BLOC PARTY
Bloc Party is an English rock band that has been around for over two decades. It was formed by lead singer Kele Okere and guitarist Russell Lissack who first met at Reading Festival in 1999, where they realized that they shared the same love and passion for music. Besides these two, the band comprises Louis Bartle on drums and Justin Harris, who plays the bass, guitar, saxophones and serves as a backing vocalist.
While the band’s songs are mostly based on Rock, they can be best described as an amalgamation of Rock, house music, and electronic. Before they released their music, the band went through various names until the original members settled on Bloc Party in 2003. They first got their big break when they sent BBC Radio One’s DJ a copy of their demo single, ‘She’s Hearing Voices.’ However, their popularity only grew in significant amounts when they released their first album.
Bloc Party released their debut album, ‘Silent Alarm’ in 2005, which became a huge success. The album received critical acclaim, and the band began to amass a large following of fans. In fact, the album was also named Indie Album of the Year in 2006 by PLUG Awards. It had also become platinum-certified in Britain the same year. As a result, Bloc Party was soon becoming a household name in the country.
They continued their success and popularity the year after that when they released their second album, A Weekend in the City. Unsurprisingly, this album shot up to number twelve in the Billboard 200 and number two in the UK Albums Chart. Similarly, a year later, they released their third studio album, Intimacy, which also reached number eighteen at the Billboard 200 and number eight at the UK Albums Chart.
After their continued success with one album after the other, Bloc Party took a hiatus for a year or two so that the individual members could focus on their side projects. They reunited in 2011 when they released their fourth album, Four, which shot up at number three on the UK Albums Chart. The band continued to release singles and EPs after that. However, in 2013 and 2015, the original members, Matt Tong and Gordon Moakes left the band.
After the departure of the two original members, the band did release some music, including their EP, The Nextwave Sessions. However, this was the last piece of music they made, after which they commenced their infinite hiatus to focus on side projects. Two years later, in 2016, they came back with an electrifying fifth studio album, Hymns, which involved the two newest members of Bloc Party, Louis Bartle, and Justin Harris.
Six years later, Bloc Party has made a comeback. They have announced that they will be releasing their sixth album, Alpha Games, this year in April. They have sold a million copies of their albums worldwide and have performed at sold-out shows. Despite the fact that they have been around for over two decades and have had band members come and go, they still continue to sustain millions of fans due to their incredible music and lyrics.
