by Peter Hook
I met him years later and we laughed about it; he wanted an autograph, and I wrote, ‘I told you to fuck off.’
‘No,’ he said, ‘You told me to piss off.’”
30 March 1979
Joy Division play the Walthamstow Youth Centre.
Dave Pils’ girlfriend, Jasmine, was a youth worker looking after kids in Walthamstow, presumably trying to keep them on the straight and narrow or whatever, so it was a weird crowd. Very young kids there, running about, ignoring us, like a school-hall-type gig. I do remember being horrified when we saw the poster, though. Dave had designed it: a bunch of Nazis on a tank. We were hoping to put all that stuff behind us! Dave was also the singer in SX, the support band.
31 March 1979
Joy Division start recording Unknown Pleasures, Strawberry Studios, Stockport. Tracks recorded: ‘Disorder’, ‘Day of the Lords’, ‘Candidate’, ‘Insight’, ‘New Dawn Fades’, ‘She’s Lost Control’, ‘Shadowplay’, ‘Wilderness’, ‘Interzone’, ‘I Remember Nothing’, ‘Autosuggestion’, ‘From Safety to Where’, ‘Exercise One’, ‘The Kill’, ‘Walked in Line’.
16 April 1979
Natalie Curtis born, Macclesfield.
2 May 1979
The Unknown Pleasures recording session ends, Strawberry Studios, Stockport.
3 May 1979
Joy Division play an Amnesty International Benefit, Eric’s, Liverpool, with the Passage and Fireplace. Admission: 75p.
When Joy Division left the stage I felt emotionally drained. They are, without any exaggeration, an Important Band.
Ian Wood, NME
11 May 1979
Joy Division play a Factory Records night, the Factory, Russell Club, Manchester, with John Dowie, A Certain Ratio and Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark. Admission: £1.20; tickets available from Discount Records and Pandemonium.
“I liked OMD a lot as a group. I always thought they were really, really good; nice guys, too. Although it was those two who got me into cocaine, the bastards, at the premiere of Pretty in Pink. And come to think of it, wasn’t one of them responsible for Atomic Kitten?”
17 May 1979
Joy Division play A Factory Sample night, Acklam Hall, London, supported by John Dowie, A Certain Ratio and Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark. Admission: £1.50 on the door or £1.25 in advance from Small Wonder, Rough Trade and Honky Tonk record shops.
“This would have been the first gig for Final Solution, which was Colin Faver, who went on to become a big DJ – one of the house music pioneers in the South of England – and Kevin Millins, who went on to run Heaven for Virgin and became a great friend of ours. It led to some great gigs, more for New Order than Joy Division. Acklam Hall became a club later on, and Davina McCall used to do the door. I have a wonderful memory of her bending over the table in my hotel room, with her silver hot-panted bottom stuck right up in the air. I always remind her of it whenever I see her.
OMD also had a guitar stolen and were very upset.”
23 May 1979
Joy Division play Bowdon Vale Youth Club, Altrincham, supported by John Dowie and A Certain Ratio (OMD pull out).
4 June 1979
Joy Division play Piccadilly Radio session, Pennine Sound Studios, Oldham. Produced by Stuart James. Tracks recorded: ‘These Days’, ‘Candidate’, ‘The Only Mistake’, ‘Chance’ (‘Atmosphere’), ‘Atrocity Exhibition’.
“Stuart James went on to become New Order’s roadie. I saved his life once in Texas.”
7 June 1979
Joy Division play the F-Club, a.k.a. the Fan Club, Leeds, with OMD.
14 June 1979
Unknown Pleasures (Factory Records FACT 10) released. Produced by Martin Hannett. Engineered by Chris Nagle. Recorded at Strawberry Studios, Stockport. Cover design by Joy Division, Peter Saville, Chris Mathan. Track list: ‘Disorder’, ‘Day of the Lords’, ‘Candidate’, ‘Insight’, ‘New Dawn Fades’, ‘She’s Lost Control’, ‘Shadowplay’, ‘Wilderness’, ‘Interzone’, ‘I Remember Nothing’.
16 June 1979
Joy Division play the Odeon, Canterbury, supporting the Cure, with Back to Zero. Set list: ‘Disorder’, ‘She’s Lost Control’, ‘Shadowplay’, ‘Wilderness’, ‘New Dawn Fades’, ‘Glass’, ‘These Days’, ‘Something Must Break’, ‘Interzone’, ‘Atrocity Exhibition’.
“I don’t think the Cure liked us. I think they resented us in some way, because we’d managed to stay cool, credible, and independent and they’d, well, sort of sold out a bit. The problem was on their side; it wasn’t on our side. But I think they thought, Wish we were Joy Division.”
