guardian.co.uk

Tony Wilson - officially a national treasure

Sam Riley among Variety's Oscars tips

He was working in a warehouse in Leeds folding shirts when he was cast to star in a film about the life, loves and brief musical reign of Joy Division's ill-fated frontman, Ian Curtis.

Today Sam Riley found himself being tipped for Oscars glory alongside 30 international stars of the screen singled out by the industry bible, Variety, whose predictions are regarded as a barometer of the film world.

With the Golden Globes nominations to be announced next month, before the Baftas in January, the film world is already gripped by awards fever, before the ultimate prize awarded by the American Academy.

In his first role as a leading man, Riley found widespread acclaim this year at the Cannes Film Festival, with the premiere of Control, in which he portrayed the post-punk icon who committed suicide 27 years ago at the age of 23.

The brooding charisma of Riley's performance did not go unnoticed. While the debut film director Anton Corbijn said that the newcomer had brought an innocence and freshness that I was hoping for but never thought I would find, Variety said that Riley was as mesmerising onstage as he is while engaged in rocking his daughter to sleep, working for social services and other such punk rocker incongruities.

Other British hopefuls on the list include the actor Daniel Day-Lewis and the screenwriter Ronald Harwood, who are no strangers to the Oscars red carpet, having won for My Left Foot and The Pianist respectively.

timesonline.co.uk

www.nme.com

New Order remix Nine Inch Nails

Trent Reznor and co get remix treatment

Members of New Order have remixed Nine Inch Nails for a forthcoming remix album.

Nine Inch Nails are set to release a remix of their 'Year Zero' album entitled 'Y34RZ3ROR3M1X3D' on November 21.

New Order's Stephen Morris and Gillian Gilbert have remixed the tracks 'God Given' and 'Zero Sum'.

Ladytron have remixed 'The Beginning Of The End', while The Knife's Olof Dreijer has remixed 'Me, I'm Not'.

People who buy the album are also able to make their own remixes. The CD will include a DVD-Rom.

Remix.nin.com will launch the day of the release and fans will be able to post their versions online at the site.

Trent Reznor told Alternative Press: "Remix records can be disposable garbage (of which I myself have been guilty to some extent) but this collection feels good to me."

The tracklisting and remixers are:

'Gunshots By Computer' - Saul Williams
'The Great Destroyer' - Modwheelmood
'My Violent Heart' - Pirate Robot Midget
'The Beginning Of The End' - Ladytron
'Survivalism' - Saul Williams
'Capital G' - Epworth Phones
'Vessel' - Bill Laswell
'The Warning' - Stefan Goodchild featuring Doudou n'Diaye Rose
'Meet Your Master' - The Faint
'God Given' - Stephen Morris & Gillian Gilbert
'Me, I'm Not' - Olof Dreijer
'Another Version Of The Truth' - Kronos Quartet & Enrique Gonzalez Mller
'In This Twilight' - Fennesz
'Zero Sum' - Stephen Morris & Gillian Gilbert

Control leads nominations list

JOY Division biopic Control leads the field at the British Independent Film Awards with 10 nominations.

Its star, the unknown Sam Riley (pictured), is a contender for best actor and most promising newcomer with his performance as tragic singer Ian Curtis.

Control's other nominations include best film, best director for Anton Corbijn and best supporting actress for Samantha Morton.

The annual awards honour the best in independent British cinema.

Best actor

And When Did You Last See Your Father?, an adaptation of Blake Morrison's best-selling book, has seven nominations including best actor for Jim Broadbent and best supporting actor for Colin Firth.

Among the other films vying for awards are Eastern Promises, Notes On A Scandal, Hallam Foe and the forthcoming Brick Lane.

The winners will be announced at a ceremony in London on November 28.

James Bond star Daniel Craig will receive the Variety Award for his work in "bringing the international spotlight to the British film industry".

Ray Winstone will be honoured with an outstanding contribution award.

Viva Radio presents Complete Control Radio, an online radio series exploring the life and times of Ian Curtis and Joy Division

www.viva-radio.com/control

Viva Radio are now proud to announce the Joy Division-inspired Complete Control Radio. Starting Tues. October 23rd and continuing through the 30th, with extensive research and help from contributor and institutional pillar Dan Selzer, Viva excavates the post-punk vaults for classic and rare Joy Division / New Order / Factory Records material and brings exclusive interviews with band members and affiliates to the online arena. Check out the schedule below:

Tues. 10/23

Complete Control Radio Pt. 1

Known and Unknown Pleasures:

Joy Division & New Order

Thurs. 10/25

Complete Control Radio Pt. 2

Lust for Life:

Joy Division Influences, Peers, and Followers

Fri. 10/26

Complete Control Radio Pt. 3

Interviews w/ Jon Savage & Matthew Higgs

Tues. 10/30

Complete Control Radio Pt. 4

Interviews w/ Simon Reynolds & Peter Hook

"Control" US Official release schedule so far

www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk

Wilson to be 'freeman'

MUSIC mogul Tony Wilson is to become the first posthumous freeman of the city of Manchester, it has been announced.

Wilson, who died earlier this year aged 57, will have his name inscribed on the roll of honour in Manchester Town Hall.

It is an honour usually reserved for those who have been given freedom of the city, which has only been awarded to 75 people and six military regiments.

Councillors unanimously agreed to the move after holding a minute's silence in honour of the late impresario at the opening of a council meeting.

The motion was proposed by the Lord Mayor of Manchester, Councillor Glyn Evans, in recognition of Wilson's "outstanding contribution to the life, music and culture of the city over many years".

Councillor Evans had wanted to make Wilson an honorary freeman but a spokeswoman explained this was not possible due to council rules.

She said: "One of the key criteria for honorary freemen is that they are alive. But had Tony lived, he would almost certainly have been given freeman status so councillors agreed they would make an exception and his name will be placed alongside those who have been given the status."

The last person to be given freedom of the city was Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson, in 1999. A life-long United supporter, Wilson's name will be inscribed alongside Sir Alex's and on the same row as former manager Sir Matt Busby.

Wilson, the former broadcaster, record label boss and owner of the Hacienda nightclub, died on August 10 after a battle with cancer.

During his life he became synonymous with Manchester's thriving music scene, launching the bands New Order, Joy Division and Happy Mondays alongside his day job as a television reporter.

02:04 PM

On the edge of tears Hooky presents an award to Tony Wilson's son and daughter. Cue standing ovation. An emotional moment.

The Q Hero is...

Anthony H. Wilson
(to collect on his behalf his children Oliver and Isobel)

Presenter: Peter Hook

www.digitalspy.co.uk

Former New Order star Peter Hook has confirmed that there is no future for the band.

The bassist told Gigwise that he would not reunite with drummer Stephen Morris and guitarist Bernard Sumner because of their "attitude".

Speaking before presenting a posthumous award to the late Tony Wilson at the Q Awards, he said: "There is no future for New Order. I mean, not as it was anyway. If they [Morris and Sumner] want to form a New Order 2 then thats what it should be viewed as."

Hook has blamed his bandmates for the group's split in May after 27 years.

Talking about the reasons behind the break-up, he said: "I couldnt carry on working the way they were working and I didnt like the attitude. Unless that attitude changes then its of no interest to me."

He added: "I felt we had different ambitions from what the group was supposed to be about and it didnt make sense to me."

The 51-year-old spoke out to deny rumours that the Manchester rockers may reform in an interview last month.

www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk

Stars come out for Control premiere

IT was rock 'n' roll time at the Cornerhouse last night, for the city's premiere of Control, the new movie about the life and untimely death of Joy Division frontman Ian Curtis.

But it seems the occasion didn't persuade the remaining members of the band, now New Order, to kiss and make up.

Although Peter Hook and Stephen Morris came out to support the film, there was no sign of singer Bernard Sumner.

Drummer Stephen admitted it was an emotional experience to watch the movie: "The film is excellent, but I suppose it's just a bit draining for those of us who had been a part of it all."

The movie has been winning rave reviews ever since it won top prize at the Cannes Film Festival. Bassist Peter Hook says: "It amazes me, the power of music. Sometimes it amazes me how knowledgeable young people are about Joy Division.

"And I feel sorry for all these young bands coming through because none of them seem to be able to knock Joy Division off our pedestal."

www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk

Street to be named after Wilson

Control - the podcast of the movie by anton corbijn
icast

Joy Division movie premieres in New York

Dave Gahan, Sonic Youth and more turn out for Ian Curtis film

The Ian Curtis biopic 'Control' made its US debut at the Chelsea West Cinema in Manhattan last night (September 25).

The warmly received film was watched by an audience that included Dave Gahan of Depeche Mode, model Helena Christensen, actor Steve Buscemi and members of Sonic Youth.

'Control' follows the story of Joy Division frontman Ian Curtis and is based on the book 'Touching From A Distance' by his widow Deborah.

The film was directed by Joy Division photographer Anton Corbijn, who moved from his Netherlands home in order to shoot the Manchester band in October 1979.

He subsequently became a regular NME photographer and went on to shoot iconic images of bands such as U2, Depeche Mode, REM and The Killers, among others.

Speaking to NME.COM at the screening, Corbijn explained that his emotional attachment and relationship with the band made up for his inexperience in film-making, and that 'Control' was not intended to be a traditional music biopic.

"It's an intense love story, and concerns a boy who follows his dream but doesn't like where he ends up," he explained. "I wanted to make sure that Ian was portrayed as normal, and so I felt it was important to surround him with an everyday background.

"A lot of people's lives are very mundane, but a great deal of beauty can come from these kind of environments too and Joy Division's music was a great example of this."

The film opens on October 5 in the UK, and from October 10 in the US on a limited release

www.eyeweekly.com

Director Anton Corbijn and actor Sam Riley transmit the spirit of Ian Curtis and Joy Division
By Jason Anderson

CONTROL ****

Starring Sam Riley, Samantha Morton. Written by Matt Greenhalgh. Directed by Anton Corbijn. 121 min. Sep 7, 9:45pm, Scotiabank 2; Sep 8, 9am, Scotiabank 2.

