Hello, Matt from Bloc Party. What’s your favourite joke?
I only know rude jokes!
The ruder the better. We’re filthy.
OK then. The Lone Ranger and Tonto are going across the desert on their horses, and suddenly Tonto jumps off his horse and puts his ear to the ground, and he says: “Buffalo come.” And the Lone Ranger says: “Amazing, Tonto! How did you know?” And Tonto replies: “Ear stuck to ground.”
That’s literally hilarious. But what is the funniest thing that’s ever happened to Bloc Party?
[Thinks…] There was this one time in Liverpool, and some people pulled up next to us while we were walking down the street. They were talking to Russell for some reason, and their window was open so I just pushed him through the window – we were a bit tipsy! – then they drove off. Then Russell came back about 5 minutes later, in a considerable state of stress, and he was like: “Oh they wouldn’t let me go, I had to punch the driver before they released me!” He was very cross. I think he was worried that he was going to end up in Toxteth. [Less than salubrious area of Liverpool – Ed]
Again, hilarious. Do you play practical jokes on each other when you’re on tour?
Yeah, Kele has a whoopee cushion fetish. He normally leaves it on my drum stool before I sit down before a big show, just to break up the tension a bit. Once someone left a banana on the stage and Gordon slipped on it, and he landed in the photo pit. And there was the time when Russell, he bought an email address online from Dorset County Police, and he sent an email to me from them saying that all my family had been killed in an accident. Sometimes we find it hard to know when to draw the line! I was really upset, and then Russell said: “It’s a joke, it’s a joke,” and then we all started laughing. It was kind of like the end of the ‘Thundercats’ cartoon, when everyone’s laughing and stuff.
Er, hmm. Not quite so hilarious. So what’s funnier, slipping on a banana skin or someone’s trousers falling down?
Trousers falling down, definitely. People falling over in the street is always really funny too, and so is people breaking wind in public. That’s a complete winner. I’ve actually been banned from doing that – I normally have the most problems concerning bowel movements because I eat a lot of spicy food, and so it got to the point where the guys were getting slightly irritated by my flatulence. So now, I normally go off to a quiet corner, let one go, and then come back again.
Lovely, thanks. So what wacky japes do Bloc Party get up to when you have a day off?
You’ve got to be kidding! Most of the time I can’t remember what happened, I just get a vague uneasy feeling that something bad went down!
Ooh. Is that because you were ‘under the influence’?
Yeah, our favourite drink is mouthwash! Mouthwash and coke.
Brilliant, although we don’t actually believe you. So what party music do you dance to once you’re a bit ‘merry’?
We’ve been getting into Bolivian peasant music, it’s really rhythmic. It’s quite hard to get recorded copies of it, but Kele’s been downloading a lot of it. Obviously everything’s completely acoustic but it’s just layered really well. So we all dance to that.
Mouthwash and Bolivian peasant music. Sounds like a party to us! You guys put the rest of the pop world to shame. Thank you Matt from Bloc Party!
No Slashmusic, thank you.
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