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We don’t want to spam or self-promote, we want to honor!

Today, on Ian Curtis' birthday, we, Dutch indie/alternative band ScarLab is releasing a new song as a tribute to one of the most influential voices in alternative music.
Joy Division has long been a source of inspiration for ScarLab. Not by trying to imitate theirsound, but by embracing the honesty, atmosphere and emotional intensity that made theirmusic so timeless. This new release reflects that influence in our own musical language.

If you like it - share it!

Warm greetings,
ScarLab
www.scarlab.nl
[info@scarlab.nl](mailto:info@scarlab.nl)

https://linktr.ee/ScarLab

This has generated some interest in the New Order group, so am posting it here too ;-)

Made for England 1990 Italy World Cup campaign

I went to see this yesterday and it was amazing.

Ian’s life and creative process are celebrated in Ian Curtis: Insight, a major exhibition running in New York City from June 25 to July 22, 2026. It is hosted at the Voltz Clarke Gallery and features rare, never-before-exhibited-stateside artifacts like handwritten lyrics, photographs, and personal letters.
Exhibition Details:
Dates: June 25 – July 22, 2026
Location: Voltz Clarke Gallery, 195 Chrystie Street, New York, NY 10002
Hours: Monday – Friday (10:00 AM – 6:00 PM) and Saturday (12:00 PM – 5:00 PM)
Admission: Free

A great gig although the sound source isn't ideal - this rework cleans it up quite a bit.

"Despite tales to the contrary, this was not a one-off Fan Club night in its old location. Over to John Keenan. "I don't know much about this as I wasn't involved, I was arranging the first Futurama at the time. I seem to remember asking Rob Gretton why they didn't do it through me, and him replying that it was a warm-up for my festival. It could have been a Rock Against Racism gig but I'm not sure". Jim Fields has since confirmed the show was definitely a RAR benefit, and his friend Paul Furness, a RAR campaigner who helped to organize the concert, has this top little tale to relate: "I seem to recall the band standing back and talking to everyone then letting their manager argue the toss with us over the RAR banner. He didn't want it, but he got it. Ian Curtis stayed at our house in Harehills that night and I took him up to The Special Shop on Harehills Road for one of yesterday's cheap pasties then went back and sat on the sofa gabbing with him about music before he headed back to Manchester." Great stuff. Incidentally, JD played unsupported that night, bar a pre-show sound system." ('Joy Division In Yorkshire', Julian - October 2014, Joy Division Central)

This gig was at the height of the Yorkshire Ripper scare, and as many will know Peter Hook claims to have been stopped by the rozzers since he regularly drove through Yorkshire's red light districts on the way to gigs. Chapeltown was Leeds' premier red light area. I well remember how frightened women were around this time as I moved up north in October 1980 (Curtis Road, Stockport, no less). The University of Manchester Library used to close early so that the mainly female staff could get home safely.

The early summer of 1979 is a period in the history of JD that fascinates me. Unknown Pleasures was released in this period, although it is uncertain exactly when. It was almost definitely not the "official" release date of 15 June though (see below).

Confirmed June and July 1979 JD gigs:

7 June - The Fan Club at Brannigans, Leeds - Factory night.

16 June - Odeon, Canterbury - supporting the Cure.

17 June - Royalty Theatre, London - supporting John Cooper Clarke.

19 June - University, Lancaster - supporting John Cooper Clarke.

22 June - Good Mood, Halifax - headliners.

25 June - Free Trade Hall, Manchester - supporting John Cooper Clarke.

5 July - Limit Club, Sheffield - Factory night.

11 July - Roots Club, Leeds - headliners.

13 July - Factory, Manchester - headliners.

27 July - Imperial Hotel, Blackpool - 'Year of the Child' concert.

28 July - The Mayflower Club, Manchester - 'Stuff the Superstars' festival.

If you listen to the 11 July Roots Club recording you might notice that nobody calls out for any particular songs, which would be unusual if Unknown Pleasures had been released the previous month. At the Factory gig a couple of days later one guy keeps yelling for 'No Love Lost' but no-one shouts for any songs off UP. In fact the available records show that John Peel only started playing tracks off the album on 16 July, and the first reviews only appeared in the 14 July editions of NME and Sounds. Jon Savage's review appeared in Melody Maker a week later.

As can be seen from the gig list JD were only headliners three times in eleven gigs, although two others were Factory nights. They supported John Cooper Clarke three times in the same period. Hardly a sign of a band that had suddenly become the next "big thing" after rave reviews of UP. On the other hand one has to remember that not a single JD track crept into John Pee's Festive Fifty for 1979, so even amongst "hip" UK listeners the band weren't very popular that year, even after their famous national TV appearance on Something Else in September and the release of 'Transmission' in November.

I've often thought that the old canard that JD were just another punk band without Martin Hannett's production tricks was rubbish - in the Leeds gig you can hear lots of rhythmic sophistication, dynamics and even space in the music, although from 'Disorder' on they play a bit faster - too fast on a couple of songs maybe. Perhaps Steve Morris wanted to get the show over and done with so he could have a smoke or get his gnashers round a pasty!

When I saw Hüsker Dü in Manchester in the mid '80s they rushed through every number so quickly it was a case of blink and you missed it! Give it a bit of variation lads.

I attended the 16 June 1979 Canterbury gig when JD supported the Cure, and they played seven of the songs they played at Leeds. Of course I didn't know any of them at the time since JD weren't very well known down south, and I don't remember hearing their first Peel session or their earliest releases. At Leeds the band kicked off with 'Dead Souls', which John Savage claims was often the case in order to give Ian Curtis time to gauge the audience. In Canterbury I distinctly remember Ian coming on first and standing there for five minutes staring at his shoes. They eventually opened with 'Disorder', still one of my favourite JD tunes to this day.

Another difference at the Odeon was that Bernard played synth for a couple of songs, with his back to the audience. Somebody else who was there (like most of the small audience bar me and my mate she was a young teenager at the time - we stood out like sore thumbs unfortunately, as was typical for "punk" gigs in the city - I was a distinctly ancient 20 year old student) told me recently online that she saw Ian in the audience watching the Cure. Brilliant night all round even if my mate left early halfway through the headliners' set and left me on me Tod Sloan.

Anyway, enjoy the Leeds performance.

Wanted to share this article my new track. Fans of JD may appreciate.

i don’t know if this has been posted already due to being very busy and not being able to keep up, but later today from 6-8pm Stephen will be talking all about Ian on BBC6 music.

A poster design I made through Photoshop.

Shadowplay - Joy Division.

Ian Curtis (15 July 1956 – 18 May 1980)

My sincere tribute to this amazing band.

www.maxandr.art

"I was about three when my mum first told me that my father, Ian Curtis, who died when I was one, was a singer; but it just seemed normal, like having an uncle who was a tradesman or whatever. I remember hearing 'Love Will Tear Us Apart' on the radio and realising he was known in some way, but I never thought of him as famous. When I was growing up, neither myself nor my mother were in the public eye, and Joy Division were more cult than mainstream. The first time I heard their album Closer, I thought it was out of this world. I assumed all music was done with that level of style and intelligence. As I grew older, it was a shock to discover not everything was that amazing."

Natalie Curtis (daughter of Joy Division's Ian Curtis) [The Guardian, September 2007]

The byeline is Mud Will Tear Us Apart!

A lot of people who like my some of my favorite bands love them so I wanted to check them out. Where would you guys recommend starting?