Bloc Party On A High

Band are uber-confident as the year ends 

16 Dec 2007 - Bloc Party wrapped up their year at the London's Alexandra Palace last night. The Music Week were there and Julie Cullen caught up with frontman Kele and drummer Matt before the show. 

They seemed in a buoyant mood and not at all daunted by the prospect of playing infront of the 10 000 strong crowd, Matt said: "It was a crucial step in our career to announce this ridiculously big show and then see if we can actually fill it and peform infront of all these people... we are all about the big challenges."

One thing that is obvious from seeing Bloc Party's live shows over the years is that frontman Kele has gained a lot more confidence. Kele's reaction was tongue-in-cheek on this subject: "I think I've just generally got a lot more arrogant and lot harder to be around. My ego has got a lot bigger, we are an international chart smash so I need to keep reminding myself of that sometimes."

"My ego has got a lot bigger" - Kele, Bloc Party

Kele and Matt were reflecting on 2007, and Matt was quite pointed about what he would like to see happen in 2008: "I want to have more songs like Banquet...", but Kele butted in: "Having released Flux more songs like Flux, there's no point looking back at our achievements, just look ahead at where are are going, I am really focused on the new record."

They both agreed that their latest single Flux has taken them off in a new direction, Matt admitted: "I think one crucial thing about that song was it was radically different from anything we attempted before and I think it was important in terms of opening up... broadening our horizons".

Kele added: "Flux isn't an indication at all about the next record... The important thing about this record for me was that it showed we could do anything we wanted, we weren't going to settle for being any other guitar band of 2007. Luckily it was successful."

We look forward to seeing what they come up with in 2008.


Ruth Barnes