By accepting the role of one of rock's most mythologized figures, Sam Riley had to live up to many people's expectations. Worse yet, some of those people were standing right in front of him. For the filming of the concert sequences in Control – Anton Corbijn's sensitive, stately drama about the short, tumultuous life of Ian Curtis, the Joy Division singer whose menacing music and gloomy mystique had an enormous influence on both the Manchester scene and the last three decades' worth of alt-rock – the sweaty extras in the audience were many of the band's biggest fans.

“That's how we got them cheap,” quips Riley in an interview last week from his apartment in Berlin.

Unfortunately, they were also there to make sure Riley, an actor and musician plucked out of obscurity to play Curtis, did his job right. “I had a guy come up to me and say, ‘So, you Ian, then?' I said, ‘Yeah.' And he said, ‘Well, I saw them eight times, mate, so it'd better be fookin' good.' I was like, ‘I hope so too!' There were some pretty crazy people who don't want Ian or Ian's myth to be fucked about with. I asked a fellow in the front row if he was a Joy Division fan. He said ‘Yeah,' then lifted up his shirt – he had a huge tattoo of Ian's face on his left tit. I thought, ‘Aw, fuck.'”

Whether or not we opt for body art, everyone who's loved Joy Division's music has their own version of Curtis, the genuine article who hanged himself in 1980 at the age of 23. He also haunts the memories of the friends and family he left behind, such as his widow Deborah Curtis, whose 1996 memoir Touching From a Distance served as the basis for Control, and his bandmates, who went on to greater success as New Order. Yet Riley's deeply committed performance has attracted nothing but accolades since Control premiered at Cannes in May. (The movie makes its North American premiere this week at TIFF.)

Likewise, Control is an impressive, fully realized feature debut for Corbijn, long one of the music world's most celebrated photographers and video directors. (His list of credits includes shooting the cover of U2's The Joshua Tree and directing Nirvana's “Heart-Shaped Box” video.) Skirting the clichés of the rock biopic, Corbijn delves deep into Curtis' life to portray him not as some existential loner but a charismatic, energetic yet troubled young man who derives little satisfaction from his growing success due to his worsening epileptic fits and his inability to choose between the two women he loves, wife Deborah (Samantha Morton) and girlfriend Annik (Alexandra Maria Lara).

“The film is quite a human portrait of Ian Curtis,” says Corbijn in a phone interview from his home in London. “We are not building a myth around him.”

Though the live sequences – with Joy Division's songs performed convincingly by Riley and the actors playing his bandmates – are plenty riveting, Control is more remarkable for its moments of quiet intimacy than any displays of onstage bravura. “In many ways that's what I've always been interested in,” says Corbijn. “If you look at my photography in my books, you don't see really live shots. You don't see this kind of orgasm onstage. You see more the pain of artists as they're trying to create things.”

Seeing that Corbijn actually shot some of the most iconic Joy Division photographs – their look and the band's artwork are emulated by Control's austere black-and-white cinematography – he would seem to be the perfect choice to make Control. Yet he initially rejected the offer to direct it, worrying that he would not be taken seriously as a movie director if he took on a “rock film.” Thankfully, the more he thought about this era and this music, the more he realized “how incredibly important it had been in my life – that music made me change countries. I had moved from Holland to work with Joy Division.”

Since the production involved Deborah Curtis, New Order and Factory Records founder Tony Wilson (a legend in his own right who died from complications due to renal cancer last month), Corbijn would also have to do justice to Curtis' memory in the eyes of those who loved him. Yet, as the director says, “I had no agenda other than telling Ian's story. I wasn't choosing between people – I was trying to be objective.”

A greater challenge was finding an actor who could play Curtis. (Thankfully it wasn't Jude Law, who was once attached to the project.) Riley's careers in acting and music had stalled – he played Mark E. Smith of The Fall in a scene cut from 24 Hour Party People and his band 10,000 Things sputtered out after one album – and he had a job folding shirts in a Leeds warehouse when his agent called about auditioning for Control. Corbijn was struck by Riley's appearance during their first meeting.

“I remember meeting Joy Division in late 1979 and they were like real English boys,” Corbijn says. “They hadn't eaten enough and they had just shirts on with big coats when it was really too cold for that, and they were smoking and shivering. When I met Sam, he was identical to them – he was also underdressed, underfed, smoking and shivering! It was really uncanny.”

Calling the role a “golden part,” Riley set out to learn all he could about Curtis, talking to those who knew him. “Just about everybody I've spoken to said he was really a charming, pleasant and affable young man but was drawn away from everyone by the illness, the medication and the pressures,” he says. “He was a mess of contradictions. He had dreams of being a rock star and then he wanted to turn his back on it and be a good family man. Yet he resented his family at the same time, and resented his love affair while loving the woman as well. He was completely torn apart.”

As is clear from his performance, Riley says he gave the role “everything I had. This was my big chance, my big opportunity to do something decent with my life, so I locked myself away from family and friends for that whole period and tried to stay as close to it as possible and worry about the consequences later. There were times it was very hard but I was always thrilled to be there. A few lines were blurred here and there obviously, but it worked in the end and I've recovered from it.”

The fruit of his labours is a powerful homage to Ian Curtis that will please Joy Division fanatics just as much as it moves viewers hearing his music for the first time. That said, Riley isn't exactly eager to bear that kind of weight again.

“I don't want to make a specialty of playing suicidal young men,” he says. “Maybe a slapstick comedy's next.”

JOY DIVISION: THE LAST TRUE STORY IN POP ****

Dir Grant Gee. 93 min. Real to Reel program. Sep 7, 2:45pm, Scotiabank 3; Sep 9, 5:30pm, Cumberland 3; Sep 15, 8:15pm, Cumberland 3.

An unofficial companion piece to Anton Corbijn's Ian Curtis feature, Gee's doc is sure to be the last word in Joy Division mythology. Of course, like Corbijn's film, it hardly deals in mythology at all: what's presented here is a tidy and stark history of the band's brief career from the perspective of the players, associates and onlookers, with the city of Manchester treated as a figure among those. With no filmed interview footage of Curtis – but some excellent and oft-seen TV performances – Gee trawls through notebooks and audio tapes to the extent where Curtis' ghost inhabits the film as much as it does his records (a tape of the singer speaking under hypnosis, and seemingly from a past life, to guitarist Bernard Sumner is downright chilling). There is humour as well as heartbreak, and Gee's procession of curio is presented stylishly but never intrusively. Joy Division peeks behind some very heavy curtains to reveal a vivid and lively history.

KIERAN GRANT

www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk

New Order set for reunion?

RHINO TAKES CONTROL OF JOY DIVISION'S LEGACY

With a Film about Joy Division Singer Ian Curtis Due This Fall, Rhino Revisits the Band's Catalog for Expanded Editions of Three Essential Albums, a Special Vinyl Boxed Set and Ringtones, Plus the Film's Soundtrack, Which Contains Unreleased Music by The Killers and New Order

The Reissues, Soundtrack and Ringtones Will Be Available October 30

The Vinyl Box Will Be Available Exclusively from Rhino September 11

Control - Original Soundtrack Album

Release date: October 1st  

Final tracklisting:

1)     Exit - New Order

2)     What Goes On - The Velvet Underground

3)     Shadowplay (Joy Division cover) - The Killers

4)     Boredom (Live) - The Buzzcocks

5)     Dead Souls - Joy Division

6)     She Was Naked - Supersister

7)     Sister Midnight - Iggy Pop

8)     Love Will Tear Us Apart - Joy Division

9)     Problems (Live) - Sex Pistols

10)   Hypnosis - New Order

11)   Drive In Saturday - David Bowie

12)   Evidently Chickentown - John Cooper Clarke

13)   2H.B. - Roxy Music

14)   Transmission (Cast Version) - Joy Division

15)   Autobahn - Kraftwerk

16)   Atmosphere - Joy Division

17)   Warszawa - David Bowie

18)   Get Out - New Order

www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk

A rock'n'roll goodbye

STARS of TV and music turned out in force as the city said a rock’n’roll goodbye to Mr Manchester Tony Wilson at his funeral today.

Tony, who put Manchester on the world map with the famous Hacienda club and Factory Records – which spawned bands like Joy Division, New Order and Happy Mondays – was buried at Southern Cemetery after an emotional service at the Hidden Gem Church in the city centre.

The guest list at his funeral service read like a who’s who of Manchester celebrities with former TV colleagues like Richard Madeley and Judy Finnegan, Bob Greaves and Lucy Meacock from Granada, rubbing shoulders with music business faces like New Order’s Peter Hook, Andy Rourke from The Smiths, Rowetta and Shaun Ryder from Happy Mondays, Clint Boon from Inspiral Carpets and other famous faces like journalist and singer John Robb, TV and radio presenter Terry Christian, former business partner Alan Erasmus and acclaimed ‘Factory’ designer Peter Saville.

Fame

Yet despite the fame of the mourners the service was a very normal Catholic requiem mass lasting just over an hour with readings by a few old friends and former colleagues.

Tributes came in the form of flowers from the great and good of Manchester and beyond. Wreaths included a huge message made out of hundreds of white daisies which simply red “From Liverpool With Love.”

There were also floral tributes from Sir Alex Ferguson and the players and staff at Manchester United, music bible the NME, Alan McGee – the man who first discovered Manchester band Oasis and Coronation Street and Shameless actor Chris Bisson.

One floral tribute bore the words: “To Manchester’s true legend – your legacy lives on. From Michelle and David, friends and followers from Blackpool and Preston.”

One time Granada colleague Richard Madeley paid tribute to the man they called Mr Manchester after the service.

He said: “The service was one of the most emotional I have ever seen. Tony always had absolute self belief. He was so confident but he was also a very good, thoroughly decent man. “He celebrated others people success almost more than de did his own and he will be greatly missed by his friends and this city.”

The service was conducted by Catholic priest, Canon Denis Clinch, at Tony’s favourite church, the Hidden Gem, off John Dalton Street in the city centre.

