Posts Tagged ‘bloc party’

Bloc Party frontman Kele Okereke has been explaining his reasons for pursuing a solo career, saying some if his fellow bandmates’ desire to take time off persuaded him to release his own material.

Bloc Party frontman Kele Okereke has announced details of his forth-coming debut solo record.

To be released under Okereke’s solo title Kele, ‘The Boxer‘ will be issued on June 21st and will be preceded by the first single, ‘Tenderoni‘, on June 14th.

Northern Ireland’s alternative rockers ASH announced their only planned US appearance of their current tour. The Trio will be playing Santos in New York City on April 3rd. Visit their website http://www.ash-official.com/ for the latest on their available with purchase of the limited edition version of A-Z Vol. 1 compilation. The band also announced that Russell Lissack from Bloc Party will be touring the UK with them.

Acclaimed electronic producer Hudson Mohawke has revealed he has been working on Bloc Party frontman Kele Okereke’s debut solo album.

Speaking to BBC Radio 1Xtra, Hudson confirmed rumours that Okereke was set to record a solo album after appearing to put his band on the back burner after they recently completed their long ‘Bloctober’ tour last month.

Our weekly round-up of highlights includes new albums from Editors and The Flaming Lips, a few appearances from New Order legend Bernard Sumner, and another eclectic line-up on Later… with Jools Holland.

Albums

Editors return this week with their third studio album ‘In This Light and On This Evening’. Their first since 2007′s ‘An End Has a Start‘, the album has received generally positive reviews from critics, with one calling it a ‘a career peak for the band’.

Also returning this week are American veterans The Flaming Lips – ‘Embryonic‘, the band’s first double album, is out on Monday, elsewhere Liverpool-based Echo & The Bunnymen release their eleventh studio album ‘The Fountain‘.

Live4ever’s highlights this week include a new album from a Manchester legend, a farewell gig from a popular Sheffield band, and the return of a long-running music-based TV series.

Albums

Ian Brown‘s new album ‘My Way‘ is released this week. The album has already spawned hit single ‘Stellify‘, and has been hailed as his strongest solo album to date. Elsewhere, US band Alice In Chains release their first album since 1995 – ‘Black Gives Way To Blue‘ is out on the 29th.

Twitter lit up the Internet brighter than a bonfire on Bastille Day today as Rock En Seine was getting ready to welcome Oasis on stage, the main act for day one of its festivities.

Just last week the band had cancelled an appearance at V Festival citing health problems for Liam Gallagher as the cause. Today it seemed a bit more dramatic as even diehards accustomed to brother Noel and Liam’s constant infighting during this tour did not expect the night to go over like this.

As it came closer to Oasis’ scheduled stage time the ‘oooo la la …Liam and Noel are fighting’ tweets spread like wild fire over the social networking site.  When Amy MacDonald’s (yes, the singer) personal twitter reported :

Bloc Party frontman Kele Okereke has said Bloc Party may never make another record after 2008′s ‘Intimacy’.

Speaking on Australia’s Triple J radio station, Okereke said: “We don’t know what the future holds. It’s weird, we’re out of contract now so…we might take a year off, we might take three years off, we might never make a record again or we might head straight back in and do a record. We’ll see how we feel come the end of this touring cycle.”

The comments are not the first from the band to imply a sense of disillusionment with the music industry. Okereke has often expressed his disdain for many of the aspects of life in a band, such as interviews and press intrusion. “Why is it important to know what I had for breakfast,” he once said in an interview early in the group’s career. “Or who I went to bed with? Or what sneakers I am wearing? If it’s relevant to understanding my music, then so be it. But if it’s purely to satisfy the media’s obsession with celebrity, then no thanks. I don’t want to play that game.”

The band hit the road in October for a UK tour, dubbed ‘Bloctober’. The 23 date jaunt will see them visit cities including Liverpool, Nottingham and Leeds, while one confirmed new release is the non-album single ‘One More Chance’, out on 10th August.

Listen to Intimacy free :

Here are some recent tour date announcements featuring some of the UK’s hottest acts:

White Lies

November and December 2009.

Bournemouth Academy, 8th (Nov)
Brixton Academy, London, 19th
Leeds Academy, 22nd
UEA, Norwich, 23rd
Sheffield Academy, 24th
Rock City, Nottingham, 26th
Manchester Apollo, 27th
Glasgow Academy, 28th
Newcastle Academy, 29th

Portsmouth Guildhall, 1st (Dec)
Bristol Academy, 2nd
Cardiff University, 4th
Birmingham Academy , 5th

Bloc Party

October, 2009.

