NEW ORDER - HOOK: 'NEW ORDER SPLIT FOR PERSONAL REASONS'

NEW ORDER's split was due to personal reasons - according to the band's former bassist PETER HOOK. The legendary musician announced the split last month (May07), but it's only now that he has given the first hint for the band's demise - personal problems within the group. However, he admits life without former bandmates Bernard Sumner and Stephen Morris has been harder than he first thought. He says, "It has been very sad actually, and it has been very difficult to live with, but that is life, isn't it? "But you pick yourself up, you dust yourself off, and you start all over again."