Pitchfork

For those who got down on their knees to pray that Peter Hook was merely jesting last week-- when he told UK radio station Xfm that "me and Bernard [Sumner] aren't working together" and that New Order had split up-- it's time to let the tears of mourning pour forth. That final moment has arrived.

In response to the breakup furor surrounding Hook's initial comments, the New Order/Joy Division bassist posted another rambling, punctuation-averse MySpace blog entry yesterday, affirming that New Order are indeed no more.

"i suppose it was the interview with clint boon [on Xfm] that started it all off," wrote Hook in the post, titled "life goes on!"

"hed asked me for a few words on perry farrells satellite party single dogstar...so i went on and lo and behold mentioned the N>O> split so i suppose because it was me sayin it it was out at last. im relieved really hated carryin on as normal with an awful secret so lets move on shall we?"

Moving on, then, Hook mentions an incident at a recent DJ gig: "some kid came up and gave me a hug and said 'sorry to hear about new order hooky' i was really touched its like your budgie dyin!" If you understand the meaning of "budgie" in this context, by all means, enlighten us. UPDATE: Apparently Hook is likening the demise of New Order to the passing of a small pet bird of Australian origin, the budgerigar, which we silly Americans might call a parakeet. Many thanks to alert reader Stacie for the heads up!

Moving on for real then, Hook has plenty else astir of late, including his Freebass supergroup, DJ gigs around the world, and other exploits addressed at length here.

Farewell, New Order. Thanks for the memories.

Peter Hook DJ sets:

05-10 Itajaí, Brazil - KIWI
05-11 São Paulo, Brazil - Pacha
05-12 Belo Horizonte, Brazil - Mix Garden
05-24 Manchester, England - Po Na Na
05-25 Istanbul, Turkey - Babylon
05-27 London, England - The White House
06-01 Glasgow, Scotland - The Arches
06-02 Rotterdam, Netherlands - Now Wow