Both Tony’s children Isabel and Oliver were baptised there and Tony used to pop into the church regularly to have theological discussions with Canon Clinch. After the service, watched by a large crowd of members of the public, friends and family travelled across town to Southern Cemetery, where Tony was buried and then onto One Central Street bar for his wake.

Bernard Sumner pays tribute to Tony Wilson

The Joy Division photographs of Kevin Cummins

 www.tohellwithpublishing.com

Even though I must have only been about three years old, I can still remember the first time I saw Kevin Cummins photographs of Joy Division.  Even as a small child I was aware of the band and knew that my father was the singer, but seeing the black and white prints spread out across the carpet brought tangibility.  They really did exist!

Natalie Curtis, July 2007

 Kevin Cummins long awaited book of photographs from his Joy Division archive is more than just a book of pictures of one of the greatest rock bands by one of our greatest rock photographers. Since Ian Curtiss death in 1980 Joy Division have developed, and maintain, a special place within rocks history. Kevin Cummins photographed them from their beginnings as Warsaw in 1977.  This lavish production captures the essence of what they meant then and what continues to make them so influential today.

The book showcases many previously unseen images as well as Cummins iconic pictures of the band. It also contains specially commissioned personal essays by Natalie Curtis, Ian Rankin, Cath Carroll, David Peace, Matthew Higgs, Nick Lezard Alan Hempsall and Pat Nevin,

JUVENES is a brooding investigation into the intangible quality that makes Joy Division one of the most loved and respected English bands still to this day.

Date of Publication: 1^st November 2007.

Edition: 26 lettered copies, signed, with original print (500 UKP) and 200 numbered copies, signed (200 UKP)

END OF PRODUCTION

JOY DIVISION 

JOY DIVISION has reached the end of production. The feature length documentary, a US/UK co production, produced by Hudson Productions Ltd partners Tom Astor and Tom Atencio in association with Brown Owl Films Jacqui Edenbrow, is directed by Grammy nominated Grant Gee (Radiohead's Meeting People Is Easy, Director of Photography & Editor Scott Walker: 30 Century Man) and co-written by acclaimed journalist/writer Jon Savage (England's Dreaming: Anarchy, Sex Pistols, Punk Rock, and Beyond). 

In 1976 four young men from ruined, post-industrial Manchester went to see the Sex Pistols. They formed a band, Joy Division. Three years later the lead singer, Ian Curtis committed suicide just as they were on the brink of worldwide success. Together Gee and Savage investigate why Joy Division's collective musical genius and singular vision enjoys a larger audience and influence thirty years on.

Featuring the unprecedented participation of the surviving band members of Joy Division, now known as New Order, the film chronicles a time of great social and political change in England of the mid-70's and tells the untold story of these four men who transcended economic and cultural barriers to produce an enduring and profound legacy, one that resonates fiercely in today's heavily careerist music industry and over mediated pop culture.   

The band's remarkable story is depicted through atmospheric never-before-seen live performance footage, photographs both iconic and personal, period films and newly unearthed audio tapes; taking us through the bands early years as individuals finding their voices and then later as a band, building their ideas and ideals.  The documentary situates the band not just in the musical context of punk and post-punk but in the culturally starved, claustrophobic landscape of post-industrial Manchester that surrounded them and suffuses every note of their music.

This unparalleled visual account of a time and place is coupled with heartfelt and animated, present tense accounts from the surviving members of the band Bernard Sumner, Peter Hook and Stephen Morris, plus other key characters in the story, including friend and similarly isolated musician Genesis P. Orridge, legendary Factory Records owner Tony Wilson, iconic graphic artist Peter Saville, photographer/ filmmaker Anton Corbijn, Annik Honor and others.

JOY DIVISION is a Hudson Productions Ltd Production in association with Brown Owl Films.

Tony Wilson funeral details announced

The service takes place next week

The funeral of Tony Wilson will take place next Monday (August 20).

The service will take place at the Hidden Gem Church , Manchester at 2pm, and will be open to family and close friends via invitation only.

Discussions are currently taking place regarding a separate memorial service for the former TV presenter and Factory Records supremo, who passed away aged 57 last Friday (August 10) after suffering from kidney cancer.

Anybody wishing to send flowers can do so and these should be sent to:

The Co-Operative Funeral Home
Manchester Road
Chorlton-Cum-Hardy
Manchester
M21 1PN

For those prefering to make a charitable donation, the family has designated The Christie Hospital in Manchester as their preferred charity.

Donations can be made either online at Christies.org/makedonations.html
or via post to:

Appeals Office
Christie Hospital NHS Trust
Wilmslow Road
Withington
Manchester
M20 4BX

Stephen Morris: 'We wouldn't have made it without Tony Wilson'

New Order/Joy Division drummer recalls life with the Factory legend

New Order's Stephen Morris has spoken to NME.COM at length following the death of Tony Wilson.

The Manchester legend signed Morris' first band Joy Division to his Factory Records label, and then continued to support the group and release its records after they became New Order following frontman Ian Curtis' suicide in 1980.

Wilson passed away on August 10 after battling with kidney cancer, something that the drummer admitted had shocked him.

"We were told that Tony had been given the last rites. And I didn't think he was that bad," he explained. "Then at tea time on Friday (10) I got a call from (Factory co-founder) Alan Erasmus, which was a shock anyway because I'd not heard from him in about 15 years. And he told me that Tony had just died. And I was shocked, double shocked.

"It was very fast. I saw him three weeks ago at a wedding, and I saw pictures of him at Coachella (where he introduced Happy Mondays onstage). He was obviously ill and he had a very ill-advised beard, but Tony was still there. We were chatting about Neil Young at the Palace Theatre, and he seemed alright. Which is why I'm quite surprised that it's happened as quick as it has done really. I heard he was getting taken back to hospital, but that's one of the things about cancer, it's up and down a bit. The whole thing's been really quick because he was only diagnosed just before Christmas."

Morris then recalled the impact Wilson had on his bands and the first time he had met the local TV presenter turned record label boss.

"When it started out, everyone knew Tony because he was on telly, reading the news," said Morris.

"He was the hippy guy who was kind of on your wavelength, and he did the 'What's On' programme. He was obviously listening to the same kind of music that we did. And then at a concert one night Bernard (Sumner) spotted him. Ian (Curtis) harangued him mercilessly for not putting us on television, because he'd had the Buzzcocks on, and I remember Ian really laying into him going 'You're a right twat Wilson, you are,' and I think that impressed Tony more than anything. We gave him a copy of 'An Ideal For Living' (the band's debut EP as Warsaw) and he played it on 'What's On'. And the next thing you know... you can trace It all back to that one chaotic gig at Rafters. That was where it all started."

Morris admitted that without Wilson's input neither of his bands would have been likely to succeed.

"We definitely wouldn't have become what we did, definitely not," he declared. "I can tell you that without a shadow of a doubt. So many other things wouldn't have become what they are. Manchester wouldn't have become what it is without him. Things would have been so different.

www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk

'Wilson extraordinary' - Yvette

TONY Wilson's partner today spoke of her `honour' at spending so much of her life with an 'extraordinary' man.

The Manchester music mogul died after a heart attack at Christie Hospital where he was being treated for kidney cancer. He was 57.

Yvette Livesey, his partner of 17 years, said he would be looking down at the outpouring of grief following his death 'with a full heart'.

His death on Friday has made headlines across the world with musicians and media figures paying tribute. The union flag on Manchester Town Hall was lowered to half mast as a mark of respect.

Spirited

Yvette, 38, described how he remained spirited to the end - complaining how annoying it was that everyone was being nice to him when he thought most people saw him as 'a prat'.

The former Miss England said: "I was honoured to have spent so much of my life with him - I met him when I was 21. In a way I understand the reaction to his death. Tony touched people in a funny way. I have always been surprised and shocked by how powerfully people felt, whether they loved or hated him.

"Over the years I have known him I have seen it and it is an amazing thing - he always got a big reaction. I don't know how he would feel about it. He would be looking down with a very full heart, I think.

"He had so much confidence, so much self belief that he took people along with him. The confidence you saw on TV, that was him at home, too. He said he had only been proved wrong twice in his life.

"I think I only coped living with him because I have a strong belief in myself, too. I've always thought no one else could bear either of us." When Tony looked back over his achievements he told Yvette that he had few regrets. She added that he would probably want to be remembered `just for doing what he did, influencing the people he influenced'.

She said: "He was in the right place at the right time but he also made things happen. TV was his day job but music was his love, his passion. He had a special relationship with Manchester. He was its ultimate promoter, he loved it, it was home for him.

"When people made it they moved to London. He didn't, but he came very close. He got a job with the Nationwide news programme and was on the motorway when he changed his mind, came home and called Granada." She said the only word to sum him up was `extraordinary'.

Tony became ill at the end of last year and was diagnosed with renal cancer and had emergency surgery to remove a kidney. When chemotherapy failed, his doctors at Christie wanted to prescribe a new drug, Sutent, but it is not routinely available on the NHS and health bosses refused to fund it.

Fund

His friends' reaction to the news was to set up a fund to pay for the treatment he needed.

Over the last two months Tony led a high-profile campaign to make the drug available on the NHS.

Tony paid tribute to the doctors and nurses who cared for him at Manchester Royal Infirmary and Christie in an article he wrote for the M.E.N. earlier this year. Yvette said: "He had the best treatment in the world."

Tony's funeral is expected to take place on Saturday.

Council bosses are to meet with Yvette and his family after the service to decide how best Tony should be remembered.

Suggestions include a concert, a statue and a plaque on the Hacienda, the pioneering music club that he owned.

Coun Pat Karney said: "We are looking at some kind of civic award. Yvette and his family must have a 100 per cent say in what happens."

Coun Karney described Tony as a 'human cultural internet'. He said: "I remember every conversation with him. He looked at what Manchester could get out of everything."

Steve Coogan: 'Tony Wilson was a genuine maverick and pioneer'

The man who played him in '24 Hour Party People' pays tribute

Steve Coogan, who played Tony Wilson in the 2002 film '24 Hour Party People', has spoken about his love of the Factory Records legend.

