Stephen Morris
Being in one of the finest groups of all time is impressive. Being in two is something else. When Joy Division ended and emerged as the fledgling New Order, an electronic music legend was born. From the formative pulses and drum-machinery of Everything’s Gone Green and Temptation through the seminal dance-floor stomp of Blue Monday and The Perfect Kiss to the Balearic bliss of Fine Time and beyond, few bands have had the influence on dance-culture New Order have. Behind the beats and sequences of both bands can be found Stephen Morris; percussionist, programmer par excellence and synth aficionado. Stephen’s studio is an eclectic, Aladdin’s cave of modular racks, choice vintage synths and desirable hardware all nestled perfectly in the home he shares with wife, New Order’s Gillian Gilbert.
Entering the studio through the live-space and rehearsal room, walking by the full-size dalek and cyberman, FM giddily notes various synths from New Order’s illustrious electronic evolution. Photos done, we retire to the main studio where we embark on an absorbing trip through technology and techniques old and new. Never meet your heroes, the old adage goes…for once, happily, the old adage couldn’t be more wrong.
Did you have an inkling back in Joy Division days how important technology would be in your later career?
“Growing up in the ’70s it was always a little bit about that as you were very aware of what was coming with computers and what not. Synths too, with a lot of the Krautrock bands like Tangerine Dream and Wendy Carlos. Even Dr Who had all those great electronic, scary sounds. It was interesting to us but completely out of our league. It was like magic!”
Your first introduction was a self-built kit-synth wasn’t it?
“Bernard built a Transcendent synth from scratch because making your own was how you really accessed technology at that point otherwise it was so unaffordable. The first drum-synth I got was the Synare 3, which I used in Joy Division. You could see the way things were going and working with Martin
