MANCHESTER UNITED!

PETER HOOK, MANI and ANDY ROURKE are set to become television presenters as part of their new business venture.

The three legendary Manchester bass-players have set up a new company with local businessman Nova Rehman and have bought Bar Cuba nightclub in Macclesfield.

The company, named Collective, are now working on a pilot for a music television programme which will be recorded at the venue and presented by the threesome. The as-yet-untitled show should feature three live bands in each edition.

The acquisition of Bar Cuba comes just weeks after the demolition of Hook's more famous nightclub, the Hacienda.

However, the first project to come out of Collective will be a charity compilation entitled 'Cohesion'. All proceeds will go towards the removal of land mines in Kosovo. The album features tracks from almost every notable Manchester act of recent times. Artists involved include New Order, Happy Mondays, Ian Brown, Badly Drawn Boy, Andy Votel and Mr Scruff.

In other news, Rourke - formerly bass player with The Smiths - has joined Manchester band Jeep. The line up also includes Wags from Black Grape and Darren Partington from 808 State. They play Manchester Music Box on December 20.

Peter Hook is currently in the studio working on the New Order album, and Mani is rehearsing for Primal Scream's Christmas tour

Throughout 2000, NME polled over 150 artists, DJ's, and label bosses about who, in their opinion, are the most influential performers in rock'n'roll today. 

The list was compiled over the period of a year, during which some of the most important contemporary artists of today gave their opinions on which musicians had exerted most influence over the current music scene.

The 20 most influential artists in history, as voted for by the rock stars of today.

They are creating an expensive website for the band, the site will be launched in January.

http://www.neworderweb.com

Monaco's brand new single due out in January 2001 is to be the funky dance track See-saw. A special remix titled "Solaris" will be included, along with newly recorded b-sides fresh from the studio.

There are some live recordings from Monaco's recent gig at the Melkweg, Amsterdam available in the music section right now of the Monaco official site! http://www.monaco.uk.net/

Haçienda Gone Forever

Once the reason thousands of students chose Manchester as their preferred city of learning, the Haçienda has finally been consigned to history after an auction on Saturday, when fixtures and fittings from the club were sold off.

Sadly the sale, raising funds for charity, only managed to fetch £18,000 for items including pieces of the dance floor, stainless steel pillars (complete with hazard stripes) tiles and bricks. But the pièce de resistance of the sale, the DJ booth earned a mere £1,000.

Lack of enthusiasm for the sale wasn’t confined to buyers however – Peter Hook recently commented that he is indifferent to the end of the club, which closed its doors in 1997. Last year it was sold to developers, who plan to convert the building into apartments.

'ENDA THE LINE

Fixtures and fittings from the HACIENDA nightclub were auctioned off on Saturday (November 25), putting a full stop on the story of MADCHESTER in front of its heroes - including PETER HOOK and BERNARD SUMNER of NEW ORDER, and M PEOPLE's MIKE PICKERING.

The auction, which took place at the Richard Conrad building in Manchester, saw a total of 69 lots sold in aid of the Greater Manchester Community Foundation charity.

Attending were an array of Madchester heroes, which also included legendary Hacienda DJs Graeme Park and Bobby Langley, and founder Tony Wilson.

Of the lots, the most expensive sale was the triptych of paintings from the club's walls. The eventual sale went to Pickering for £3,200. He told NME.COM he wanted them because his wife painted them. He said: "She did all the set for that, that's where I met her. Most of us met our wives there, made our children there."

He continued: "There's been a lot of bargains here. I think that it's good that it's reached a resolve at the end of the story you know, and the people involved have got a bit to take with them, which is also fantastic."

The biggest surprise of the day came when the most coveted lot, the DJ booth only managed to fetch £1,100. Rumours that Sasha wanted to buy it proved unfounded after it was sold to DJ and designer Bobby Langley, who had manned the decks during the club's glory days.

Speaking to NME.COM following the sale, he said: "It's really weird at the moment. It looks really weird taking it out of the Hacienda. I'm gonna keep it in Manchester, take it out to Glastonbury maybe, put wheels on it, take it to Ibiza over the sea!"

