Gay Traitors, Nude Nights and Metal Detectors - Peter Hook's Book Reveals Shrewd Business Sense After the Fact

Posted: 21st September 2009

How Not to Run a Club

If you have been a resident on Planet Earth during the last 30-odd years, then you will be familiar with the rise and fall of businesses during boom and bust periods, accompanied by images of bank-workers carrying big boxes of files from freshly-closed offices, run by freshly-laundered banking corporations being beamed to your TV flat-screen, the one hanging on the wall that you can no longer afford to honour repayments for. But even the banking sector and subsequent public outcry is a fly in the rice compared to the heavily-documented legends and myths of one of the most important eras of post-punk excess and idiosyncratic events, namely Factory Records and its very own nightclub, The Hacienda during the 80s.

Peter Hook from Manchester's New Order knows the pitfalls of running a business in such a climate because he had a share and vested financial interest in the aforementioned club and got royally rodgered when the time came for the hammer to fall and the offices to be looted. In short, this was 'how not to run a nightclub', to quote the subtitle and subject of this book and accompanying CD. Forget the rumours, forget the hype and forget the third-rate accounts - this is the real deal and a pretty warts-and-all tale it should prove to be.

"The Hacienda" will be supported with a tour of specialist book and music stores (listed below) and will give avid fans a chance to meet one of the key players in Manchester's musical history, a history that continues to this day with merchandise, music and books being released left, right and centre to cash in. This is not one of those unofficial tomes - Hook has the inside knowledge, memories and scars to bear from this amazing, crazy and inspiring time. The CD will cover off the favoured acid-house and Balaeric anthems of the heady-hedonism of Hacienda club-nights including many of Hook's personal favourites (and some of mine, it must be said) as well as 2 exclusive tracks by the man himself.

Reviews for both the book and the CD, released on October 5th, will soon follow on this very site but meanwhile, below are those P.A.s, running from 3rd October to 15th October 2009.

Paul Pledger