Former New Order bassist Peter Hook has said he found the acrimonious way in which the band parted company “hurtful”.

Hook told fellow band members Bernhard Sumner and Stephen Morris in February 2007 that he no longer wanted to be a part of the group.

But three months later Sumner and Morris released a statement denying the group had disbanded. Hook responded by telling Gigwise last October that New Order had “no Future”.

Despite his comments, Hook recently re-mastered New Order's five albums with Factory Records alongside Morris for a special re-release package.

In an interview with BBC Radio 2, Hook insisted that he had told his band mates about his plans to leave the band, and had made his feelings known during their last tour in Brazil.

“I just felt it was like an empty shell, New Order. It really was for me. I can’t talk for the others...Bernard never came to me. Steve never came to me. So I just thought that's the end of it,” he said.

“The statement which I found really, really irksome was like I was a lunatic, I hadn't told everybody. Everybody didn't know what was happening, which wasn't the case. Which is why it was so hurtful."

When asked whether his recent collaboration with Morris could spell a reunion, Hook replied: "I've no idea really. Sometimes you wonder what you were arguing about.”

(by Jason Gregory)