Pages tagged “joy division”

It seems odd to place a timestamp on Joy Division - for us younger indie fans, the group's music and influence have seemed ever-present. But it really has been 30 years since the legendary post-punk band formed, and we probably should have expected that - at some anniversary along the road - the entire Joy Division catalog would be repackaged, revamped and reexamined. That year has arrived.

Next week (Oct. 30), Rhino Records will reissue the twin albums that built the towering myth of Joy Division and doomed singer Ian Curtis: Unknown Pleasures (1979) and Closer (1980). Also up for a shiny new coat of digital paint: 1981's posthumous rarities compilation Still. This trio of albums will receive a proper remastering, but the main draw for Joy Division fans will be the addition of rare live performance discs to each of the three albums. The Unknown Pleasures reissue features a 1979 performance at the Factory in Manchester, Closer adds a 1980 gig at the University of London, while Still features another 1980 show at the High Wycombe Town Hall. A vinyl box featuring all three albums arrived last month.

All of this back-catalog action arrives the same day as the previously reported soundtrack to Curtis biopic Control, featuring period music by Iggy Pop, Buzzcocks and others, in addition to a cover of Joy Division's "Shadowplay" by the Killers. For complete track lists check out Rhino's press release.

Oh yeah, and did we mention ringtones of "Love Will Tear Us Apart" and "Transmission" also arrive Oct. 30? Geez, we were kind of hoping for "Atrocity Exhibition," personally.

Related links:
NewOrderOnline.com
Paste: Control review
YouTube: Joy Division - "Transmission"

Got news tips for Paste? Email news@pastemagazine.com.

Manchester photographer Kevin Cummins is releasing a collection of his iconic Joy Division images in a publication designed like a 1970s statistics textbook, in a good way. Titled Juvenes, it will be available Nov. 1 and includes personal essays by Natalie Curtis, Ian Rankin and others. Cummins was there since the very beginning -- the band's first ever performance as Warsaw, as a matter of fact - though in a recent piece for the Guardian he stated that "somehow that single strip of six frames has long since disappeared."

More from Cummins' essay:

"Ian & Co were learning how to pose as a band. I was learning how to shoot bands. We had our own agenda. It wouldn't be politic to release shots of Ian smiling, so on the rare occasion I captured a hint of a smile I cursed my bad luck at wasting a frame. Often, as Ian stood in front of my camera looking contemplative, the other band members, bassist Peter Hook 'Hooky', drummer Stephen Morris and guitarist Bernard Sumner, would stand behind him pulling faces. Occasionally Ian would yawn. These images only exist in my mind. I could never commit them to film. I couldn't afford to. Would my pictures tell a different story if I'd had the luxury of being able to shoot endless frames digitally?

Shots of the band in colour are rare. I only have six frames - shot on the end of a live roll of photos of Buzzcocks. It was pointless shooting the band in colour. I'd be wasting money. Publications that were prepared to feature the band only published in black and white. Peter Hook told me that even he thinks of Joy Division as a black and white band."

Here's the part that's either really awesome or really unfortunate, depending upon your ownage of mad coin -- the publication is limited to 26 signed and lettered copies for 500 pounds and 200 signed and numbered copies for 200 pounds. Guess most of us will just have to check out the fictional Joy Division in fellow photographer Anton Corbijn's upcoming flick Control (which, incidentally, Cummins dismissed as "false nostalgia" with "maladroit caricatures." Yikes.)

Related links:
ToHellWithPublishing.com
Paste: New Order spars as Corbijn exudes Control
TheTripWire.com: Joy Division Celebrated in Kevin Cummmins Book

Got news tips for Paste? Email news@pastemagazine.com.

[Above: Sam Riley as Ian Curtis and Joe Anderson as Peter Hook in Anton Corbijn's Control]

Amidst an ongoing rift between New Order's Bernard Sumner and Peter Hook, Control, Anton Corbijn's film based on their former band, Joy Division, is slated for U.S. Release on October 10.

Based on Deborah Curtis' memoir (Touching From a Distance) about life with her troubled husband Ian, Control follows the Joy Division frontman from the early days of adulthood to his untimely death at age 23 in 1980.

Control also marks the feature film debut for Corbijn, an avid Joy Division fan who left his native Holland to photograph the UK music scene in the late 1970s. Best known as the stark and mannerist chronicler of U2 and Depeche Mode, Corbijn filmed Control in his signature black-and-white style, with newcomer Sam Riley in the role of Curtis.

Control won three prizes at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival in May, where Sumner, Hook, and drummer Stephen Morris attended a screening, despite having announced a New Order split just days before.

Subsequently, Hook and Sumner (who met as boys at school in Salford, England and have performed together for more than 30 years), spent the rest of this summer sparring in the press and online, where Hook spewed accusations in an angry July 30 blog ("This group has SPLIT UP! you are no more new order than i am! you may have two thirds but don't assume you have the rights to do anything NEW ordery cos you don't. i've still got a third! But am open to negotiation."), with Sumner retorting in an August 2 Rolling Stone interview: "I think that Hooky just needs to chill out a little bit and relax."

Prior to their breakup, Hook, Sumner, and Morris contributed to the Control score as both New Order and as a reformed version of Joy Division. The soundtrack also includes music from Bryan Ferry, the Killers, Lou Reed, Buzzcocks, David Bowie and the Sex Pistols.

Related links:
ControlTheMovie.com
JoyDiv.org
NewOrderOnline.com

Got news tips for Paste? Email news@pastemagazine.com.

According to HypeBeast.com, athletic footwear powerhouse New Balance has produced a pair of sneakers celebrating the 30th year anniversary of the founding of rock group Joy Division. Mostly white and in the style of New Balance’s ubiquitous gray running shoes, the Joy Division kicks (or “trainers,” as the British band members might call them) feature art from the band’s first major release, Unknown Pleasures, embroidered on the tongue tag and printed on the insole.

No word yet as to if or when the shoes will be available for purchase in the United States, though rumor has it that they’re being featured in shop windows in some parts of the U.K.

Related Links:
HypeBeast: New Balance Joy Division
Joy Division Central, a comprehensive fan website
Gawker.com: “Shoes Will Tear Us Apart”