The bassist was a co-founding member of Joy Division before the band regrouped as New Order following the tragic passing of Ian Curtis. Following eight albums, Factory Records and the Hacienda nightclub, Hook departed New Order in 2007 due to friction with his bandmates.

Now in a new interview with The i Paper The Mancunian bassist has told all; ranging from his thoughts on his former bandmates today, to how he dealt with the sudden passing of Ian Curtis.

Reminiscing about the first time New Order went their separate ways in 1993, Hooky states that he “hated every minute” and that “Tony [Wilson] and Rob [Gretton] got us together to do that album just to save Factory and the Hacienda.”

By 1993 Factory Records – the record label co-owned by New Order and Manchester music mogul Tony Wilson – was going bust… Factory’s famous Hacienda nightclub – the epicentre of acid house and the madchester scene – was struck by crisis after crisis whilst haemorrhaging money.

Speaking of their 1993 album ‘Republic’, Hook said: “We had to go through it even though we couldn’t f**king stick each other. We were all off our heads, which never makes anything better. Everything was awful.” 

The band headlined Reading Festival that year, walked off stage, and didn’t speak to each other again for five years.

They reconciled in 2001 before eventually splitting again in 2007… or so Peter Hook thought. New Order got back together in 2011, without the bassist, which led to lawsuits and disputes.

It’s safe to say that Hooky is not the biggest fan of the new New Order, saying: “I don’t think they’re New Order. They don’t sound anything like them. I’ve watched them play songs [online] recently, and they’ve dropped the basslines and play it like some weird, bad cover of a New Order track.”

The same can’t be said for Peter Hook and The Light – his venture after splitting from his former group. They have received rave reviews for their recreation of the back catalogue of Joy Division and New Order at live shows.

“My gimmick is to make it as close to the record as it can be. I’ve never seen so many grown men cry in an auditorium as they did when we toured [Joy Division’s second album] Closer.” Hook said.

Hooky is not afraid to carry the torch for both Joy Division and New Order, and he shared heartfelt thoughts about Ian Curtis, sharing how Joy Division’s producer Martin Hannett “used to say we were three football fans and a genius.”

Speaking of Curtis’ death – the iconic frontman committed suicide in 1980 aged only 23 – Hook admitted “We didn’t grieve enough. I wish we’d have grieved him more. But we were allowed to sort of ignore it because we were so young.

“Literally, all we did was gather as a group in a pub and sit there. Then we just threw ourselves into New Order and sort of erased before.”

Peter Hook and The Light kick off a run of live shows tonight (Thursday April 17) in Bristol as they will play New Order’s 2001 album ‘Get Ready’ in its entirety. 

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They will head to London tomorrow (Friday April 18) and Manchester on Saturday (19 April), with any remaining tickets being available here.

Taking place between August 7 and August 10, 2025, in the Winter Gardens of Blackpool, Rebellion Festival will return for another year of being the UK’s largest independent punk festival.

Post-punk legends PiL will take to the stage on August 9, returning to the festival for the first time since 2018. Their appearance at Rebellion Festival will accompany their ‘This Is Not The Last Tour’ tour, a highly anticipated tour after former Sex Pistols frontman and PiL’s lead vocalist, John Lydon opened up about the band potentially not being able to tour again after the recent death of lifelong friend and manager, John Rambo Stevens who passed during PiL’s last tour in December 2023, soon after the death of Lydon’s wife Nora in April 2023. PiL will perform a fascinating set featuring some of their most notable hits – ‘Public Image’, ‘Rise’ and ‘The Order of Death’ – from their vast back catalogue along with songs from their 2023 release ‘End Of World’.

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Joining PiL in August, post-punk band Peter Hook & The Light will hit the stage to perform a captivating set featuring hits from frontman Peter Hook’s musical contributions as vocalist and bassist to influential post-punk groups Joy Division and New Order. They will most likely perform upbeat and nostalgic renditions of some classic tracks from the two bands including: ‘Love Will Tear Us Apart’, ‘Disorder’, ‘Blue Monday’ and ‘Temptation’.