The impresario passed away after suffering cancer of the kidneys, but hundreds of fans have contacted NME.COM to express their sadness and thank Wilson for his huge contribution to Manchester and Britain's music, both through his record label and the influential nightclub The Hacienda, which he ran in the 1980s and 1990s.

Speaking about the legend at the time of the film's release, Coogan declared: "I've got a kind of respect for Tony Wilson.

"He was a genuine maverick, a genuine pioneer, someone who wanted to do things differently. However, he's a complicated person. There are moments of pretentiousness about him.

"Sometimes he appears to be ridiculous. But he's also someone who was a genuine maverick, a genuine pioneer, someone who wanted to do things differently and was a visionary of sorts, and so I want to get that across too.

"At the end of the film, I want people to think that his pluses outweigh his minuses and it's a better place for him having been around than had he not."

Speaking about the time Wilson came on set to visit Coogan, the comedian recalled: "It was weird, it was very odd. I was dressed exactly the same as he was. We met in the corridor and he just looked at me and screamed and ran away."

Wilson also had something to say about the dialogue of the film.

"He did say at some points he quoted what I say in the film rather than what he said in reality because he said I phrased it better...I quite liked that," said Coogan

Factory Records legend's obituary

Peter Hook leads tributes to Tony Wilson

Peter Hook has paid tribute to Tony Wilson, who died yesterday, saying "my heart is broken".

The New Order and Joy Division bass player likened the passing of the Factory Records founder to the death of his father.

Posting on his MySpace blog from Japan, Hook wrote: "It's a very, very, very sad day. I feel very lost out here in Japan. It's like my father dying all over again. I'm devastated."

"I'll be going back to England as soon as possible to pick up the pieces. My heart goes out to Yvette, Oliver, Hilary and Isabelle. I'm thinking of you all, my heart is broken.

"Say hello to Rob, Ian and Martin for me please Tony. Rest in peace. God bless."

Wilson signed Joy Division to his Factory Records label, and together they opened Manchester's legendary Hacienda nightclub.

Wilson died yesterday in Manchester, from a heart attack following complications from cancer.

New Order pay tribute to Tony Wilson

Stephen Morris: 'There would be no Joy Division without Tony'

'Without Tony Wilson there would be no indie labels'

Alan McGee pays tribute Tony Wilson

Creation records boss Alan McGee has paid tribute to Factory Records legend Tony Wilson, whose death was announced tonight (August 10).

The man who signed the likes of Primal Scream and Oasis told NME.COM he had followed the lead of Wilson, who was responsible for releasing records by bands including Joy Division, New Order and Happy Mondays.

"He was a complete inspiration," declared McGee. "He was one of the great spotter of music talent, and it's a complete shame for him to go so very young.

"Factory Records was the template for every indie label with its 50-50 deals [between artist and label] and I can honestly say without Factory there would have been no Creation. In fact if it wasn't for his talk to us in 1985 I might have quit music all together."

McGee went on to add that despite having his "ups and downs" with Wilson musically the two were great friends and he had always been impressed with the way the Salford-born legend had remained on the cutting edge throughout his life, backing new talent through leading events like In The City music conference in Manchester and New York, plus consistently picking out new bands.

"I did a Alan McGee Vs Tony Wilson thing on the radio last year where we had a DJ off," he recalled. "All he would play was Enter Shikari, he was always on it."

Factory Records legend Anthony Wilson dies

The man who signed Joy Division, Happy Mondays passes awa

Anthony H. Wilson, co-founder of Factory Records, has died of a heart attack today (August 10) at the age of 57.

Wilson is best known for signing legendary bands including Joy Division and New Order to his label, and as owner of the Hacienda nightclub in Manchester.

He played a key role in the Madchester scene of the late 1980s and early 1990s, signing the Happy Mondays.

Wilson passed away on this evening in the hospital after suffering a heart attack that his doctor said was unrelated to his recent battle with cancer.

Professor Robert Hawkins, his doctor at Christie hospital, told the Guardian: "It's very sad. He died as a result of something unrelated to his cancer. His cancer was responding well to treatment but obviously did contribute to his poor health".

Recently it was recommended he take the drug Sutent after chemotherapy failed to treat the disease effectively, but the NHS refused to pay for the 3500-a-month treatment.

However, the Happy Mondays and other bands he signed had started a charity fund to help pay for Wilson's treatment.

His family are reportedly declining to comment at this time, but thanked the staff at the MRI and Christie who have provided "fantastic" care for him over the last few months.

Obituary: Tony Wilson 

Another fan, Ross Burton, from Annapolis, Maryland, in the USA, summed up his many achievements with a poignant eulogy: "Thanks Tony for helping to bring me the soundtrack of my life. Rest in peace mate."

Bernard Sumner Says New Order ‘Mate Peter Hook “Needs to Chill Out”  

www.nme.com

Freebass to work with former Take That man?

Robbie Williams has approached former Smiths bassist Andy Rourke to work on his solo project.

Rourke revealed that the singer had got in touch to join in with his new project Freebass, the band he shares with Primal Scream's Mani and New Order's Peter Hook.

Musicians also pencilled into to work with the band include Ian Brown and Tim Burgess from The Charlatans.

Rourke revealed the Williams collaboration during a Q&A session about the new Smiths documentary 'Inside The Smiths' with band drummer Mike Joyce in London yesterday (July 19).

BERNARD SUMNER
 CONFUSION: JOY DIVISION, ELECTRONIC AND NEW ORDER VERSUS THE WORLD
By David Nolan
 
Bernard Sumner has read the manuscript of
David Nolan's new book 'Confusion' and decided to contribute to the biography.He's added his thoughts and observations to David's text, put many previously
 private matters into context and had a right to reply on some of the more
 controversial aspects of the book.

 David Nolan says: "Bernard Sumner has read this book;  it was vital that he be allowed to
 respond to some of the issues raised, particularly the very personal ones.
   
 "To his credit, Bernard took a great deal of time and care offering his
 thoughts on the manuscript. As a result, where I had initially made a
 mistake, I have corrected it.  Where his version differed to someone else's,
 I've included both. Where Bernard offers insight into something I could only
 have guessed at, I have added it verbatim.
 
 "Unofficial biographies often have the sense that the author has the freedom
 to write whatever he or she wants, but is hampered by a lack of insider
 knowledge. Official ones have the story straight from the horse's mouth, but
 sometimes with the suspicion that deals have been struck and harsher words
 censored. This is an odd mix of both and is all the better for it.
  
 Good luck for the future Bernard. Your past has been a fascinating puzzle to
 piece together."
  
David Nolan
Manchester,
Summer 2007

The magician, as Tony Wilson calls him; Factory co-founder, musical genius and sonic alchemist, Martin 'Zero' Hannett created the soundtrack of a generation. He produced the greats of punk and post-punk (Buzzcocks, U2, Smiths, New Order, Joy Division, Happy Mondays, Stone Roses, Psychodelic Furs etc). Hannett shaped and delivered the sound that propelled the whole movement to prominence and still can be clearly heard in the records of Interpol, Snow Patrol, the Killers, Franz Ferdinand, the Kaiser Chiefs, Radiohead, Oasis. Yet, despite the extraordinary influence his production work and personality had on the seminal bands of the time little is really known about the complex man behind the myth. His life was as tragic and destructive as his work was innovative and creative. How did the 'magician' end up a sad, overweight, wrecked junkie humiliatingly pushed around in a shopping trolley by Sean Rider for a Happy Mondays video before a sad early death in 1991? In this original and fascinating biography - the first book on Hannett - Colin Sharp, best friend to Martin and witness to the scene, takes us on a journey into the heart and soul of Post-Punk's sonic genius. Who Killed... getsIt is a unique portrait of a tortured genius.

- There will be a launch for "Who Killed Martin Hannett?" at Urbis, Manchester on 25th July 2007, 8-12 pm. There will be a panel talking about Manchester in the late 70s, Factory Records, Martin Hannett and writing about the period. Then will be playing Hannett's Greatest Hits and some Martin obscurities, followed by food, drink, cerebral networking, good vibes, memories....

Tickets will go on sale through Urbis and outlets very soon. Be there or be square! - Urbis, Manchester - www.urbis.org.uk

- "Who Killed Martin Hannett?" can now be pre-ordered from Amazon.co.uk - www.amazon.co.uk or Play.com - www.play.com. Available from the 25th of June 2007.

Publisher is : To Hell Publishing

Expected date of publication is November 2007

The book will consist of Kevin Cummins selection of pictures from his Joy Division archive accompanied by short personal essays by several writers.

These include: Ian Rankin, Simon Armitage, David Peace.

The forward is by Natalie Curtis

The book will be limited to 226 editions. 200 numbered and 26 lettered (A-Z). The lettered editions will be slightly different - they may be signed by all the writers too.

It will retail at approx. 200 GBP (price to be confirmed)

All  details are subject to change.

www.hollywoodreporter.com

Weinstein's three for the road at Cannes

CANNES -- The Weinstein Co. scored a triple play at the tail end of the Festival de Cannes, nabbing North American rights for Anton Corbijn's Joy Division biopic "Control," North American home video rights to Tom Shankland's detective thriller "Waz" and Australian rights to the animated "Persepolis."

"Control," the feature directorial debut of music video vet Corbijn, unspooled in the festival's Directors' Fortnight sidebar and earned three awards there: the CICAE Art & Essai prize for best film, the Regards Jeunes Prize for best first or second feature film and the Europa Cinemas Label prize for best European film. The black-and-white portrait of Joy Division frontman Ian Curtis, who committed suicide at age 23, stars Sam Riley and Samantha Morton.

First Independent Pictures and Wagner/Cuban Cos. were in serious negotiations to jointly acquire the film until late Thursday, but the Weinstein Co. stepped in and closed the deal Friday.

