“lan spotted that the relationship between high bass and low guitar was really interesting and unusual. My style of playing came from that”: Peter Hook’s ‘lead bass’ approach spawned a catalog of hits with Joy Division and New Order

There are watershed moments in rock ‘n’ roll – like Woodstock or the Beatles’ Ed Sullivan Show appearance – that affect musicians so profoundly that they, in turn, go on to change the face of pop music. For punk and indie rock, one crucial event was the Sex Pistols’ June 4, 1976 show at Lesser Free Trade Hall in Manchester, England.

In the opening slot, punk-pop’s pioneering Buzzcocks played its first gig. In the audience – which numbered only a few dozen – future members of Joy Division, New Order, the Smiths, and Simply Red stood shell-shocked as the Sex Pistols took the stage and unleashed their fury. Peter Hook, then a 21-year-old dockworker, was among them.

“It was incredible,” Hook, who attended the show with his childhood friend Bernard Sumner, told Bass Player. “What I saw was so intense and wonderful that I decided to just go for it. I had never played a musical instrument before that, but the next day I went out and got a bass guitar.”

Within a year, the two self-taught musicians formed Joy Division with singer lan Curtis and drummer Stephen Morris, taking the name from the concentration-camp brothels set up by Nazi officers. Joy Division became the seminal post-punk band, harnessing the energy of punk and directing it inward.

The dark, atmospheric soundscapes of anthems like Love Will Tear Us Apart and She’s Lost Control showcased Hook’s chorused tone and raw upper-register melodic basslines, which snaked between Curtis’s melancholic vocals, Sumner’s angular guitar, and Morris’s mechanical beats.

In May 1980, just as the band’s star was beginning to rise in America, Curtis hanged himself. The remaining three re-formed as New Order later that year, adding Gillian Gilbert on keyboards and guitar.

As in Joy Division, Hook’s lead basslines formed the core of the band’s songs, but New Order began integrating sequencers and synthesizers into its sound.

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New Order soon found itself at the center of a dance music craze as the Manchester club scene took off in the ’80s. The group’s 1983 song Blue Monday became the top-selling 12″ single of all time, and the band continued to release hit dance tracks throughout the decade.

New Order – Blue Monday 88 (Official Music Video) – YouTube

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The following interview from the Bass Player archives took place in May 2005, following the launch of Waiting for the Sirens’ Call, a new release that combined classic New Order danceability with fresh-sounding pop.

How would you describe your bass style, and how did it evolve?

“It’s melodic lead bass, I suppose. It was lan who spotted that the relationship between high bass and low guitar was really interesting and unusual. My style of playing came from that.

“Also, when I started playing bass I had an old Sunn bass cab with an 18″ speaker. It was just dreadful – you couldn’t hear a thing. That was another reason I started playing so high, because the bottom-end was just awful.”

How has your style changed over the years?

“It hasn’t changed at all. I’m amazed I’ve gotten away with it for so long! I’ve definitely gotten better live – I don’t play half as many bum notes. But I still hit them. It’s part of the punk rock ethic.

“I’m perfectly happy with what I do, and I’ve never felt that it’s run its course. But it’s very difficult to come up with signature riffs like She’s Lost Control, Twenty-Four Hours, or Krafty. I always pray to John Entwistle!

Joy Division – She’s Lost Control (Live At Something Else Show) [Remastered] [HD] – YouTube

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How do you come up with your basslines?

“I’m quite methodical in how I work them out. If a track is prepared, I do six or nine tracks of jamming, trying different ideas with different basses. When I’ve got all the riffs on tape, I sift through them to get the best ones.”

How do you get your tone?

“On the instrument, I leave the bass and treble knobs all the way up, but not the mids. I suppose I’m very lucky – my settings haven’t changed for 20 years.

“I sometimes get paranoid about not changing my sound, though. It’s a weird predicament that you feel when everyone around you is changing, but you’re not. But they all say, ‘What are you worried about? It sounds great!’”

What basses do you play the most?

“The Eccleshall is perfect for playing live because of how it sings; the sustain is great. But it just doesn’t work well in the studio. For that, I always use the Yamaha BB1200s.”

(Image credit: Getty Images)You don’t have onstage feedback problems with the hollowbody?

“Oh, I love the feedback!”

Have you always played with a pick?

“Yes, because I like the attack and the physicality of banging away with a pick.”

What strings do you use?

“Elite Bass Sensors. They’re fantastic. I use really heavy strings: .060, 065, 080, 105. They’re like tree trunks, and very hard on the fingers. Since I play high all the time, that’s how I get the strong-sounding bottom-end.

“I also string my 6-string with heavy strings, .050, .050, .060, 065, 085, 105. So it sounds nice and tight, but it kills your fingers after a couple of weeks off.”

(Image credit: Getty Images)Who are some of the bassists you admire?

“One hero of mine was Jean-Jacques Burnell of the Stranglers, because of how he’d play loud riffs. And I always liked the way Paul Simonon wore his bass with the Clash.”

Live, you wear your bass down by your knees. Do you record sitting down?

“Recording is serious work, so when I’m doing it, I have to stand up and go for it.”

When you play live, do you improvise much?

“No, it tends to all be written out beforehand. The problem I have is that when we play, I get really excited and run around like a maniac, which leads to me playing some fantastically wrong notes!

“I remember a time when I was very shy. But we turned from kids who played with our backs to the audience into leather-trousered, motorcycle boot-wearing, groin-thrusting lunatics. I don’t know how it happened.”