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Bloc Party are a British art rock/post-punk band. The band has been around in various guises since 2002, with names like The Angel Range, Diet and Union, before settling on Bloc Party in September 2003. The name is a play on block party, a name for a quasi-informal neighborhood festival, which might hire a local band as entertainment. The name was not intended to be an allusion to the Soviet Bloc; the absence of a 'k' is purely for aesthetics.

Band members Kele Okereke and Russell Lissack, who both grew up in Essex, have formed the fulcrum of these various incarnations, and were subsequently joined by bassist Gordon Moakes, and most recently drummer Matt Tong. Lissack and singer/guitarist Kele Okereke met in 1998 in Essex, where Lissack had grown up and Okereke attended school. Lissack attended Bancroft's School and Okereke attended Trinity for sixth form. They bumped into each other again in 1999 at the Reading Festival and soon after formed the band Union. In 2003 they ...