Vi sätter oss på
en bänk i en gång på Mondo, och medan jag rotar fram godisburken ur väskan
berättar jag vilka andra band jag intervjuat för tidningen, och Gordon säger
att de spelat med Snow Patrol på några konserter i Frankrike. Jag får fram
burken:
I brought some Swedish Christmas candy.
- Oh woow! That's amazing, I'm going to share that out,
that's brilliant, thank you!
Med tanke på vad vi just pratat om är det kanske inte så
konstigt, men inte desto mindre pinsamt, när jag säger fel i första frågan:
I'm going to start with an obvious question, that you've
probably been asked hundreds of times: Why are you called Bloc Patrol?
...Party!
Gordon skrattar: - Bloc Patrol! Well, we're called Bloc
Patrol because... Maybe I should answer the question why are Snow Patrol called
Snow Patrol. 'Cause they weren't always called Snow Patrol.
Yeah, I've heard that story, Polar Bear.
Gordon fortsätter, med sin otroligt vackra brittiska
dialekt: - We weren't always called Bloc Party, when we started we were called
The Angel Range. And then we were called Union, but there was another band
called Union, so we thought it was probably about time we change our name. It
was quite a critical time, because we had already recorded the demo and the
demo was out there. I think if you go on eBay you can find Union demos.
Expensive now, I guess?
- Probably. I just wanted something new for the band that
kind of summed up this idea, that kind of ambiguity sort of thing, and it's
great just to have a pun like that. It sounds like it could be so many things,
but it's not anything really (laugh). It could be about fun or it could be
anything you say. When I came up with it I thought "That just sounds
perfect, I hope they like it" and they did.
In a Swedish newspaper today it said something like
"Don't worry, they don't play hip hop".
Gordon laughs: - Yeah, I know, that could easily be the
case, couldn't it? But I think it works.
Gordon berättar
att Bloc Party är det första seriösa bandet han spelat i. Tidigare brukade han
skriva låtar med en kompis, men de tog sig aldrig för att göra någonting med
dem. När han var 23 kände han att det var dags att ta tag i sina musikaliska
drömmar, och så svarade han på en annons och träffade det blivande Bloc Party.
- We rehearsed once a week and I stuck with it and it just
worked (laughs).
Bloc Party är:
Kele Okereke: sång, gitarr
Russell Lissack: gitarr
Gordon Moakes: bas, körsång
Matt Tong: trummor
-->
Vi börjar prata
om Bloc Partys sound:
- It depends what people think of when you say Bloc Party,
or when you hear a Bloc Party song. There is quite a distinct guitar sound,
some very fancy drumming, but it's not all like that, there are some really
down-beat moments as well. There's a much wider picture of what we do. I think,
yeah, there must be things that are really distinct for us, Kele's voice for a
start, and Matt's drumming and Russells guitar, so there are some very strong
identifying features.
And your bass is not distinctive?
We both laugh: - Aah, well, I don't want to be the one who
says! But yeah, you know, I like to think that I've got a distinctive playing
style, but it's hard to say. (he laughs, a little embarrassed)
På Bloc Partys hemsida skriver Gordon någon sorts dagbok:
I was looking at your website, and it kind of scared me a
bit, you seem very... intellectual or something...
Gordon laughed: - Yeah, that's me. I'm not an intellectual,
but...
But you have a "resigned superiorty complex"?
- Aaah, you're not the first person to point that out...
It's a bit tongue in cheek that, actually. Ever since we set up the website
I've just used it as a platform for rants and... you know, I want to be honest
as well, about the experience of being in a band, and part of that is kind of
slightly jaded view of what makes a band, what makes a good band. There were so
many bands in London when we were starting out and I can look back on that time
and really very few that a) were likely to stay the course and b) were
distinctive at all. I don't know why, or if we were radically different to
those bands, but I think we were strong enough and had enough identity to be
confident about us at least. So yeah, I suppose it's easy for me to talk like
that, but I'm just trying to be honest. I honestly don't go around thinking I'm
in the best band in the world, I really don't. But every now and again you play
with a band and just think "Well... they're okay", but still probably
they're not as good as us. And that's not arrogant, it's just like... truth.
It wouldn't be much point in playing in a band if you
don't think you're good, I guess.
- Yeah, absolutely. You certainly wouldn't want to stick
with it. The fact that we're all still doing it, four years on, means that we
all believe in it.
You and Kele write lyrics together sometimes, how does
that work?
- Kele does most of it. Occasionally there are sections in
songs where Kele says to me "We should have you doing a vocal part",
and rather than writing that part for me he says "You write what you
want". It's a really nice way of working actually, I much prefer singing
something I've written than what someone else has written. He's very
accomodating, you know. If there's a part that's needed then he trusts me to
write that piece. But it's very much on spec, it's rare that I come with
anything very free-formed in terms of lyrics, I really do just kind of spark
off him. I do write things occasionally, but the way we work tends to come from
starting out with a structure and then building up to the words being the very last
thing we do. So I just take what I'm given, in a way (laughs), to work with.
