Bloc Party are an English indie rock band, composed of Kele Okereke on vocals and rhythm guitar, Russell Lissack on lead guitar, Gordon Moakes on bass guitar and Matt Tong on the drums. Their brand of indie art rock has been compared to bands such as Radiohead, The Cure, Blur, The Smashing Pumpkins, Pixies and Joy Division.

The band formed in 1999 after Okereke and Lissack decided to form a band at the Reading Festival. They went through a variety of names, before settling on Bloc Party in 2003. Moakes joined the band after answering an advert in the magazine NME, and Tong was picked out from an audition. Soon after, Bloc Party got their break by giving BBC Radio 1 DJ Steve Lamacq and Franz Ferdinand lead singer Alex Kapranos a copy of their demo, "She's Hearing Voices", which was then released as a single.

In February 2005, the band released their critically acclaimed debut album Silent Alarm in the United Kingdom, which NME later made their Album of the Year. The album went on to be certified platinum in the UK a year later. The band built on this success with the release of their second studio album, A Weekend in the City, on February 5, 2007, in the UK and February 6 in the United States. The album reached a peak of #2 in the UK and #12 in the Billboard Hot 200.

History

Formation and rising popularity (1999–2004)

Russell Lissack and Kele Okereke first met in 1998 in Essex, where Lissack had grown up and Okereke attended school. Lissack attended Bancroft's School and Okereke attended Ilford County High School then Trinity Catholic High School, Woodford Green, for sixth form. They bumped into each other again in 1999 at the Reading Festival and soon after decided to form a band together. Joining later were bassist Gordon Moakes, who answered an advert in the NME, and drummer Matt Tong. After going through a variety of names, such as Union, Superheroes of BMX, The Angel Range and Diet, the band settled on Bloc Party in September 2003, a play on block party. The band has said that the name was not intended to be an allusion to the Soviet Bloc or the Canadian political party Bloc Québécois. However, the band's bassist, Gordon Moakes, said on the group's official Internet forum that it was more a merging of the eastern "Blocs" and the western "parties", in the political sense. Moakes notes that the name was not driven by politics, but rather it "looked, sounded, seemed fine so we went with it."

In November 2003, Bloc Party had their track "The Marshals Are Dead" featured on a compilation CD called The New Cross released by Angular Recording Corporation. Soon after they released their debut single "She's Hearing Voices" on the then fledgling record label Trash Aesthetics.

The band got their break after Okereke went to a Franz Ferdinand concert in 2003, and was able to give a copy of the single to both lead singer Alex Kapranos and Radio One DJ Steve Lamacq. Lamacq subsequently played the song on his radio show, labeling the track "genius", and invited them to record a live session for the show. The buzz generated off the back of the single lead to another single, "Banquet" being released by Moshi Moshi, and to the eventual signing with independent label Wichita Recordings in April 2004.

Silent Alarm (2004–2006)

Their debut album, Silent Alarm, was released in February 2005 and was met with critical acclaim. It was voted by NME critics as the 2005 album of the year, and reached #3 on UK album charts before being certified platinum in the UK. The first single from the album, "So Here We Are", made the top 5 on UK charts. Further singles "Banquet" (which reached #13 in NME's "Top 50 singles of 2005"), "Helicopter", and "Pioneers", whilst failing to repeat this success, managed to reach the UK top 20. The animated video for the single "Pioneers", made by the Shoreditch based Minivegas design agency was number one in the NME video charts for 4 weeks.

The band were met with good reviews from critics in the United States and they toured there heavily in the 18 months that followed. In early 2006 they finished their tour with sold out shows in both Los Angeles, Miami and Berkeley. The album went on to sell more than 350,000 copies in North America and over a million worldwide. After the success of this album, the established electronic group The Chemical Brothers soon collaborated with Okereke for "Believe", a track on the Brothers' Push the Button album. An album of remixes of tracks from Silent Alarm was released at the end of August in the UK. This remix album, Silent Alarm Remixed, retained the album's original track list and includes remixes from the likes of Ladytron, M83, Death from Above 1979, Four Tet and Mogwai.

During July, Bloc Party recorded two new tracks with Silent Alarm producer Paul Epworth. The songs were released as an EP titled Two More Years. The released of the EP was accompanied with a re-release of Silent Alarm, which included "Two More Years" along with former single "Little Thoughts". "Two More Years" was later released to coincide with their October 2005 UK tour. The single format contained a remix of "Banquet" done by The Streets, for which a video was also recorded.

