Bass legend Peter Hook has spoken to NME about why he believes Joy Division and New Order are yet to be honoured by the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame – and his current tour, where he’s playing the album ‘Get Ready’ in full. Check out our full interview below.
Hooky played with Joy Division until they became New Order when Ian Curtis took his own life in 1980, before parting ways with the band in 2007 – leading to years of legal battle and trading barbs. The band went on to tour and record without the bassist, while Peter Hook & The Light have spent years touring to celebrate the discographies of both bands.
This year saw New Order and Joy Division lead the nominations to enter the hallowed Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame, but ultimate fail to make the cut – much to the disappointment of many fans, and Hook himself.
“Just so you know, I’ve done a talk at the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame. It was very good and they’re lovely people,” Hooky told NME. “A very good friend of mine has a display there of all New Order memorabilia. We’re actually actively in [The Hall Of Fame], shall we say.
“It’s voted for by the music-liking people of whoever ties into this. The problem, shall we say, is the relationship between the two halves.”
Hooky continued: “You’re in a weird situation here, because the camps don’t have any communication and actively don’t like each other. When it comes to working on these things, you have to let your fans know that they can vote you in. That’s how it’s done – it’s not given to you. You have to be nominated and voted for.
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“If you check our campaign last time and compare it to the campaign this time, you can see there’s been – shall we say – a lack of enthusiasm on one side for the whole thing. Obviously they’re making enough money pretending to be New Order so they don’t have to worry about it. So that’s cool, isn’t it?”
Ultimately, Hook said that he’d be looking to share in the accolade.
“It’s only like Twatface [New Order frontman Bernard Sumner] turning up to get the Icon Award [at the 2025 Rolling Stone UK Awards], and neither the band or the awards told me they were getting it – which is a bit of a pisser,” he admitted.
“I think it’s fantastic. Anyone who appreciates your music – whether it’s now or 50 years ago when we started – is absolutely fine by me. Let’s face it, it makes you smile and it keeps you going through a very difficult world! It’s fucking fantastic when anyone offers you a compliment like that. The problem is that if you look on New Order and Joy Division’s socials (which is also controlled by them three…), they didn’t do very much to push it, particularly this time.
“If I was going to be really cynical, do you think it was so they didn’t have to meet me? Could that be possible?”
Asked if he’d gladly attend the Hall Of Fame ceremony with the band, should they be inducted in the future, Hooky joked: “Well, they offered to put a boxing ring in for us. I’m looking forward to it, to be honest.”
Check out our full interview with Hooky below, where he talks about the continuing bad blood between the two camps, his world tour of New Order’s 2001 comeback album ‘Get Ready’, a Joy Division box set on the way, and what’s left on his bucket list.
NME: Hello Hooky. Fans really enjoyed the Transmissions podcast telling the story of Joy Division and New Order. Was there a softening of attitudes or better communication between you all to put that together?
Peter Hook: “No mate, we were hundreds of miles apart. Our record company and our publishing company invest in us and we have to invest in them, so it’s an easy conversation. Also, because of the box set series – which was actually my idea because my wife got a Led Zeppelin box set for Christmas, and it was absolutely wonderful. I thought, ‘Ah fuck, we should do this’. I suggested it to Warners, everybody agreed and we went ahead with it.
“It’s the old ‘You scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours’ with Warner, so we do have a moral debt to the record and publishing company. It would be foolish to turn down opportunities like that.
“The Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame is different, but I think it’s because they don’t even want to have to consider that they might have to meet or get together. The Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame have had a chequered history of get-togethers on stage. What do they say? No publicity is bad publicity? I’m very much of that mindset. I suspect that’s why the others aren’t pushing it.”
The box sets have been great. Is there much left in the Joy Division and New Order archives that’s yet to see the light of day?
“Well, because of Joy Division being so young, there really isn’t much there. We had no money, so we didn’t have any of the luxuries like being able to buy cassettes and stuff. We had one cassette and we used to record over it. Anything we’ve got left is from the end of Joy Division’s life.
“It’s sad, isn’t it? It’s shocking to think that, but that’s the truth. With New Order, there’s a lot knocking about. Even on these box sets, there’s a lot of stuff that I don’t remember. Some of it’s good, some of it’s bad, and you can see why it was done. For the fans, it’s a great chronicle – and for me, actually.
“We’re doing a Joy Division box set to celebrate 45 years of Ian Curtis’ life. Who’d have thought that I’d be here 45 years later talking about the idea of Joy Division getting into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame? They literally only existed for less than two years. It’s amazing what we achieved and what Ian has created for generation after generation of kids who were just like us: mixed up, confused, didn’t know what the world and the future held. They rely on that music to get them through, exactly the way that I did with The Doors. It’s wonderful to be a part of that.
“To be honest with you, I don’t need the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame to make me realise that. As long as I can go out there and play the music and meet those kids face-to-face, then that’s well enough for me. But it’s a great institution, and I would have been honoured to have been part of it.”
You’re currently on the road playing ‘Get Ready’ in full. What is it about that album that holds a place in fans’ hearts?