Weinstein Co. executive vp acquisitions Michelle Krumm and senior vp business and legal affairs Laine Kline negotiated the "Control" deal with Becker International's Iain Canning

www.irishexaminer.com

Joy Division biopic wins at Cannes 

"CONTROL" Impressive movie

Control is a mind blowing movie, a perfect performance of Sam Riley as Ian Curtis (how real and touching he portrayed Ian). It is a privilege to witness this work of art at worldwide premiere in Cannes May 17^th, 2007. Anton Corbijn, with his first movie, created a masterpiece. The rest of the cast are also amazing.

Yesterday it received a standing ovation well deserve at its premiere on the Croisette. It was a perfect way to pay tribute to Ian Curtis and Joy Division.

It was nice to see Joy Division / New Order with Gillian Gilbert at the premiere. I wanted to thanks especially Todd Eckert and Orian Williams.

Last two pix are Sam Riley with Todd Eckert and Orian Williams (Producers of Control)and Sam with me.

Briton causes sensation in Cannes

British actor Sam Riley, left, and Dutch director Anton Corbijn pose during a press conference for the film Control

A 27-year-old former retail warehouse worker is causing a sensation in Cannes for his first film lead role as the lead singer of iconic Manchester band Joy Division in a low-budget British movie which failed to secure UK public investment.

Dutch director Anton Corbijn had to pour his own cash into the film Control to ensure its survival.

Now the 3m movie, which follows lead singer Ian Curtis's tragic last years before he killed himself at the age of 23 on the eve of the band's first US tour, has swept up excitement at the famous film festival.

Mr Corbijn plucked Sam Riley, 27, from obscurity to play the singer, who suffered from epileptic fits and found it hard to handle the band's success as his personal life unravelled following an affair.

New Order, the band which the surviving members of Joy Division formed after his death, and Curtis's widow, played by Samantha Morton, collaborated on the project.

Mr Corbijn first met Mr Curtis after moving to the UK in the late 1970s, when he persuaded Joy Division to do a photoshoot just before its lead singer died.

Shot in black and white, the film has a soundtrack of songs from New Order, David Bowie, the Sex Pistols, the Velvet Underground and Iggy Pop.

Control received no UK public money, but 250,000 of European Union cash from the group EM Media.

Because New Order are based in the East Midlands, the movie - one of the few British titles being shown in Cannes - was shot in Nottingham instead of Macclesfield, where the story is set.

Mr Corbijn said: "It was my first movie so people might have been frightened by a first-time director. But it is a very English story and so it would have seemed appropriate to have some English funding."

www.telegraph.co.uk

Bright young Brit shines in Joy Division biopic

A failed rock star who until recently was packing shirts in a warehouse has been hailed as one of Britains brightest new acting talents at the Cannes Film Festival. 

	Intense: Sam Riley 'captures the essence' of Joy Division singer Ian Curtis in Anton Corbijn's feature debut, Control

Sam Riley, 27, who admits that his band, Ten Thousand Things, "never troubled" the pop charts, has been lauded for his performance in Control, the British film about the late frontman of seminal 1970s group Joy Division.

Critics have described his portrayal of troubled singer Ian Curtis, who committed suicide on the eve of the band's first American tour, as "spectacular" and "outstanding".

Yesterday it received a standing ovation at its premiere on the Croisette. Even surviving members of the group were impressed.

Riley, from Leeds, who also performs all the songs in the film, gave up acting after playing Ray Winstones son in a television drama seven years ago while a member of the National Youth Theatre.

Finding himself disliking the experience of working on a set, he switched to music and writing songs for his band which briefly secured him a record deal.

However, their lack of hits forced him to work in bars and fold shirts in a factory. It was then that his old agent was contacted by Anton Corbijn, director of Control.

He said: "I had not spoken to my agent for four years. I was sent on an audition and then they rang me on my 26th birthday and said I had the part.

"To be in Cannes is like a daydream. To have filmed in Nottingham, obviously one of Britain's most glamorous cities, and then come here has been just crazy."

He said his previous career had helped him for the part. "I was a singer in a band," he said. "That is what I was doing previous to this film. It was just a case of practising his dancing style in the mirror."

Corbijn, a celebrated rock photographer shooting his first movie, said he never expected to find someone so perfect for the part.

"Not only does he look like him but he has the same innocence and charisma. I cannot think of the movie without Sam.

"Normally when you make a movie like this, you always disappoint people and fans but I honestly do not think Sam will disappoint anyone."

Peter Hook, the bass player with Joy Division and New Order which evolved from it, said: "He really caught the essence of Ian's character. It was like hearing Ian. It sent shivers down my spine."

Shot in black and white, with Nottingham standing in for Macclesfield, Control is the story of the last years in the life of Curtis who hanged himself in 1980 as the band stood on the threshold of stardom.

An intense character, Curtis suffered increasingly from epileptic fits towards the end of his life. While dedicated to his young wife Deborah and their baby, he was torn between his mundane life in Macclesfield and the excitement of touring with his band.

Their biggest hit was Love Will Tear Us Apart. His illness and tangled love life as well as the increasing responsibilities of the band led to him being unable to cope with the world. He hanged himself in his home exactly 27 years ago today, aged 23.

www.bbc.co.uk

Curtis rocks Cannes

'Control' has festival buzzing

"I moved to England because of Joy Division and Ian ... I didn't know him very well but I knew him, and researching for this film  made me get to know him much better." - Anton Corbijn, Director 

Times Online

Joy Division, the movie, gets top slot at Cannes

HE could not cope with the pressure of trying to make it big in America. Now more than 25 years after his suicide Ian Curtis, the lead singer of Joy Division, is to be brought back to life on the big screen.

The biopic, based on a book by Curtiss widow, is to receive its premiere on Thursday in a prestigious slot at the Cannes Film Festival.

Curtis was an intense figure, prone to depression and epilepsy, who died after releasing only one album. The film, though, could help cement his position in the rock pantheon alongside Kurt Cobain and Jim Morrison.

The movie, Control, stars the comparatively unknown Sam Riley as Curtis and the award-winning Samantha Morton as his wife Deborah. It will be Britains main entry to the festival and will open the Directors Fortnight.

Curtis committed suicide in May 1980 as Joy Division was on the brink of commercial success with its first tour of the United States. The singer, 23, was also experiencing difficulties in his marriage and was agonising about his affair with a new girlfriend.

He hanged himself at home, and a note was found beside him stating: At this moment I wish I were dead. I just cannot cope any more. He left a baby daughter, Natalie.

The book, Touching from a Distance, portrays a happy marriage, although it does refer to his obsessive nature and fascination with the Third Reich.

By contrast, the movie concludes that Curtis was obsessed with Annik Honor, a Belgian fan of Joy Division, whom the singer had met nine months before his suicide. The film is directed by Anton Corbijn, whose monochrome photographs of the band during its brief existence captured its stark image.

The film is really a love story between Ian and Annik, said Matt Greenhalgh, the scriptwriter. Even so, Ian probably still loved Deborah, but he could not handle guilt. He was a nice man, though clearly tormented.

The band, whose sole album before Curtiss death was Unknown Pleasures, with a second, Closer, appearing posthumously, was managed by Tony Wilson, who ran the Manchester-based Factory Records. In 2002 Wilsons life story was turned into a film, 24 Hour Party People, with Steve Coogan in the lead role. That film also focused on the story of Joy Division and Curtis.

Control joins a growing list of biopics about rock stars. A documentary about Joe Strummer of the Clash is released in Britain next weekend and a movie about Freddie Mercury is planned.

Peter Hook on MySpace

Peter Hook is now officially on MySpace at:

http://www.myspace.com/peterhookneworder

Subscribe to his blog, here is the latest you can read:

"just managed to lose all this once so here we go again................

week started a bit oddly sortin out some problems for the control soundtrack but its done now so im lookin forward to control at cannes. as becky said a once in a lifetime opportunity to be in a film at cannes its quite excitin . ive been asked to dj somewhere as well so double whammy!

david sultan found some great stuff hidden in my basement thanks dave! he turned up a tape great quality of us at MAXWELLS NEW JERSEY which was the first gig of the post joy division tour as a three piece too? Ruth polskys tour actually[ god rest her soul] whats interestin is its the only gig we did as a three piece with our own gear as it was stolen the next day [see new order book for full story hilarious apart from the pain#] also a tape of the western works demos and the missin track from last nite at the electric circus NOVELTY be great to put them out with warsaw live at middlesboro [how could we persuade bernard eh?] well we can dream. birmingham went well sutton coldfield actually! well there was a very cold field in front of me? the organisors were great but kept tryin to cheer me up by sayin how bez had rocked it the week before? ah well slept 3 hours then to the airport for japan felt a bit rough and got worse when i realixed that i was tryin to get on the wrong flite my flite was in four more hours [thanks fletch and sam,] well i suppose it was god payin me back for not believin jess when she said she felt poorly and makin her go in school[ just like me mam with me] so im rough tired and then joy of joys , the flites delayed so i have to leg it at SCHIPOL to get the next flite and made it with three minutes to spare.....good thing my legs better unfortunately my bag has no legs so didnt make it again! THATS THREE IN THREE WEEKS AMAZIN THE GUY AT THE AIRPORT IS A NEW ORDER FAN SO DROPS IT OFF FOR ME FIRST! saves packin it tho i just take it with me next time. good flite felt better so ok watched night at the museum ha ha what a performance by steve coogan it was shite!!!!! cheered me up no end that did.thanks steve! so i arrive no bag so TAKKAO TAKES ME TO K.SWISS to get some clother for the gig at air in the company hummer which was a laugh! just for all you doubters of the power of celebrity djin takkao was over the moon tellin me of the arrival of his son RIO a month old cos he met his wife at my gig in osaka see the world moves in mysterious ways doesnt it?

so interviews all day for the upcomin hacienda cds mani is doin one sos tim burgess so i was tired had an hours break then off to AIR for the gig stitched up by my friends? sam and takkao and pushed on stage with NIGRILIS while they did their cover of krafty thanks lads ill get you for that! the gig was great it always amazes me to get a great reaction like that the crowd were GREAT!