17 June 1979
Joy Division play Royalty Theatre, Kingsway, London, supporting John Cooper Clarke, with Fashion. Set list: ‘Atmosphere’, ‘Disorder’, ‘Digital’, ‘I Remember Nothing’, ‘Candidate’, ‘New Dawn Fades’, ‘These Days’, ‘Interzone’, ‘Transmission’.
“We did a series of three gigs with Fashion, both of us supporting John Cooper Clarke, and the idea was that we’d switch: Fashion would open one night then us the next. They were pretty big at the time but I hated their music. It was awful. They were supposed to open in London and us in Manchester. But we ended up being stiffed in London. They left us off the bill then insisted we went on first. It was bedlam backstage that night. Rob threatened everybody. The upshot was that we ended up going on before the doors had even opened. It was either that or don’t play. We played ‘Atmosphere’ and ‘Disorder’ to a completely empty room. Three people came in during ‘Digital’. The place was beginning to fill up when we finished our set.”
19 June 1979
Joy Division play the Nuffield Theatre, Lancaster University, Lancaster, supporting John Cooper Clarke, with Fashion.
“Horrible gig. Fucking Fashion. I fucking hated ’em.”
22 June 1979
Joy Division play Good Mood, Halifax.
25 June 1979
Joy Division play the Free Trade Hall, Manchester, supporting John Cooper Clarke, with Fashion.
“They went on first. HA!”
1 July 1979
The first ‘Transmission’ demo session, Central Sound Studios, Manchester. Produced by Martin Hannett. Tracks recorded: ‘Transmission’, ‘Novelty’, ‘Dead Souls’, ‘Something Must Break’.
“Quite a pleasant session, this one. I remember Martin being very nice and helpful.”
5 July 1979
Joy Division play Limit Club, West Street, Sheffield, supported by OMD.
“This was the first time we ever went over the Snake Pass and the van was so knackered it was really struggling up the hills. Twinny was really annoyed and reckoned he could run faster. So we took him up on it and he jumped out of the van to race us. Of course we beat him up the hill easy. By the time he joined us up at the top he was huffing and puffing, all red-faced, calling us bastards for not stopping. Me and Terry had eaten all his sweets while we waited. He didn’t talk to us all night for that.
If I remember rightly Phil Oakey and the other lads from the Human League helped us load in. They were very nice. I met the drummer from Manicured Noise here. It was her twenty-first. Stephanie. Lovely girl. She had a pet rat.”
11 July 1979
Joy Division play Roots Club (Cosmo Club), Chapeltown, Leeds. Set list: ‘Dead Souls’, ‘Shadowplay’, ‘She’s Lost Control’, ‘Candidate’, ‘These Days’, ‘Disorder’, ‘Interzone’, ‘Glass’, ‘Transmission’, ‘Atrocity Exhibition’, ‘No Love Lost’.
“I’m pretty sure this was where Right Said Fred supported us.”
13 July 1979
20 July 1979
Joy Division appear on What’s On for Granada TV, playing ‘She’s Lost Control’.
27 July 1979
Joy Division play a Year of the Child benefit concert, the Imperial Hotel, Blackpool, with OMD, the Final Solution, Section 25, the Glass Torpedoes and Zyklon B. Promoted by Section 25. Set list: ‘Dead Souls’, ‘Glass’, ‘Disorder’, ‘Autosuggestion’, ‘Transmi
ssion’, ‘She’s Lost Control’, ‘Shadowplay’, ‘Atrocity Exhibition’.
“I remember looking out the dressing room window and seeing a Ford Escort sat outside with the Unknown Pleasures logo on its bonnet. Cool, that was. This was also the gig where we met Section 25, who became great friends of ours. Ian and Rob took a shine to them and ended up producing their first single, which came out on Factory. That must have been a scream and I would have loved to have been there, because Rob and Ian were both hopeless at that sort of thing. Rob’s only advice when you were recording was, ‘Make it go Woomph.’ That was it. ‘Make it go Woomph.’ And Ian, well, he had the ear but he was useless at anything technical.
You may or may not know, but Larry out of Section 25 died recently, in 2010. Very sad. I’ll tell you one story about him that made me laugh so much. I mean, he was a proper ‘character’, and enjoyed fully the rock-’n’-roll lifestyle and some of its foibles, shall we say. His one true love was those flight simulators you get on the computer. What he used to like doing was staying up all night flying long-haul flights in real time. His brother Vinny was telling me that he’d done one where he’d been up all night, flying to New York from London, off his head, and crashed on landing. It had taken him eleven hours to get there! I tell you what, heaven’s got to be a lot livelier with that lot there. Him, Ian, Tony, Rob and Martin. What a crew.