How do you write the music? Do you do it together?
- Yeah... I mean, like I say, there's usually a starting
point for a song, and it often comes from Kele, he's playing around with his
guitar and coming up with a riff or he's got a kind of general feel or he's
really looking to Matt to come up with a beat that starts the song - because
you can't write the song until there's a beat to work from. So we work very
much in... we trust each other to come up with our parts of the work, rather
than just saying "I think you should play this here", you know,
telling someone else what it should be like, it's quite organic.
I was thinking about the lyrics - I'm Swedish, I do speak
English, but it's kind of hard to understand some of the lyrics, because it's
not just something you blurt out, it feels like there's a lot of thought put
into them.
- Yeah.
And some of them sound quite politic, like
"Helicopter" and "The Marshals Are Dead", especially the
part in "Helicopter" where he sings "Why are you so American?
Why can't you be more European?" Do you know why? Or is it just Kele's
words?
- They're mainly Kele's words. It's interesting when you
corner Kele on lyrics, because he often doesn't know where they've come from.
If you put him on the spot he doesn't realise until a lot later what it was
that made him write a lyric like that. There's a lot of just free association,
where there's a line that seems to fit the part. And I think that some of those
cultural things are less pre-meditated and more accidental as a kind of
reaction to what's going on. You know, we've never been avertly trying to
address politics at all, and I think actually if you analyse it we're not doing
that, we're very much reacting in a much more personal way. But there's an
awareness there, definitely.
But do you think it's important to use your status as
known people to get a sort of message out?
- Well, I think most of us would shy away from that,
actually. We're not activists, we're just musicians. I know once you've been in
the industry a while some people find that the platform you have is quite a
responsible one, and therefore you can use it to good - take Thom Yorke, he's
really been proactive in the things that he believes in. I think that maybe
comes through time. If you trace the history of Radiohead back, they were never
an activist band - I don't think they are now, and I don't think that
particularly was the starting point for being in a band, but it's just you get
to a point where... since you know people are listening, why not? I don't know
if it will happen - in a way I hope it doesn't, because it can be done so
cheaply and... it has to be done intelligently or you really risk alienating
people. But on the other hand, the worst music fan I can imaging is the one
who's just not analysing what you do at all, who's quite happy to just go on in
their own views without letting anything challenge it. So I really want people
to just be aware. We're not a political band, but I would hate to have a
following of people who don't think for themselves. And so, on very general
topics we are kind of pro thought and ideas, about the obvious things, you
know, racism and fascism, it's very easy to stand against those things, because
they're so wrong and stupid. But on the whole we're not setting out to do that.
Is it more like you wrote on the website somewhere that
"Bloc Party oppose through actions, not words - the paid-up sing-song of
over-furrowed artifice"? Which I don't really understand...
- Yeah... I think what I'm basically saying there is that
there's no point... the sentiment there is just saying that you can sit around
talking about how much better you are than every other band in the world ever,
but if your music doesn't cut it there's no point. So it's really just saying:
listen to the songs and judge what we're doing. What we say about it is
immaterial, really, the music has to stand up on its own.
Matt arrives with
Hampus and sits down next to Gordon.
"We can all be popstars, because life is shit"?
Gordon laughs: - Eeehmm... I think that's kind of a little
bit of a statement on how easy it is now to be a popstar. And we are not
popstars in any way. (Matt hums in agreenment) I just react to what I see
around me, writing little features like that. The "Popstars"
phenomenon is kind of an easy target, and I wanted to delve into it a little
more and actually question the mentality of people who believe that going on
telly is the end of their problems (laughs), it's stupid.
"Pop music isn't escapism, it's shared humiliation
between audience and performer"? Is it something you just said, or did you
really think about all those things that you wrote down?
- You can just look at a band like Girls Aloud to see that
even when the music's great, but at what cost to their own humanity? (laughs)
You know? We're just aware of how easy it is to be exploited, and we're quite
happy-go-lucky, sort of fun-loving guys, we don't sit around getting heavy
about whether we're being exploited by the music industry, but I do think that
you have to stand up for yourself every now and again.
Now a question that I always ask: Which question would
you most of all like to answer?
Gordon: - Somebody asked me this once, but I can't remember
what I said... I said: "Ask us how we're doing, what kind of day we're
having?" (laughed a little)
Matt: - That's quite nice.
How are you doing? You look a bit tired actually.
Matt: - Not good, I've just run out of money and I'm really
hungry, so...
Gordon: - Did you not get a hot dog? We've got some sweets,
we've been given some sweets.
Matt: - Really? That's kind. What kind of sweets are they?
Ginger bread and...
