Bloc Party 'Still Bloc Party,' Despite Shakeup Rumors

Bloc Party, the British angular rock quartet that exploded onto the scene with 2005 debut "Silent Alarm," is not breaking up or looking for a singer to replace frontman Kele Okereke, despite rumors of a lineup change.

The band has not issued an album since 2008's electronica-driven "Intimacy," and Okereke released a debut solo album, "The Boxer," last year. In an interview with NME, guitarist Russell Lissack says that Okereke's is still on his solo material, and that he, bassist Gordon Moakes and drummer Matt Tong had decided to move forward and work on new music without Okereke.

"It's not really a secret because Kele's been pretty busy doing solo stuff and it looks like he's going to be doing that a bit longer," says Lissack. "The other three of us wanted to meet up and make music. We were talking about just doing an instrumental thing, but now we might get a singer as well, to properly put some music out and play some shows."

Bloc Party's Kele Goes Solo, Talks Band's Future

However, the band has denied any major lineup changes, posting an update titled "Bloc Party is still Bloc Party" on its official website that includes a picture of the four members in cartoon form, with the caption, "See you soon." Meanwhile, Okereke posted a blog entry, titled "God Bless Bloc Party," on Wednesday (Sept. 28) that read, "A big part of me is laughing HARD at all of this but another part of me is all like WTF?"

Bloc Party's first three albums -- "Silent Alarm," 2007's "A Weekend in the City" and "Intimacy" -- have sold 620,000 U.S. copies, according to Nielsen SoundScan. While there is no update on the band's next full-length, Okereke will release a new solo EP, "The Hunter," on Nov. 7 through Wichita Recordings. The singer debuted the music video for "What Did I Do" last Friday.