Peter Hook in motion

ILLUSTRATION by JOE MCGARRY

Right before Peter Hook—New Order and Joy Division’s ex-bassist—picked up deejaying, a friend warned him: the loneliest place in the room was behind the turntables. Despite the thousands of people in front of you dancing, you’re totally alone up there. “When you’re deejaying, there are no fans,” Hook says now by phone during an interrupted dinner in England. “You literally have to prove yourself every night, because you’re on your own. It takes some getting used to.”

Maybe deejaying is a lonely world but you wouldn’t know by seeing Hook’s set—his stage presence is half the show. He sweats himself ‘til he’s sopping wet, runs marathons in place and uses every trick he can to keep the audience totally and completely feeling the music. More importantly, he says: “It’s a great way to get pissed for nothing.”

His gusto might come from his double-decade long history with dance music, including the infamous Haçienda, the Manchester night club he started with New Order bandmates and the late Factory Records co-founder Tony Wilson. “I don’t think we realized how active Tony was—how much he did for Manchester,” Hook says. “And I think that’s what shocked people: he had the personality to bridge that gap between the government and the musicians.”

The Haçienda was credited with the ascension of rave and acid house genres in dance music, thanks in no small part to the role Hook and co. played in supporting the club and its artists. The other part of is, obviously, his history with New Order. That’s something he’s not ashamed to incorporate into his set—in the past he’s played rare versions of “Blue Monday” and “Bizarre Love Triangle” to name a few. (Maybe he’ll play “World in Motion,” a 1990 New Order house-pop single and England’s World Cup theme. The track brought in guest vocals from assorted English soccer players and comedian Keith Allen. The track was voted the best all-time World Cup song by 1500 fans in 2006.)

What he plays doesn’t really matter, though, so long as it’s danceable. In any other venue (ie: in a band), Peter Hook would be a speck football fields away from you blown up on a Trinitron monitor; the sound system so painstakingly micromanaged that it sounds indistinguishable from a CD. Spend the night with Hook at Detroit and you walk away not only with more money in your pocket but experience that’s almost one-on-one.

DJ PETER HOOK WITH DAN SENA, GMO, DJ ROBDE DETROIT BAR | 845 W 19TH ST | COSTA MESA 92627 | 949.642.0600 | DETROITBAR.COM | THURS | CALL FOR TIME | $15 | 21+

Tags: costa mesa, detroit bar, Music, New Order, peter hook