interesting bloc party interview

mms

sometimes
Paul Hotflush said:
What a bunch of wankers. And their album is rubbish.

why are they wankers?
i'm not big into their music at all but i think it's good to see they are reflective and dissatisfied and aware of limitations etc - they are becoming what they promised to be larger than the sum of the culture that created them, but i don't see how they are massivley influenced by hip hop and grime but then again alexis petrids is a fucking awful waste of space of a journalist.
 

gumdrops

Well-known member
more interesting than most of the pieces ive seen on BP but saying "the band, whose influences are rooted in hip-hop and grime rather than the standard post-punk music on which their music is pegged" is quite amusing.
 

Paul Hotflush

techno head
Bloc Party, for me, are everything a rock band shouldn't be. Rock bands are there to entertain. Not to moan about what kind of questions they get asked in interviews, not drone on about their album packaging. Not to say things like "Do I read my own press? No. Well, yeah. Not really." There is no balls (sic) to this limp wristed bunch of musical incompetents.
 

3underscore

Well-known member
I think it is a big mistake between saying what they listen to, and what they see as an influence. It is surreal to think that they are influenced by grime. I would almost argue that, as grime is in itself a fresh and developing genre, the suggestion you are influenced by it is laughable.
 

mms

sometimes
Paul Hotflush said:
Bloc Party, for me, are everything a rock band shouldn't be. Rock bands are there to entertain. Not to moan about what kind of questions they get asked in interviews, not drone on about their album packaging. Not to say things like "Do I read my own press? No. Well, yeah. Not really." There is no balls (sic) to this limp wristed bunch of musical incompetents.

that's terrible you sound like simon cowell -
imagine if this was actually true!
 

gumdrops

Well-known member
its true they have no balls though. the only person with balls in that band is the drummer and his balls clearly arent that evident as as hes chosen to play with 3 other ultra-weedy sounding persons.
 

Paul Hotflush

techno head
mms said:
that's terrible you sound like simon cowell -
imagine if this was actually true!

Imagine if Axl Rose had whined on about interviewing standards!

By all means get pissed off about interviewing standards. These guys aren't pissed off though, they're too polite. Go back to art school!
 

mms

sometimes
Paul Hotflush said:
Imagine if Axl Rose had whined on about interviewing standards!

By all means get pissed off about interviewing standards. These guys aren't pissed off though, they're too polite. Go back to art school!

i'm very sure he did as he is renowned as one of the most egomanical rock stars out there.


again not very high standards to pit music against - guns and roses!

What's wrong with politeness?
would it be better if rock stars behaved badly and were much stupider than non rock people?
What are you asking for here?
 
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nick

A Day in the Life
Rock and Roll

Rocker CHRIS CORNELL felt he was living out a comic book story when he toured with GUNS N' ROSES in 1992 because AXL ROSE was so bizarre.

The AUDIOSLAVE star was the frontman for cult rockers SOUNDGARDEN when they joined Guns N' Roses for a crazy US tour, and his only memories of the trek are of Rose's odd backstage rules and his only meeting with the eccentric singer.

He tells Blender magazine, "You were not allowed to be in a hallway or anywhere Axl might see you when he was walking between the dressing rooms and the stage.

"So, one day I see a security guard walking him down this long corridor where there's no one except for me, and it's like they want me to see him.

"He's wearing his Axl Rose tennis shoes that say 'Axl Rose' on them and these teeny-tiny, painted-on red shorts, a backwards baseball cap and a fur coat that goes to the floor.

"He just walks by and goes, 'Hey, bro!' And that was it. At that point, it's one of those moments where you think about your life as a comic book."

Cornell also reveals that teleprompters had to be set up at the end of catwalks connected to the stage, so that Rose could stay on top of lyrics.

He adds, "I thought (that) was a little weird because they only had two albums."
 

Paul Hotflush

techno head
To recap, we're talking about ROCK BANDS here...

mms said:
i'm very sure he did as he is renowned as one of the most egomanical rock stars out there. again not very high standards to pit music against - guns and roses!

Guns n Roses were a great rock band.

mms said:
What's wrong with politeness?

Nothing, but rock bands shouldn't be polite. The Sex Pistols never got anywhere by being polite.

mms said:
would it be better if rock stars behaved badly and were much stupider than non rock people?

