Has Kele Okereke been kicked out of Bloc Party? Almost six months after the band announced they would reunite for a new album, their singer has issued the bizarre claim that Bloc Party are recording without him.
"I hope I haven't been fired," Okereke told NME. The singer claims that during a recent visit to New York, he stumbled on a covert gathering by Bloc Party guitarist Russell Lissack, bassist Gordon Moakes and drummer Matt Tong. "I was actually having lunch about three weeks ago, just here on 8th Avenue and I saw somebody walk past and I recognised the haircut. It was Russell. I was like, 'Hey!', but he didn't see me and I followed him around the corner and then I saw Matt, Gordon and Russell all standing outside this rehearsal space. They all went inside."
"I don't really know what's going on," Okereke continued. "We haven't really spoken recently and I'm a bit too scared to ask."
As busy as Okereke has been with his solo career it's more than a little implausible that Bloc Party would sack their most visible member. When Lissack was asked about the report on Twitter, his answer was glib to the point of sarcastic: "I expect they will be announcing the auditions soon."
In April, Bloc Party claimed they would return to the studio in September, ending an almost two-year hiatus. Recently one fan wrote to Tong on Facebook, pleading for an update on new music. "The album is going to be called Matthew and the sleeve art has already been decided," the drummer joked. "It's a picture of me doing wheelies on a scooter with flames coming out of the exhaust whilst the other members stand in the background and understandably bow to my superior prowess."
Bloc Party's last album was 2008's Intimacy.