Tony Wilson was also glad that the booth will stay in Manchester, telling NME.COM: "I'm glad Bobby's got it. It's absolutely fantastic. He'll just have to find somewhere to put it. It'll be interesting to find somewhere, physically. That's the whole point, this place has to come down, it has to move on. It's rock'n'roll, it has to move on, but where it goes to I don't really know."

New Order and Monaco bass player Peter Hook, a director of the Hacienda had a go at leading the bidding, and took the opportunity to pay tribute to Rob Gretton, New Order's manager and mentor, who died suddenly last year. He later told NME.COM: "I didn't even know how I'd feel and it really surprised me how emotional it was. It's just weird thinking of Rob Gretton not being here and this place still being here, it's very very odd. But I enjoyed it. It was nice to see everybody. It just shows that it did create something that was very strong indeed."

Other notable sales were the famous 'Budweiser' bar, which sold for just £50, and the four video game panels, which only fetched £20.

The total figure raised will be confirmed later today. The Hacienda closed in 1997 after 15 years. The building is now in the process of being demolished to make way for city centre apartments.

This picture represent the packaging for the Special edition limited to 2000-only in a lavish tin package. Disc 1 is the standard music CD, Disc 2 is a CD Rom of the same concert.

NEW ORDER have finally gone into the studio to record their forthcoming album after a year of writing, NME.COM can reveal - with bassist PETER HOOK describing the 17 tracks they were working on as "pure NEW ORDER".

Speaking exclusively to NME.COM from Peter Gabriel's Real World studios in Bath, Hook joked that after 18 years in the business, they should call the album 'Deja Vu' and added that it sounded just like his side project Monaco.

He said that the album, New Order's seventh, would be out early next year and they would be touring the UK to support its release - their first full-on tour since the release of their last album, 1993's 'Republic'.

The album is being produced by Steve Osbourne, one half of the Perfecto remixing team with Paul Oakenfold, who New Order worked with on 'Brutal', their first new material in almost nine years for the soundtrack to 'The Beach'.

HACIEND-OF AN ERA

Hooky and Tony Wilson watch the demolition take place...

Bulldozers moved into the HACIENDA Monday morning (November 13), closing the final chapter of MANCHESTER's biggest cultural landmark.

A small group of former regulars and the club's founders watched as a JCB took out the nightclub's stage, the first phase of a demolition process that will leave only the old Roundhouse and part of the external wall. The building has been brought by property developers Crosby Homes and will be converted into city centre apartments.

There to watch the historic moment were former owners Peter Hook of New Order, Factory Records boss Tony Wilson and Hacienda DJ Graeme Park.

As the bulldozers went in, Hook told NME.COM: "It's a little bit unsettling, but I'm glad that it's disappearing because I want it to be a memory. There's places that I drive past in Manchester and I go 'That's where Electric Circus used to be' and now I'll be going 'That's where The Hacienda used to be'. I would have hated somebody to open it again, because it wouldn't have been the same."

Asked for his feelings at seeing the club demolished, Hook said: "The thing that's sad about it is that it's another part of Rob Gretton New Order's manager, a director of Factory Records and a founder of the Hacienda disappearing.

Losing Rob in the flesh, and we're losing him in spirit these days. That's what's got to me most."

Gretton died suddenly last year at the age of 47.

However, Tony Wilson felt no regret about seeing the legacy of the Factory years razed.

"It's Rock'n'Roll," he said, "things come and go. If you got upset about bits of the past then the future wouldn't happen. But it's a constant annoyance, we moved into the city about three and a half years ago and we had three months living in the city when the club was open, then the club closed and there's nowhere to go to on this side of town. But I'm far more interested in a band I saw in a basement four weeks ago than I am in my old building."

As previously revealed on NME.COM, the club's interior decor will be auctioned in aid of the Greater Manchester Community Foundation, a funding body for deprived parts of the city, on November 25.

Speaking about the auction, Wilson told NME.COM: "I'm very happy with the irony that the club began as a charity and it ends as a charity. But I wonder if there was as much interest at the time, if someone couldn't have taken the Greater Manchester Police and shaken them by the collar and said 'wake up' and similarly with the licensing magistrates."

New Order "John Peel Sessions" was finally released today in UK NOV 13, 2000 as a fully re-packaged with artwork by the Peter Saville Studio and liner notes by Peter Huxley.

