New Order's life in this world began with a death. Sumner, Hook, and Morris first joined forces in a melancholy post-punk group, Warsaw, in 1977. In 1978, to avoid confusion with another group called Warsaw Pakt, the band changed its name to Joy Division. Joy Division's troubled yet enormously talented frontsman, Ian Curtis, whose most famous and enduring composition remains the driving "Love Will Tear Us Apart," hung himself in 1980, just days before their first American tour.

Less than a year later the remaining trio gathered themselves together, enlisted keyboardist Gillian Gilbert, and formed New Order. By 1983 the quartet struck gold with the single "Blue Monday," which rules dance floors worldwide (in endless remixes) to this day. New Order's relationship with dance floors wasn't just musical: in 1982 they opened (with Factory Records' president Tony Wilson) what would become a Manchester legend - The Hacienda. This nightclub, although a financial sinkhole for most of its existence provided a performance space for many Factory label bands, fueled the acid house "Madchester" scene of the 90s, and helped elevate the DJ to superstar. Around 1991 The Hacienda also launched a legendary Manchester queer party, "Flesh."

"It was one of the first big gay nights in Manchester," Hook recalls. "The thing that was hilarious was we could never get a late license for The Hacienda [to stay open after-hours]. No matter how hard we tried the licensing committee would never give us a late license. So Paul Cons, he was in charge of the gay section of Hacienda, came up with 'Flesh' nights and we applied for a late license like we did for every [specialty] night and we got it! It turned out half the licensing committee was gay ­ and the reason we got the first fucking late license! Hilarious!"

The Hacienda, which was demolished in 1997, wasn't New Order's first delve into queer clubbing, however. While teenagers, Hook and Sumner would frequent a gay bar located within Manchester's homo Mecca, Canal Street. "The only place we could get a drink when we were 14, 15, was at a place called the Union," Hook reminisces. "The pub at the end, by the bridge. That was the first place we went in to drink because the attitude was much different than straight places. I would much rather go out to the gay places. In my mind when you go to a gay club there's always people who look after you. Much friendlier. And I find gays a lot more reliable than your straight friends, to be honest. Yet I was always annoyed that I didn't get hit on! A lot of my wife's friends are gay; she's a real fag hag. But nobody loves me!"

While New Order's hits continued throughout the late 80s and 90s (including an England World Cup football anthem, "World in Motion," probably the band's strangest high point), the band members spent time apart to work on other collaborations. Hook formed Revenge and, later, Monaco with vocalist David Potts (who isn't gay although "I haven't seen him in four years so he might have gone gay in the meantime. I know these things can happen overnight, can't they?"). Morris and Gilbert formed The Other Two. And Sumner formed alt-pop dream team Electronic with ex-Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr and the Pet Shop Boys' Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe.

"Bernard didn't know the Pet Shop Boys were gay until I told him!" Hook laughs. "That's how stupid he is! I'm joking, I'm joking. Neil was such a great guy, he's like the granddad you always wanted to have."

Aside from a "Best Of" featuring re-recorded hits, and a song ("Brutal") on The Beach soundtrack, New Order took almost a decade off between 1993's Republic and 2001's Get Ready. Get Ready was something of a rebirth ­ a very pregnant Gilbert departed the ranks, replaced by Cunningham ­ and the band wasn't sure how the public would respond to their new dynamic. "When we started Get Ready we didn't know how the hell we were going to come back," Hook admits, "and I think we were sort of trepidatious and apprehensive. But once we did Get Ready and realized everybody sort of welcomed us back to their bosom, it was easier."

Making Waiting For The Sirens' Call, "we felt much more able to be ourselves as in New Order-y," he continues. "We approached this album not lighthearted, because it's still very difficult to make an album, you're staring at a blank piece of paper or recording tape and it certainly hasn't come easier. But we approached it much more able to be ourselves, really."

CALL TIME

And work with some new folks. Yet Ana Matronic's involvement with "Jetstream" didn't occur until after the track was recorded, Hook reveals. "We had the track, which Bernard began because he wanted to do some purely sequenced numbers," Hook recalls. "We finished it to the best of our ability and were happy with it. But Paul Brown, our A&R man at Warner, who's been a real help to us, felt there was something missing. So he asked if he could get [producer] Stuart Price and Ana Matronic involved, which he did and Ana did a great job. I'm a great critic of anybody else to work with New Order. I'm the first to slag them off. Like I'm not a great fan of Stuart's production because it's too soft in my mind, he didn't get New Order. But I thought Ana did, which I was really happy about. She gave it a really good bent, added depth, and sang a great duet with Bernard."

As for Morel's remix of "Krafty," Hook enthuses "it's fucking mega!" The remix will be released May 3rd on the "Krafty" CD single. You'll likely also hear the remix ­ and other New Order rarities - if you catch DJ Hooky in action. "I play Morel's mixes of our stuff," he says. "Silly as it sounds, I went through a phase of not playing New Order because I'm IN New Order. But people come to see you because they want to hear New Order. [Producer/DJ] Arthur Baker said to me 'fuck it man, give 'em what they want. You've earned it, fucking play it.' So I did, I started playing offbeat mixes I have of 'Blue Monday' and some rare stuff, tracks that didn't come out or remixes that weren't released by the label for one reason or another."

As for the future, New Order will play some US live dates this spring. Another album could hit in 2006 ­ seven tracks left over from Sirens' Call are lying in wait. Plus good news for hardcore New Order fans who can't catch DJ Hooky's gigs: some of those admittedly queer rare mixes might end up in your MP3/CD player. "I may do a DJ CD of stuff I like," he says. "Like a wonderful mix Malcolm McLaren did of 'Love Will Tear Us Apart' with 'Love Will Keep Us Together' by The Captain and Tennille."

Waiting for the Siren's Call is now available in stores now! It is the unmistakable sound of New Order at their finest. Each song is uniquely different and catchy in its own way. This is sure to become the greatest dance CD of the summer, so go out and pick up a copy today. - Tim McCanless