Interview with Peter Hook
Interview with Peter Hook
Published: 17 May 2016
The thing I found very nice about it was that it made me realise how lucky I was to be a full-time musician, still after all this time.
Were you impressed with the level of talent that you saw during the heats?
Some of these people have been musicians for anything from 10 to 40 years - so very established musicians. It’s just that because of one thing or another - the way the industry has changed - that most of them found it difficult to run it as a full-time business.
Did you enjoy the process of taking part in the show?
I did, I enjoyed it very much. Although it was quite heart-breaking when I had to choose who went through, because I’d spent so much time with them. And obviously they were all lovely and I grew quite attached to them all.
In the semi-final we had to tell them they hadn’t made it to their face, which I found particularly hard because they were all so passionate and supportive of each other. Whereas in my experience, full-time groups are not because there’s a lot of competition - that competitiveness is what drives the music business. But these guys were very, very supportive and got very close with each other very quickly, and there was a really nice non-competitive atmosphere among them, which both me and Midge Ure were quite surprised about, because being group veterans as we have been for all these years, the whole thing is based on competition. So that was a nice surprise.
The process of making the show has also made me realise just how healthy music is in England, because so many of these groups were fantastic - that’s what made it very difficult to choose, there was a really high calibre of musician. Be they full-time or not they are making great music. And that was nice to see, because the thing is, you do tend to get wrapped up in your own world and not see outside. So it’s always nice when someone gives you the opportunity to do something like this because you get to hear a lot of other groups, whereas normally I don’t. When I’m not playing music, certainly the last thing I want to do is listen to music! Because I’m resting, you know, it’s an odd situation to be in.
I was a fan of Rhod’s, I’ve always found him to be amazingly funny. And it was very easy, he was nice to be around, he was quite funny - very dry.
Were there any moments that really stood out to you when you were doing the filming?
It was awful letting some of them go, because I think back to when I was beginning, when I was trying to get the group to happen, and I was grateful for every opportunity. And you also started getting your hopes up. So it was sad to let any of the groups go to be honest. Moments like the final were great. It was just a very nice friendly bunch, which surprised me coming from the competitiveness that I came from.
Did you enjoy the travelling in the transit van with Rhod?
I’m used to that after 40 years of doing it! And I still do it now. So that certainly wasn’t difficult for me - I’m used to being driven from place to place and putting up with the interminable waiting for that one hour on stage. The thing I found very nice about it was that it made me realise how lucky I was to be a full-time musician, still after all this time.
