I admit being saddened by the news at the time that Bloc Party went on extended hiatus, once the batch of festival appearances for 2013 were over, sometime in July.
During that summer tour of 2013, drummer Matt Tong left the band, with Sarah Jones filling in on drums for the remaining dates. Lissack told a Canadian newspaper, the National Post that the band were planning to take an indefinite hiatus following their appearance at the Latitude Festival on 19 July. In October 2013, Kele assembled a DJ Mix for !K7’s Tapes mix series, released under the Bloc Party name. In September 2014, Okereke stated that Bloc Party were working on a fifth album. In March 2015, bassist Gordon Moakes tweeted he had parted ways with Bloc Party. Following the departure of their former members, Okereke and Lissack started to work on new songs on their own in late 2014.
At the time, the departures of Moakes and Tong were shrouded in rumour and innuendo. Okereke alluded to drugs being an issue on multiple occasions, after he had to intervene during a Bloc Party performance. He told The Guardian: “There’s a song where somebody makes a mistake and … well, I guess Gordon makes a mistake. And I say something to him, and he kind of responds, and I realised at that point that this was as far as our relationship was gonna go. I’ve never interfered with anyone’s performance before, and I thought that if that was the state of our relationship, it felt fitting that this should be our last show together.” Before the article was published Okereke told NME that “I can tell you it was about someone doing cocaine and someone not being into it. That’s all I’m gonna say.” Before publication Okereke contacted The Guardian to address his comments to NME saying the ‘someone’ he referenced was a person around the band, not actually in the band: “This then led to a big argument and that’s the situation,” he says. “I don’t want people to think Matt and Gordon were cokeheads, and that’s why we had to lose them. And I don’t want their families thinking that.” In a 2024 interview, Tong elaborated that his departure was due to feeling unable to continue working with Okereke, with the breaking point being Okereke’s attempted removal of someone in the band’s touring party whose birthday celebration on their bus involved the aforementioned drugs. Tong claimed he wasn’t present during the incident, took exception when he heard about what had happened, and quit via email with the band still in the middle of a summer festival tour. In a 2025 interview, Moakes said Tong’s departure prompted his own decision to also quit after finishing that tour, since he felt that Tong “was the heartbeat of the band” and that he did not wish to continue in Bloc Party without Tong.
Bloc Party unveiled their new line-up at two intimate gigs in the Los Angeles area (19 August 2015 at The Glass House in Pomona and 20 August 2015 at The Roxy in Los Angeles). Following those performances, Bloc Party also sub-headlined FYF Fest in Los Angeles on 22 August 2015. At those shows, the band confirmed that they’ve finished recording their next album. The shows marked the live debut for new bassist Justin Harris of the Portland, Oregon, indie rock outfit Menomena, who had previously opened several Bloc Party U.S. tour dates in April 2009; and Louise Bartle, who was accidentally announced a month earlier as Bloc Party’s drummer by instrument manufacturer Natal Drums in a since-deleted tweet, leading to fan speculation regarding her membership that was ultimately proved correct. These shows also included the first performances of two new songs called “Eden” and “Exes” according to the setlist.
This morning it’s their concert at Best Kept Secret in The Netherlands and as always, broadcast by VPRO and rock outlet 3voor12 in June of 2013.
It’s Wednesday – plug it in and turn it up.
