Gordon Moakes, low end provider with Bloc Party, took time out of his hectic schedule to tell us how becoming a dad has turned his world upside down. Picture by Julia Corsaro

Proud dad Gordon with baby Scarlet. Pic Julia Corsaro

The rest of what you do isn’t as important any more

Seems obvious, but working this out was completely liberating. When I looked down into our daughter’s face for the first time I just breathed a sigh of relief: no longer would I have to run around justifying my place in the middle of the universe, no more need I try to lock horns with how things are and how I fit in. It takes all the stress out of life, not having to be defined by that stuff any more. Strangely though, the fact that I make my living playing in a band remains just as relevant as it was, if not more so. I can actually see all the better now how it fits into scheme of me and our family: now I go out on tour with a purpose, a job to do, a mouth to feed. I am here to provide, and it’s okay for me to enjoy what I do too, because what better an outlook can you pass on to your children than being proud of what you do, of enjoying your work?

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Here’s a fun interview with Kele and Matt for NME.

If link doesn’t work, go here:

http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid1659851007/bclid1755457108/bctid1854986271

After the VERY busy webchat where we announced ‘Intimacy’, we realised that we didn’t actually get to answer very many questions, so we invited members of Marshals / Pioneers to submit some questions for us to answer… so without further ado:

Hey Bloc Party. I’ve got a question… What should I name my band? (Lisa)

RUSSELL: Argh.
GORDON: Chas n’ Rave
MATT: Dry Nurse
KELE: The Vanity Stitch

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Here are a couple of interviews with Kele and Matt at Reading 2008.

Kele will be giving his first ‘interview’ for a long, long time (well, a few months anyway) on Friday when he takes part in a live webchat for AQA 63336 (Any Question Answered)…a UK text service which strives to find out the answer to any question texted in (e.g. Why do men have nipples? Why do you never see baby pigeons? Why do The Kooks exist?).

This is AQA’s first live “celebrity answers” session…starting at 11am GMT on Friday 6th June you will be able to put your questions to Kele directly for free. Go here for more info. Maybe Kele will spill the beans on the new Bloc Party material. Anyone who asks what colour underwear he’s wearing will be pelted with crunchy peanut butter…you have been warned.

Edit: read a transcript of the webchat below:

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Pop: It thinks of itself as edgy, but in reality NME’s Big Gig is as safe as it gets. Still fun, though

NME Big Gig London 02 Arena, SE10Britain is the only country in the world that has a weekly music magazine. Manic Street Preacher Nicky Wire reminds us as much during his moving acceptance speech earlier in the evening, after boxer Joe Calzaghe hands the Manics their NME award for Godlike Genius (previous recipients: John Peel, The Clash and, uh, Ozzy Osbourne).

He is right: we are blessed. No other nation places so much stock in the preening and polemicising of its musical youth. The line between popular and serious culture is gloriously thin in this country, thanks in no small part to a febrile publication whose ink only stopped rubbing off on your hands at the turn of the millennium. A former member of Blur is standing as a Labour MP at the next election; another, now a gentleman farmer, opines on cheese for The Observer. Bono and Bob Geldof are saints, Paul McCartney and Mick Jagger are knights. Former NME scribe John Harris is a respected political commentator. Need we mention Julie Burchill? (more…)

This week’s NME Awards Souvenir Box Set Issue features Bloc Party’s cover of Nellie Furtado’s ‘Say it Right’ alongside an interview with Kele regarding the NME Big Gig. Scan below [thanks to Blocparty.net]

As his full-time concern prepare to head back into the studio to begin work on album number three, Bloc Party’s Russell Lissack is hurriedly tidying the rough edges on something else, namely his new side-project Pin Me Down.

The guitarist has paired with New York songwriter Milena Mepris for the new act, which will bear fruit with a Kitsune-released single in spring. Both of them took time out to talk to Drowned in Sound about Pin Me Down’s plans for the new year.

Why embark upon this new project now? And why has it taken a while for you to release anything?
Russell: We’ve actually been working on this since the time we first met, which I think was the very end of 2004. It’s just that I’ve been so busy with Bloc Party and we could only swap ideas over the internet, which has its limits. After a few years of writing and demo-ing, I finally found a two-week gap to go into a studio and record my parts of an album.

Milena: I think it took us a while to really focus and hone in on what we were doing. We wanted to make pop music that was challenging, that has big hooks, but that actually makes you think. I’d say half the songs we recorded are from our early sessions, but the other half are relatively new. I think we got better as time went on because we got used to writing and playing for the other person. (more…)

Since their latest album, A Weekend In The City, was released in February, Essex indie-rock superstars, Bloc Party, have enjoyed a year of major highs. They have followed up their success with a wide-ranging tour, performing at high-profile gigs such as Live Aid, Glastonbury, Reading/Leeds, SXSW, and the Austin City Limits music festival.

For a band that’s only been together for five years and released just two full-length albums, Bloc Party have managed to create a significant amount of fuss in the music press. Leveraging all the distribution and marketing tools available, the band made up of Kele Okereke (vocals/guitar), Russell Lissack (guitar), Gordon Moakes (bass), and Matt Tong (drums), have managed to place their songs in prominent video games, commercials, re-mix discs, movie, and television soundtracks. This exposure and viral marketing tactics appears to have paid off.
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Some truth, and lots of humour from these boys. Love it!