New Order have come a long way since writing their earliest material in a rat-infested rehearsal rooms in the months that followed the death of Joy Division frontman Ian Curtis. It’s a journey that’s taken the band through using frogs for percussion, running a club, falling out without each other and much more.In August, 2015, New Order’s members – past and present – speak to Q’s Andrew Harrison in a career-traversing, oddity-exposing 21-page special. Feuding bandmates, a record label on the perpetual brink of bankruptcy, expensive drug habits and their triumphant return and more, here’s a few choice quotes that stood out…
“If you worked late, rats would appear looking for your sandwiches. We’d be up on chairs screaming, thinking they’d run up your trouser leg and bite your knackers. But it was a respite from the outside world, from everyone obsessing about Ian dying and trying to interview us. It was a bit of an umbrella.” – Bernard Sumner on the room in Salford where they wrote the first New Order material together
“We were literally trying all the sounds on the discs and eventually you’re like, ‘Hang on, frogs! This sounds alright.’ We did it all on instinct. Ok, you could say The Perfect Kiss, you’ve got to kiss a lot of frogs before you find a prince… If you wait long enough, we’ll come up with an explanation. That we’ve made up afterwards.” – Stephen Morris on the band’s adoption of percussive amphibians
“There’s nothing wrong with wanting to be in a disco band. God knows, we did for years. These tunes just make you smile, don’t they? Joy Division would never, ever make something like that. Which is all the more reason for doing it.” – Stephen Morris on the disco elements brought to the their new album by bassist Tom Chapman
