KEY POINTS:
The death, by his own hand, of their much cherished singer Ian Curtis on the eve of a United States tour in 1980 has always helped maintain a certain harmony between the surviving members of the band once known as Joy Division.
All agreed before Curtis' death not
to continue under the same name should any member leave and were as good as their word.
But the friendship of the band which became known as New Order, sustained through several members' side projects over the years, has been shattered by bizarre public disclosures about intentions to split.
The escalating row has now culminated in threats by bassist Peter Hook to take legal action against the others.
To the surprise of the other two senior members of New Order, which became the flagship band for Manchester's Factory Records after Curtis died, Hook told Manchester's Xfm radio station in May that the band had split after more than 30 years together and that he'd be working with Perry Farrell's new band Satellite Party.
He cited vocalist Bernard Sumner's decision to work with the group Electronic which clearly irked him. "It's like the boy who cried wolf this time," he said, adding on his MySpace page: "I'm relieved, really, hated carrying on as normal with an awful secret, so let's move on, shall we?"
Percussionist Stephen Morris and vocalist Bernard Sumner insisted the band remained active and that they intended to carry on without "Hooky" as he is universally known in Manchester. "Whatever happens musically or otherwise, New Order have NOT split up; they continue to exist."
But in the latest twist, Hook, 51, has now released a rambling statement, rendered all the more confusing for its lack of punctuation, via his MySpace internet site in which apparently threatens legal action. "This group has split up!" he writes. "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' because you don't. I've still got a third! But I'm open to negotiation."
The spat seems to be the product of the band members issuing more information through the internet than they have to each other.
Morris first hinted late last year that a split was on the cards for the band best known for the 1983 hit Blue Monday, when he was quoted in a magazine as saying: "We should stop for a while." He then denied subsequent split stories, telling the website www.worldinmotion.net: "It's the first I've heard of it ... we've got an album to finish."
Hook evidently didn't consult his fellow band members before his announcement of the split and Sumner, who hasn't seen him since the group toured South America last November, was indignant.
"He should have had a meeting with us. I'm not having someone tell me we've split up without consulting me first. I think that's very arrogant."
Sumner is in no particular hurry to work with Hook again - "I've working on two other projects at the moment so I'm kind of busy for the next couple of years anyway," he said. But he has some advice for his former colleague. "I think that Hooky just needs to chill out a little bit and relax."
The band has survived periods of hiatus before.
They were semi-detached between 1993 and 1998, reconvened in 1998, and after releasing Get Ready, their first album in eight years in 2001, parted company with Gillian Gilbert, who left for family reasons.
But this time the split may be irrevocable. Hook signs off his latest blog with words obviously directed at Sumner and Morris: "See you in court! love, hooky x"
- The Independent