Bloc Party
Bloc Party performing live in 2025. From Left to Right: Lissack, Bartle, Okereke and Deacon
Background information
Origin	London, England
Genres	Indie rock post-punk revival alternative dance dance-punk post-Britpop alternative rock art punk
Years active	1999–present
Labels	BMG Wichita Frenchkiss Atlantic Infectious Vagrant Transgressive Trash Aesthetics Vice Arts & Crafts Dim Mak Dew Process
Spinoffs	Pin Me Down Young Legionnaire Novacub The None Wet Market
Members	Kele Okereke Russell Lissack Louise Bartle Harry Deacon
Past members	Gordon Moakes Matt Tong Sarah Jones Justin Harris Daniel Pugsley
Website	blocparty.com

Bloc Party are an English rock band that was formed in London in 1999 by co-founders Kele Okereke (lead vocals, rhythm guitar, piano, sampler) and Russell Lissack (lead guitar). Their first four albums all featured Gordon Moakes (bass, keyboards) and Matt Tong (drums), who have since left the band. Their current lineup also contains Louise Bartle (drums, percussion) and Harry Deacon (bass, synthesizer). Their brand of music, whilst rooted in rock, retains elements of other genres such as electronica and house music.

Upon their formation at the 1999 Reading Festival by Okereke and Lissack, the band went through a variety of names before settling on Bloc Party in 2003. Moakes joined the band after answering an advert in NME magazine, while Tong was picked via an audition. Bloc Party got their break by giving BBC Radio 1 DJ Steve Lamacq and Franz Ferdinand's Alex Kapranos a copy of their demo "She's Hearing Voices".

In February 2005, the band released their debut album Silent Alarm. It was critically acclaimed, and was named Indie Album of the Year at the 2006 PLUG Awards and the NME Album Of The Year – which both honour indie music. That year, the record was also certified platinum in Britain. The band built on this success in 2007 with the release of their second studio album, A Weekend in the City, which reached a peak of number two in the UK Albums Chart and number twelve on the Billboard 200. In August 2008, Bloc Party released their third studio record, Intimacy, which entered the UK Albums Chart at number eight and number eighteen on the Billboard 200.

The band went on a hiatus in October 2009 to focus on side projects. They reunited in September 2011, and shortly thereafter released their fourth album, Four, which entered the UK Albums Chart at number three. In August 2013, Bloc Party released their third EP titled The Nextwave Sessions; the band then began a second hiatus following the departure of Tong, with Moakes following soon after. The band's fifth studio album, Hymns, was the first to involve Bartle and Justin Harris (bass); it was released on 29 January 2016. Their sixth studio album, Alpha Games, was released on 29 April 2022, and their fourth EP The High Life was released the following year. Deacon joined the band in 2023, following the release of The High Life. A seventh album, Anatomy of a Brief Romance, is set for release in September 2026.

Bloc Party have sold over 3 million albums worldwide,^[1] and are regarded as one of the key English bands in the post-punk revival of the 2000s.^[2] Pitchfork has described the band as "rhythmically vital and melodically sharp," noting Silent Alarm as one of the best albums of the decade.^[3]