Are you looking forward to the Hacienda Classics night? "(Laughs) Well, Manchester’s a notoriously tough place to play and I’ve not been DJing long, so I’m hoping they’ll be kind to me. I am looking forward to it. I think the Hacienda still deserves to be pushed and known. It’s just one of those great things that Manchester had and it’s nice to rekindle it. All you’re asking for is kindred spirits, really." It’s 23 years since the Hacienda opened… "But only eight since it closed!" What do you think keeps that vibe going?
 | | New Order |
"I think I’d put it down to the personalities that came out of it. I still think they’re very, very strong. New Order, even Joy Division, to some extent are allied to it. You’ve got the Happy Mondays, even Gorillaz bringing Shaun back. Everything pre-empts it and brings it back. I mean, we had a wonderful time then, and the thing is, people who were unlucky enough not to have had it would like a little bit of it, and people who have had it want more of it. It’s as simple as that really!" What’s your number one Hacienda classic? "That would be a tricky one. I think it was Rhythm Is A Dancer. That’s the one that already reminds me of it." Was that the one that got you on the dancefloor? "(Laughs) If I can remember ever being on the dancefloor! The trouble with those Hacienda nights is they all blend into one and I can’t remember any of them! Rhythm Is A Dancer was the one we always used to put on in Salford to warm us up before we went down. It’s always the one that gets me going, makes me smile and remember those days." How do you feel about playing those tunes now? "I don’t mind playing old music if it’s good. To me, it’s all in one line, it’s just great music. All you’re trying to do is give a bit of energy to a night, you’re just trying to make that night special, so whatever weapons you can use to make it special is fine by me." Do you enjoy DJing?
 | | Peter Hook |
"I love it, I really do. It’s Mani and Clint Boon that I have to thank for getting me into it, because I was really resistant, though Bernard (Sumner) has done it for years. It’s really hard work. You get really nervous because you’re doing it on your own. When you’re alone, it’s really strange, because I’m never used to being alone. For 28 years, I’ve hidden behind the rest of the group and you get a lot of strength from that. "So it is quite nerve-wracking, but again, when you pull it off, you’ve got that wonderful eruption of giving people a top night. I like annoying people as well, so I throw some crap in that really annoys them, and then bring it back by playing Blue Monday or something like that. I do like to have a bit of fun at people’s expense in a way that New Order have never done." Does it feel weird playing New Order tracks? "It did do and I resisted it valiantly on my first five or six DJ sets. I basically had people moaning at me non-stop because I wasn’t playing New Order, and I was saying ‘that’s the point! I’m in New Order; I don’t want to play New Order. I live with it every day.’ But you come to realise that people come to hear you to hear New Order. So what I did was I delved into our extensive collection of rare remixes and stuff that people hadn’t heard. I tweaked a few things myself, did a few special mixes, so I get my satisfaction from being arty and they get satisfaction because I’m playing New Order. Life is a two-way street, isn’t it?" Does your new DJ career make you wish you’d DJed at the Hacienda? | "If it had been a club and it’d carried on, it would have been like seeing your girlfriend out with somebody else." | | Peter Hook celebrates the fact that the Hacienda is now flats |
"No, I had too great a time sat in a corner, completely drunk out of my head. I enjoyed standing there and watching the DJs, but the thing about working it is that I wouldn’t have enjoyed it as much because it would have been work! "I was taking to Oliver Wilson (Factory founder Tony Wilson’s son). He’s really into getting together a proper Hacienda tour and taking a bit of what we had round the country, and he’s really enthusiastic about it. I was really nice to see that enthusiasm back because I think we did have something very special, and I think if you look at Twenty Four Hour Party People, a lot of us have still got something very special, so why not take it out? It’s good for Manchester, isn’t it?" What do you think of the Hacienda now, since it’s been turned into flats? "I like that because I gave them permission to use the name, because I own the name. If it had been a club and it’d carried on, it would have been like seeing your girlfriend out with somebody else. I like the fact it sits there as a monument to that madness that we all had for those years. I’d love to go in it. I’ve never been in it because I’ve always resisted how it would feel if you went in, that sort of ghostly vibe. It’s on my list to have a walk round just to see if there’s anything you can feel in the walls." Would there be a temptation to get drunk in a corner? "Unfortunately, I have that temptation every day in any corner." | 
