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Peter Hook
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Peter "Hooky" Hook (born 13 February 1956 in Salford, Lancashire) is an English bass player.
He was a co-founder of the post-punk band Joy Division along with Bernard Sumner in the mid-1970s. Following the death of lead singer Ian Curtis, the band reformed as New Order, and Hook played bass with them throughout their career until his departure in 2007. He has also recorded an album with Revenge (One True Passion) and two albums with Monaco (Music For Pleasure and Monaco) as bassist, keyboardist and lead vocalist.
Playing styleWith New Order's ever increasing use of sequenced synthesized bass, especially throughout most of 1989's Technique and 1993's Republic, Hook's bass playing became ever more melodic and rhythmic, often exploiting the baritone guitar range of his basses.
Hook has also contributed backing vocals on numerous Joy Division songs, sings co-lead with Ian Curtis on Joy Division's "Interzone" from the 1979 LP Unknown Pleasures, and sings lead on two New Order songs ("Dreams Never End" and "Doubts Even Here" from the 1981 LP Movement).
Hook has said that he developed his high bass lines when he started playing with Joy Division because their equipment was so poor he had to play that high to be able to hear what he was doing.
EquipmentBasses
Amplification and effectsHis main rig is an Alembic F-2B preamp/Crown DC-300A poweramp combination on top of a Vox Foundation Cabinets loaded with 100-watt Goodman speakers.
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Peter "Hooky" Hook (born 13 February 1956 in Salford, Lancashire) is an English bass player.
He was a co-founder of the post-punk band Joy Division along with Bernard Sumner in the mid-1970s. Following the death of lead singer Ian Curtis, the band reformed as New Order, and Hook played bass with them throughout their career until his departure in 2007. He has also recorded an album with Revenge (One True Passion) and two albums with Monaco (Music For Pleasure and Monaco) as bassist, keyboardist and lead vocalist.
Playing styleWith New Order's ever increasing use of sequenced synthesized bass, especially throughout most of 1989's Technique and 1993's Republic, Hook's bass playing became ever more melodic and rhythmic, often exploiting the baritone guitar range of his basses.
Hook has also contributed backing vocals on numerous Joy Division songs, sings co-lead with Ian Curtis on Joy Division's "Interzone" from the 1979 LP Unknown Pleasures, and sings lead on two New Order songs ("Dreams Never End" and "Doubts Even Here" from the 1981 LP Movement).
Hook has said that he developed his high bass lines when he started playing with Joy Division because their equipment was so poor he had to play that high to be able to hear what he was doing.
EquipmentBasses- Gibson EB-0 copy - Hook's first bass, bought at Mazel's Music Shop in Manchester in 1976 and used live with Warsaw 1977 (there are at a 1977 gig at Rafters, Manchester) and on the 18/7/77 Warsaw demos.
- Hondo Rickenbacker 4001 bass copy - Used on Joy Division's 1978-1980 recordings and used live with Joy Division 1978-1980.In an interview in Bass Guitar Magazine, he revealed that was given away to a child for a charity sale "He [the child] did'nt even use my name! He just thought it was a bass guitar like any other. Nowdays that'd be worth what, nine or ten grand?"
- Yamaha BB1200 - Basically a neck-through, active version of a Fender Precision Bass with the pickup installed in a reverse configuration to a fender p bass. Used on Joy Division's Closer LP and every New Order album.
- Shergold Marathon six-string bass - Has a 30" scale putting it between normal bass (34") and guitar (around 25").
- Eccleshall bass - Based on a Guild Starfire Bass, main live bass. He wanted a hollowbody with Yamaha electronics, so Chris Eccleshall took the active electronics from a BB1200 and built a full-scale neck-through bass with 24 frets. Subsequent versions of the bass have been produced using custom circuitry designed by a Japanese student visiting Chris Eccleshall, a custom circuit was needed as yamaha stopped producing the BB1200 preamp.
Amplification and effectsHis main rig is an Alembic F-2B preamp/Crown DC-300A poweramp combination on top of a Vox Foundation Cabinets loaded with 100-watt Goodman speakers. This configuration was the devised by legendary Rochdale based sound engineer Chris Hewitt. In the days of Joy Division, he used a Hiwatt Custom 100 Watt head on top of a 4x15 Marshall cabinet. He has also used an Ampeg SVT rig, and has expressed interest in Ashdown amplification.
For the most part, his distinctive tone comes from the use of a chorus pedal, an Electro-Harmonix Clone Theory to be precise. The Clone Theory has recently been reissued by Electro-Harmonix, and has the same circuitry as the original.
With Revenge and Monaco, he updated his setup to an Ampeg SVT, turned all the way up to maximum volume live.
In the May/June 2008 issue of Bass Guitar Magazine he was reported to use:
Two HiWatt Custom 200 amp heads
Two Warwick NeoPro 115 cabs with 15 inch Gauss speakers
Other workIn 1984, Hook recorded the single "Telstar" with the band Ad Infinitum, which was composed of him and members of the Stockholm Monsters.
In the late 1980s, Hook also worked as a producer for bands such as Inspiral Carpets and The Stone Roses. In 2003 he contributed his distinctive bass to a number of tracks on Hybrid's album Morning Sci-Fi, including the single "True to Form".
New Order have broken up more than once, and Hook has been involved with other projects. He has recorded two albums each with the bands Revenge and Monaco (both as bassist, keyboardist and lead vocalist) with David Potts, the latter of which scored a club and alternative radio hit "What Do You Want From Me?" in 1997. Hook and Potts reformed Monaco on two occasions in 2007, with original drummer Paul Kehoe and Hook's son Jack completing the line up for two gigs at Manchester's Hard Rock Cafe in March and at the Ritz Theatre in October. On 4 May 2007, Hook announced on Xfm that he and New Order singer/guitarist Bernard Sumner were no longer working together, effectively spelling the end for the band; the band later denied disbanding. He is currently working on a new band project called Freebass with bass players Mani (ex-The Stone Roses) and Andy Rourke (ex-The Smiths).
He also contributed to Perry Farrell's Satellite Party. His bass can be heard on "Wish Upon a Dogstar" and "Kinky". Inspired by Clint Boon of Inspiral Carpets, he started with the Return To New York nights in London. He contributed a distinctive bassline to Hybrid's 2003 single "True to Form", as well as another track from their Morning Sci-Fi album, "Higher Than a Skyscraper", playing on stage with them on a number of dates of their ensuing tour.
Fictional portrayalsIn Michael Winterbottom's 2002 film 24 Hour Party People, Hook was played by Ralf Little. In Anton Corbijn's 2007 film Control, Hook is played by Joe Anderson.
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