Newt Order

NEW Order star Bernard Sumner has admitted he squandered hundreds of thousands of pounds - because he was too busy being a 24-hour party person to notice.

The singer, whose classic hits include Blue Monday and World In Motion, said: "We were that drunk in New Order, we didn't give a s*** what was going on,"

Bernard confesses that now, because his new band Bad Lieutenant are releasing their debut album on their own record company, he's finally had to wise up financially.

"Yes, it was stupid back then, but it was a lot of fun! A big advance from a record company is really a loan. Bands pay for the recording, the videos, hotels - everything - from that advance.

"Because we're paying for everything ourselves in Bad Lieutenant, I finally twigged how it works. I was going, 'Surely we don't pay for the recording studio? We do?! Oh, right.' Honestly, it's taken me 30 years to find that out."

New Order's hard-living lifestyle was famously portrayed in the film 24-Hour Party People, in which Life On Mars star John Simm played Bernard.

But they weren't entirely financially daft, writing one of their biggest hits to escape debt.

"We got a bill for thousands in the mid '80s, off the taxman I think," recalls father-of-three Bernard, 53.

"We thought, 'Hell, we'd better try to write a Top 40 hit here.' So we got our heads together, and True Faith was the result."

Karate

Bernard began as the guitarist in Joy Division. After singer Ian Curtis committed suicide in 1980, the surviving three members formed New Order with Bernard as singer.

They had massive success until they split two years ago, when Bernard fell out with bassist Peter Hook.

"I don't think me and Hooky will ever patch things up," says Bernard, who also ran the legendary Hacienda nightclub in Manchester with New Order. "There's been too many things said and done."

New band Bad Lieutenant also stars New Order's live Phil Cunningham and drummer Steven Morris - alongside Jake Evans, an unknown Manchester singer/guitarist.

Why not just keep the New Order name? "Well, Hooky said he'd see us in court if we tried to keep the name, which wasn't very pleasant," says Bernard.

"But we never had any intention of doing that. To call it New Order without Hooky, it wouldn't feel right. Also, I wanted the experience of doing something new."

The band recorded most of their debut album Never Cry Another Tear at the studio in Jake's flat - below a karate school!

"New Order's last album cost about £1 million to make," says Bernard. "

This record was made in somewhere that looks like a Gestapo interrogation centre."

Now, they're rehearsing for a tour in a barn on drummer Steven's farm."

Their album is full of the dance-tinged rock & roll that made New Order such a success, mixed in with Bernard's emotional vocals.

He explains: "The emotional songs stick around for longer. Writing a pop ditty is great, but it's not something I'm good at."

Never Cry Another Tear is out tomorrow

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