SAW A COUPLE OF OLD FRIENDS FROM NEW ORDER DAYS AND thanks to keiko for the hac soap and emi for the pictures! so happy and sweaty i went to the hotel showered and left[got a couple of great kimonos dont tell anyone] for the airport i was picked up by the promoter in the other k swiss car

man a top tokyo drift 350z which was like a slingshot! supercharged monster sounded wild on a sunday mornin in tokyo ill tell you!thanks man so home exhausted flites were ok and i saw my bag as they put it back on the plane! then home to the girls in time for kingdom so im happy.

interviewin? a singer for freebass tomorro so keep your fingers crossed! im happy tired but ready for leeds and belfast this week/ tell you what tho probably had my strangest request ever in brum this kid who looked sober said;

you got any SPIDER SIMPSON?; i of course said ;WHAT! and he tells me there a sutton coldfield band who i should look out for so obviously so should YOU!

til next time hookyx"

Resurrected heroes rock the Croisette

There will be few Union Jacks flying over the Croisette this year: the Cannes Film Festival is almost totally a British film-free zone bar two notable exceptions, both focusing on rock gods. One is a biopic, the other a documentary.

Having its world premiere as the opening film of the prestigious Directors Fortnight will be Anton Corbijns Control, the hotly anticipated screen biography of Ian Curtis, singer with Manchester postpunk legends Joy Division. Also showing in Cannes will be Julien Temples terrific documentary on the late Clash singer Joe Strummer, The Future is Unwritten.

After the recent celebrated biopics of Johnny Cash and Ray Charles the fast lives and early deaths of iconic rock stars clearly remain a perennial fascination for festival organisers and audiences alike. Strikingly, Curtis and Strummer were almost exact contemporaries and arguably the two most important British music figures of their times. One became an enduring symbol of psychic torment and unrealised potential, the other a rousing rebel-rock icon who retreated from the limelight, only to die on the brink of a major career revival. Both now enjoy worldwide reverence among music fans.

Similar in style to his groundbreaking eulogy to the Sex Pistols, The Filth and the Fury, in 2000, Temples portrait of Strummer is a remarkable collage of rare family footage, performance clips and late 1970s social context. In a smart sleight of hand it is narrated by Strummer himself in a loose audio narrative pieced together from archive interviews.

It also features a starry collection of first-hand testimonials from friends, musical partners and famous fans. Martin Scorsese, Bono, Johnny Depp and a cast of thousands all pay their respects to the former Clash singers everyman appeal.

Joe retained a connection with his audience all around the world, Temple says, a big audience of people who felt they had a kind of closeness with him. He did insist on remaining human and flawed and contradictory and in touch with other people. A lot of famous musicians lose that, and its quite easy to do, the bigger you get. Joe was a very big star. He wrestled very deeply with it.

The personality cult based on Curtis is distinct from most live-fast, die-young rock stories. An intense, charismatic figure assailed by depression and epilepsy, he retains a huge global following almost three decades after his death. Curtis committed suicide on the eve of Joy Divisions first American tour in May 1980. He was 23.

He scored his largest commercial success shortly after his death with the evergreen despair anthem Love Will Tear Us Apart, and the small canon of Joy Division songs he left behind defined the jagged, brutal, modernist aesthetic of postpunk. He informed many of the biggest rock bands of the 1980s and 1990s, and helped to inspire everyone from U2 to Nirvana, Moby to the Killers. When Kurt Cobain committed suicide in 1994 and Richey Edwards of the Manic Street Preachers ominously disappeared a year later, fans were quick to invoke Curtis as their dark forefather.

Control, filmed in monochrome, is based on Touching From a Distance, the 1997 memoir by the singers widow, Deborah Curtis. Ironically, this flagship for British talent at Cannes is directed by a Dutchman, Anton Corbijn, and produced by an American, Orian Williams.

It stars the virtually unknown Sam Riley as Curtis and Samantha Morton as Debbie, and was partly shot in the singers native Macclesfield. But Joy Divisions central Manchester rehearsal room, immortalised in the Love Will Tear Us Apart video, was recreated in a Nottingham warehouse. I was there last summer when Corbijn shot a key scene in which the band learn that they have been booked on the fateful American tour that apparently plunged Curtis into his final depression.

The London-based Corbijn, making his debut as a feature director, spent most of the 1980s as a photographer at the New Musical Express, where his instantly recognisable signature style of grainy textures and deep shadows earned him the nickname the Dutch Master. He then moved on to shooting videos, conceiving album sleeves and designing stage shows for numerous superstar bands.

Although best known today as image-maker in chief to U2 and Depeche Mode, Corbijns connection to Joy Division is an obsession spanning 30 years. It was the cult Manchester quartet who caused him to move to England permanently in the late 1970s.

My theory is that music really mattered here in peoples lives, Corbijn says. People are so poor that it was a way out, a matter of living or dying almost, whereas in Holland it always seemed like a subsidised hobby. When Joy Division came out it was so fantastic. I just had to go to England, to be where that music comes from.

Within weeks of arriving, he persuaded Joy Division to grant him a photo shoot, producing some iconic monochrome shots that would later immortalise the bands stark and gloomy image. But it was only after the singers suicide that these early portraits were hailed for their eerie, prophetic intensity.

Nobody would publish it, Corbijn recalls, but the band liked it. When Ian died, NME suddenly wanted to put the picture on the front. It was like a premonition.

Both Deborah Curtis and her daughter Natalie, who was just 1 when her father committed suicide, visited the set and gave their blessing to Control. Even so, the film-makers had to tread carefully in covering the singers darker side, notably his adulterous affair with Annik Honor, a Belgian fan, that spanned the eight tormented months leading to his suicide.

The one thing we told Debbie early on is we want to tell the truth, as best as we can, says Williams. We want to tell Ians story, not Debbies specific story. Even though it starts from the book we want the bands input, we want Anniks input. Debbie and her never met, and probably never will.

Williams and the screenwriter Matt Greenhalgh met Honor while researching the film. Curtis was still strong in her memory. Ian wrote letters to her constantly, Williams says. Ive seen those letters and they were sad, beautiful, lonely. It was a huge deal. He loved Annik and I know she loved him.

Reborn as New Order after Curtis hanged himself, the surviving members of Joy Division have approved the script and supplied sound-track music. However, the bass player Peter Hook lambasted Corbijn for his hands-on methods last year. We dont tell him how to direct, why is he telling us how to make music? Hook protested. The band are supportive of Anton, period, Williams insists. We met with New Order several times. They read the script, theyre aware of the story we are telling. They know Debbies book.

Control was shot on a tight budget of less than 3 million. Williams initially showed the idea to some Hollywood studio executives, but the box-office appeal of a black-and-white film about a long-dead cult singer eluded them.

Various people said, Get an Alist actor! Make it big! Williams laughs. Black and white? No one sees black and white . . . Anton who? A couple of them even said, What if you told it from the perspective of if he were still alive, looking back on his life . . .? So stupid.

The Joy Division story has already been told on screen before, as one subplot of Michael Winterbottoms irreverent Factory Records postmortem 24 Hour Party People. The Factory founder Tony Wilson has a producer credit on both films, although the two are very different in tone and focus.

As part of his research for playing Curtis, Riley visited the Epilepsy Society in London to study the effects of the seizures that, he feels, contributed to the singers suicidal depression. The side-effects of the medication could be pretty soul-destroying, Riley says. Being in love with two women, the fear that comes along with epilepsy, the future and the unknown . . . I think it was just a massive combination. It was all too much for him.

If Corbijns Control and Temples The Future is Unwritten share any common ground it is that both were made by directors who knew and loved their subjects. The difference between Strummer and Curtis, argues Temple, is that Joe was a tough, survivor kind of guy. His film doesnt flinch from showing contradictory sides of the Clash frontman, who was loved and hated at the same time. And while the Joy Division singer wore his psychic trauma or all to see, the Clash singer internalised his.

Joe had a dark, introverted aspect which he normally didnt show that much, says Temple. But it was there. I didnt want to wash a lot of dirty linen in public but I did want to make a film that would be useful to people who didnt know him. Ive always felt that he was a kind of philosopher.

The 60th Cannes Film Festival runs May 16-27 (www.festival-cannes.fr ).

Two different worlds tore them apart

Kevin Cummins, photographer and close friend of Ian Curtis:

The films not going to offer me a huge insight into Ians life. Its loosely based on [Curtiss widow] Deborahs book, but I think the films been taken out of her hands a bit.

Theyve made Ians affair with Annik more central, apparently. Ian and Deborah were just kids when they got married and the book isnt about living with a rock star and the marriage falling apart; its about two kids who got married too young and then drifted apart because their worlds changed.

They should just rerelease the first two albums. Thats far more biographical than any film made by people who didnt know him that well.

Ians lyrics were pretty dark and onstage hed get lost in that darkness sometimes. Being close to him, either onstage or in front of the stage, was quite

www.bbc.co.uk

25 Year Party Palace

- Designed by Ben Kelly on the recommendation of Factory Records co-founder Pater Saville, the initial idea for the Haienda came from Joy Division and New Order manager, Rob Gretton, who wanted a club that played the sort of music he liked to listen to.

The Haienda (photo: Ian Tilton)

- The club was financed by both New Order and Factory Records. Opening as a members-only club, it lost a lot of money in the early days, with closure only diverted by the continued funding of New Order, who even turned over the cash made on the massively successful Blue Monday.

- The name comes from a slogan of the radical group Situationist International: 'The Hacienda Must Be Built', from Formulary for a New Urbanism by Ivan Chtcheglov.

- It may have been the Haienda to the rest of the world, but in the Factory catalogue, its FAC 51, nestling in-between New Orders Movement album and A Certain Ratios Waterline.

FAC 51 The Haienda (photo: Ian Tilton)

- Even though the cedilla isnt used in the Spanish spelling of the word hacienda, it was included in the name of the club because it meant that 'i' resembled 51.

- The three bars at the club were called The Gay Traitor, The Kim Philby and Hicks, references to Anthony Blunt, a British art historian who spied for the Soviet Union, and his accomplices.

- In the first few years, the Haienda hosted many live shows, not least the first ever UK appearance by Madonna in 1984.

