Bernard Sumner, who’s spent the last 38 (!) years playing with the massively influential bands Joy Division (1976-1980) and New Order (off and on since 1980), has just announced the release of a memoir, Chapter And Verse (Joy Division, New Order And Me). (Johnny Marr presumably sent him a text upon hearing the news, saying, “Wot? Electronic not good enough for you, then?”) Sumner is the second member of those bands to tell his life story in book form: Bassist Peter Hook—who left New Order in a hail of bad blood and threatened lawsuits—released his memoir, Unknown Pleasures, in 2013. In it, he takes silly potshots at Sumner, in arguments that roughly boil down to “Bernard always acted like a baby.” In the past few years, Hook has been touring with his band The Light, pretty much exclusively performing the music of New Order and Joy Division. New Order minus Hook—or “New Odor,” as Hook has actually called the band—has been on the greatest-hits festival circuit, though the band is supposedly working on new material, its first without Hook. (Whether they’ll attempt to replicate Hook’s immediately identifiable bass sound and style remains to be seen, but they’ll kinda have to.) Sumner’s book is due for release in September via Bantam Press. [h/t to Pitchfork and NME]
Join the discussion...