But yes, the relationship between us and Section 25 was really very solid, much more so than with A Certain Ratio. They never had the acclaim we had and that was something that I think never bothered Section 25, whereas I think A Certain Ratio got annoyed because they felt in our shadow.”
28 July 1979
Joy Division play the Mayflower Club, Manchester, a Stuff the Superstars Special, with the Fall, the Distractions, John the Postman, the Frantic Elevators, the Hamsters, Ludus, Armed Force, Foreign Press and Elti Fits. Admission: £1.50.
It’s almost impossible to match a recording as good as theirs with an equally good performance. Joy Division pulled it off. THEY WERE BRILLIANT, I MEAN BRILLIANT!
City Fun fanzine
“There was always intense rivalry between us and the Fall. They started the same time as us and did a lot better than us more quickly than we did. So we were a bit jealous. There always is rivalry between groups. Never with DJs but always with groups.”
28 July–4 August 1979
The second ‘Transmission’ demo sessions, Strawberry Studios, Stockport. Produced by Martin Hannett. Tracks recorded: ‘Transmission’ (single version), ‘Novelty’ (single version).
2 August 1979
Joy Division play the YMCA, Prince of Wales Conference Centre, London, with Teardrop Explodes and Echo & the Bunnymen. This is the first show of a four-night alternative rock festival at the Prince of Wales Conference Centre. Set list: ‘Dead Souls’, ‘Disorder’, ‘Wilderness’, ‘Autosuggestion’, ‘Transmission’, ‘Day of the Lords’, ‘She’s Lost Control’, ‘Shadowplay’, ‘Atrocity Exhibition’, ‘Insight’.
The truth is they were phenomenal – the most physical hard rock group I’ve seen since Gang of Four.
Adrian Thrills, NME
“It was a great gig, that one, and it’s where the famous pictures of us come from – where we’re drinking backstage, post-gig, out of cans, and where Ian’s got the cig and we’re sat on the step. They’re all from backstage at the YMCA, very famous, nice pictures. We all look very happy.”
8 August 1979
Joy Division play the Romulus Club, Birmingham, supporting Dexy’s Midnight Runners.
“Dexys were diabolically dressed, like something out of Star Trek. This was way before theirs became a big name, of course, but Kevin Rowland still swanned around like he was a God. They were playing jokes on a reel-to-reel tape recorder in between songs: very strange. This was the night I ripped my favourite blue shirt that Rob bought me, on my own bass cab. I was devastated. Stayed in a mad B&B afterwards, complete with a saucy landlady.”
11 August 1979
Joy Division play Eric’s, Liverpool (matinee and evening shows), with Swell Maps. Admission: £1.10 for members. Set list (matinee): ‘Transmission’, ‘Untitled’, ‘Disorder’, ‘New Dawn Fades’, ‘Glass’, ‘Shadowplay’, ‘Colony’, ‘Interzone’, ‘Ice Age’. Set list (evening): ‘Insight’, ‘Autosuggestion’, ‘Digital’, ‘She’s Lost Control’, ‘Day of the Lords’, ‘Wilderness’, ‘Atrocity Exhibition’, ‘Transmission’, ‘New Dawn Fades’ (instrumental), ‘Interzone’, ‘Dead Souls’. Ian has a fit during ‘New Dawn Fades’ and is carried from the stage. He returns during ‘Interzone’.
13 August 1979
Joy Division play the Nashville Rooms, London, with OMD and A Certain Ratio. Set list: ‘Atmosphere’, ‘She’s Lost Control’, ‘Exercise One’, ‘Disorder’, ‘Colony’, ‘Candidate’, ‘Autosuggestion’, ‘Ice Age’.
“Annik Honoré saw the band for the first time and met us briefly. This was the night of the van crash, of course. But it was a great gig. Look at that set list, starting with ‘Atmosphere’. It didn’t have the connotations then that it does now that it’s sort of Ian’s death march. Back then it was a good song to start with – well, we thought so anyway because we were awkward bastards. We liked to come on and defy expectations by starting with something slow and reflective, before building up to the faster songs.”
24 August 1979
Joy Division play the Walthamstow Youth Centre, London. Afterwards Annik interviews the band at Dave Pils’ and Jasmine’s flat.
