NEW ORDER formed in 1980 after the death of Ian Curtis, lead singer of the now legendary Manchester band Joy Division. The remaining members, with guitarist Bernard Sumner taking over as vocalist, Stephen Morris on drums, Peter Hook on bass and the new addition of Gillian Gilbert on keyboards and guitar, became NEW ORDER.
They quickly went on to become one of the most critically acclaimed and highly influential bands of the 1980s, with the 1983 hit “Blue Monday” becoming the best selling dance track of all time, and each of their subsequent albums and singles continuing to worldwide commercial and critical acclaim.
The band went on a hiatus between 1993 and 1998 during which time the individual members undertook various side-projects. The band came back together in 1998 for a series of gigs and went on to record “Get Ready” their first album in eight years, released in 2001.
Phil Cunningham, of Manchester band Marion, was recruited to replace Gillian Gilbert who took a sabbatical due to family commitments.
The band went through another change in 2007 when Peter Hook announced his departure from the band, after a series of successful gigs to promote the album “Waiting for the Sirens Call”
Since then Bernard, Stephen and Phil have been working on new material as Bad Lieutenant, with the release of their album ?Never Cry Another Tear”.
In August 2011, NEW ORDER reformed with Gillian Gilbert returning to the band and Tom Chapman (the bass player in Bad Lieutenant) replacing Peter Hook. Their first shows, which immediately sold out, were in October 2011 in Brussels and Paris.
Following the Paris gig, Luke Bainbridge, writing in the Observer newspaper said “ A heroic return. NEW ORDER look, and sound, like a band rejuvenated!”
Stephen Morris joked recently “If we want to get New Order back together, Gillian and I start an ‘Other Two’ album. Every bloody time! With Republic we were halfway through an ‘Other Two’ album, then when we were doing Superhighways - suddenly it was “Oh let?s do another New Order one! And typically, it’s just happened again!”
Bernard continued “Well the more I thought about the idea of us working together again as New Order, the more I thought it would be a great idea. We?ve got 30 years of brilliant material and it seemed a shame to waste it”
Following the huge success of the shows in Brussels and Paris, New Order then announced their first London show for five years. They played Troxy in the East End in December 2012, a show which sold out in 5 minutes when it was announced.
Reviewing for the prestigious London Evening Standard, David Smyth said “in many ways this was as good as it gets”.
After the show, NEW ORDER released a new CD, ‘Live at The London Troxy” at Xmas 2011. The CD featured the entire performance from the show, a blistering 90 minute set, featuring songs spanning 25 years of hits and classic tunes, alongside previously unheard live songs (‘586’), and the set culminated in a spectacular rendition of ‘Love Will Tear Us Apart’ for the final encore.
New Order are back.
New Order are:
? Stephen Morris (drums)
? Bernard Sumner (vocals, guitar)
? Gillian Gilbert (keyboard, guitar)
? Phil Cunningham (guitar, keyboards)
? Tom Chapman (bass)
www.neworderonline.com
http://wmg.jp/artist/neworder/