2005 02 New Order Observer Music Magazine

BACKBEAT

Paul Abbott, award 'winning scriptwriter and creator of 'Shameless’, asks New Order’s lead singer Bernard Sumner about Manchester, Coronation Street, why he loves his boat, and working with Scissor Sisters

Paul Abbott: Why do you think Manchester and the Northwest seems to be such a fertile place for generating frontline talent, be it musicians, artists, or writers?

Bernard Sumner: I can only speak from my own experience and say that when I was at school, if you were creative, it seemed to puzzle them and even though they taught Art and Classical Music, anything contemporary was ignored. Which of course was what we were interested in, so this resulted in a Do It Yourself culture. You were also made to feel useless if you weren’t any good at maths - logarithms or algebra. I thought that was a load of bollocks, so I just ignored school and when it was over, I did what I wanted to do all along.

PA: Be honest! Did you think the film 24 Hour Party People was a true reflection of Manchester during that era?

BS: It was mainly a true reflection minus a few juicy details. Oh, and Tony [Factory Records boss Anthony H Wilson] is even more pretentious.

PA: Did you think you were reflected truthfully in the film?

BS: Hard to say. I sometimes feel that the me that gets out of bed in the morning is a different person to the me that goes to bed at night. I am certainly a different person now to the one I was in Joy Division. I also don’t like people to know what I am thinking so I hide quite a lot but I do think John Simm [who played Sumner] did an excellent portrayal of the bits that were showing.

PA: Has Coronation Street ever been a true reflection of Manchester culture? If so, when?

BS: I think it was in the Sixties. I remember watching the first episode, and at the time I was a half-pint kid, living in a house just like the ones in Coronation Street, so for me it was real, but I don’t watch it any more.

Hooky does - he even had a Coronation Street jigsaw puzzle in the studio when we were making the new album!

PA: Have you ever had a conversation with Tony Wilson in when he didn't mention that he went to Cambridge University?

BS: Tony often used it to gain the intellectual high ground in business meetings. I might have been no good at maths, but fuck me, if that’s what they teach you at Cambridge, you can have it. I’ll stick to King’s College, Salford, any day.

PA: There's a track on your new album about a tramp called Joe. Do you really know a tramp called Joe?

BS: Several!

PA: I also believe there's a track on the album about a boat you now own. What was the inspiration there - a sense of freedom or did you want control of something?

BS: I do own a boat and go on holiday on boats. I like the sea, always have, I don’t really know why - I suppose it’s wild and somewhat dangerous, and when you sleep on a boat it feels like the earth is breathing.

In my job, I’ve stayed in plenty of hotels and I’m always with other people, so the boat is the opposite of all that. I wouldn’t write a song about that though, as no-one would be able to relate to it, and it would be a bit corny.

PA: How did you come to work with Ana Matronic from Scissor Sisters?

BS: She was suggested to us by a friend and then a programmer/ producer we were working with, Stuart Price, said he had worked with her and she was great and a big New Order fan so we gave it a shot and she worked really hard and worked really well on one of the tracks on the album called ‘Jet Stream’

PA: Can you see New Order's influence in bands like Scissor Sisters?

BS: I can’t see it in the Scissor Sisters myself, although the bloke with the beard and hat looks a lot like Hooky. I can see our influence in a lot of other bands around at the moment. The Killers, Interpol, Death in Vegas. Franz Ferdinand look just like Joy Division, the thin bastards!

PA: Is there something left unsaid in your ambitions that still scares you?

BS: Walking on stage completely sober, although I’m not sure if that’s an ambition or more of a challenge.

PA: Have your kids ever seen you play live?

BS: Yes, a couple of times. They know the words better than I do!

PA: Will you still be in New Order in 10 year's time?

BS: I’d hate to know what I will be doing in 10 years time. If I can get away with it, I only think three days in advance. Stops me worrying, you see.

New Order’s new single ‘Krafty’ (London) is released on 7 March, followed by the album ‘Waiting For The Siren’s Call’ on 28 March.