The band also contributed the track "The Present" to the Help!: A Day in the Life compilation, the profits of which benefits the War Child charity. In 2005, their album track "Like Eating Glass" was used on the soundtrack of low-budget horror film, Cry Wolf, and was remixed for use on Electronic Arts skateboarding game Tony Hawk's American Wasteland.

A Weekend in the City (2006–present)

The band's second album, A Weekend in the City, was produced by Jacknife Lee. It was released on February 5, 2007, in the United Kingdom and February 6 in the United States, though it had been leaked previously, as early as November 2006. It was released on the UK iTunes store before the physical release, and reached the #2 spot in the Official UK Chart. The album also reached #2 in the Australian and Belgian charts, as well as debuting at #12 in the Billboard 200, with 48,000 copies sold. The first single, "The Prayer", was released on January 29, and became the bands highest charting single in the UK Top 40, reaching #4. In the build up to the release of the album, BBC Radio 1 DJ Zane Lowe aired a live set from the Maida Vale studio featuring a mix of old songs and new ones on his evening radio show on BBC Radio 1 on January 30, 2007. On February 1, 2007, A Weekend in the City was made available to listen to for free through the band's official MySpace page.

The next single, "I Still Remember", was Bloc Party's highest charting American single, peaking at #24 on the Modern Rock Chart. The band released their third single "Hunting for Witches" with an accompanying video clip in August 2007. The single became their only ARIA Chart entry, peaking at #20.

In October 2007 it was announced that Bloc Party would release a new single, "Flux", on November 13—ahead of their end of year gigs. The track was also produced by Jacknife Lee,. It is, however, more of an electronics song than previously released rock-oriented singles.

The band's first gig following the release of A Weekend In The City was on February 5, 2007, in Reading, and was broadcast live on BBC 6 Music that night. On May 20, 2007, Bloc Party headlined on the In New Music We Trust stage at the BBC Radio 1 Big Weekend at Preston. They also performed at the UK leg of Live Earth on July 7, 2007, at Wembley Stadium. Along with these, they played sets at T in the Park and Oxegen 07 that same weekend, as well as Glastonbury and the Reading and Leeds Festivals. Bloc Party announced a tour of Australia and New Zealand in August 2007, along with a special appearance at the Splendour in the Grass Festival on August 5. On September 17, 2007 they recorded a set for the PBS show Austin City Limits, a day after playing at the Austin City Limits Music Festival, and on October 27, 2007, the band performed a set at London's Roundhouse with the Exmoor Singers, a London based choir, as part of the BBC Electric Proms. The set included songs from both Silent Alarm and A Weekend In The City along with the first UK live performance of their single "Flux".

According to Matt Tong, Bloc Party are in the early stages of their next album. The sound will have the "rawness" of Silent Alarm, but the "experience" of A Weekend in the City. The band have also been announced as part of the Reading and Leeds Festivals on August 23 and August 24, 2008.

Musical style

Bloc Party's own variation of spiky guitar rock draws on influences such as The Cure, The Jam, Blur, The Smashing Pumpkins, Sonic Youth, The Smiths, Pixies, Joy Division, Mogwai and Gang of Four, but the band says that some of these bands are just comparisons. Particular parallels were made between Bloc Party and Gang of Four upon their arrival on the music scene, yet the band were "mildly infuriated" at such references, claiming they had never "particularly liked" Gang of Four. To achieve their unique guitar style, numerous delay effects pedals are implemented.

During the recording of the second album, the band revealed that it would contain "some truly R'n'B styled beats, a song where [Tong] and [Moakes] play drums simultaneously [and] both eggshell-thin fragility and trouser-flapping hugeness", seemingly rejecting their typical indie rock sound. During this era, Bloc Party have developed and evolved their sound. The style has been compared to and inspired by such bands as Radiohead, U2, Depeche Mode and Björk. Some of the most noticeable changes are the songs have come more layered and less raw. With the release of Flux, Bloc Party's style has become even more diverse with the inclusion of electronic music. For the third album, Matt Tong has said, "I think our new stuff is going to be a lot less textured than the last record. I think the third studio incarnation of Bloc is going to be a bit like the rawer earlier Bloc, but with experience." They are working with producer Paul Epworth again.