2016 is a year that promises much for Bloc Party. With the addition of two new members and a new album, there is much anticipation regarding the direction in which the pioneers of indie music plan to go down. The Indiependent were fortunate enough to be able to talk to the band members, Russell Lissack and Justin Harris, shortly before their headline slot at Manchester Academy, as part of the NME Awards Tour 2016.
THE INDIEPENDENT: So the new album is out now, were the ideas behind Hymns something that you’d been sitting on for a while?
Russell: I suppose we started writing it towards the end of 2014 and we had a vague idea of the direction we wanted to go in. We then began writing sporadically over the next 6 months, but, overall, it came together quite organically. We’ve never planned in depth what we are going to do following the completion of an album. Once an album is finished, and you’ve toured it, that period feels complete and the creative instinct is to do something different, rather than trying the same ideas again. An album, for us, is the closing to a period in our timeline and reflects the experiences that we’ve gone through as a band.
THE INDIEPENDENT: In the past, you’ve talked about how previous material has been influenced by Kele’s interaction with various forms of literature; can the same be said of the new record?
Russell: I think it has definitely played a part in what’s been produced, but I also think this record, more than any other, has been a reflection of his own personal experiences. In the past, a lot of the songs were stories from someone else’s perspective and this time it’s from a much more personal viewpoint.
THE INDIEPENDENT: Justin, what’s been your role in contributing, since you’ve joined the band?
Justin: I wouldn’t say I had a huge role when developing the new stuff, as I came in halfway through the recording process. The guys sent me some demos of things they’d already written, and we began playing it and working within the parameters of what Russell and Kele had in mind. My personal goal was just to help them achieve the vision they were after, merely by having another set hands to help. I guess I contributed a few things, here and there, but the album was pretty pinned down by the time I really got involved.
THE INDIEPENDENT: Would I be right in saying you’re currently working on some new stuff as well?
Russell: Yeah, this is the first material where all four of us have been able to contribute. Especially as Louise joined really late, once we had already completed the majority of Hymns. But yeah, it’s nice to be able to have a creative pool to draw ideas from, rather than me and Kele bouncing ideas between one another.
THE INDIEPENDENT: Can we expect the future album to be reminiscent of Hymns, or will it be another musical avenue that you choose to explore?
Russell: So far, it appears to be a bit of both. There’s naturally going to be a shift due to the new people being involved in the writing process.
Justin: From my own observations, each album seems to retain certain elements of past material, but, at the same time, you have to keep adding new features in order not to sink into the same repetitive process.
Russell: I guess it’s going to be different, due to the method we’re using now. Hymns was predominantly written by just Kele and me in the studio, whereas this new stuff has been produced by all four of us while we’ve been on the road. It’s been a lot more of just jamming with each other, so it will definitely be different in that sense.
THE INDIEPENDENT: Russell, you’ve previously said that it’s important to communicate as a band, how do you feel the relationship between you four is developing?
Russell: It definitely feels good so far. Everyone seems to be getting along well.
Justin: I agree. The vibes so far have been very good. I think we’re still learning about each other, I mean if you take two people who’ve been working together for a long period of time, and you add in some new blood, there will have to be an adjustment period. We all come from different backgrounds and that can be helpful when developing relationships with one another. But, socially and personally, I think it’s fine. We all have a good time together, but communicating musically is a totally different concept and we’re still exploring each other’s boundaries.
THE INDIEPENDENT: You’ve had a chance to perform the new material live now, are you glad with how it sounds?
Russell: Yeah, I think so. It’s always easy to think back and see things you could have done differently, you know, things that I would change now. It would have been nice to play the new songs live during the recording process, but that’s just the way things pan out. I feel that it’s important to give the songs a bit of life first and then you can really assess them. It’s been nice to play them every night, as they’ve probably changed a lot when we perform them, compared to how they are on the album. But, certainly, I was happy with the material when we finished it. But you shouldn’t look back on it now to evaluate the music, because where we’re at now is a completely different place to 10 years ago with Silent Alarm, let alone six months ago. Things change quite quickly, in terms of your own personal interests and what influences and excites you.
THE INDIEPENDENT: So, coming back from the hiatus, is there a supposed direction in which you wish to head in? You’ve previously headlined Latitude Festival, is that something you’d like to experience again?
Russell: I don’t think aspirations to headline festivals are something that we’re consciously going for. We’re not writing music to achieve anything in that sense; we’ve always written music that we want to write, for us. We don’t think ‘oh, this is going to be a number one single’, that’s never been our approach to doing things. Obviously it’s a nice result of what you do. If people enjoy what you produce and want to see you perform, that’s a nice reaction. But yeah, it’s a separate thing from what happens creatively, and we’d rather maintain our own personal integrity and creativity, compared to pursuing aspirations to play Wembley and achieve commercial success. I suppose others may choose to go down that road, but that doesn’t feel like a path we’ve ever been on. We’ve always been on, until now, independent record labels and we’ve always had complete creative freedom over what we do: our music, our releases, our videos, our artwork, it’s always come from us. Even now, we’re on a major label for the first time, but we still retain that freedom when doing it.
THE INDIEPENDENT: You’re performing at a host of European festivals over the summer; do you plan on doing any UK dates?
Russell: I’m not sure at the moment. We’re still plotting our festival run for the summer, but I don’t think there’s anything lined up yet. However, that could certainly change.