Bloc Party (l to r: Matt Tong, Gordon Moakes, Kele Okereke and Russell Lissack)

Speaking strictly as a music fan, it’s been fun to watch Bloc Party grow as a band. I still remember their first area show, in April of 2005 at the Black Cat, as one of the most energetic (and crowded) shows I’ve ever seen in that venue. They were back in D.C. just two months later selling out the 9:30 Club (awww, former editor Ryan Avent was just a contributor back then). Since then it’s been onwards and upwards for the hard working group; touring relentlessly, becoming international superstars and releasing albums, remixes and one-off singles all the while. They return to the area on Sunday, playing another sold out show at the 9:30 Club behind their latest album, Intimacy, which reached #18 in the Billboard album charts. We spoke with bassist Gordon Moakes last week on the eve of the band’s North American tour.

How do you prepare for a tour?

The way I prepare for a tour is to not prepare for it at all. Not think about it at all for as long as I can. We’ll rehearse if we haven’t played in a few months…

Haven’t played in a few months? It seems like you guys are always on tour.

Yeah, we don’t need to rehearse. We need time off, that’s what we need.

I’ve seen you a few times in the last two years here in the U.S. Is touring in the U.S. something the band is concentrating on?

Well, number one, we enjoy it. Number two, there’s a great audience for us here. They always say, you know, you got to keep touring if you want to make a dent. Not that we want to break in American in that old-fashioned way. But we’re up for it and we have a good response from our crowd. There’s a lot of British bands that haven’t made that jump. It’s nice.