“Raw. Aggressive. Heartfelt. Uninhibited.”

When asked to describe “Four” in four words, Matt Tong, drummer of Bloc Party, blurted out, with a bit of snigger and momentary hesitation. “Four”, the band’s latest album, is a surprise to the world of music. When the band decided to go on a hiatus in 2009, the fans weren’t sure they were getting back together. The truth was the four members of the band weren’t even sure either. Two years after, Bloc Party came back to the studio with grittier riffs and hard-hitting beats. Indeed, it is just as Matt said: “Four” is raw, aggressive, heartfelt and uninhibited.
Matt Tong, who was in Dublin, Ireland with the band for their show in Olympia Theatre, graced the Filipino media with a phone interview on February 13. It was about 12 noon there (8pm in Manila) when we got to talk to him. Apparently, he was having his breakfast. In good spirits, he took us, bit by bit, through “Four”, the band’s future and some of his personal quirks. Read on for the interesting conversation that transpired that evening.

Hiatus after “Intimacy” – how has this break contributed into building “Four”?
“…The break was instrumental in its ensuring we can get back and be decent human beings to one another. I think we grew up during that time. Having a couple of years away from the band made us realize that we valued being in the band and we valued playing music for each other as well.”

How much in the break factored in the band’s creativity?
“It didn’t really influence the way “Four” ended up sounding. Having time away from the band did reinforce our desire to perform again. It’s a more band-centric record in …. It was more about us playing together in a room as opposed to “Intimacy” which was much more of a studio record where there’s a lots of programming, throwing ideas around without really jamming them together as a group of people.”

How does the songwriting and recording process happen?
“We spent a month writing the songs and we felt we were ready, we spent another 2 weeks rehearsing with our producer Alex Newport…He would really make us think about the way we were playing on those songs.”
“That’s something we hadn’t really done before: preproduction. It eventually meant we were completely ready to record when we came in the studio, when each of us knew our roles within the song, and that made it very easy to record. Once we got going, our roles were well-defined and we knew exactly what we had to do to make the song. That’s something we hadn’t really tried before and that was very useful for this record.”

What was it like to go back home-based and just write songs with just the four of you and just in the studio?
“It was really liberating. We didn’t have a huge array of equipment to hide to behind. It was the four of us together and no one else or nothing else to prevent us from asking questions of each other. That really felt empowering somehow. It made it easier for us to communicate what songs we were meant to be doing.”

How do you prepare to prepare in performing live? What diet do you eat? Exercise regimen?
“When you’re touring, it’s sometimes hard to eat well. You have to be inventive about getting a good meal. I tend to eat a fair amount of Japanese food and quite a lot of fish, because the omega 3 oils are good for my joints which is very important for me in order to be a decent performer…I don’t eat potatoes particularly often because they tend to make me feel tired and lethargic.

“I don’t really do much exercise. I tend to swim when I have to time just to keep in shape, but otherwise I don’t really do anything. Sometimes, I practice at home on the drums. If we haven’t played for a long time, I would just run through the songs with my iPod on and try to stay sharp.”

“I don’t really drink a lot right before a big show. When I was younger and more excited about being on call, I drank a lot and I could handle it back then. I’m on my 30’s so it’s a lot harder to be hungover, that’s for sure. “
“Thirty minutes before we go on, I drink a strong cup of coffee to wake myself up, and I just go do stretching exercises and I’ll put a towel on my legs and just hit it with some sticks… just play along on my lap. That gets my heart rate up and makes me more limber.”

If you were to make a mix tape to someone who doesn’t know Bloc Party, what 3 songs would you put in and why?
“First one would be “Pioneers” from our first record. Our first album is our defining record and people still most refer to whenever I meet them. I think “Pioneers” sums up all the ideas in one song. That’s one song that represent the record, and what we do as a band.

“I’d include two extreme ends of our cannon, I suppose. I’d put Mercury in there. That’s one song we’re really proud of and it’s programmed in less indie-rock sounding songs we have. I still think it sounds interesting. It’s kind of a weird song. It’s not a requested song we play live, but I’m still proud of it.
“The third would be “Coliseum” (from “Four”) because that’s also a side of the band that people should know about – the more aggressive, more characteristic sound of the band that we sometimes have.”

How do you want to be identified as a band? When you say Bloc Party, what do you want people to remember?
“A band that tried to do something a little bit different, something that wasn’t necessarily expected of us, a band that tried to break out of the mould of being an indie rock band. I’d just like to be remembered as a band that was passionate when performing in front of people.”

What can we expect from Bloc Party’s new albums?
“When we sat down and spoke about that, Kele thinks that it’s about time we do something that people weren’t expecting of us. I don’t think it’s necessarily about making something electronic again. I don’t really know what it means. I think it’s a clear indication that we need to begin thinking a little differently about the nature of making music in this time. We’ve learned so much about songwriting the last couple of years and communicating with each other. It’s time for us to have that sort of comfort level a little bit because making rock music is something we did at the start, and we did it again in a different way before, but it’s still something that we’re recently comfortable with. It’ll be a different sound. I can’t tell you what it’ll be like.”

What is your greatest achievement as a member of Bloc Party?
“We became global very quickly, you kind of get lost in this new interesting world, where exciting things happen to you every week. I feel most proud of the fact that the very first thing that got played on the radio was a recording that I made with the band made in a rehearsal room on very limited equipment. It was “She’s Hearing Voices”… which was played on BBC One. I remember being very, very proud of that because it seemed really funny that something I made well-sounding got played on the radio. That’s my proudest achievement.”

What are you most looking forward to when you go to new places?
“Always really excited to try the local cuisine whichever kind of country I’m performing in. My dad used to be a chef so I’m into going out to restaurants and trying new food. I live in New York, a world of many different cultures. You can sample a bit of everything. I don’t think the food of the Philippines is that well represented in New York. I’m very excited to try some of your food.”

What are you most excited about the Manila show?
“It’s always exciting to play for a completely new audience. We’re excited to see who’d show up and how they’d react to our songs. It’s always a new and interesting challenge to a completely new audience. We’re still grateful that ten years down the line to get the opportunity to go somewhere new and perform.”
Just a bit of trivia, the four circles in the album art of “Four” corresponds to a member of Bloc Party. According to Matt, Kele is the big red one, Matt is green, Russell is yellow and Gordon is blue.

Bloc Party is a British indie rock band, a classification that the band has thrived in, yet at the same time, tried to break free from. The band’s experimentation with their music has evolved throughout the years – from being very much of a guitar rock band to tweaking with electrics, synths and choral mixes. To date, they have released 4 studio albums: “Silent Alarm” in 2005, “Weekend in the City” in 2007, “Intimacy” in 2008 and their latest, “Four” in 2012. With Kele’s distinctive vocals, Russell’s rancorous riffs, Gordon’s bass lines and Matt’s pulsating drum beats, Bloc Party has remained to be one of the most distinguished bands in the world. Despite global acclaim, Bloc Party hasn’t toured Asia completely. They have only been to Japan a few times. For the first time ever, they are coming to Manila for the first time on March 22. Don’t miss out on seeing one of the best bands out there.

By Sandra Mae Laureano