Bloc Party Music Videos, Pictures and Photos including Lollapalooza Music Festival, 101x In Studio (ACL Festival), Hunting For Witches, The Prayer, I Still Remember, Helicopter, Banquet Music Videos on Roxwel

Bloc Party

English indie rock band Bloc Party was conceived at the 1999 Reading Festival, when childhood friends Kele Okereke and Russel Lissack bumped into each other for the first time in years. The duo began jamming together, with Russell taking up lead guitar duties and Kele providing vocals and rhythm guitar. After going through a host of secondary members and an even greater number of names - among them Union, Diet, and the Superheroes of BMX - the pair settled on current drummer Matt Tong and bassist Gordon Moakes`, both of whom had responded to classified ads posted by the band. The group adopted the name Bloc Party in 2003 for no particular reason other than the fact that it sounded edgy, invoking both the lively and fun idea of a party and the frigid Cold War imagery surrounding the Eastern Bloc.

The group independently recorded a number of EP’s and singles soon after its conception, quickly rising to popularity after an early version of their single "Banquet" was publicly lauded by Franz Ferdinand lead singer Alex Kapranos. The publicity soon led Bloc Party to a record deal with indie megalabel Wichita Recordings (Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Bright Eyes) in the UK, as well as a secondary distribution deal with V2 Records (Moby, The White Stripes) in the United States. After an explosive two month recording session in mid-2004, Bloc Party’s first album Silent Alarm finally saw its worldwide release in February 2005.

Silent Alarm - produced by English production legend Paul Epworth, who has worked closely with such notable indie acts as Death From Above 1979 and The Futureheads - was very well received internationally, charting in the top 20 in five countries and winning the NME Magazine Album of the Year Award for 2005. Though primarily a guitar-driven album, Silent Alarm prominently incorporated a number of influences and styles in its thirteen tracks, striking a balance between the radio-friendly britrock sensibilities of bands like U2 and Manic Street Preachers whilst still dabbling in the acoustically chaotic aesthetics of acts like Sonic Youth and Joy Division. Silent Alarm spawned five singles, among them "Helicopter", "So Here We Are", and "Pioneers".