(XFM) Despite having only recently returned to the furor, New Order have told Xfm that the follow-up to ‘Waiting For The Siren’s Call’ is already complete and discussed how their collaboration with Scissor Sister Ana Matronic came about.


Peter Hook and Stephen Morris of New Order and Scissor Sister Ana Matronic dropped in Xfm for a chat with Lauren Laverne last week and addressed reports that their new record is already in the can (not that you heard that from us, mind).

“That’s a secret!” exclaimed bass player Hook when aksed if the rumours wrer true, “To be honest, it’s very unusual for us to be that prolific. Every time you ‘come back’ the first question people ask is always, ‘So why did it take so long?’, so I think we thought by doing two at the same time interviewers would be scuppered for their first question.

“It was nice because at the end the ideas just came very quickly, but then we had so many ideas and Bernard [Sumner, vocalist] wouldn’t let any of em go. We’re used to him making our lives a misery, but he made us finish em all.”

“So we ended up with so many tracks we couldn’t choose between them because they all sounded like A-sides,” Morris continued. “In the end we just tried to make the record run smoothly.”

Ana Matronic and the New Order pair also spoke about how the collaboration on their new single ‘Jetstream’ came about.

“When we were recording ‘Jetstream’ in the studio, we were quite happy with it. But one of our esteemed colleagues at Warner Brothers felt there was something missing and that Ana could add that something.

“And we thought, ‘You what? The Scissor Sisters? Are You Joking?’ And low and behold as it came to pass, she did. And me and Stephen are great believers in people having part time jobs, something to fall back on. I’ve got a milk round,” Hook jokes. “And I’m in plumbing,” Morris adds…

At this point conversation turned to plumbing, mending Lauren’s broken boiler and general vocational employment-related double entendre. However, when conversation returned to the single, Ana explained,

“And so I got a cryptic email that said ‘Is Ana a New Order fan’ and so I wrote back a simple ‘Well, duh!’ And then about a week later I got a call to lend my vocals to the track. It was very nerve wracking at first I thought I’d have to be in the studio with the band, but I had a great few days recording with Steve Price.

“In fact, Scissor Sisters’ first tour of the UK was as support act for Steve's band Zoot Woman, so we’re pretty friendly and we had fun. But last week was only the first time we’ve performed the track together live at the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York. I’m still deciding whether to join the guys for the festivals. I may come along for Glastonbury...”

There's something about the latest one that has me listening to it more than I thought I would. At first the songs seem like slight pop throwaways, but there's more to them on later listens.

It's not musically original, but has very smart hooks and the songs have more going on lyrically than I first thought.

I thought I was going to be deeply disappointed, but am
more puzzled now. Don't how they manage to make such overtly sentimental lyrics and fairly ordinary music turn into such get-under-your-skin tuneage.

Yeah, I was thinking the same thing. I'm looking forward to this new one now.

Let's hope this gives Depeche Mode some competition so they can make a better album than Exciter.

That's got to be the stupidest reason ever, but I dig the results, so I'm not going to complain.