Bloc Party Mix It Up

London post-punk rockers Bloc Party will reissue their 2005 debut album Silent Alarm in remix form on September 13th, with tracks reinterpreted by Nick Zinner of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Liverpool electro outfit Ladytron, British experimental dance hero Four Tet and Scottish indie act Mogwai.

"We'd commissioned a bunch of remixes for B sides and singles and thought it'd be nice to collect them all together," Bloc Party drummer Matt Tong says of the CD's genesis. "Asking people to do a bunch of remixes can seem like a vanity project, but we were intrigued to see what other people could come up with."

Instead of doing a remix, Death From Above 1979 opted to cover Bloc Party's "Luno," a song the Canadian noise-punk duo has incorporated into its live shows. "It's really funny," says Tong. "It sounds like a Death From Above song. It's great when bands cover songs and make them sound like their own."

Bloc Party will head out on a U.S. tour in support of the new release beginning September 8th at Boston's Avalon. The band will add a number of the twenty new tunes they've written, including "Hero" and "Two More Years," to their live set. According to Tong, their show may also benefit from some additional choreography. "We may add some dance routines," he says with a laugh. "Some band members may be wearing roller skates -- if we can figure out how to operate the [guitar and drum] pedals that way."

Earlier this week, fellow British rockers the Kaiser Chiefs told Rolling Stone that they were hoping to record a Christmas cover with Bloc Party. Tong says his band is game. "I want to do it," he says. "I have no idea how a joint Bloc Party/Kaiser Chiefs single would sound -- pretty crazy, probably. I think Kele [Bloc Party frontman Okereke] would be into doing 'All I Want for Christmas Is You,' or the Bruce Springsteen version of 'Santa Claus Is Coming to Town.'"

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Song Stories

“1999”

Prince | 1982

“I don’t consider myself a great poet,” Prince told Rolling Stone. “I just know I’m here to say what’s on my mind.” In the case of the apocalyptic party anthem “1999,” he was worried about then-president Ronald Reagan’s foreign policies. The song’s melody is based on a riff borrowed from the Mamas and Papas’ “Monday, Monday,” and Prince originally envisioned the first verse with three-part harmony but later split the vocals between himself and members of the Revolution. Because Warner Bros., with whom Prince was locked in a contractual battle, owned the original’s masters, Prince rerecorded the song and appropriately released that version in 1999.

More Song Stories entries »

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