Peter Hook
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Peter Hook | ||
|---|---|---|
 Peter Hook playing with New Order in Manchester (Nov 2005).
|
||
| Background information | ||
| Birth name | Peter Hook | |
| Born | February 13, 1956 (age 51) Salford, England |
|
| Instrument(s) | Bass guitar, Keyboards, Vocals | |
| Associated acts |
Joy Division New Order |
|
Peter "Hooky" Hook (born February 13, 1956 in Salford, Lancashire) was the bass player for the English Post-Punk band Joy Division, and currently for the techno/rock band New Order.
Hook was a co-founder of Joy Division along with Bernard Sumner in the mid-70's. Together, they recruited vocalist Ian Curtis and drummer Stephen Morris to complete the quartet. The band reformed as New Order following Curtis' suicide.
Contents |
[edit] Playing style
When bassist for Joy Division, Hook was described as "a bass player who thought he was playing lead guitar" (similar statements have been made about The Who's John Entwistle and Yes's Chris Squire). Hook's unique melodic style of bass playing continued while in New Order. This unusual approach was largely influenced, Hook reports, by the inexpensive, second-hand, low-quality equipment he played early in his career. With such shoddy gear he was only able to hear his amplifier clearly when he played higher pitched notes.
His playing position is also unusual. He tends to wear his bass hanging down around knee-level, with an extra-long strap, and then staggers around the stage while playing. The low-slung style was later adopted by Nicky Wire of The Manic Street Preachers and Simon Gallup from The Cure, with whom Joy Division performed as backing band at the legendary Marquee Club in 1979. Hook himself admitted to adopting the style after seeing all of his favourite players, such as Paul Simonon from The Clash, wear their bass guitars low.
Hook also contributed backing vocals on numerous Joy Division songs and sang lead on two New Order songs (Dreams Never End and Doubts Even Here from the 1981 LP Movement).
With New Order's ever increasing use of sequenced synthesized bass, especially throughout most of 1989's Technique and 1993's Republic, Hook's bass playing became ever more melodic and rhythmic, often exploiting the baritone guitar range of the Shergold Marathon 6 string bass guitar which has a 30" scale putting it between normal bass (34") and guitar (around 25").
[edit] Other work
Hook also recorded two albums each with the bands Revenge and Monaco (both as bassist, keyboardist and lead vocalist) with David Potts, the latter of which scored a club and alternative-radio hit What Do You Want From Me? in 1997.
In the late 1980s, Hook also worked as a producer for bands such as Inspiral Carpets and The Stone Roses. In 2003 he contributed his distinctive bass to a number of tracks on Hybrid's album Morning Sci-Fi, including the single "True to Form". He is currently in a band called Freebass with bass players Mani (ex-The Stone Roses) and Andy Rourke (ex-The Smiths) and still performs with New Order. He also spins as DJ for some global raves.
Since 2002, Peter Hook is now doing DJ sets, inspired by Clint Boon of Inspiral Carpets, it started with the Return To New York nights in London, but he enjoys it so much at he is travelling the world to perform as a DJ. Peter plays a lot of New Order, Joy Division and Monaco songs in his sets.
[edit] Trivia
- He is usually referred to by his nickname (taken from his surname) by the rest of the band.
- He is well known for writing messages on his amps during tours.
- In the 2007 film, Control: The Ian Curtis Film Hook will be played by actor Joe Anderson.
- In Michael Winterbottom's 2002 film "24 Hour Party People", the part of Peter Hook was rather oddly played by The Royle Family actor Ralf Little. Happy Mondays frontman Shaun Ryder stated it was an odd choice because "Hooky is about 40 stone, and Ralf's about 4 stone !!"
- He bought one of The Whos John Entwistles' basses when Entwistle's son Christopher sold them.
- He selected 4 songs for the tribute album Community 2: A NewOrderOnline Tribute in 2006.
[edit] External links
- Joy Division Fans Club
- Peter Hook biography
- New Order & Joy division site
- Joy Division's most detailed discography
| New Order |
| Bernard Sumner | Peter Hook | Stephen Morris | Phil Cunningham Former member: Gillian Gilbert |
| Discography |
|---|
| Albums: Movement | Power, Corruption & Lies | Low-Life | Brotherhood | Technique | Republic | Get Ready | Waiting for the Sirens' Call |
| Compilation Albums: Substance | (The Best of) New Order | (The Rest of) New Order | International | Retro | Singles |
| EPs: 1981-1982 New Order | Peel Sessions 1982 | Peel Sessions 1981 | The Peter Saville Show Soundtrack |
| Singles: New Order discography |
| Videography |
| Substance| New Order Story | New Order: 316 (Reading Festival / New York) | New Order: 511 (Finsbury Park) | New Order - Item | New Order - A Collection | |
| Related articles |
| Side projects: Electronic | Revenge | Monaco | The Other Two | Freebass Topics: Joy Division | Factory Records | The Haçienda | 24 Hour Party People People: Ian Curtis | Martin Hannett | Peter Saville | Tony Wilson | Rob Gretton | Stephen Hague |
