Survival Distance

"I'm looking at this sort of futurescape. I'm watching Osaka go to dusk while I'm doing these interviews from up in my hotel and it kind of [looks like] a future world out there,” Moakes remarks in quiet awe.

The 36-year-old bassist will no doubt be savouring these moments of peace in the coming months. Bloc Party's 2013 schedule is an unrelenting zigzag of air miles, bus rides and foreign confines. From Asia to Europe to Australia, back to Asia, onto America; and that's before the festival season in the Northern summer has even got into full swing. It's clear that Four has restimulated things for a band that was once on the brink, and the Londoners are making the most of their cumulative zeal by riding the upswing.

“In many ways we've just taken it where we left off, which considering we had gone away for three years is quite a good feeling to have that happen,” Moakes admits, a sense of pride peppering his tone. “But the whole point of this record was a collaborative record; it was a portrait, an honest portrait of the band, so it's quite easy to translate that into a live show. And I think, as I say, it's been three years since we've played in a lot of places, and just that... it's that novelty for people to see us again and we don't have to put on any airs and graces, we can just turn up and be ourselves.”

Which begs the question: if this is an honest version of the band – Bloc Party 4.0 if you will – then who was the quartet that we danced with at previous Splendour In The Grass festivals in 2005, 2007 and 2009?

“They were different sides to the band; different ways of expressing what we do,” Moakes says, shining a brighter light on his previous comment. “But by the end it had just become kind of disparate in terms of the way the records were written and sort of produced and things, like we didn't all always have to be there for instance. That's still Bloc Party but I think this record is a bit more back to basics really, and not distilled through the apparatus of technology and things – it was just the band really. We turned up with our guitars to a rehearsal room in east London all those years ago, and that was very much the spirit [again].”

And by getting back to basics, the band walked away with their most diverse body of work to date. Four finds the celebrated quartet offering up some of the most refrained moments of their career, but it also holds tracks within that are pure fury. It's an album that is a direct product of its working environment; the end result a reflection of the creative free-for-all that was happening within the studio walls.

“Yeah, almost literally,” Moakes says, confirming the assumption that it was a no-holds-bar recording experience where everything was on the table. “Although I think the only rule was: guitars. No one was coming in with a 16-minute piano piece or anything,” he deadpans. “But we were having a lot of fun; that was the point in many ways. It's interesting, there's definitely some darkness and dark energy in some of those songs, but writing them was not like that at all – it was just fun. Just clicking and making things loud. For me, for my money, that's what a band's supposed to do, really, just gelling and making the room shake with noise, y'know.”

Lyrically, it seems like this album is just as varied, covering topics from recovery and rehabilitation to drugs, sex, religion and revenge. The Londoners previous two records (2007's A Weekend In The City and 2008's Intimacy) both had an obvious consistency, thematically speaking, whereas frontman Kele Okereke's headspace – and in turn lyrical content – this time around comes across as speckled as the instrumentation across the twelve tracks.

“I think he wrote most of the lyrics on the record in New York over a period of living there, and that kind of disparate chaos and noise and things, and I think... I have a theory, with [A Weekend In The City] in particular, he kinda didn't know where to start in terms of writing,” Moakes concedes. “And that's daunting when you're starting to write a record, and I think just having a concept to hang some of the writing on, it gave him something to focus on moving forward. But again, with this record we just got to a point where there were no pressures really, it was just expressing how we were feeling at that point and I think the lyrics reflect that idea of writing what came to mind and not trying to hang it on a concept or anything.”

As early as 2010, rumours were abounding that the Bloc Party we loved would be no more. First, reports circulated that the band was splitting entirely; then speculation was rife that Moakes, guitarist Russell Lissack and drummer Matt Tong were auditioning new singers to replace Okereke. However, all this was media hullaballoo. The four members were simply embarking on their own individual journeys: a stint in the Big Apple, post-hardcore side projects, touring with Northern Irish alternative rockers Ash, DJ sets, solo albums, remixing duties. It was all these things and more which have allowed us to continue enjoying our Bloc Party. Because if the foursome didn't find that variety, that stimulant that keeps life amazing, we'd probably be left with nothing more than a trio of records and some joyous angular rock memories.

“Y'know, I'm sometimes asked what would the record have been like if [we] hadn't taken a break, and I think the honest answer is that there couldn't have been a record at that point. And I think if we begrudgingly forced ourselves to try and make a record then it could have just split the band up,” he reveals. “This is a record that could only have come about from just having taken stock and [getting] away from the pressure of it, y'know, blowing off some steam with some other projects. We got to a point where we just got over it and the band could just be and not feel like it was dragging us along, but actually just getting back to a relaxed position where we could take the band on because we were ready to.

“I think at that point [a few years ago]... we were really like, 'Why are we here? Somebody is telling us to turn up and play and do this stuff – was it our idea? Whose idea was it to do this?' I'd lost perspective of it [but then] you get to a point where you know why you're there – because you want to be.”

Bloc Party will be playing the following dates:

Thursday 5 March – The Riverstage, Brisbane QLD
Saturday 9 March - Future Music Festival, Sydney NSW
Sunday 10 March - Future Music Festival, Melbourne VIC
Monday 11 March - Future Music Festival, Adelaide SA
Wednesday 13 March – Hordern Pavilion, Sydney NSW
Thursday 14 March – Festival Hall, Melbourne VIC