Bloc Party
Forum

NAMEDROPPERS are falling over themselves, puddles of saliva gathering at the mouth, to slip Bloc Party into their conversations – they are the band the cool people with Hoxton hairdos like.
Maybe that’s a little unfair because if you strip away the hype – and there is a lot of it thanks to manager Simon White from Menswear – the substance is there.
Bloc Party are not a band that just got lucky; they deserve the praise and the front cover picture on NME.
They sound different from the current crop of indie stars. Those playing the sound-a-like game have compared them to Fugazi but Grooves reckons it runs closer to The Strokes, maybe even The Smashing Pumpkins. The furious percussion and lots of chunkita guitar makes the grade. The final test is an eagerly-anticipated gig at the Forum in Kentish Town next Friday night. This might be one of the last chances to catch them while they are well-rounded and still sound sensible – before they swan off with a million pound record deal, get married to a Primrose Hill-based film star and turn up in a decade solving global warming and offering world peace.
So at £12.50, this is a real value for money gig. Those who miss it should at least grab Silent Alarm, the tasty debut album. There are also April dates to look for.