1986 10 25 New Order interview, No 1 magazine

NEW ORDER "WE'RE JUST NICE PEOPLE"

Eh? What about all that Doom and Gloom? asks Adrian Tierney- Jones.

When New Order appeared in 1981 from Joy Division (whose lead singer Ian Curtis had committed suicide the previous year) their image was Indie Doom and Gloom.

Things changed in a big way with the worldwide disco hit 'Blue Monday'. Now they’re one of the biggest live concert draws in the UK and their LPs (of which ‘Brotherhood’ is the latest) sell by the lorryload.

Backstage at a sold-out Royal Albert Hall the group come across as friendly, dry-witted Mancunians, totally unaffected by the obvious awe some of their fans hold them in.

Singer Bernard ‘Barney’ Sumner was relaxed enough to chat away until a minute before they went on stage at this prestigious venue. . .

How have New Order changed?

"'Well we wouldn't be happy with doing the same sort of thing always. I hate repetition. I hate to write the same song twice, no four times, twice is alright. The seriousness of Joy Division and early New Order was because we couldn’t play a note and we always concentrated on what we were doing, and with New Order we had to grow up in public.”

How did the disco influence happen?

“We used to like Kraftwerk (arty German synth types famous for ‘The Model’) and Afrika Bambaataa released a record which was a straight rip-off of Kraftwerk’s ‘Trans-Europe Express' and I thought ‘Great!’, it was dead good and we really got into it. I’d say our influences were Kraftwerk more than any specific black music."

But you used to be such doom and gloom merchants.

“We've always tried to get titles with death in them. We thought it was funny, it makes you feel tough when you say death. We also like to have sun and flowers in our words. You want to show people that there’s two sides to you.”

Why do New Order shy away from politics?

“We don’t consider ourselves political experts, in fact I consider myself a political imbecile. I don’t even vote. I believe if you’re going to change life you’re not going to change it by voting.”

Are New Order homely types?

“I'd rather not talk about my personal life because that’s all I’ve got that’s personal. I bare everything else in public.”

Everyone still lives in Manchester, have you ever thought of moving to London?

“It’s never crossed our minds.”

Hobbies?

“I used to like scrambling. I drove a motorbike until I was 22, started with a scooter, then a 250cc, and then a 550cc Suzuki. ”

Do you find it hard to maintain a balance between going onstage and living a married life with a child?

“Sometimes. When you go home it's great for a couple of days relaxing and watching TV but I get a little bored. Then again you play a few dates and you get really knackered. I’m not too much of a domestic person. Gill and Steve are (NO’s keyboard player and drummer who also ‘go out’ together).”

Why are New Order playing the Royal Albert Hall?

“Because we’ve never done it before. We don’t like playing silly places when we play in London. We like to take our fans on a tour of London venues. Contrary to popular belief we hardly play universities because me and Terry (a New Order roadie), when we were in school, used to go and see groups together in Manchester and they wouldn't let us in at the universities, so that’s why we don’t play many.”

Would you like to do a proper rock‘n’roll tour?

“No I’d hate it.”

What is your attitude towards Top Of The Pops (they refuse to mime)?

"We know when we’re playing it that we’re making complete idiots of ourselves but it’s a laugh. The bar’s good afterwards. That’s why we do things, we have a laugh.

“We don’t worry if we don’t go into the Top 20. If we had gone on TOTP for ‘State Of The Nation’ it would have gone down even more than it did. The people who watch it won’t understand why you're doing it. We're not a proper chart band.”

What do you listen to?

“Prince, the Pet Shop Boys. I like Prince (then he laughs hysterically at an old picture of Prince in a Japanese magazine he has in his hand).’’

Are you still idealistic?

“We never were. We’re just nice people. We might be idealistic in that we won’t mime on TOTP because we feel stupid miming. People moan at us for not doing an encore (they did two later on), they don’t realise that a lot of groups they see have an encore planned. They’re playing the same old set and chord they’ve been playing for years. It’s ripping people off.”

What advice would you give to any young bands starting off?

“Don’t listen to musicians, listen to normal people.”

What would you do if you met A-Ha?

“Be exceptionally nice.”