Joy Division - Closer
Such a fucking important record. My memories of this album are to do with going through East Germany in the corridor to West Berlin. They used to have all the SS20s [nuclear missiles] pointed towards England and you used to have to drive through this. It was wonderful going through East Germany in those days and we would always put on Joy Division for this run, and the last time we did it we had just heard Ian had died and we’d just been on tour with them. I have this lasting memory of seeing Ian Curtis holding hands with his girlfriend and he looked so in love, he wouldn’t let go of her, this couple, just totally in love. I remember playing High Wycombe with Joy Division and looking into the dressing room, and Joy Division were all sitting round all glum, then looking into Killing Joke’s dressing room where it was party central and thinking what different bands they were. They used to call us southern stomp and Joy Division were northern gloom and they’d put football scores to see who pulled the best gig off because we used to share the headline slot. That’s what it was like, there was a lot more fraternity in the industry than there is now. So that record as a soundtrack to going through East Germany is such a great, great thing.

Conny Plank, who did our third alum, he really rated that record as well, he loved Martin Hannett’s production and it really is an incredible sounding piece of music. I haven’t seen Peter Hook since the nineties but we send messages to each other via people. Peter wanted to be in Killing Joke and we ended up recording some songs at Peter’s and it sounded like a real hybrid of Killing Joke and Joy Division. Killing Division. (laughs) We did all these recordings and there was some beautiful music. I think he’s frightened of us ‘cos he quit drinking. So have I, but I don’t think he knows that! [Laughs] We did everything to excess and I haven’t see him since those days when we were all participating, as it were...