Empress Ballroom, Blackpool, 2nd
Picture House, Edinburgh, 3rd
Iron Works, Inverness
Music Hall, Aberdeen, 4th
Alhambra, Dunfermline, 7th
City Hall, Hull, 8th
Sheffield Academy, 10th
Leeds Academy, 11th
Engine Shed, Lincoln, 12th
Victoria Hall, Stoke, 14th
Birmingham Academy, 15th
Newport Centre, 16th
Llandudno Arena, 18th
Liverpool Uni, 19th
Bristol Academy, 20th
Hall for Cornwall, Truro, 22nd
Plymouth Pavillion, 23rd
Brighton Centre, 24th
Southend Cliffs Pavilion, 26th
Corn Exchange, Cambridge, 27th
Rock City, Nottingham, 28th
Rivermead, Reading, 30th
Bic, Bournemouth, 31st

Kasabian

November 2009.

Newcastle Metro Radio Arena, 10th
Aberdeen AECC, 11th
Glasgow SECC, 12th
London Wembley Arena, 14th
Liverpool Echo Arena, 16thijmok
Nottingham Trent FM Arena, 18th
Birmingham NIA, 19th
Manchester MEN, 20th
Cardiff International Arena, 22nd
Sheffield Arena, 23rd

Editors

September and October 2009.

Birmingham Academy, 10th (Sep)

Belfast St George’s Market, 7th (Oct)
Dublin Olympia, 8th
Limerick Dolans, 9th
Edinburgh Picture House, 12th
Glasgow Barrowlands, 13th
Newcastle Academy, 14th
Manchester Academy, 16th
Leeds Academy, 17th
Norwich UEA, 18th
Bristol Colston Hall, 19th
London Hammersmith Apollo, 21st
Sheffield Academy, 22nd
Nottingham Rock City, 23rd
Wolverhampton Civic, 25th
Southampton Guildhall, 26th

Coldplay

September 2009.

Lancashire County Cricket Club, 12th
Hampden Park, Glasgow, 16th
Wembley Stadium, London, 18th + 19th

Oasis

Tuesday 7th July 2009: COVENTRY, Ricoh Arena
Thursday 9th July 2009: LONDON, Wembley Stadium
Saturday 11th July 2009: LONDON, Wembley Stadium
Sunday 12th July 2009: LONDON, Wembley Stadium
Tuesday July 14 2009 , Eden Project
Tuesday 21st July i Tunes Festival at The Roundhouse, Camden, England
Saturday August 22 2009 , V Festival Staffordshire, England
Sunday August 23 2009 , V Festival Chelmsford , England

Bloc Party have unveiled the music video for their new previously unreleased single ‘One More Chance’, which is due to be released on the 10th August through Wichita Recordings.

Watch the Video :

The song is the bands first new material since the last album ‘Intimacy’ and the subsequent remix album ‘Intimacy Remixed’ which was out the 11th May earlier this year.

Produced by Jacknife Lee (Kasabian, The Hives, Editors), the single was premiered by Zane Lowe on his Radio 1 slot on the 18th June, but frontman Kele Okereke remained tightlipped about the groups current endeavours in a follow-up interview, saying he couldn’t “tell you anything”. However, he did disclose that he was in the studio, but spoke no further of his existing projects.

Bloc Party are due to perform at the iTunes festival on the 20th July followed by the penultimate slot on the main stage at Reading and Leeds on the 29th and 30th August.

After that the band are set to embark on the month long BLOCTOBER UK tour, their biggest UK tour yet.

October:

02 – Empress Ballroom, Blackpool
03 – Picture House, Edinburgh
04 – Iron Works, Inverness
06 – Music Hall, Aberdeen
07 – Alhambra, Dunfermline
08 – City Hall, Hull
10 – Academy, Sheffield
11 – Academy, Leeds
12 – Engine Shed, Lincoln
14 – Victoria Hall, Stoke
15 – Academy, Birmingham
16 – Centre, Newport
18 – Arena, Llandudno
19 – University, Liverpool
20 – Academy, Bristol
22 – Hall for Cornwall, Truro
23 – Pavillion, Plymouth
24 – Centre, Brighton
26 – Cliffs Pavilion, Southend
27 – Corn Exchange, Cambridge
28 – Rock City, Nottingham
30 – Rivermead, Reading
31 – Bic, Bournemouth