I think you would be surprised if you knew what we listened to." I didn't hear of Gang of Four until somebody mentioned them and said we sounded like them. It isn't your Falls and A Certain Ratios or whatever. The music that really inspires me is modern music. Okereke acknowledges: "Obviously, we've listened to certain bands and picked stuff up, but none of those bands really mean so much. Yet although their songs depart from the sensibility of those bands, the danger of imitation is not far away. It is not surprising that Bloc Party are defensive about suggestions that they are simply raiding the sounds of post-punk bands such as Joy Division, The Cure and Gang of Four. I'm looking forward to when the album's out and they've learnt the songs. It was a sort of club night, and the kids went crazy from the start and were dancing the whole way through. Having emerged through performing to London audiences, they are somewhat surprised when people dance to their songs: "One of the nicest things I remember", Moakes says, "is a gig in Nottingham. Initially uncomfortable with playing live, they have recently toured Japan and played at Leeds and Reading Festivals playing live is now essential to their ethos. Since the release of the singles this year, they have enjoyed a steady stream of ever more impressive dates. "Seriously, finding a drummer is like trying to find a wife," exclaims Tong, who, despairing of finding the right person, gave up playing the guitar and took up the drumsticks himself. It's really like trying to find the last piece in the jigsaw puzzle." "The three of us played for at least two years with loads of drummers, and we were dead set on doing it properly. "It was hard work to get to that point," Moakes recalls. After Moakes joined, finding a drummer became the pressing problem. Russell Lissack is the guitarist with whom Okereke has been writing songs since their schooldays in Essex. I live in east London, Matt lives in west London, Gordon lives in Oxford, and Russell", he laughs, "doesn't live anywhere." "The thing that annoys me," Okereke says, "is that none of us even lives in New Cross.
According to the NME, Bloc Party are a successful export from a rising DIY punk scene in New Cross, south-east London. It kind of opened a door, but at the time nobody knew that Franz Ferdinand were going to blow up to the thing that they are." The demo was played at a Domino-records party, and, after negotiating with several labels, the band ended up signing to the independent Wichita.įor such a new band, it is surprising to find that something of a mythology has already been built around them - one that they are eager to debunk. Alex, their front man, bothered to tell me he liked the demo. They listen to a lot of the music that I listen to, and so I sent them an e-mail saying that we were in a band that played similar stuff. "I just read about Franz Ferdinand's influences in the NME. Okereke explains that they didn't really think much of it at the time. It's unsurprising, then, that the band seem a little shell-shocked with all that has happened since they signed their record deal in April, after their inspired idea to send a demo to Franz Ferdinand late last year led to a swirl of label interest. "But from Sunday until Christmas, there's four days off."
"It's strange, because we've had three weeks off while I've been recovering," he says. The lead singer, Kele Okereke, shy and gentle in comparison with his bold singing persona, explains that he has just had his tonsils removed - no doubt a traumatic experience for a vocalist. It has been an intense week for the band: meeting, planning and finalising not only the tour but also their forthcoming single and the order of tracks on their debut album. They recently set off on the international circuit, supporting the effortlessly chic and sonically surging New Yorkers Interpol in the US. On the strength of three singles and a formidable live reputation, Bloc Party's take on the art-fused punk-funk recently sparked off by the likes of Franz Ferdinand has been selling out concerts in the capital and has led to two successful tours. They are as humble as a sack of potatoes, so it's easy to forget that they are on the crest of a wave of live music surging through London. In a room in Chiswick, west London, four tired lads wax intellectual on the mirages of rock'n'roll.
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