- Always a place to find unusual performers, at a concert by German industrialists Einstrzende Neubauten, the band actually drilled into the walls that surrounded the stage.

The Haienda (pic: Ian Tilton)

- Credited by many as being the birthplace of the superstar DJ, thanks to its elevated DJ booth, the actual reason for the lofty perch was that the club had poor lines of sight from the original booth, moving the first resident DJ, Hewan Clarke, to lobby for it to be moved.

- Like Factory Records, the club had many ups and downs. Its nadir was reached in 1991 when a young club goer died from ecstasy poisoning and security staff were threatened with a machine gun. This led to the police closing the club. It re-opened the following year.

- The Hacienda closed shortly after its fifteenth birthday. After a violent incident outside the club, the owners became convinced that it would have its licensed revoked. That, coupled with on-going financial problems, led to them closing the doors for the final time in June 1997.

- After standing empty for 18 months, in which there were many arguments about what should happen to it, the club was demolished. A block of flats now stands on the site. New Orders Peter Hook said the decision to build the flats was a good one because if it had been a club and itd carried on, it would have been like seeing your girlfriend out with somebody else.

- With the club gone, for his 2001 film 24 Hour Party People, director Michael Winterbottom recreated it brick-for-brick and girder-for-girder in a warehouse in Ancoats

www.nme.com

Manchester legends play unique hometown gig

A host of Manchester music legends united onstage to play one of the city's classic anthems last night (March 30).

The climax of the Manchester Versus Cancer event saw former Stone Roses bandmates Ian Brown and Mani take to the stage with Smiths bassist Andy Rourke and New Order's Peter Hook to perform 'I Am The Resurrection', sparking scenes of pandemonium at the MEN Arena.

A fundraiser for Manchester cancer hospital Christies, the event also saw Brown play a short greatest hits set, including new song 'Goodbye To The Broken', and Noel Gallagher headline with a semi-acoustic set.

The Oasis leader played classics such as 'Don't Look Back In Anger', 'Slide Away' and 'Half The World Away', along with 'Don't Go Away' from 'Be Here Now' - which he dedicated to Kasabian guitarist Serge Pizzorno.

Noel was also joined onstage by Paul Weller for a version of The Jam's 'The Butterfly Collector'.

Weller had earlier joined The Charlatans for another Jam tune, 'Town Called Malice'.

Other collaborations included Peter Hook joining Echo & The Bunnymen for 'Lips Like Sugar' and McAlmont and Butler teaming up with Andy Rourke to run through a pair of crowd-pleasing Smiths classics, including 'Still Ill' and 'Last Night I Dreamt Somebody Loved Me'.

"CONTROL" Selected for the Prestigious Director's Fortnight

observer.guardian.co.uk

So there are to be no British films in competition at Cannes. With Ken Loach winning the Palme d'Or last year, it feels a bit like winning the World Cup then not qualifying for the next one. But the news is not all bad. I learn that two very distinctive British works will be selected for the prestigious Director's Fortnight. The first is Control , the story of doom-laden rock group Joy Division and their lead singer, Ian Curtis. The film stars newcomer Sam Riley as Curtis and Samantha Morton as his wife Deborah, on whose book the film is based. (Morton should have a good Cannes - she also plays Marilyn Monroe in Harmony Korine's Mister Lonely which has been selected for the Un Certain Regard section.) Control marks the directing debut of celebrated photographer Anton Corbijn. The other British entry is Garage , directed by Ireland's Lenny Abrahamson and written by Mark O'Halloran, the team behind the excellent but little-seen Adam & Paul in 2004.

As the main competition is packed with familiar favourites - Tarantino, Wong Kar Wai, Emir Kusturica, Gus Van Sant - much of the more interesting work these days can be found in the experimental sidebars such as Critics' Week and Director's Fortnight. The official line-ups for these will be announced later this week, but you heard it here first.

Bernard Sumner/So Many Words collaboration

Bernard Sumner (New Order) has been collaborating with So Many Words Theatre Company for Young People with Learning difficulties.

The results of the partnership is a showcase of theatre work by So Many Words called Shimmer to be performed at The Studio Theatre, The Lowry, Salford on  Tuesday, May 15^th.

Shimmer has been created with Bernard and uses original music to explore characters, relationships and fantasy. Taking themes from Chinese folklore, animals and nature, and is an entertaining tale about one young persons journey towards happiness.

So Many Words is based at Oakwood Youth Club, Chatsworth Road, Salford and funded by Arts Council NorthWest.

To reserve tickets for this performance please contact Jamie at Oakwood Youth Club on: 0161 786 1939

The Guardian

Coming soon: the Ian Curtis happy meal?

One features the cover artwork and the catalogue number of their 1979 debut album Unknown Pleasures, while another displays the Factory records logo and the cryptic slogan One of One Made in Macclesfield. They are the work of Dylan Adair, perhaps the only man in history to listen to Joy Division and think of sports-casual footwear: he previously designed a similar trainer for Nike featuring lyrics from Atrocity Exhibition, the harrowing opening track from the band's second album Closer.

"Some of them are a little more tangential than others," explains a spokeswoman for Yo! Sushi, when asked what the link was between Joy Division frontman Ian Curtis' agonised meditation on the break-up of his marriage - originally released a month after his suicide in May 1980 - and coriander-seared tuna and beetroot-marinated salmon. "It's not so much that we're making an affiliation to Joy Division, it's just that it's a great song."

If nothing else, the products are timely. This year sees the release of Control, photographer Anton Corbijn's long-awaited Ian Curtis biopic. Rumours that it will be accompanied by a tie-in with McDonald's - involving a new jingle based on the lyrics of Decades ("portrayal of the trauma and degeneration, the sorrows we suffered and never were free ... I'm lovin' it"), and the Ian Curtis Happy Meal - remain unconfirm-ed at time of going to press.

www.nme.com

Manchester legends play unique hometown gig

A host of Manchester music legends united onstage to play one of the city's classic anthems last night (March 30).

The climax of the Manchester Versus Cancer event saw former Stone Roses bandmates Ian Brown and Mani take to the stage with Smiths bassist Andy Rourke and New Order's Peter Hook to perform 'I Am The Resurrection', sparking scenes of pandemonium at the MEN Arena.

A fundraiser for Manchester cancer hospital Christies, the event also saw Brown play a short greatest hits set, including new song 'Goodbye To The Broken', and Noel Gallagher headline with a semi-acoustic set.

The Oasis leader played classics such as 'Don't Look Back In Anger', 'Slide Away' and 'Half The World Away', along with 'Don't Go Away' from 'Be Here Now' - which he dedicated to Kasabian guitarist Serge Pizzorno.

Noel was also joined onstage by Paul Weller for a version of The Jam's 'The Butterfly Collector'.

Weller had earlier joined The Charlatans for another Jam tune, 'Town Called Malice'.

Other collaborations included Peter Hook joining Echo & The Bunnymen for 'Lips Like Sugar' and McAlmont and Butler teaming up with Andy Rourke to run through a pair of crowd-pleasing Smiths classics, including 'Still Ill' and 'Last Night I Dreamt Somebody Loved Me'.

www.nme.com

Freebass working with 'great' frontmen

'Supergroup' working with Liam Gallagher

'Supergroup' Freebass have been working with Liam Gallagher on their debut album.

As previously reported, The band made up of New Order's Peter Hook, The Smiths' Andy Rourke and Primal Scream's Mani.

Now Hook has confirmed the band, made up up three bass players (hence the name), have been working with a number of high-profile frontmen, including Gallagher.

He said: "We've been working with some great singers. Tim Burgess has done a vocal for us. Liam Gallagher, I believe is doing one, (and) Ian Brown and Bobby Gillespie."

He added: "We're going to get them up onstage. It's nice that Mani and I can call in a few favours."

www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk

'Lost' singer hits right note
A SINGER who went missing after being signed up to front a new group has been tracked down.

The M.E.N. reported last month how the frontman - known only as Rich from Wigan - had disappeared after he been plucked from obscurity to sing in a new Manchester band.

New Order bass player Peter Hook made an appeal for the singer to get in touch as his band Freebass prepared to go into the studio.

Now we can reveal that the singer - Rich Lawson - has been in touch with Hook. And the pair, along with Mani, of Primal Scream and formerly The Stone Roses, plus ex-The Smiths bass player Andy Rourke, plan on working together again next week.

A relieved Hook explained: "The family have moved to Stockport, so that's why we couldn't get hold of him. Thankfully, he's still well up for it. I must admit I was getting a little bit worried."

Rich, 23, vanished while the three guitarists took a short break to fulfil touring and recording commitments.

Hook added: "I think what freaked Rich out has been the amount of interest in his whereabouts. It's all a new experience for him.

"We've already set aside time to do the recording.

"We're hoping to be up and running by the end of the year - and then hit the festival circuit next year."

Wednesday 21st 'March On Stage' @ Hard Rock Cafe, Manchester. Doors 7:00pm, Stage 9:45pm

Buy Tickets General Admission (12), VIP (30)

David Potts and Peter Hook have confirmed that they'll be sharing a stage for the first time in 7 years for the Hard Rock Caf 'March on Stage' event in Manchester on Wednesday 21st March in aid of the Nordorff-Robbins Music Therapy charity.

As post-Revenge duo Monaco, 'Hooky' and 'Pottsy' sold a million albums worldwide in the late '90s and created the chart hit 'What Do You Want From Me' combining instantly memorable pop sha-la-las with the trademark New Order bass sound.

Monaco split in 2000 with Hook re-joining New Order and travelling the world as a superstar DJ. Potts went on to write and produce, initially as Ram and culminating in a solo album release 'Coming Up For Air' in January of this year.

So could Monacos old sparring partners be on the verge of reforming?

Very unlikely says Hook, I thought Id got rid of Pottsy and he thought hed got rid of me but a one-off like this for Nordorff-Robbins is worth doing. Potts agrees: Well let you know if it was a good idea afterwards!

Other music industry patrons of Nordorff-Robbins - who provide UK-wide music therapy sessions for 30,000 people a year - include David Bowie, Mick Jagger, Sting and Pink Floyd.

