Bloc, Stock And Two Smoking Barrels

Jangly guitars. Check! Post-punk funk basslines. Check! Floppy fringes. Check! Tiresome journalist who insists on comparing them to Franz Ferdinand. Check!
While it’s understandable that they don’t want to be tarred with the same musical brush, pretty much everything that was being said about Alex Kapranos’ mob 12 months ago applies to Bloc Party now.

Instead of jumping on somebody else’s bandwagon they created their own by gigging in every flea-infested pub, club and squat that would have them and then signed to Wichita, a London independent which until recently operated out of the Managing Director’s spare-room. By the time their name started appearing in the mainstream music press Bloc Party were, a la Franz, fully formed and able to fill venues at the drop of a flyposter.
“It is a bit daunting when people say, ‘A year ago, literally, I had Alex Kapranos sitting in this chair,” admits bassist Gordon Moakes. “Some journalists are like, ‘Okay, justify yourselves’, but why should we? Although the album’s only coming out now, the songs were all written before we’d heard Franz Ferdinand. I imagine we’ve got some of the same records in our collections, but sound-wise we’re completely different bands.”
There is a definite empathy between them, though, with Alex Kapranos inviting Bloc Party to support Franz Ferdinand when they played their now legendary Electrowerkz gig in Islington.
“That’s a one-off which happened nearly two years ago,” says singer Kele Okereke a tad defensively. “It opened a few doors for us, which we’re grateful for, but it’s our own hard work and ambition that’s got us where we are now.”
For all of his supreme confidence on-stage, off it Okereke is a shy, softly spoken character whose puppy dog eyes and stammer give him a childlike quality. His pride in the band he formed in 1998 with guitarist Russell Lissack is obvious, without smacking of the arrogance you get from some of their Britpack counterparts.
“We spent all of 2004 on tour so they might have passed me by, but I’m not convinced that this ‘golden age of bands’ actually exists,” Kele proffers. “A scene that results in Pete Doherty and his antics isn’t much to celebrate, is it? There are very few groups in London which excite me or make me think they’ll mean anything in 10 years time.”
“There’s nothing less rebellious or interesting than being addicted to heroin,” Russell Lissack resumes. “How anybody can look at Pete Doherty and think, ‘That’s a guy who’s worth idolising’, is a mystery to me.”
If there’s any hero-worshipping to be done, Lissack will do it at the feet of Tim Wheeler.
“(Groans) Who’s been talking?”
Somebody who thinks that his past involvement in an Ash tribute band is rather chucklesome.
“I’d just started playing guitar and me and some friends, who were also big Ash fans, played at another friend’s birthday party,” he winces. “We did 12 songs, which sounded nothing like the originals but were great fun to jump around to.”
Which brings us to the question, which divides all original Ash fans – was he pro or anti Charlotte Hatherley joining the band?
“I embraced her fully… several times! No, that’s wishful thinking. Her first solo single, ‘Kim Wilde’, was one of the best songs of 2004. Another Ash-y thing I got into last year was Thin Lizzy. One of our crew had Live & Dangerous on in the van and it totally blew me away.”
Lissack isn’t the only member of Bloc Party who’s prone to outlandish displays of fandom.
“I slept outside the Royal Festival Hall once to get Radiohead tickets,” Okereke confesses. “It was the first gig on the Kid A tour and, hypothermia or not, I wasn’t going to miss it!
“I wouldn’t say I’m a fan of his, but it was really surreal appearing on the same Later With Jools Holland as Elton John who asked afterwards for our album.”
“We said, ‘No problem Elt, that’ll be £12.99!” chuckles drummer Matt Tong. “Later… being the milestone for bands that Top Of The Pops used to be we were shitting it, but it couldn’t have gone better.”
What are the lucrative careers they turned their backs on to become fulltime Bloc Party people?
Gordon: “Graphic design. I did websites for Bang & Olufsen, Harley-Davidson, Mini and BMW bullet-proof cars.”
Matt: “The closest I had to a job was being a Bournemouth supporter. The number of ‘thank you’ emails I’ve got for wearing their scarf in the ‘So Here We Are’ video is unreal! I’m hoping we get to a final, so I can be the token celebrity fan.”
Kele: “I was working in a cinema while at the same time doing an English Literature degree, which I gave up at the start of Year Two ‘cause the band took off.”
Are the dusty halls of academia something Okereke ever pines for?
“Right now? No. Being paid to be creative is the best way to live your life. I’m not saying it’s going to change the world, but we’ve an album of 13 songs coming out that I totally believe in. That’s enough for me to feel what I’m doing is worthwhile.”b

Bloc Party’s Silent Alarm album is out now on Wichita. And jolly good it is too!