While only days ago ex-New Order and Joy Division bassist Peter Hook appeared confident that a cache of recently unearthed recordings would make their way to the public sooner rather than later, the outlook now looks rather more grim.
The master tapes were discovered by Julia Adamson, a former assistant of legendary producer Martin Hannett, but Hook explained to The Hollywood Reporter today that she wasn’t willing to listen to reason.
“This cache of Joy Division tapes had been unearthed by this wonderful knight in shining armor. Unfortunately, she’s now holding them ransom.” He said, revealing he had offered Adamson a “substantial reward” for finding the tapes. She later replied saying that the amount (which is still undisclosed) wasn’t enough, and now negotiations are at a stalemate.
Hook had hoped that Adamson would see the bigger picture, saying that he expected things to go a very different way. “Here’s a finder’s fee, a thank you, and we’ll give you a credit on the record. We’ll even give you a point on the record, because we wouldn’t have been able to do it without you.” And revealed that the sad fact was that Adamson expected something that simply wasn’t possible “These things turn up, and people sometimes think they’ve found the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow: ‘This is gonna make me a millionaire!’ ”
Whether the new material will ever see the light of day remains to be seen, but Hook doesn’t think that Adamson will have any better luck dealing with the major labels. “Sales will be affected by illegal downloading. So record companies can’t afford to lay out the money for these pots of gold because they cannot make the money back.” He also suggests that Warner Music Group (who currently own the rights to the Joy Division catalogue) will likely now take legal action.
Hook is no stranger to legal action himself, and is currently embroiled in a long-standing battle with his former New Order and Joy Division bandmates, you can read more about that in FACT’s revealing interview here. [via Billboard]
