Jump to content

Bloc Party

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by 80.47.122.57 (talk) at 01:09, 27 January 2007. The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Bloc Party

Bloc Party are an English indie rock band. In 2005, the band released their critically acclaimed debut album Silent Alarm. Their second studio album, A Weekend in the City will be released on February 5, 2007.

History

Formation (1998–2003)

The band has been in existence since 2002, with names such as Superheroes of BMX, The Angel Range, Diet, and Union, before settling on Bloc Party in September 2003. Band members Kele Okereke and Russell Lissack have formed the fulcrum of these various incarnations, and were subsequently joined by bassist Gordon Moakes who answered an advert in the NME, and most recently drummer Matt Tong. Lissack and singer/guitarist 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 until 16 then Trinity School for sixth form. They bumped into each other again in 1999 at the Reading Festival and soon after formed the band Union.

In 2003 they changed their name from Union to Bloc Party. The name is a play on block party,[1] a name for an informal neighbourhood festival, which might hire a local band as entertainment. 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; the absence of a 'k' is purely for aesthetics.

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 [the band] went with it."

Rising popularity (2003–2004)

In November 2003, the band had their track "The Marshalls 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 thrust a copy of the single into the hands of both Franz 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 sparked some A&R interest, leading to another single "Banquet", this time released by the label Moshi Moshi, and to the eventual signing with indie label Wichita Recordings in April 2004.

Silent Alarm (2005–2006)

Their debut album Silent Alarm, released in February 2005, was met with critical acclaim, being voted by NME critics as the 2005 album of the year and reaching #3 on UK album charts (selling 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" (which featured on the FIFA 06, Marc Ecko's Getting Up: Contents Under Pressure, Project Gotham Racing 3 and Burnout Revenge game soundtracks) and "The Pioneers" (July 2005), whilst failing to repeat this success, managed to make dents in the UK top 20. The animated video for the single "The Pioneers" was number one in the NME video charts for 4 weeks and was made for a tiny budget in four weeks by the Shoreditch based Mini Vegas design agency. Also one of their songs "Blue Light" is featured on the OC.

File:DSCF0088.JPG
Bloc Party’s Lissack and Okereke on stage in Cardiff in October 2005

Even though the band was met with good reviews from critics in America, Bloc Party failed to break through to the pop or rock charts in the US.

Bloc Party became one of the most popular new bands of 2005, and the established electronic group The Chemical Brothers soon collaborated with Okereke for 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, they recorded two new tracks (titles were given of "Hero" and "Two More Years") with Silent Alarm producer Paul Epworth. The latter, "Two More Years" was released on October 3 to coincide with their October 2005 UK tour. The songs were released as an EP titled Two More Years, accompanied with a re-release of Silent Alarm, which included "Two More Years" itself along with former single "Little Thoughts". The single format of "Two More Years" 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.

The single "Banquet" was sampled in 2006 by DJ Green Lantern for a track with Apathy, Tak (of rap duo Styles of Beyond) and Mike Shinoda. The track, entitled "Bloc Party", appears on Green Lantern's Fort Minor: We Major mixtape.

A Weekend in the City (2006–present)

The band has just finished their second album, called A Weekend in the City, produced by Jacknife Lee. The album will debut on February 5, 2007 in the UK and February 6 in the United States. The first single, "The Prayer", will be an early release on January 29. This single has been located on their MySpace since November 22, 2006. You can also see the making of video for their single "The Prayer" at [[1]] The cover art for this album is A Modern Project by Rut Blees Luxemburg. The band's first gig since the releasing of AWITC will also be on February 5th at Reading Hexagon. It will be broadcast live on BBC's Music Station 6 Music that night as well.

Musical style

It may seem Bloc Party's own variation of spiky guitar rock draws on influences such as The Cure, Sonic Youth, Pixies, Joy Division, Gang of Four and XTC, but they say that some of these bands are just comparisons. Russell had never heard of Gang Of Four before they released Silent Alarm.

The drumming on Bloc Party songs often seems influenced by the London dance and r/n/b scene whilst the guitar demonstrates typical indie sharpness with alternative panned chords and fast chord picking.

