Vini Reilly on Ian Curtis, Joy Division sleeve, Viva Hate
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- Joy Division helped cut and glue the sandpaper sheets for the original Return of the Durutti Column sleeve, being paid in cash while watching porno movies; Peter Hook says Reilly quickly stopped to avoid damaging his nails.
- Vini Reilly describes being sectioned once — with six people holding him down — after his father died during his O-levels triggered recurring depression; he once went to Moss Side hoping gangsters would shoot him.
- Ian Curtis was prescribed heavy medication for epilepsy while his marriage was falling apart, and Reilly says "he didn't have a chance"; the memorial track The Missing Boy was captured in a single second take with Reilly playing grand piano while his guitar ran through a space echo.
- Harry Styles told Radio 1 the Durutti Column and LCD Soundsystem were influences on his new album, prompting the For Vini tribute show in London where producer Keir Stewart played guitar and Bruce Mitchell joined on drums.
- Tony Wilson named the band after Spanish Civil War anarchist Buenaventura Durruti because he felt anarchy was the basis of punk; the misspelling was likely accidental.
- Vini Reilly played on Morrissey's 1988 solo debut Viva Hate, particularly Late Night Maudlin Street, recalling they "never stopped laughing"; Bruce Mitchell describes dropping Reilly off expecting a quick exit, only to find the two "natterning in the back seat like two old ladies on Coronation Street."
- Famous covert fans of the Durutti Column include Stewart Lee, Chris Morris, Max Richter, Richard Ayoade, John Frusciante, Chris Martin, AG Cook, and Caroline Polachek, according to producer Keir Stewart.
Why it matters: The interview surfaces firsthand accounts from Factory Records' inner circle: Reilly witnessed Curtis on heavy epilepsy medication with a collapsing marriage weeks before his suicide, Joy Division was paid cash to assemble the label's first iconic sleeve while watching porn films, and Morrissey was at his most unguarded during the Viva Hate sessions. These are participant-level recollections rather than third-party retellings, adding documented texture to three already-mythologized chapters of British indie history.