Alongside PiL and Peter Hook & The Light, 2 tone ska band The Selecter will grace the stage with their infectious ska hits. The ‘On My Radio’ and ‘Too Much Pressure’ hitmakers were known in the late 1970s and 80s for their diverse racial and gender line-up – Pauline Black provided newly seen vocal tones in ska as lead vocalist alongside Arthur ‘Gaps’ Hendrickson (who sadly passed earlier this year), Neol Davies and Compton Amanor on guitar, Desmond Brown on hammond organ, Charley ‘Aitch’ Bembridge on drums, and Charley Anderson on bass. The group first gained acclaim as the flip side track on The Special’s ‘Gangsters’ single back in 1979. It is no doubt that The Selecter will bring energetic ska flare to Rebellion Festival next August.

The Rebellion Festival 2025 lineup will also encounter a performance from the Northern Irish rock band The Undertones, known for their Alt-Rock tracks ‘Teenage Kicks’, ‘Here Comes the Summer’ and ‘My Perfect Cousin’ from the late 1970s and early 1980s.

Other acts will include Hugh Cornwell, Bad Manners, Neville Staple From The Specials, Down By Law, Voodoo Glow Skulls and Toxic Reasons along with more exclusive sets from many more exciting acts.

The upcoming announcement of Rebellion Festival’s 2025 lineup carefully balances post-punk nostalgia with contemporary acts to display the eclectic and ever-growing nature of the festival and the genre of punk. It will appeal to multi-generational audiences and to new and old fans alike. Tickets are on sale now and can be accessed here. It’s certainly an event you cannot miss.

At a recent show at London’s Eventim Apollo, Hook invited a very special guest to join him in an exclusive performance. Damon Albarn, frontman of iconic Britpop band Blur and virtual band Gorillaz, joined Hook on stage to perform Gorillaz tune “Aries”. The song, which featured Hook, was released in 2020 as the third single from the album Song Machine, Season One: Strange Timez.

“Not long ago, I was honoured to be asked by a wonderful, very kind gentleman if I’d play with him,” Hook told the crowd on Saturday evening (October 14). “And this track is what we did, innit, Damon?”

According to setlist.fm, the performance marked the first time Hook and Albarn have played “Aries” in front of a live audience, and saw Albarn take on guitar and vocal duties for the special appearance. It’s safe to say fans were not disappointed by the iconic collaboration.

A few pictures of @peterhook last night at the @EventimApollo. Fantastic night, almost 3 hours of pure joy. Really enjoyed the support from @RebelskiMusic. Damon Albarn also made an appearance. pic.twitter.com/nbNTFda319

— britpop4ever (@DavidW010512) October 15, 2023

So tonight I saw @peterhook and The Light (with a surprise guest appearance from Damon Albarn!!!).
I was at the barrier and I could not stop smiling. Just non stop euphoria! The crowd were fantastic pic.twitter.com/9b7ir3Asd7

— Will (@WilliamD1123) October 14, 2023

Great to see @peterhook last night at the Apollo, best of both worlds Joy Division New Order

And to top it off Damon Albarn makes an appearance aswell, I’ve had worse Saturdays pic.twitter.com/JaJI7KFtoz

— Alex Murphy (@AlexMurphy_92) October 15, 2023

Hook’s show at the Eventim Apollo last weekend marked his final UK performance of 2023, however, starting on November 13th, his solo project Peter Hook & The Light will continue to tour Europe. The solo project of the legendary British bassist will also return to touring the UK in 2024. You can find tickets to the remaining dates of the tour here.

As for Damon Albarn, the singer has been on the road with his band Blur during the summer, promoting the release of the quartet’s latest studio album The Ballad Of Darren, which dropped on July 21st. The tour included two monumental shows at London’s Wembley Stadium, as well as an intimate show in Hammersmith where the band debuted songs from the new LP alongside fan favourites such as “The Universal”.

The event will occur at the exact same time as Rebellion Fest, taking place in the Tower Headland, whilst the latter will take place in Winter Gardens, as normal. The Headland has a capacity of around 15,000 people, and has previously played host to Livewire Festival and Blackpool Festival.