Tracks:

1.Truth 2.Senses 3.I.C.B. 4.Dreams Never End 5.Turn The Heater On 6.We All Stand 7.Too Late 8.5-8-6.

HACIENDA THAT!

NEW ORDER'S PETER HOOK has been talking exclusively to NME.COM about the imminent demolition of his club, Manchester's legendary nightclub THE HACIENDA.

The bulldozers move in at 11am on Monday (November 13) and Hooky will be there to see his dream reduced to rubble.

As previously reported on NME.COM the remaining contents of the club, which Peter co-owned with Factory Records boss Tony Wilson, have already been removed and are being auctioned for charity. The auction itself takes place on November 25 at the Richard Conrad building in the city and before that, lots can be viewed at www.hacauction.com.

Peter told NME.COM that 60,000 interested people had so far looked at the website and that they'd had sealed bids from as far afield as the US and Australia. Superstar DJ Sasha had put in a bid for the DJ booth, arguably the more significant lot on offer.

All proceeds will go to the Greater Manchester Community Foundation, which funds projects in deprived areas of the city.

Other lots up for grabs include the girders, the dancefloor chopped into sections, the seating and lights. "And one person bidding for it all will be me," Peter joked. "I'm going to for one of the girders. I've no idea what I'm going to do with it but I want it. I've already got the stained glass windows, 12 of them that measure 25ft square and I don't know what the fuck to do with them. I keep thinking I should auction them, but it spells out Fac 51 you see, so I don't know."

He continued: "The idea of it being demolished is so weird. But I actually like the idea of it disappearing. The Hacienda was so special, it seems a fitting end. People will go to the spot and go, wow! That's where it was. It's going to be a load of offices and houses. They were toying with the idea of calling it Acid House, until Shaun Ryder tried to buy 4E," he laughed.

But he added: "It'll be a sad day for Manchester 'cos it's so final. It ain't coming back. We're all going to be there doing a candlelight vigil. It's surreal. I'm hoping there'll be thousands there to wave it goodbye. It'd be fantastic. Taking an E and watching it go down. I'm hoping for that kind of protest."

Hacienda to be auctioned piecemeal 

The pride of Manchester and jewel in the crown of northern clubbing, the Hacienda, is to be demolished and the entire contents auctioned for charity. 

The sale will take place on November 25 at the nearby Richard Conrad Building from 12 noon to 2pm, with lots available for viewing from 10am. Proceeds from the sale will go towards Manchester youth charities.   

The road has been a long and illustrious one for the former yacht showroom at the corner of Albion Street and Whitworth Street West since it opened as the Hacienda in May 1982. Initially set up by New Order members Bernard Sumner, Gillian Gilbert, Peter Hook and Steven Morris, their manager Rob Gretton, broadcaster Anthony Wilson and graphic designer Peter Saville, the club went on to become one of the most influential venues in the UK. 

The warehouse feel and much-imitated industrial chic interior (designed by Ben Kelly) of what became affectionately known as "the Hac" stood witness to several tectonic shifts in late 20th century youth culture. Starting with the tail end of new wave, the club survived some lean mid-80s years to rise again with the arrival of house music and the so-called baggy scene around the cusp of the 80s and 90s. The blossoming of a vibrant gay scene in Manchester in the last decade powered the club until its closure in June 1997, a move that was largely precipitated by the drug-related violence which dogged the venue during its final years. 

Performers such as Madonna (in her first UK appearance), Oasis, U2, Take That, Boy George, The Smiths and a wealth of other Manc bands all graced the Hacienda’s stage, while the club established the reputation of DJs such as Mike Pickering (who went on to form the pop group M People) and Graeme Park.   

More information about the Hacienda auction can be found at:www.hacauction.com/index.html

Peter Hook of New Order will present the Q Award for "Best Live Act" today at the swish Park Lane Hotel in Piccadilly, Q will yet again be hosting the most legendary of all awards ceremonies - the 11th Q Awards. Last year comedian/actor Keith Allen presented the Q Inspiration Award to New Order.

