Music, Style & Culture

Kele: “When Did Being In A Band Become A Lifestyle?”

Kele Okereke tells us about his new life in New York.

With the release of 'The Hunter' EP this week, Kele Okereke gets off the subject of the Bloc Party versus the New Musical Express “split” and tells us about his new life in New York, his new music and a bit about his “old” band. 

Hi Kele. Where are you at the moment?
In New York. I live here. 

The web said you were living in Berlin?
Everyone thinks I’ve lived in Berlin, but I haven’t ever lived there! The drummer from Bloc Party used to live there, but he doesn’t anymore. He lives in New York. I live in Manhattan in Chelsea. 

What made you decide to move to New York?
I’ve been coming to New York frequently for the last 8-9 years for work. I’ve always enjoyed the conversations that I’ve had and the people that I meet and I like the food. I had a little time off so I thought, 'Why not try liking a different part of the world for a while?' 

I’ve never been to New York, but I was recently in Chicago and I imagine the attitude towards the English when they visit is similar – they seem to love to hear an accent!
Yeah, it’s somewhat a double-edged sword. When people hear that I have an English accent, they’re really excited by that, but they can be slightly suspicious of English people as well. We’re seen in a slightly different way as Brits – they can think we’re miserable and whingey quite a lot, so I’ve been quite careful to whom I reveal I’m English to... but then they hear you speak. On the surface people seem to love it because it’s different, but there are just as many prejudices about Brits as there are likes. 

When I was in Chicago, a bus driver lady told me, “Hey, d’ya live near the Palace?... Were you at the Wedding?”
[Laughs] They can also assume you’re really slow... [makes distorted, slow motion voice] as the pace in England is different to the pace in New York... but everyone’s been really nice so I’ve been quite lucky.

Well, from New York you’re releasing your new EP, 'The Hunter'.  How does it continue from 'The Boxer', which was relatively dance-oriented compared to Bloc Party?
It’s somewhat of a continuation. I’m working with the same producer on a bunch of the tracks. Whereas 'The Boxer' was a celebratory record, this may be somewhat more melancholic and a little bit darker and contemplative.  'The Boxer' felt very light. I made it in the summer in a new city and that was feeding into the music. 

Are there any themes running through the EP or is it the mood that ties it together?
I don’t know. It’s hard because I don’t see it the way other people see it.  Maybe there are some themes, but to me making music is about expression so I don’t spend too much time pulling it apart. 

The lead single from the EP is ‘What Did I Do?’ featuring Lucy Taylor. I don’t know much about her, so how did that collaboration come about?
Lucy is a fantastic singer and is the keyboard player in my band. I’d never sung with a female singer before so extensively and I really enjoyed it, so it made sense to have her sing the lead vocal because I love the sound of female voices. It was an idea I had and when everyone played it, it really worked.

You’ve got a Goodbye Horses cover on the EP.  Some bands are a bit reluctant of including covers in their output.  What made you decide to include a cover and this one in particular on 'The Hunter'?
It’s one of my favourite songs of all time. I’ve never done a cover before. It’s quite an iconic song because it was used in quite a famous sequence in Silence Of The Lambs. I really like the image in the lyrics. To me, it’s a song about transcendence. It felt right to do and I hope that I’ve done it justice. I am glad that I get to reintroduce the song to a whole generation of people who have never heard it. 

I’m glad you didn’t decide to put the Ke$ha cover on the EP!
Ah!

I was on YouTube earlier and users were wondering if it was a genuine stab or a bit of a joke.  Can we set the record straight for them?
I’m not sure if people know this but when you do a Live Lounge, they tell you that you have to do one of the songs that is on the playlist and the song that I wanted to do had already been done, so I thought, "This kind of sucks." I didn’t really care, we had fun with it. I’m not a particularly big Ke$ha fan. Anyone listening can probably tell we’re not taking this seriously but it was fun to do and not be so precious about something. 

