Kele Okereke: Going Solo Made Me More Confident
Bloc Party
The Bloc Party frontman – who recently released his debut solo LP ‘The Boxer’ under his first name only – was able to do much more working on his own than recording with the group.
He said: “Making this record has definitely given me a new confidence. Just the fact I was able to make it was an achievement for me.
“I never felt constricted in Bloc Party but with ‘The Boxer’ I’ve learned anything is possible.
“In Bloc Party, the creativity, the rhythmic and melodic ideas were shared between us. For ‘The Boxer’ I had to do everything on my own.
“It was liberating in some ways but frightening at times.”
Despite recording a solo album, Kele insists he never had plans to break away from the group.
He added in an interview with The Sun newspaper: “For the last six years we’d been on a treadmill of writing, recording and touring. You soon get jaded.
"But on our break I didn’t want to stop being creative and I had stuff I wanted to do. Before I knew it, I went into the studio by myself and started working.
“I’d never had that self-believe or desire until I found myself making some great songs and I had an album.”