This year's nominated artists for BEST LIVE ACT

Primal Scream
Travis
Oasis
The Chemical Brothers
Moby

The tracklisting so far is 'Real Fuckin' Noise' featuring Stuart Braithwaite and Clint Boon, 'Getting the Hang Of It', 'Meteorites Eat At Night', 'Transindental Misinformation', 'Glow', 'Dreams Again', 'Cara Mucho', 'Bust The Police', 'The Camden Nod', 'Words and Music', 'Love Hymn' featuring Stuart Braithwaite, Pharoah Sanders and Peter Hook, '1,000 Years' featuring Mani and Stuart Braithwaite, 'Alvainu Malkanu' featuring Mogwai and Peter Hook, 'Sunrise' featuring Alonzo Bevan and 'She Likes Noise' featuring Mani and Clint Boon.

Producers are holding an open audition at Joshua Brooks bar (103 Princess Street) in Manchester on Tuesday, September 26. No previous acting experience is required, but casting officials stress that the auditions are for characters and not extras.

While the series will initially be shown only in the Granada Television region, starting on September 25, a spokesperson said a wider broadcast later in the year has not been ruled out.

NEW ORDER have re-grouped and are working on new material with the Chemical Brothers.

Manchester’s electronic pioneers, formed from the ashes of Joy Division, helped popularize song-based dance music with songs like ‘Blue Monday’ and ‘Bizarre Love Triangle’ in the 1980s and paved the way for the popularity of Ibizan dance music with their 1989 album ‘Technique’. But the band have only recorded one album, 1993’s ‘Republic’ in the past decade, and haven’t been seen together since their 1998 festival tour.

The Chemical Brothers, long-time friends of the band, are reported to be helping the band assemble new material. New Order front man Bernard Sumner played guitar on the last Chemical Brothers’ album, ‘Surrender’.

Although the band were supposed to begin writing for a new album in 1998, only seven tracks have been committed to tape so far. Among the titles set for inclusion are ‘Crystal’ and ‘60mph’.

Meanwhile, bassist Peter Hook's side project, Monaco, has finally seen its second album hit stores in England. The self-titled LP is the follow-up to 1997's Music for Pleasure and hit stores across the pond on Sept. 4.

• Make It Happen
• Haze
• Vivid
• Breakdown
• Can't Find My way Home
• Twisted Tenderness
• Like No Other
• Late At Night
• Prodigal Son
• When She's Gone
• Flicker
• King For A Day (Bonus Track)
• Warning Sign (Bonus Track)
• Make It happen (Album Remix) Bonus Track)

Monaco Concert review at The Scala London, August 31st.

As a member of Joy Division and New Order – two of the most important bands in British rock history- Peter Hook has been the purveyor of one of the most unique bass sounds and playing styles for the past twenty years.

So respect to the bear-sized man hunched nonchalantly over his instrument tonight, his knuckles typically nearly scraping the floor as he plucks out those melodic, melancholy, so familiar basslines.

But as the Peter Hook Appreciation Society gather at the foot of stage in their New Order T-shirts and take photos, spare a thought for David Potts, singer/guitarist and the other half of the Monaco songwriting partnership.

Hooky and Pottsy

This is the man who, rumour has it, was offered a place in Oasis when Bonehead left. A fine singer in the Bernard Sumner tradition, his contribution to Monaco is somewhat overshadowed by the man with the silver cropped hair and the history. Not that he seems to mind tonight. He seems used to seeing his mate bathed in the limelight.

Monaco -though often dismissed as New Order-lite, or something to keep Hooky amused in between his proper band's albums- have a fine line in driving, sunny pop songs. And while they'll never achieve success of New Orderly proportions, there's enough here to keep the discerning pop fan amused.

The sound is a little fuzzy and the band's performance is jaggedly shambolic, losing the subtleties of good production as they dip into new album 'Monaco' and 1997's 'Music For Pleasure'. And every now and then you get the feeling that motions are defintely being gone through.

Whether he's had a bit too much to drink or whether he always sings like that, Hooky's voice is a gruff, tuneless mumble when he takes over the microphone for the like of 'What Do You Want From Me' an otherwise fine song. But when Pottsy takes charge of the vocals, things sound more like they should. The beautiful 'Shine', 'A Life Apart' and 'I've Got A Feeling' are all highlights tonight.

Ultimately though, no matter how good the gig, you get the feeling that a collective curiosity has been satisfied tonight. People came to see that bloke out of New Order up close and personal. Wonder if they noticed the other geezer too.

Gary Crossing © Miller Freeman Entertainment UK