Kele Okereke goes solo with Hot Press

Interviewed in the new issue of Hot Press (out tomorrow), Okereke says of his debut solo record The Boxer, "I always knew I was going to make a record by myself. We (Bloc Party) had a discussion in the middle of 2009 about what we were going to do the following year, and... before I knew it, I had all these half-finished songs that I just felt compelled to complete."

Asked about he album's title, he replies that he liked the image of someone fighting back in adversity. "I think the last touring year of Bloc Party, we were kind of exhausted. It was quite a dark time for us as a band, and this record was the one ray of positivity that I had to focus on."

And when Hot Press' Paul Nolan queries Kele about a possible reformation, he offers only a tentative, "We’ll see"..

The singer is also reticent about his coming out in Butt magazine earlier this year. To read the full interview with Okereke, see tomorrow's (Thursday) issue of Hot Press.