Press the button

Bassist Peter “Hooky” Hook, best known for his work with Joy Division and New Order, split from his former bandmates in a rip heard ’round the world back in 2007. He’s currently touring with his new band, Peter Hook & the Light, re-creating New Order’s Low-Life and Brotherhood albums, from 1985 and 1986, respectively, along with the stand-alone New Order singles from that same time — and the band throws in Joy Division songs for starters. He plays the House of Blues on Wednesday, November 26. Tracked down somewhere around South America, he took a few questions from the Reader.

Who are the other members of the Light, and where did each member come from?

“Well, the line-up now is largely from my former band Monaco, Pottsy [Dave Potts] has joined on guitar, Andy Poole on keyboards, and Paul ‘Leadfoot’ Kehoe on drums. As I’m singing and playing bass, my son Jack also plays bass in the band to allow me to sing and then we duel on the bass parts.”

Which songs are your favorites in this batch, and why?

“‘Thieves Like Us’ and ‘Perfect Kiss,’ really, because people love the fact that you’re staying true to the record. The cheers that you get when striking them up are astonishing. As much as I hate to say it, the others, Fraud Order, have slaughtered the songs and remixed them, but it makes me happy to be able to represent the music properly and as it was recorded.”

What emotions and memories spring to mind, re-investigating this music?

“Pity, self-loathing, intense psychological pressure, pure unadulterated joy, a combination of all those....

“For me the trio of albums, Power, Corruption and Lies, Low-Life, and Brotherhood, along with the singles for the period, mark the high point of New Order artistically, when we were at our best in the early to mid ’80s, so it is a pleasure to be able to go back to the tracks, especially some of the lesser known ones that we rarely played live as New Order.”

Could any paycheck, charity, or miracle convince you to join your old New Order mates again?

“If an alien had his finger pointed at the button on the biggest fuck-off laser in the universe threatening to destroy the Earth and said that unless I played with New Order again he would press the button, I would tell him to press the button.”