Bloc Party Silent No More

07/31/09 12:24pm

by Noah Love (CHARTattack)

London's Golden Boys Dissect City Life For Brooding Second Disc

Considering everything that's been written about how difficult and private Bloc Party frontman Kele Okereke can be, it's a welcome relief that he's exceedingly patient and polite during a frustrating week.

The band were forced to cancel a high-profile tour with Panic! At The Disco when drummer Matt Tong's lung collapsed, so instead they're holed up in New York hotel rooms answering questions about A Weekend In The City, their highly anticipated sophomore album.

Not that they mind. New York has kind of become a second home for the four world travellers, especially for the notoriously shy Okereke, who probably doesn't have any problem dropping off the radar in North America's busiest metropolis.

"I've been in London for most of my life that I guess I'm highly attuned to the pace of these sort of cities," he says. "It's like walking around in New York, it reminds me of home, and it's like almost comforting with the bustling nature and distance people have between each other. It's almost comforting."

The concept of "the city" prevails throughout the new record. Judging by the lyricism and the imagery the band use on the album sleeve, you'd be forgiven for thinking this record is about Bloc Party's home base, London. The group's frontman, however, is quick to shoot that notion down.

"Although there are quite a lot of references to London in some of the songs," says Okereke, "it was more the idea that this is an outcome of this could be anywhere, like here in New York or Paris or wherever. Just anywhere where there's a premium set on the nightlife.

"This idea is, you know, the place where people work, but also a place where people can stay up all hours of the night. It wasn't specifically about London, just about life in a city where leisure and industry kind of operate in the same sort of space."

A Weekend In The City features a more electronic and bass-heavy sound that's markedly different from its ubiquitous predecessor, Silent Alarm. It's not really that surprising when you consider that the dance-punk craze of 2005 is long over and Bloc Party were considered champions of the movement.

As such, recording the sophomore disc became a two-pronged challenge. The quartet had to prove they weren't a flash in the pan, while distancing themselves from the sound that made them famous in the first place.

"Every time we'd write a song, we were all thinking, 'OK, we've done this,'" says bassist Gordon Moakes. "If the riff was familiar, then we had to ditch it, because you'd rather not do something that you've heard before.

"Producing and recording a record is always kind of a double-edged sword because it can be a bun fight in terms of what people want it to sound like. But I always have fun because it's an opportunity to play around with stuff and record whatever, satisfy your imagination. We got that, I think it just took a bit more time because we weren't so clear, or the songs weren't entirely finished and we hadn't been playing them for years. Because with Silent Alarm, the set, we'd been playing those songs for up to maybe two years in some cases before we went into studio. They were very clearly arranged for us."

Instrumental in helping craft the group's new sound was producer Jacknife Lee, best known for his Grammy-winning work on U2's How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb.

The group travelled to Dublin, Ireland to record the album after a much-ballyhooed search for someone to helm the project. Lee was the third producer they tried out. It was clear almost from the beginning that the partnership would work.

"We just seemed to really have the same ideas about what we wanted musically to be doing," Okereke recalls. "He wanted a great record, not just a good record. We started something that we had to follow through on. If we'd just made Silent Alarm part two, if we'd just rewritten 'Banquet' and 'Helicopter,' we'd be doing a great disservice, and it was important that he knew that instinctively.

"He encouraged us to be more, I guess not reckless, but to be more chaotic and see what that produced, rather than so meticulous, which is one of our traits."

One thing Bloc Party didn't do during their year of writing and recording was disappear. Where bands such as Arcade Fire, Interpol and the Shins basically dropped off the radar while recording their 2007 releases, Bloc Party were everywhere in 2006.

They played festivals worldwide, showcasing their new material. The NME reported their every move when it came to the new LP — how many songs were written, which producers they were testing out. For a band who were supposedly having a quiet year, Bloc Party made plenty of noise.

"We did a tour of the States and amphitheatres in the summer, which was nice," Okereke adds. "I think it was just reminding our fans across the pond that we were still here. You kind of worry when you're an English band in the U.S. that all your fans will disconnect. Because, you know, it's not so easy to been seen in the press or to be seen if you're not from here, so it's keeping a profile, remind people you have a new album coming out at the start of the year."

From the sounds of Weekend In The City, city living has got Bloc Party down. Okereke loudly declares that "east London is a vampire" on the album's opening track, "Song For Clay (Disappear Here)." But while Moakes admits he's "more of a country boy," the band's frontman is forever hooked on the bright lights.

"I do think about moving out of the city and, well, at least moving out of London," Okereke offers. "I just know, having grown up in London, I need to be in a place where I can get what I want when I want it. If I was living in the country I'm not sure I'd be able to deal with that, to have to get a train everywhere or take a bus everywhere or something, when we're used to just getting in a taxi or going to look at a gallery or going to some show anytime you feel like it.

"You probably might have the odd bit of adjustment to completely abandon that and live in a rural setting."

bonus sidebar:
Island In The Sun
  
Bloc Party were the surprise invitees to last June's wildly successful Broken Social Scene Toronto Island show. So did the outsiders feel like they were part of the scene for a day?

"Do you know what? It did," Moakes laughs. "It's very infectious as well, that whole scene, you feel like you want to be a part of it. In fact, I think after that we did two or three shows with BSS and we met up with them. They would come and pick us up and took us to a friend's house where they were having an intimate little barbecue, and it just really felt like we were amongst friends. And ever since then we've vowed to meet up whenever we're near Toronto or they're in London."

This feature is from the February 2007 issue of Chart Magazine. To purchase the issue, go to the Chart Shop.