I’ve also been following your blog and notice that you’ve been singing the praises of Azealia Banks. She did a really good ‘Slow Hands’ cover.  What is it that is attracting you to her music?
A friend of mine sent me a link to some of her music and I was just blown away by the competence and the swagger in her voice. The last time I felt this excited about a female rapper was when I got the Nicki Minaj mixtape, 'Beam Me Up Scotty'. She’s got a filthy mouth and she’s beautiful as well!

On the new music scene, when you first emerged, there was a really strong NME-endorsed presence with bands like Franz Ferdinand, The Futureheads, Kaiser Chiefs. Do you think the indie scene is due some resurgence?
No, I don’t. I remember the first few years after Bloc Party came out that every single person, when I lived in East London, was carrying a guitar and it felt like the world and his mother was in a band - there was even an aspiring indie band on Hollyoaks. I remember thinking, when did being in a band become a lifestyle? I know from the periphery it may have seemed like an exciting time, but I didn’t think that many of these bands were making music that was any good. It’s all very well being in a band, but if you’re going to sound like every other band then what’s the point? I prefer it the way it is now; people that are starting bands and making music and breaking through have to be good and have to do something that is exciting. That isn’t a bad thing - trimming the fat from the surroundings. Because there’s a lot less money in it, I think that anyone who perseveres is going to be doing it because they’ve got a love for what they’re doing rather than it being the ‘cool’ thing to do. 

You famously handed your demo over to Steve Lamacq at a Franz Ferdinand gig.  What do you think bands have to do nowadays to, firstly, get into the industry and, secondly, to sustain a career without a record label dropping them?
People say there’s a pressure to make music and be successful and please your record label, but Bloc Party never did that. That was never a concern for us. We were fans of indie music when we started the band and the bands we loved were not on the cover of the NME or weren’t on the radio or in the charts. That attitude was something that was instrumental for us for choosing our record label. At the time of being signed, we were courted by nearly every record label in the country, but we signed to an independent label because we knew that they would let us make the music that we wanted to make. Then ‘Silent Alarm’ blew up. Even if it hadn’t, we still would have been on the record label that we were. I speak to my label boss Mark at Wichita and he’s still working on acts and signing bands. Just because major labels aren’t making money, it doesn’t mean good music can’t be made. People need to check why they feel they want to have a career in the music industry first. It’s about making art and something with an emotional resonance. 

And they should just handover their demo to Steve Lamacq?
Steve Lamacq is definitely a figure. He is someone that is excited by new music and loves what he does. We really need more people like him in the music industry – people that are actually doing this for love and not money.  And that’s how this scene is going to get better – with more of that attitude than "let’s make a fast buck".

You once wrote the lyric, "England is mine. I’ll take what I want." How do you feel about this statement in reference to the recent London riots?
I wasn’t in London at the time of the London riots. I don’t really feel qualified to talk about it because I haven’t been following it as I don’t live there. Right now, I’m here in New York and I don’t know how well it’s been reported, but there have been protests going on in Wall Street about how wealth is being distributed in this country – how 10% of the population own 99% of the wealth. It’s been interesting to see how in the American media it’s not at all been broadcast because they don’t want to encourage people to wake up. That kind of dissatisfaction must have played a factor somehow in the London riots. Globally, right now, this is a period where people are showing their unrest. I think it’s going to be very interesting to see what comes next. 

Final question. According to your Wikipedia page, your influences are Talking Heads, Kate Bush, Bjork, Kraftwerk, David Bowie, Dizzee Rascal, The Smiths and Sonic Youth. What has influenced your most recent music on 'The Hunter' that Wikipedia isn’t aware of?
I wrote the songs over a year and a half, so it’s hard to trace a genesis of one song, let alone, seven. The biggest inspiration that underpins them all is heartbreak. The songs, bar 'Goodbye Horses', seem to deal with people pulling apart from each other. 

That’s a classic inspiration that should go on everyone’s Wikipedia’s page. Thank you so much for talking to us Kele. 
Thank you too. Have a good day!

Kele's new EP 'The Hunter' is out now via Wichita Recordings