 | | The most recent incarnation of New Order |
The news of their split came about after bass player Peter Hook went on XFM to speak to Clint Boon about his work on the new Perry Farrell single. According to his account on his MySpace blog, Hooky "went on and lo and behold [Boon] mentioned the New Order split so I suppose because it was me sayin it, it was out at last. I’m relieved, really hated carryin’ on as normal with an awful secret, so lets move on shall we?" New Order formed in 1980 out of the ashes of Joy Division after the lead singer Ian Curtis committed suicide. The band went on to have massive global success, producing what has been called the best selling 12” single of all time, Blue Monday. | "I’m relieved, really hated carryin’ on as normal with an awful secret, so lets move on shall we?" | | Peter Hook on letting out the news of the New Order split |
The band were also the major bread-winners for the Factory label in the 80s and were partially responsible for the building of both the Hacienda and Dry in Manchester. The various members have previously taken breaks from New Order to record with other people. Bernard Sumner formed highly successful Electronic with Johnny Marr in the late 80s; Peter Hook took his distinctive bass sound into Revenge and Monaco; and Stephen Morris and Gillian Gilbert formed the aptly named The Other Two. What the future holds for the four (and recent NO member, Phil Cunningham) remains to be seen, but it’s pretty certain that they won’t be able to stay away from music for long. The Control soundtrack the band had been working will see the light of day, as will the Joy Division re-masters, and Peter Hook is already working with Manc bass heroes Mani and Andy Rourke on a project called Freebass, so watch this space. New Order are dead, long live their new order. | 