According to The Blackpool Gazette, R-Fest was born of the idea to make Rebellion Festival more accessible with the addition of some more mainstream groups. Jennie Russell Smith, the organiser of the festival, is quoted as saying: “We are all incredibly excited for our first ever R-FEST line up; four days of bands in the incredible headland arena with the tower and the Winter Gardens on one side and the Irish Sea on the other. It’s going to be amazing!”

Blackpool Council member Coun Lynne Williams also weighed in on the exciting new addition to the Rebellion Festival event, saying: “The festival organisers have had the ambition to grow the event for some time, but have been obviously prevented from doing so because of restrictions on large-scale events over the past two years… it is great news that this popular event enjoyed by so many people is going to return in a new expanded format next summer. It is an event that along with others held in our town that really brings Blackpool alive and is a firm favourite festival in music lovers’ calendars.”

Rebellion Festival is currently the biggest punk festival in the world and features a myriad of punk and hardcore groups from the UK and beyond. Among the line-up this year includes English punk legends Sham 69, Scottish band The Exploited, as well as Texas punk rockers M.D.C. and New York City hardcore frontrunners Cro Mags.

More information about the event can be found here, on Rebellion Festival’s website. It has been stated that for anyone purchasing tickets only for R-Fest, the event is a standalone, however anyone who has purchased tickets for Rebellion Festival will be admitted to R-Fest free of charge. You can find tickets for R-Fest here, and for Rebellion Festival here.

Ticket prices are as follows:

R-Fest Day Ticket- £55.00
Rebellion Festival Day Ticket- £95.00
Rebellion Festival Weekend Ticket- £195.00

The post-punk band played at Rebellion festival back in 2016 and was known as one of the most memorable sets of the weekend, so Rebellion are welcoming them back with open arms for next year, bringing old and new fans along with them. Peter Hook and The Light is lead by the former Joy Division and New Order bassist, Peter Hook, and cover a lot of those well known classics, and they are noted for performing the Joy Division and New Order albums live. The band also features Hook’s son Jack Bates (bass), as well as Andy Poole (keyboards) and Paul Kehoe (drums), who both played with Hook as part of Monaco, one of Hook’s previous groups.

Peter and his band mates will be playing a special ‘best of Joy Division’ set and he stated “It’s a real pleasure to be returning to Rebellion Festival with The Light again, rebellion’s a tremendous event bringing together a great line up of alternative and punk bands with a very enthusiastic crowd. The reactions are always great and it attracts a real mix of people to Blackpool’s Winter Gardens, a great venue in its own right. It’s always a unique occasion and one of the highlights of the year.”

Rebellion is an indoor festival – lots of venues, cafes, bars under one roof and no need to worry about umbrellas or the great British weather affecting the festival. Firstly starting out in 1996 in Blackpool as the ‘Holidays in the Sun Festival’, it was then taken around the world with a name change to ‘Wasted’, before landing with the name ‘Rebellion’ in 2007. Establishing itself as an independent and family run punk festival that supports the best of the new breed, widening the scope to include many sub genres and the ‘alternative’ scene in general. They have added literary stages, Punk Art exhibitions, Acoustic Stages, Poetry, Vintage Clothing, Tattooists, Healing workshops and much more.

Joining Peter Hook in 2018 is the kind of line-up that Rebellion Festival is known and respected for the world over, bringing together the best and most vital bands from the long and varied history and present of punk and alternative music. Whilst it’s still early days in the festivals curation, the programme is already shaping up to reflect the very best of what the scene has to offer. Some of the acts already confirmed include the cream of UK punk such as The Exploited, Cockney Rejects, Angelic Upstarts, Discharge, Ruts DC, UK Subs, and Slaughter & The Dogs joining a host of punk and hardcore from around the world, including legends such as D.R.I., The Adolescents, SNFU, Toxic Reasons, Raw Power and many more yet to be announced.

Rebellion Festival is an ALL AGES, family friendly event and children under 12 are admitted free of charge (accompanied by an adult). The cost for the weekend lands at £140 for a (4 day) ticket. More information and tickets are available here.

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