Discography

Albums

EPs

Singles

Early Singles

From Silent Alarm

Between Albums

  • "Two More Years" (October 2005, #7 UK)

From A Weekend in the City

Trivia

  • The band was on tour with Panic! at the Disco in November-December, 2006. However, they dropped out early in the tour after drummer Matt Tong was admitted to hospital when his lung collapsed during a show in Atlanta on November 9th, 2006. Although he's on the way to recovery, he was advised to rest and so the band dropped out of the tour.[2]
  • Bloc Party's largest headlining show was played at the Greek Theatre in Los Angeles on August 3, 2006 with Broken Social Scene and Mew opening. [3]
  • Lead singer Kele embarrassed himself while playing at the Oxegen festival in Ireland in 2005. He declared to the Irish crowd that he was "glad to be back in the UK", and incurred the wrath of the crowd as a result.
  • Linkin Park MC Mike Shinoda claims to be a big fan of Bloc Party and created a song (as Fort Minor) called 'Bloc Party' featuring the music of Banquet with Shinoda and other emcees rapping over it.
  • The song "So Here We Are" was used in the BBC's 2005 Wimbledon coverage and 2006 in ad campaigns of Saturn and Deutsche Telekom
  • The song "Like Eating Glass" was featured in Tony Hawk's American Wasteland [4] and on the soundtrack for Cry_Wolf. [5]
  • A portion of "This Modern Love" was used in the first season finale of the TV show How I Met Your Mother. [6]
  • A portion of "Helicopter" was used in an episode of the TV show Malcolm In The Middle, in the film Grandma's Boy, and in a fantasy football preview on CBS. [7] Full versions of the song featured on the playlists for FIFA 06[8], Marc Ecko's Getting Up: Contents Under Pressure, Project Gotham Racing 3 and Burnout Revenge.
  • The song "Pioneers" [M83 Remix] was featured on an episode of Top Gear.
  • The songs "Blue Light" [Engineer's Anti-Gravity Remix] and "Pioneers" (both the original and a cover version by the band, Tunng) [9] were used in episodes from the third season of the television series The O.C.
  • The song "Banquet" is featured on the playlist for the video games SSX on Tour and Midnight Club 3: DUB Edition Remix and appeared in The O.C.. "Banquet" can also be heard on The 4400 during a second season episode. This song also is played in the HBO series Entourage in Season 3, Episode 3.
  • The song "Banquet" is often used on MTV and VH1 as a background to a video or picture montage
  • The song "Positive Tension" was used in a season two episode of The O.C.
  • "Positive Tension" was used in an episode of CSI: NY
  • "Banquet" was used in an episode of CSI: NY
  • "This Modern Love" was featured in DVS shoe company's skate video Skate More
  • "Like Eating Glass" was used in BBC programme, Countryfile.
  • The song "Tulips" was used in an episode of Veronica Mars.
  • A portion of "Song for Clay (Disappear Here)" was used as background music for an advertisement of The O.C. on UK channel E4.
  • "Banquet" was used in the Popwar skateboards promo video, Video Hype.
  • "Banquet" was used in the Blind skateboards video "What If?" in Corey Sheppard's opening part.
  • A portion of "Compliments" was used in I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here!
  • The Song 'Helicopter' was used in a Burton Snowboard video titled: "Share The Air".

References

  1. ^ G, Chris (2004-05-10). "Interview: Bloc Party". SoundsXP. Retrieved 2006-12-31. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  2. ^ "14/11/2006 - BLOC PARTY FORCED TO CANCEL TOUR WITH PANIC! AT THE DISCO". www.blocparty.com. Retrieved 2007. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  3. ^ Tucker, Nathan (2006-08-08). "Fan review...Berkeley Greek Theatre, 04.08.06". www.blocparty.net. Retrieved 2006. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= and |date= (help)
  4. ^ Cave, Steve (2005-11-05). "Activision announces complete song line-up for Tony Hawk's American Wasteland". About.com. Retrieved 2005. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= and |date= (help)
  5. ^ "Cry Wolf Soundtrack". Amazon.com. Retrieved 2006. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  6. ^ "How I Met Your Mother episode guide". TV.com. Retrieved 2006. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  7. ^ "Grandma's Boy soundtrack". Amazon.com. Retrieved 2006. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  8. ^ "FIFA 06 Soundtrack Details". IGN. 2005-08-18. Retrieved 2006. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= and |date= (help)
  9. ^ "Weekly Mix - Season 3". Music from the O.C. Retrieved 2006. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)

Interviews

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Bloc_Party&oldid=103509455"