Bloc Party played Ottawa’s Bronson Centre on March 17 as part of their international tour ( Photo Provided )

 

Bloc Party’s Matt Tong and Gordon Moakes are not star studded, gleaming, egotistical rock stars — they resent the idea.

“We put the ‘low’ into low-key and we put the ‘ow’ into low-key,” Moakes said. “I find the idea of celebrity completely distasteful. That is one of the things I certainly downplay.”

Tong and Moakes, the drummer and bassist respectively, are touring across Canada and the United States until the end of April, playing smaller venues such as the Bronson Centre on March 17.

“It’s very nice in Canada to play and to tour, especially when you fly out west it’s a pretty place to tour,” Moakes said.

When dealing with their celebrity status, Tong said, “I think we tend to live in people’s imagination, which is probably the best place to exist. We are not a huge band, we are not permanent media presences the same way with Paris Hilton.”

Before coming to Ottawa, Bloc Party performed twice at Canadian Music Week in Toronto without even realizing it.

“We didn’t actually know it was Canadian Music Week, we thought we were just doing two shows there and it was part of our tour but I suppose it was indeed Canadian Music Week,” Tong said. “It was cool, we didn’t actually have enough time to see any of the bands.”

Tong and Moakes agree there were many influences on their last album, Intimacy, such as the Chemical Brothers and Fatboy Slim.

“The producer had something to do with it too, he was a big beat producer,” Moakes said of producer and remixer Paul Epworth, also known as Phones.

Tong said his favourite song on the new album was their first single, “Mercury.”

“I can’t think of many songs that do sound like that,” Tong said. “I really like “Mercury” personally. It’s not so much fun for me to play. It was quite static for us, but I think it is quite interesting and weird sounding.”

Moakes said the album’s positive reviews were a relief.

“I’m just glad that, generally speaking, your average Bloc Party fan — if there is such a thing — loves the record, has got a buzz off it and that’s great,” Moakes said.

Tong and Moakes hinted at some inspiration the band gets from listening to a popular movie star, such as Christian Bale’s famous outburst on the set of Terminator 4.

“Gordon [Moakes] cut it up and put it on his sampler so at any moment during a set you can be subjected to this angry Welshman’s yell,” Tong said.

While Moakes can’t pin down just what their sound is, he does acknowledge that every album is different.

“I think you can’t help but be who you are ultimately and this is what lots of bands will say when they keep making the same record but somehow we managed to turn it out differently and yet instinctively us and yet I couldn’t ask for anything more,” Moakes said.

Tong said the driving force behind the band is making the most out of the opportunity that is with you, and all they are doing is giving it the best shot they can.

Bloc Party also has an unofficial slogan that shows what the band is really about:

“ ‘Any confrontation can be dealt with by e-mail’ and that should go on a t-shirt,” Tong said.

With dealing with the other members of the band, Kele Okereke and Russell Lissack Tong joked, “Terrible, I hate them. I’m going to send them an e-mail.”

Moakes said the other two members are extremely talented musicians and he is amazed at what each of them can bring individually to the band.

“Sometimes you say I couldn’t have done this better myself, when it comes to [Lissack’s] guitar solos is completely true,” Moakes said.

When going on tour, Moakes said it can get boring and dull at times, usually waking up with a hangover and getting breakfast if they are lucky. It can get tedious until the show starts later that night.

Tong joked about his mornings after playing shows.
“I try to get all the girls accumulated out of my hotel room before the rest of the band found out what I have been up to. And then I call my lawyer.”

While doing gigs though, all jokes aside, they try to deliver the best show as possible. “[For the show] I might do a rambling monologue about something, but no, we try to play the best show that we possibly can,” Tong said.