Le reste n’était qu’obscurité

Ian had an explosive temperament: he was the epitome of politeness and friendliness, and suddenly, around the third song, you would notice that something about him had changed and he would start taking the stage apart, ripping the slats off the floor and throwing them at the audience. He would end the set completely overexcited. We’d finish playing and he’d be there, covered in blood, wondering, ‘What the hell happened?
The rest was darkness, the result of thirty years of interviews with the closest witnesses to the most fascinating band in English rock: Joy Division. Young, disillusioned, confronted with misery, Ian Curtis, Peter Hook, Stephen Morris and Bernard Sumner will invent, from the spontaneity of punk, a hybrid and original style, imbued with the aura of mystery of their singer’s lyrics.
As their success grew, Curtis’ mental and physical health deteriorated. He committed suicide in 1980, just one year after the release of Unknown Pleasures, the band’s debut album, on Factory Records. He has just joined the pantheon of tragic rock icons.
Jon Savage’s interviews with the three other members of Joy Division and their entourage paint a portrait of a band and its magnetic leader. The rest was only darkness is also a dive into the social and cultural context of a city, Manchester, which has deeply shaped its musicians and allowed the appearance of Joy Division, as accidental as it is extra-ordinary.