Matt: - Oh wow! Thanks!
... and chocolate toffee, and this is called knäck...
Gordon: - Nuts-y toffee.
Matt äter några godisbitar: - This is amazing, did you make
those? Thank you! My day has improved immeasurably in the last half a minute,
so thank you!
Okay, the question then is how you are, do you have any
other questions? Well how are you doing then, Gordon?
- Well, I'm feeling good. I (laughs a little)... We haven't
been home for two weeks, and (chewing) I've a lot of stuff to sort out when I
go home, I'm moving. But I really love being in Scandinavia! Copenhagen we
know, Oslo is just beautiful, I love it. I wish we could stay here.
Matt: - There is something very organised and peaceful about
being in Scandinavia. It's tranquil.
Gordon: - It's pretty.
Matt: - It starts getting darker earlier now.
At 3 o'clock it get dark in the winter time. So it's a bit
depressing.
Matt: - It's a physical thing, you react to when the sun
goes down.
Gordon: - I think it's something we can relate to actually,
coming from Britain, it's not so much a darkness, but there's a greyness. So
you know, it's a different shade, but I can definitely relate to it.
Vi börjar prata
om Japan, där jag läst att de varit på turné.
Gordon: - It's so different to... well I suppose there are
things that Japan has in common with Scandinavia. There is an efficiency. The
way the cities are laid out - not exactly like Tokyo, it's not as crazy.
Matt: - It's a world apart, Scandinavia is not immensely
populated, and Tokyo is just ridiculous, at 5 o'clock in the morning there's
still crowds of people walking around and stuff.
I have heard that the Japanese and Scandinavian
mentalities are a bit the same, apart maybe from the workaholic part.
Detta leder vidare till funderingar kring religiositet i
Japan, Sverige respektive England, och jag går tillbaka till texterna:
There was one song that sounded quite religious, which
one's that - something "if they want to kill themselves, buy them the
gowns"?
Gordon: - Oh yes, "Staying Fat". Yeah. That's
amazing, the lyrics in that song.
Matt: - Is that your lyrics? Buy them the what?
Gordon: - No. Buy them the gowns, meaning the death robe or
whatever you wear. That's such a strong image.
Matt: - Kele uses quite a lot religious imagery.
It made me think of a sect or a cult or something.
Gordon: - It's one of those songs where we haven't kind of
quizzed him in depth. But it's amazing when you come to analyse some of the
songs how penetrating some of the things he says are. There's this bit in a
song with "spin the fucking dreidl" and I asked him what it was, and
it was some Jewish whip thing or something. I couldn't tell you exactly what
that bit is about, but I wrote my own chorus and that is about... I'll try to
remember it now... it's just about being alone in a world of... morons
(laughs), they don't think, they just do.
And now, because the fanzine is called Fozzie: Which is
your favourite Muppet?
Matt: - Obviously Animal!
Gordon: - I'm torn, I like the guy who plays piano, is it
Rowlf? But also I've got a real soft spot for Waldorf and Statler, and their
totally contradictory way of responding to things (he giggled).
Talking about Animal, there was something on the website
about your mum didn't think you have the energy enough for your drumming
style...?
Matt: - My mum? Who said that?
I think you (Gordon) wrote that, about a gig in 2003,
where your mum was at the gig.
Gordon: - Oh yeah. I'm sure she worries.
Matt: - Yeah, she worries about me all the time, my mum's
always like "Make sure you take plenty of vitamins". She starts
sending me these protein powders in the mail and stuff to take before we play
shows. "Make sure you drink plenty of water!" "Look after
yourself." And she looks at my hands when we come back from tours and
"Look at your blisters"...
Gordon: - You need to moisturize!
Matt: - You know, parents' ways.
Gordon: - So you're basically saying you're lining yourself
up for a life of gnarly hands!
Matt: - Yeah, exactly.
Gordon: - That's great, my dad has worked with his hands all
his life - your kids will see that you did something with your life, it's
written in your hands.
Matt: - Yeah, totally. Your body's been shaped by the work
you do.
It's not in coal mines nowadays, it's on stage. (they
laugh)
But I have actually thought of that - isn't it really
exhausting to play a gig? I mean, just playing air guitar for one song is
really tiring.
Gordon: - The adrenaline will get you the extra enegy that
you will need.
Matt: - We're always really surprised when we hear live
recordings played back to us, because it sounds so much faster than you
remember playing. You can't help playing that fast. Back before we were touring
it was quite tiring to play a show every couple of weeks, but the more you play
the more you can take.
Gordon: - Match fit.
När jag till slut
tackar för intervjun passar jag på att nämna att jag inte fått tag i en biljett
till kvällens spelning, och de lovar att ordna det:
Gordon: - You gave us biscuits, we can't let you not come to
the show, it's ridiculous!
Mission
accomplished...
/Sara
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