June 10, 2005
Bloc Party Bring the Rock
By Michelle Gilzenrat

Amid the rustle of unfolding ponchos and raindrops bouncing off plastic hoods, England’s Bloc Party takes the stage for day two of Music Midtown.

“We didn’t bring the sun, but we did bring the rock,” announces bassist Gordon Moakes.

Midtown is the first time Bloc Party have brought the rock to Atlanta, but it is just one in a slew of festival dates the band has ahead of them, including Reading, Leeds, and Glastonbury.

Despite having Coachella, Sasquatch, and now Midtown under their belt, Gordon still wonders why festival mentality is so different in the UK than in the US.

“It’s kind of a European thing anyway,” he suggests, “but I don’t know why people are that much keener to sort of travel and camp to see bands [in the UK]. Maybe it is just because the countryside is a bit nearer to the city. It’s not as spread out…Reading, for example, is so close to London, just half an hour by train.”

Ironically, he does mention the one advantage of US festivals; “the weather tends to be better here.”

While Mother Nature brought distinctively British weather to Midtown, it didn’t stop hundreds of fans from coming early to see what all the hype is about. The large screen behind the stage displayed enthusiastic fans, jumping about wildly as Bloc Party tore through all the tracks on their debut record "Silent Alarm.”

Bloc Party had their chance to dance around, too, showing vibrant enthusiasm at our Masquerade After Party later that night. Gordon had access to behind the scenes gossip, as his girlfriend works for label and party sponsor AddVice.

For example, why was Interpol's Paul Banks making his turntable debut when band mate Carlos D is renowned for after-party spinning?

“They purposely completely neglected to ask him and asked Paul instead because they’re saying Carlos is getting a bit of an ego about dj’ing,” Gordon divulges. “When he dj’s you aren’t supposed to mention Interpol, it’s only Carlos D . He’s got his own sort of status which is kind of odd considering he’s the bass player.”

It seems unlikely that Gordon's ego will inflate to such proportions any time soon.

“Somebody told me something like three months after you first appear on the cover of the NME, you become an arsehole…and I am really trying not to do that," Gordon proclaims. "It can be a bit funny at times because when I wake up in the morning, I don’t think of myself first and foremost as a bass player in a band. It’s not the first thing that occurs in my head.”

But that doesn’t mean he isn’t enjoying the attention. “I am just trying to make the most of it.”

While this might be the first time Americans have got a glimpse of these London lads, the band has existed for five years now. With their new success, this is usually the time in a band’s career when long-time fans get possessive as the music is exposed to thousands of new listeners. It’s also the time when fandom gets more and more intense.

“I don’t read our message board any more because it is so cram-packed with bizarre theories and speculations about us...although, we didn’t start attracting fans properly until just over a year ago. So, they haven’t had that much of a chance to get too sniffy about what we choose to do.”

The earliest Bloc Party fans might remember when the band performed under the name Union. However, the name didn’t stick because they found out it was already taken.

"We got out a pen and paper and just started brainstorming," recalls Gordon. After going through several possibilities, they finally settled on the playful pun that is their current moniker.

“Bloc Party is nice and ambiguous, that’s what I like. It can as innocent as ‘we like to party’ or we could be a secret sector for some leftist political order.”

With the band name question out of the way, AMG finally got insight into one of the biggest of Bloc Party mysteries…Does guitarist Russell Lissack actually have a right eye behind that wall of hair?

“You’ll never believe this,” Gordon responds after a hearty chuckle, “but he is in the back of the bus right now preening. He always has to straighten his hair into a perfectly pointy flap.”

And behind the flap?

“Wait, I’m looking, and…yes. Yes, there is an eye there.”