Peter Hook calls Morrissey a 'twat'

Former Joy Division and New Order bassist Peter Hook has labelled fellow Mancunian Morrissey a "twat" after admitting there was an intense rivalry between his bands and The Smiths during the '80s.

Speaking at a Q&A session on Saturday (October 10) at Bristol Borders, where he was promoting his first book 'The Haçienda: How Not To Run A Club', Hook said he was never a fan of his rivals.

"There's no way I could have liked The Smiths as they were our competition," he declared, "Morrissey's a twat anyway! He makes Mark E Smith look popular! He really does."

He went on to joke about his rival's approach to legal issues.

He said: "What I do love about Mozzer though, is that any time anyone has any legal problem with him, the only person you can speak to about [it] is his mother! That's true. So if you have a problem you have to deal with Morrissey's mother. And the first thing she says is, 'Our Steven wouldn't do that!'."

Since the acrimonious break-up of New Order in 2007, Hook has been working on his new project, Freebass, with Stone Roses/Primal Scream bassist Mani, and Morrissey's former bandmate Andy Rourke. After rumours that Bloc Party frontman Kele Okereke and Liam Gallagher would front the band, he revealed that they have found a permanent singer in Gary Briggs, formerly of indie band Haven.

When asked how this came about, he said that after a futile "indie 'X Factor'" style search, Mani suggested that they enlist the help of some famous friends.

"He said 'We know everyone don't we? Liam, Kele, Tim Burgess – let's ask them'. So we asked a lot of people, and to be honest, I’m a bit busy, so most of them are really busy too, and the only three that delivered were Howard Marks – Mr Nice – who's done a fantastic state of the world rap, which is mega. Pete Wylie did a fantastic track for us, Tim Burgess did one, and I sing the other.

"Then Gary appeared, which was a relief so then I didn't have to deal with them other idiots! Going from one difficult lead singer to nine, you know...! Mani said 'Let's get someone who's just starting out and then we can persecute him!' So that's what we're doing, but don't tell him!"

He added that Freebass are planning to release an EP featuring the guest singers, followed by an album with Briggs.

'The Haçienda: How Not To Run A Club' is out now.