So as much as I admire Bono , his timing was , errr …. we were recording Closer toward the end of 1979 into 1980 , and Martin Hannett disappeared from the control room , and we were just sat there . I mean , we recorded Closer in three weeks , so we were being very energetic ,

shall we say , with our time . The idea being that we worked very hard during the day so that Ian could rest during the night and have a proper life . So we were on it , all the time . Then Martin disappeared , and we all sat there , going , “ Where the fuck has he gone ?” Nobody wanted to go and get him , but in the end , I said , “ Fuck it — I ’ ll go and get him .” So I went into the office where he was , and he was sat

there with these 15-year-old pimply kids , and I went , “ Martin ! What the fuck are you doing ? We ’ re supposed to be working ! Can you come back ?” And he went , “ Oh , I ’ m just sorting out a single for these lads !” And I said , “ Well , we need to work — will you pack it in ?” And that was U2 !

IE : I still remember your notorious show at San Francisco ' s I-Beam after I moved here in ’ 83 . The crowd kept yowling for you to play “ Blue Monday ” until the very end , when Bernard condescendingly sneered , “ What song is it you wanna hear ? ‘ Blue Monday ’? What a surprise .” And he sang it with his back turned to the audience . PH : He ’ s not changed , mate ! He hasn ’ t

changed , I believe . But you know , it ’ s an odd one , really — the attitude that we took into early New Order was very punk . We loved being awkward . We loved being nasty . We loved doing what nobody wanted us to do . You know , it really got us going . I mean , we did an entire tour of Europe as New Order , playing 21 minutes a night ! And we had riots every night , so the promoter said to us , “ I ’ m

Peter Hook ( left , front ), New Order circa 1987

gonna cancel the whole tour if you don ’ t play longer !” So we put one more song in , and played for 24 minutes ! And I can ’ t imagine what a bunch of dicks travel around as much as we used to do , turn up for a gig , and then get there and play for only 24 minutes .

IE : Actually , one band from that ‘ 80s era has you beat — The Jesus and Mary Chain . PH : Yes ! The 17-minutes-of-feedback tour ! I did security on that tour — I used to work security at ( Manchester club ) The Hacienda ; I was the head of security when they did that tour . And they were fucking awful . It was fucking disgusting ; it was fucking shit . And the tour manager came up to me and said , “ The

crowd is going mad ! They ’ re throwing bottles ! You ’ d better get some security men into the pit because it ’ s really going off !” And I said , “ You want me to put my security men into the pit to get battered after them cunts have just played that horrible shite ? Get the band into the pit instead because my guys aren ’ t going in fuck off !” Ad now , we ’ re great friends — I see the Reid brothers all the time , and I see Bobby Gillespie all the time , and we all laugh about it now . Like , “ Remember when you refused to grant us security that night ?”

IE : A cool new folksinger on Rounder Records , Amythyst Kiah , at her manager ’ s urging , just did a great acoustic cover of