“Ha! Well, I’m not too sure about that, mate. I’m indulging myself in playing the LP because when I started this journey of going through all the songs, I thought it would be a great idea to play every Joy Division song ever written and recorded – which I have done – and I want to play every New Order LP and associated singles, which I’m well on the way to doing. It’s just one of those daft bucket list things that you end up doing.
“The weird thing is that ‘Get Ready’ was a proper honeymoon album for me and Barney. It didn’t last long, but it was a wonderful honeymoon. I must admit, on it we were actually closer than when we were at school at bloody 11. It was good for that bit.
“As I’ve come to transcribe these albums and play them live, they take on a bigger presence and a life of their own. My aim is to make them all sound like New Order, whereas ‘New Odour’ seem to be going out of their way to sound like Bad Lieutenant [Sumner’s short-lived band with New Order guitarist Phil Cunningham]. I think we’re on a winning battle there.”
There are some big moments on there. The video for ‘Crystal’ gave The Killers their name, and you recorded ‘Turn My Way’ with Billy Corgan…
“It’s been very hard for me, because I’ve had to sound like Billy Corgan, which is a bit weird. I’m used to not sounding like Barney, maybe, but getting Billy right was quite weird. And you know, my son [Jack Bates] plays bass with Billy in The Smashing Pumpkins. Billy’s said he’s going to play it with us in America, though. We play it really well.
“It’s great. Playing an LP like this is like your kid coming home from college. They’re out in the world, you don’t know what they’re getting up to, then all of a sudden they’ve come through the door and you’ve got them back and you think, ‘Oh thank fuck for that’. ‘Republic’ was the LP I was least looking forward to, but when I did it, I finished it off because we’d never finished it off as a group. Playing it was wonderful and it became one of my favourite LPs. It’s weird the way it goes like that.
“‘Get Ready’, blow me down, has done exactly the same thing. I’ve only got two left: ‘Waiting For The Siren’s Call’ and ‘Lost Sirens’. I want to get them done and dusted before I head off into the great beyond.”
And you’ve got some huge US dates…
“It’s weird. Playing it in America should be interesting, because it was our biggest-selling of all the New Order LPs over there. I’m expecting a much better reaction, as it didn’t sell anywhere near as well in England at the time. We’d made a comeback when we started playing live and got people back, but the LP didn’t seem to crack it for us. But oh man, I am enjoying it more than I could ever admit. I was very worried about this one, playing it after ‘Republic’, which I thought I’d fucking hate, but big smiles all round! Now I finally get it. It’s weird how I can be in a situation that stops me from ‘getting’ something that you’ve created. That’s what the ambivalence of New Order did.”
Is there anything else left on your bucket list after all the albums have been toured?
“Well, my wife very kindly added parachute jumping to it recently, which I’m looking forward to in a really weird way. But god, I never thought I’d be sat here looking 70 in the face and booking a tour at 70 years old. All that screaming we did about killing the old farts, thank god it didn’t come true!”
Peter Hook & The Light’s 2025-2026 UK, European and North American ‘Get Ready’ tour dates are below. Visit here for tickets to the UK and European shows and here for the gigs in North America.
SEPTEMBER 2025
20 – Athens, GR @ Death Disco Open Air Festival
27 – Valencia, ES @ Visor Fest
OCTOBER 2025
5 – Brussels, BE @ Ancienne Belgique
6 – Amsterdam, NL @ Melkweg
7 – Enschede, NL @ Metropool
9 – Cologne, DE @ Live Music Hall
NOVEMBER 2025
6 – Worthing, UK @ Assembly Hall
7 – Bournemouth, UK @ O2 Academy
8 – Coventry, UK @ HMV Empire
13 – Liverpool, UK @ Olympia
14 – Edinburgh, UK @ Corn Exchange
15 – Newcastle, UK @ Boiler Shop
20 – Holmfirth, UK @ The Picturedrome
21 – Bath, UK @ Komedia
22 – Cambridge, UK @ Junction
27 – Lincoln, UK @ The Engine Shed
28 – Lytham, UK @ Lowther Pavilion
29 – Leeds, UK @ O2 Academy
AUGUST 2026
23 – Cleveland, OH @ The Agora
27 – Toronto, ON @ History
28 – Chicago, IL @ Metro
29 – Chicago, IL @ Metro
31 – Royal Oak, MI @ Royal Oak Music Theatre
SEPTEMBER 2026
1 – Minneapolis, MN @ First Avenue
4 – Boston, MA @ Citizens House of Blues
5 – Brooklyn, NY @ Brooklyn Paramount
7 – Philadelphia, PA @ Union Transfer
8 – Washington, DC @ 9:30 Club
10 – Houston, TX @ White Oak Music Hall
11 – Dallas, TX @ House of Blues
14 – Denver, CO @ Ogden Theatre
15 – Phoenix, AZ @ The Van Buren
18 – Del Mar, CA @ The Sound
19 – Los Angeles, CA @ Hollywood Palladium
21 – San Francisco, CA @ The Warfield
22 – Saratoga, CA @ The Mountain Winery
25 – Seattle, WA @ The Showbox
26 – Portland, OR @ McMenamins Crystal Ballroom
27 – Vancouver, BC @ Commodore Ballroom
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