27 August 1979
Joy Division play Leigh Open Air Festival, Plank Lane, Leigh, with the Distractions, Echo & the Bunnymen, OMD, A Certain Ratio, Teardrop Explodes and Lori & the Chameleons. Billed as ‘Zoo Meets Factory Half Way’, this is the last day of the festival. Admission: £2. Set list: ‘Disorder’, ‘Leaders of Men’, ‘Colony’, ‘Insight’, ‘Digital’, ‘Dead Souls’, ‘Shadowplay’, ‘She’s Lost Control’, ‘Transmission’, ‘Interzone’.
“I remember being really upset by Martin Moscrop of A Certain Ratio at that gig. We did ‘The Sound of Music’ at the sound-check and I had a bit on the song where I sang, ‘Hi, hi, hi, hi, higher’. Martin turned round to me at the end and said, ‘You sounded like the fucking laughing policeman, mate, ha, ha, ha.’ I’ve never been able to think of that song in the same way since. He ruined it for me in that one moment. ‘The Sound of Music’ was one I played guitar on and Bernard played bass. But yeah, ruined for me from then on.”
31 August 1979
Joy Division play the Electric Ballroom, London, with A Certain Ratio, Scritti Politti, Monochrome Set. Set list: ‘The Sound of Music’, ‘Wilderness’, ‘Colony’, ‘Day of the Lords’, ‘Shadowplay’, ‘Transmission’, ‘Interzone’, ‘Disorder’, ‘She’s Lost Control’, ‘Insight’.
“Great gig, this one. I was very impressed that the Monochrome Set’s singer was an Indian Prince.”
8 September 1979
Joy Division play the Queen’s Hall, Leeds, third on the bill, with A Certain Ratio, Cabaret Voltaire and OMD, and with Public Image headlining. This is the opening day of the three-day Futurama Festival. Set list: ‘I Remember Nothing’, ‘Wilderness’, ‘Transmission’, ‘Colony’, ‘Disorder’, ‘Insight’, ‘Shadowplay’, ‘She’s Lost Control’, ‘Atrocity Exhibition’, ‘Dead Souls’.
“This was a great concert too. We went down an absolute storm. It was our first gig with John Keenan, who was a very interesting man to work with financially, and our first indoor festival.”
13 September 1979
Premiere of The Factory Flick (Factory FAC 9, 1979), the Scala cinema, London. This 8mm film comprises: No City Fun – Joy Division (12 min), by student filmmaker Charles Salem, featuring three tracks by the band; All Night Party – A Certain Ratio (3 min); Red Dress – Ludus (3 min); Joy Division (17 min), by Malcolm Whitehead, featuring footage of ‘Shadowplay’ and ‘She’s Lost Control’ shot by Malcolm Whitehead at Bowdon Vale Youth Club.
15 Sep
tember 1979
Joy Division appear on Something Else, playing ‘She’s Lost Control’ and ‘Transmission’.
22 September 1979
Joy Division play the Nashville Rooms, London, supported by the Distractions. Admission: £1.25. Set list: ‘Atmosphere’, ‘Wilderness’, ‘Shadowplay’, ‘Leaders of Men’, ‘Insight’, ‘Colony’, ‘Transmission’, ‘Disorder’, ‘She’s Lost Control’, ‘Atrocity Exhibition’, ‘Glass’, ‘Exercise One’.
“Terry couldn’t make it so Twinny said to me, ‘Can I bring my mate as a roadie?’ and I was like, ‘Yeah, course,’ thinking that was nice. Then his mate turned up and he was on crutches. I took Twinny to one side. ‘Look, he’s on crutches. How’s he going to help if he can’t walk?’
Twinny was like, ‘Oh come on, Hooky, he’s a nice guy. He needs a night out.’ I was just shaking my head. I mean, what a liability: some kid on crutches along for the ride. Anyway, at the end of the night we couldn’t find him – he kept us waiting for ages – and when we eventually did he was snogging the face off some girl. So not only had he turned up on crutches, done fuck all and drunk all our rider, but he’d ended up copping off as well, the lucky bastard.”
28 September 1979
Joy Division play the Factory, Russell Club, Manchester, with Teardrop Explodes and Foreign Press. Set list: ‘Atmosphere’, ‘Wilderness’, ‘Shadow play’, ‘Insight’, ‘Colony’, ‘Twenty Four Hours’, ‘Interzone’, ‘She’s Lost Control’, ‘Transmission’ (encore; fight occurs), ‘Atrocity Exhibition’ (encore, minus bass).
“The big fight. I was ashamed.”
29 September 1979
Joy Division play the Mayflower, Manchester, with Foreign Press (formerly Emergency).
October 1979
The Earcom 2 compilation (Fast Products FAST 9b) released. It features two Joy Division tracks, recorded by Martin Hannett as part of the Unknown Pleasures session: ‘Autosuggestion’ and ‘From Safety to Where’.
