy Division, it fell through. So basically I thought (expletive) this, I’ll do it myself.”

First performed for two charity supporting concerts to The Factory in Manchester back in May of this year, reaction to Hook’s revival of the earliest material from his career has been met with mixed reactions from long-term fans, but the passion in Hook’s voice can’t be denied, and live he’s been met with a reciprocal vibe from an audience that runs the gamut age-wise.

Delivering both a eulogy to Curtis and celebrating the dourness and gloominess of such a special work to so many people is not lost on Hook either.

"Unknown Pleasures is very important to me because it mapped out the whole of my career,” he said. “And a lot of songs that we hadn’t played as a group and let’s face it; I haven’t been playing it in 30 years. So I thought, right that’s it, I’ll do Unknown Pleasures.”

“It’s a staggering piece of music, and if I say so myself, after listening to it in detail to prepare for this rendition, the music is fantastic and I think it perfectly captures the mood of ’70s Britain perfectly - it was very dark, challenging times, without a hint of optimism.”

Live, Hook is taking lead vocals and playing some bass for The Light, Nat Wason is on guitar and the lineup is almost completed by cohorts Andy Poole on keys and Paul “Leadfoot” Kehoe on drums. But focusing on singing, he needed a bass player that sounded like, well, like he does - which is pretty distinctive.

“Then, one Saturday afternoon, I looked at my son, who is exactly the same age as me when I started Unknown Pleasures, and he’s a bass player, so I thought, ‘there you go!’” Hook said. “So he plays bass, which is the closest thing to me in the world, and I sing, which is probably the furthest thing from Ian Curtis.”

“The thing is, that I know, is that good music lasts forever - thank God,” he added. “I think that Martin Hannett and his production talents made it last forever. It’s strong and it sounds fantastic now, 30 years after we wrote it in 1977-78, is a great testament to his talents as a producer.”

There is little doubt that Joy Division was headed into the so clichéd but in this case true, “next big thing” status, now obvious hearing the dozens of groups affected by the band that found success, some more liberally than others.

“White Lies are a great one - aren’t they?” said Hook. “I take it as a compliment; just like I did when The Cure did it...they weren’t exactly discreet in their use of Joy Division-esque and New Order-esque music.”

“And you do take it as a compliment, but it’s a strange position to be in as a musician to be from a band that didn’t make any money but is called such a huge influence. But I’m not going to go around arguing, cause I mean, everyone from Kurt Cobain to...how many people would I be arguing about the influence of Joy Division?”

One big name act that that hasn’t been shy about acknowledging the inspiration of the band on its career is U2, who even had Hannett produce one of its first singles, “11 O’Clock Tick Tock.”

“I heard an amazing story that when Ian died, Bono actually phoned (Factory Records head) Tony Wilson and said, “Don’t worry Tony, I’m gonna take over from Ian, you’ve got nothing to worry about,” and Tony went, “Oh piss off,’” said Hook laughing. “Whether that’s true or not, I’ll never know now, but that’s the story that Tony told which I thought was very sweet.”

As for New Order, which for all intents and purposes split in 2007, Hook is still keeping the door slightly cracked to a reformation, but doesn’t think it is on the horizon.

“I realize that if someone comes to you with a great offer, for charity or something like that, you’re not going to say no,” he said. “I thought New Order went as far as it could go,” he said. “The other people had changed and it wasn’t what I had formed in 1981 - and they might have felt the exact same about me. It’s frustrating.”

“The interesting thing about Bad Lieutenant is that they play a lot of Joy Division songs as well. Ironically, we’re all doing the same thing, but separately. You just live with it; sometimes you fall out of people you work with … it just happens.”

In fact, the hardest thing for Hook is not being out on the road without his former mates - most notably Curtis, whom he says he is reminded of constantly.

“I’ve lived literally every day some reminder of what could’ve been and everyday I live with something that was; my office is full of pictures of him, pictures of the group, so it’s not like I’m ever really away from it,” he said. “But the thing that you hold dear is the memory of him as a friend, someone you’d sit there and have a drink with and a laugh with, someone with whom you have a great deal in common.”

Original article appeared in the November 27 Rock Music Menu in The Daily Times