Originally known as Union, this London, England-based art-punk quartet emerged in 2004 as one of the year's most intriguing prospects. Kele Okereke (b. Kelechukwu Rowland Okereke, 13 October 1981, Liverpool, Merseyside, England; vocals/guitar) and Russell Lissack (b. 11 March 1981, London, England; guitar) first met in 1998 and after several attempts to start their own band, finally found two musicians, Gordon Moakes (b. 22 June 1976, England; bass/vocals) and Matt Tong (b. 29 April 1979, Bournemouth, Dorset, England; drums), with mutual musical tastes.
The quartet began playing live shows at the start of 2002 and recorded a demo under their original name, Union. Drawing inspiration from key 80s bands such as the Cure (particularly in Okereke's vocals) and Gang Of Four, the quartet began to draw rave notices for their endearingly ramshackle stage performances. They released the three-track 7-inch vinyl single "She's Hearing Voices" on the Trash Aesthetics label in February 2004. "Banquet"/"Staying Fat" followed on the Moshi Moshi label in May. UK critics fell over themselves to praise the latter release, in particular, comparing the quartet's jittery pop punk sound to recent releases by media darlings Franz Ferdinand and the Rapture. The tracks from both singles were subsequently re-released on the Bloc Party EP, and shortly afterwards the quartet signed a recording contract with Wichita Records. The single "So Here We Are" broke into the UK Top 5 in January 2005, prior to the release of the quartet's much-hyped long-playing, Silent Alarm. Despite lacking a certain cohesion, the album was greeted with widespread acclaim and was a commercial success.
An album of remixes followed in August, featuring Ladytron, Four Tet and Mogwai, following which Bloc Party retreated to the studio to plan and record their second album. Released at the start of 2007, A Weekend In The City was hailed as a great improvement on the quartet's debut, eschewing that set's pop leanings to fashion a taut statement of post-punk intent.
