Peter Hook Announces New Book, ‘Substance: Inside New Order’

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Peter Hook, the onetime bassist for post-punk legends New Order and Joy Division, has announced the release of a forthcoming New Order biography called Substance: Inside New Order. The 768-page volume will arrive on October 6 via Simon & Schuster UK and will cover the band's formation after the untimely death of Joy Division lead singer,…

Peter Hook, the onetime bassist for post-punk legends New Order and Joy Division, has announced the release of a forthcoming New Order biography called Substance: Inside New Order. The 768-page volume will arrive on October 6 via Simon & Schuster UK and will cover the band’s formation after the untimely death of Joy Division lead singer, Ian Curtis.

This will be the third book Hook has put out: 2009’s The Hacienda: How Not To Run A Club and 2013’s Unknown Pleasures: Inside Joy Division.

Here is Substance’s description, via Amazon:

Two acclaimed albums and an upcoming U.S. tour — Joy Division had the world at their feet. Then, on the eve of that tour and the beginning of what would surely have been an international success story, the band’s troubled lead singer, Ian Curtis, killed himself.

“We didn’t really think about it afterwards. It just sort of happened. One day we were Joy Division, then our lead singer killed himself and the next time we got together, we were a new band…” — Peter Hook

That band was New Order. Their distinctive sound — a fusion of post-punk and ground-breaking electronica – paved the way for the dance music explosion of the ’80s and earned them the reputation as one of the most influential bands of their generation. Despite their success, the band has always been a collision the visionary and the volatile, and relationships have often been fraught with tensions.

Peter Hook has written a no-holds-barred, comprehensive account of the band’s entire history, packed with outrageous anecdotes and including every set list and tour itinerary and interspersed with ‘geek facts’ of every piece of electronic equipment used to forge the sound that changed the direction of popular music.

Hook also shared the book cover on Twitter:

In 2007, the band Hook helped found in 1980 split, but he continues to tour New Order material under his own project, Peter Hook and the Light.