Not necessarily stupider, but certainly less well behaved. That is one of the primary functions of being a rock band.

I can't believe this is actually an issue.

nick said:
Rocker CHRIS CORNELL felt he was living out a comic book story when he toured with GUNS N' ROSES in 1992 because AXL ROSE was so bizarre.

Perhaps this is why no-one remembers Soundgarden (this is a bit unfair, they were quite good) but everyone remembers Guns n Roses. Essentially, Guns n Roses behaved like a ROCK BAND, this was part of their appeal.

It's probably unrelated, but if I was in Bloc Party I'd be tempted to give it a try: behave more like Guns n Roses. It might lead to writing better tunes as well as not sounding like moaning undergraduates in the Guardian.
 
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blissblogger

Well-known member
Well they're obviously smart enough to know that it would truer to the postpunk spirit to be influenced by grime and modern hip hop ithan to return to postpunk's own 25 year old blend of white and black BUT the little i've heard of their music suggests that the latter is precisely what they did so... a shame... maybe next album

liked this quote:

"poisonous culture of trying to just have as much fun as possible"

c.f. kpunk on zizek 'there is no emancipatory potential in pleasure'
 

k-punk

Spectres of Mark
blissblogger said:
Well they're obviously smart enough to know that it would truer to the postpunk spirit to be influenced by grime and modern hip hop ithan to return to postpunk's own 25 year old blend of white and black

Yes, and also by doing interviews that interrogate the interview form itself, that talk about culture etc rather than just music...

BUT the little i've heard of their music suggests that the latter is precisely what they did so... a shame... maybe next album

yup, though I haven't got any hope that the next album will be any better; their current output is beyond useless. Can't help thinking that feller would have been better in music journalism than in music production.
 

mms

sometimes
k-punk said:
Yes, and also by doing interviews that interrogate the interview form itself, that talk about culture etc rather than just music...



yup, though I haven't got any hope that the next album will be any better; their current output is beyond useless. Can't help thinking that feller would have been better in music journalism than in music production.

well this is probably the most interesting aspect of it all esp when talking with someone like petridis who is a professional fence sitter.
and at least you can see a framework coming into place rather than some dreary 'we're all about rock and roll' idea which seems to have produced so much bad music here.
 

bo!ne

Member
Paul Hotflush said:
Bloc Party, for me, are everything a rock band shouldn't be. Rock bands are there to entertain. Not to moan about what kind of questions they get asked in interviews, not drone on about their album packaging. Not to say things like "Do I read my own press? No. Well, yeah. Not really." There is no balls (sic) to this limp wristed bunch of musical incompetents.

Did you miss this quote from the singer? "Rock music has predominantly been the terrain of ... There's so much masculine-white-boy energy around it, it makes white males feel good about stuff".

Given Bloc Party's singer is gay your "no balls" criticism is a bit iffy IMO. Are you really saying that all "rock" music must be "ballsy" (whether played by men, women, gay, straight, whoever)?? No room for introspection, contradiction, doubt? plenty of great rock has had that stuff in bucketfuls, just as plenty of great rock is "about" nothing but joy, the moment, excess.

Re Bloc Party, I agree with what Simon R is saying, which goes for the new artrockers in general; where much postpunk was a genuine and often thrilling amalgam of avant and popular black and white music, the current crop (futureheads, bloc party, franz etc) are at best producing a skilled fascisimile of postpunks best moves rather than a new synthesis. but what would the new synthesis be? can it really be said that "black" music remains almost exclusively "black" or have we moved on? was there more of a need for a synthesis in the late 70s/early 80s (I'm talking mainly about Britain here I spose), whereas now much music is more organically multicultural anyhow? I work for the Love Music Hate Racism campaign, so these are real live issues for us, particularly when you look back at the effect our predecessor Rock Against Racism had in the late 70s, with RAR's success (or reflection of what was going on anyway?) in putting punk and reggae acts and fans together, arguably helping pave the way for two-tone etc. ( see e.g. http://www.lmhr.org.uk/news/archives/000349.html and http://www.lmhr.org.uk/news/archives/000354.html, and review at http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/swine/swine_music019.htm )
 
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Paul Hotflush

techno head
nine said:
he's not a relation of yours, is he?

Funny you should say that, when I was 12 I successfully duped my entire class into believing he was a distant cousin of mine...

Nothing to be proud of, I know.
 
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