MANCHESTER – NEW ORDER & THE HACIENDA

The Haçienda The Smiths OMD Cabaret Voltaire

The Haçienda finally had to close its doors due to poor financial management and the fact that whatever money did get made was filtered back into the hands of the dealers that pretty much ran the place. To celebrate the 25th anniversary of the club’s opening, New Order’s bassist Peter Hook is curating a big party tonight at Urbis. We spoke to Hooky to see what was up…

The Haçienda was recreated for 24 Hour Party People. Did seeing a mock up of the place not make you want to re-open it?
If we were to try and do it again it would have to be on our terms and you just can’t really do business like that anymore. Look what happened the first time around: financial fucking black holes and villains all over the place. The place was my little baby though, whatever happened. When they built that set for the film a company put an offer in to buy it just before it was due to be knocked down. The demolition balls were literally about to swing and the call came through over the walkie talkie to stop them. But the builder on site misheard and gave the wrecking crew the go ahead. I was over the fucking moon. Seeing the club in the hands of someone else would have been like watching someone shag your missus. Nightmare.

So what can people expect on Wednesday night?
A massive fucking rave with everyone getting off their tits. No two ways about it. You don’t want bands when you’ve got DJs, mate. We’ve enjoyed doing this one so much that we already have one planned for August.

So you are DJing at the party, no bass solo sets?
Nah. I’m really into DJing now. It really re-vitalised me at a point where I was pretty fucking jaded. Mani out of Primal Scream had some cunt let him down so I stepped in. I never really appreciated how technical playing records was, I just though they were loner guys who liked being alone in a DJ booth but there is a real fucking art to it. I play everything from 77 onwards and you have to make it all work playing stuff for the dancefloor and stuff to please yourself. I play anything from punk through to hard dance and LCD Soundsytem. It’s also a great way of getting paid to get pissed.