Bernard Sumner previously has hinted that New Order — which reunited last year without bassist Peter Hook — may write new music, but now he’s talking about it in detail for the first time, telling interviewers that the band will meet early next year to begin writing new material with an eye on making an “electronic synth album.”
In interviews with Mixmag and BBC’s 6Music in advance of New Order’s appearance at Bestival over the weekend, Sumner said the band — also featuring Stephen Morris, Gillian Gilbert , 2000s-era guitarist Phil Cunningham and Bad Lieutenant bassist Tom Chapman — plans to reconvene after Christmas to begin hashing out new music.
Sumner tells Mixmag in the video posted above: “We’ve not had time to do it this year as we’ve played so many gigs, but next year we’re not going to play so many, so we’ll do it then. I think I’d like to make an electronic synth album as the last few that I’ve done have been guitar albums.”
He couched it a bit more to 6Music (via NME): “We’ve not decided yet, but from what we’ve seen from traveling around the world is that people want to hear some new stuff. Speaking to journalists and speaking to fans, they seem to really want to hear some new stuff. We won’t play live as much next year, maybe half the amount we’ve done this year, and we’ll write some new stuff.”
New Order’s last album was 2005’s Waiting for the Sirens’ Call. Last year, Hook told Slicing Up Eyeballs the band would release a mini-album’s worth of outtakes from those sessions, and the Lost Sirens set even appeared on Amazon.co.uk with an initial December release date. Since then, the release has been tied up in a dispute between the former bandmates, although one track, “Hellbent,” surfaced on a new best-of last year.
Next month, New Order returns to the U.S. for its first tour in seven years.
PREVIOUSLY ON SLICING UP EYEBALLS
- New Order adds 2nd New York City show, Mexico City date to North American tour
- New Order announces fall North American tour — band’s first U.S. dates in 7 years
- New Order returning to U.S. ‘for more shows later in the year,’ may start writing new music
- New Order set to release ‘Lost Sirens’ — 8 outtakes from last album — in December
- Video: New Order reunites in Brussels with Gillian Gilbert, without Peter Hook (setlist)
What a shock!
“I think I’d like to make an electronic synth album as the last few that I’ve done have been guitar albums.”
YES!!!!!!
Electronic synth album – excellent! Hopefully along the lines of the Peter Saville Show Soundtrack album they did a few years ago.
Encouraging news to drop the “guitar sound”. It was cool on Get Ready but I lost more and more interest with every album since.
If by ‘every album since’ you mean to include the Bad Lt. album, I agree. Still like WFTSCall though…
I knew it. I knew it. I knew it. Well, as far as this goes I am prepared to follow Barn’s leadership of New Order, in a Dave Gilmour-esque way, provided that he is completely up-front and honest from now on about where things are heading. No more “I’ll never make music with New Order again” quotes in interviews, etc… Either this IS New Order or it isn’t. I am prepared to believe it IS. Let’s just hope the new LP is a darn good one…
haha he says it so casually, as if it’s no big deal.
BUT THIS IS HUGE! NEW ORDER’S RETURN TO NEW WAVE!
I’m very excited!
No doubt entitled Bad Order Sing New Lieutenant.