Trio debuts live at Beach Club

Before Curtis’s death, the band had agreed to stop using the name Joy Division if any member died or left. Thus, when the three remaining members decided to continue without him, they chose to perform under a different name. During the summer of 1980, the remaining members recorded their first demos , including a track called “Haystack” with vocalist Kevin Hewick , whom Factory ‘s co-founder Tony Wilson had suggested as the band’s new frontman. On 29 July 1980, the as-yet unnamed trio debuted live at Manchester’s Beach Club. Rob Gretton , the band’s manager for over twenty years, is credited with finding the name New Order in an article in The Guardian titled “The New Order of Kampuchean Rebels”. They also considered the name The Witch Doctors of Zimbabwe , before finally choosing New Order of Kampuchean Rebels, which was narrowed down to the name New Order despite its previous use for former Stooge Ron Asheton ‘s band the New Order . The group emphasised that the name New Order , like Joy Division , was not intended to reference Nazism or fascism .