Hard Rock Cafe Unit 7/9, The Printworks, 27, Withy Grove, Manchester, M4 2BS - 0161 831 6700

'24-hour' Tony Wilson battles cancer

Tony Wilson, who co-managed the label behind Joy Division, New Order and Happy Mondays, has had a kidney removed after being diagnosed with cancer.

The cancer was found during a routine check-up: after two minutes, the doctor identified that something was "seriously wrong" with his right lung. After having the lung drained a scan revealed that his right kidney was "completely consumed" by cancer.

Wilson, who launched Factory records and the legendary Hacienda club in Manchester, underwent emergency surgery to remove the kidney last month and is due to start two five-day treatments of chemotherapy

The semi-fictional story of both the music label and the historic club was told in the 2002 film, 24 Hour Party People.

www.david-potts.com

Mancunian songsmith David Potts aka Pottsy is back with his first solo album, a highly energetic, hits-packed offering Coming Up For Air in January 2007. Those who remember Pottsy from Monaco and RAM are about to have their patience rewarded.

This album has been a journey which has mirrored Pottsys own. I had to put some distance personally and musically between Monaco and myself. says Potts, Im proud of what we achieved but its been a mixed blessing. Reactions to the music now make me realise that Im out of that shadow for good. Coming Up For Air is about just that, being able to breathe again. This is the theme of an album which charts a very personal fight to be recognised as an individual talent.

So has he arrived? Its made me connect with the music I love and want to make says Pottsy. Setting up my own label was an important step, a statement I suppose that I no longer needed a mainstream music business to get out there.  Each track stands proud and shows off Pottsys diverse influences from The Who to The Kinks, and The Beatles to The Jam. Essentially Coming Up for Air demonstrates Potts abilities as a first class songwriter in a time when they are few and far between.

Opening the album is 'Got to be someone', a song capturing the feeling of isolation and not fitting in or being part of the world around you. I think I wrote it after watching Quadrophenia for the umpteenth time. I wanted to keep the music quite intense and claustrophobic, sticking to three chords round and round with a Motown beat. says Pottsy.

The first single from the album Im the Greatest is a comment on the celebrity delusions of rock stardom. I wrote 'I'm the greatest' as a reaction to writing slow/mid tempo songs or relationship based lyrics. This was the two fingers to all those tunes, basically putting myself in a role of someone like Ali, Liam Gallagher or Hurricane Higgins. People whose self belief in their success was the most important goal in life.  Its already received Radio 2 plays (Mark Radcliffe, Dermot OLeary) and is Clint Boons Single of the Week on XFM Manchester. Ive had great feedback from the Manchester lot; Ive had comments about being Manchesters Modfather. Weller is a hero, so Im well flattered by that!  Potts.

Roll Up! is essentially about escaping the world around you and features Peter Hook on bass guitar; how did that happen? The track just needed that sound and it was quite a cathartic thing to do says Potts, I called him up and we did it, a bit like old times. I think hed like to be mixed a bit louder but it sounds ace.

Continuing with his frank descriptions, Potts says Faces is quite an old track written as a thank you to George Harrison for all the years of musical pleasure he and the rest of the faces (Beatles) have given me. I'm really f***ing proud of these lyrics. Once you know who it's about, it'll make perfect sense. I don't find writing lyrics an easy process but these just flowed.

Richard Parker is a heartfelt song about losing a part of yourself, in this case Pottsys ex-wife. I had to ween out the sad songs after splitting up with the missus but this is the one that stayed. It was written just before we split. I played it to her in the studio and she just wept and wept because it confirmed things were coming to an end. I'd just read Life Of Pi and used the story as a cover to what was going on at the time, hence the tiger, Richard Parker who needed Pi to survive...you get the drift. I sent the track to the author, Yann Martell, who replied saying he really loved it. I love the ending... very Gainsbourg.

Anyone who knows Pottsy, will know My Favourite Onion, showing off the fun side of his talents, and the tongue in cheek Macca nod. Potts talks about the last track on the album, Dream away is my favourite track of the album. I wanted to capture the sound of those 60's American male whiter than white vocal groups that my gran used to have tapes of. A white sports jacket with a green carnation, wah wah wah. It was a very sound-tracky era in which I wrote it. Axlerod, Barry and Morricone. The ending is fookin bliss. The whole songs off it's 'ead!

Coming Up for Air was recorded, produced, and almost entirely performed by Potts himself, mixed by Tom Knot (The Earlies) at Airtight and mastered by Guy Davie (Royksopp, Badly Drawn Boy) at The Exchange.  

Album tracklisting:

1.     Got to be Someone                                                  

2.     Im the Greatest

3.     World Isnt Over

4.     Roll Up

5.     Faces

6.     Richard Parker

7.     Free Yourself

8.     So Low

9.     And I

10.  My Favourite Onion

11.  Warm and Happy Soul

12.  Kite

13.  Dream Away

www.david-potts.com
www.myspace.com/davidpottsmusic

www.mdmarchive.co.uk

MDMArchive is an online community archive designed to celebrate Greater Manchester music, protect its heritage and promote awareness of its cultural importance.

The new MDMArchive site has been in the limelight this month with features in the Manchester Evening News, the Salford Advertiser, UKMetro News, the South Manchester Reporter and the BBC national website. We've also done radio interviews for Revolution, BBC Radio Manchester and Imagine. There is more stuff to follow including a Channel M interview early next week.

We are particularly keen on preserving fans' stories about gigs, records, club nights, etc. Don't forget to add your tale when you add your artefact!

Spread the news.

JOY DIVISION AND PAUL HAIG

The Killers confirm Joy Division cover

The track will feature on Ian Curtis movie

The Killers have covered the 1979 Joy Division song 'Shadowplay' for the soundtrack to the forthcoming movie about the life of the band's frontman Ian Curtis.

The movie, 'Control', is based on the book 'Touching From A Distance', by Curtis' widow Deborah who also co-produced the movie. She is played by Samantha Morton. The film was directed by famed music video director Anton Corbijn.

As previously reported on NME.COM, New Order have recorded the incidental music for the movie, and are also mooted to be re-recording a number of Joy Division tracks.

The biopic is set for a September 2007 release.

www.nme.com

Perry Farrell teams up with New Order and Chili Peppers

Jane Addiction man set for star-studded new album

Perry Farrell has just announced the details of his latest star-studded musical project.

The former Jane's Addiction frontman and Lollapalooza Festival founder will release the debut album with his new band, Satellite Party, in the US on May 15.

The album, titled 'Ultra Payloaded', features guests including New Order/ Joy Division bassist Peter Hook, The Red Hot Chili Peppers' Flea, Fergie of Black Eyed Peas, and electronica outfit Thievery Corporation, among others.

The concept album will contain elements of rock, electronica, urban beats and symphony. One song, 'Woman In The Window', features a previously unreleased vocal track by Jim Morrison

www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk

Hooky confirms for cancer gig

NEW Order's Peter Hook is the first artist confirmed for the Versus Cancer charity gig.

He played at last year's show alongside Doves, Badly Drawn Boy and Elbow.

More of the line-up for the March 30 show will be revealed over the next week before tickets go on sale on Friday.

Ex-Smiths' bassist Andy Rourke was inspired to arrange last year's gig after his manager's sister, Nina Rehman, was diagnosed with bowel cancer in October 2004.

She lost her battle with the disease in August and it's hoped this year's gig - being organised in her name - will raise 1m.

Finale

Peter, known as Hooky, said: "I remember being on stage for the finale last year, singing a Happy Monday's track with an array of top artists. You wouldn't see that anywhere else and I couldn't help but smile at how amazing it was."

Money raised last year helped to fund clinical trials at the Christie Hospital, in Withington, and a Manchester-based awareness campaign highlighting the importance of checking for signs of the disease. 

MORE  details see www.versuscancer.org or great www.northernaidtrust.com

www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk

New Order: We're not splitting up

RUMOURS of Mancunian pop legends New Order's demise may be somewhat premature, I am reliably informed.

While numerous websites have been screaming out loud that the band has decided to call it a day I have it on good authority that the band are actually about to embark on one of their busiest years for many a moon.

"It's the first I've heard of it," drummer Stephen Morris declares when I asked him about the split stories. "We've got an album to finish and a movie coming out this year."

There's also the small matter of the 30th anniversary of Joy Division - the band which spawned New Order following the untimely death of enigmatic lead singer Ian Curtis.

It is three decades ago this year that the youthful and energetic young band first hit the headlines and there's a lot planned to celebrate the event - not least a documentary-style movie about the legendary group made by acclaimed cinematographer Anton Corbin.

Control

Stephen tells me: "Anton's film is called Control and is due out in February.

"It's been made in black and white and we are all going to the premiere in February in Berlin. We are really looking forward to it and we've already seen a cut of it."

"It's really good and should hopefully do very well," Stephen says.

The band's music - including the now iconic 'Love Will Tear Us Apart' is to be honoured with an album of cover versions by some of today's biggest pop names.

"The Killers have already done a version of Shadowplay for the album and there will be lots more great stuff on there hopefully," Stephen adds.

well I am stunned and elated at the same time by the reactions I read on hooky's remarks. it is great to see that all of you are so passionate yourselves about the film. the very misleading headline "New Order have criticized the makers of Joy Division film 'Control' " has brought out the best in you all but please be aware that there is NO argument whatsoever between new order and myself or hooky and me. peter might have been in a bit of a mood when he said what he said and boy, does he know how to make headlines, but please don't be upset with either him or me for no reason. yes, I am in control of CONTROL as any director worth his celluloid should be in charge of his film but I am not telling the band, that I moved to the UK for in 1979, how to write songs. please.
I wouldn't dare. what we are doing is making some incidental music for particular parts of the film and yes, I am in the studio with the new order guys when they are doing this. new order saw a rough cut of the film prior to writing the score and THEY ALL LOVED IT which would be a much better headline ! CONTROL is a beautiful film for anyone who loves hooky, and beyond. the movie meanwhile looks set to come out in September 2007.

ANTON CORBIJN