Large Manchester |

Peter Hook needs no introduction... but I'll do one anyway. Bass supremo with Joy Division and New Order, he now finds himself taking over the reigns left by the late, great Tony Wilson - having opened a club in Factory Records old headquarters and started a record label based out of the same building (Fac51 and Hacienda Records respectively).

We chatted to him about Joy Division, his new EP, Manchester's music scene and restaurants...

Was it easy arranging the From Manchester to Japan with Love charity event and are you looking forward to it?

The strange thing is when you do get disasters like that people are very aware of how lucky they are. As far as Basement Jaxx are concerned and we are concerned we should have been there so you realise how lucky you are. It's always a pleasure really so the great thing about my job is that I enjoy it so if I do it for charity I still enjoy my job so I can't lose.

You're playing alongside local breakout band Delphic at the event, do you think the Manchester music scene is as fertile as previous decades?

Yeah I'm amazed at our consistency in Manchester. If you look at bands from Elbow to Ting Tings to Delphic it does make you feel quite proud. Manchester always delivers, it's bizarre. It's quite surprising how many successful bands have come out of Manchester, it's something we should be really, really proud of.

You're latest project, The Light, will release its debut EP at the beginning of May, how did it come about?

It's a celebratory project that only plays Joy Division and it was always a vehicle to celebrate Joy Division and Ian Curtis' life and playing it live was a vehicle for me to indulge myself. New Order studiously ignored Joy Division and it's only now that I can actually look at Joy Division and think 'Ah shit, that's great!' When I first started playing it I felt guilty but I'm happy to say that's been replaced with a really nice feeling. What I liked about the EP was the focus wasn't on me, the focus is on Rowetta.

Rowetta is a bit of a Manchester institution herself, how was it working together?

She was the only one man enough to step in cause all the others were scared off by criticism and she was the only one that was prepared to do it. I love her voice, I think she's a great artist who is very downplayed because of the X-Factor. I was very, very happy to have her, she loves what she does and there's no cynicism or 'coolness', she's just really warm and friendly with everybody.

The cover image of the EP is quite striking, were you familiar with James Chadderton's work prior to its conception?

What happened was I was reading the Evening News and there was a report about James' exhibition, so I went along and thought it was great. I've been a big comic book fan for years and I love that whole [post apocalyptic] idea. He's a very talented young man and I hope he does well off the back of this.

With the advent of downloading music what kind of challenges do you face running a label these days?

The main problem is getting the artists to finish! Lowlife is coming out, I've got Jon Dasilva coming out and none of them can finish a record! To record it costs about five thousand quid to record by the time you've mastered it, uploaded it and done everything you need to do to put it in digital format. I'm glad that I had the 80s and 90s, those wonderful years of excess but now groups have to do all the work and a lot of the work is very, very hard. It's a very odd situation to be in, I'm sure musicians are the only people who don't get paid for most of their work.

Do you still call Manchester your home?

Yes very much so. I think of myself as an ambassador for Manchester.

Can you let Large readers in on what are you're favourite night spots in the city are?

Outside of Fac51 haha? I have to say in my old age, if I go to town I go to the dives, The Owl and places like that. My favourite restaurant is San Carlo and it's fantastic, really good food and not too fancy. It's great.

From Manchester to Japan with Love takes place at Sankeys on (Good) Friday 22nd April with all proceeds going to disaster relief charities in Japan. Tickets are from £15 and are available from Sankeys, Ticketline and Skiddle