Interview with Russell Lissack of Bloc Party: Part 2

On your tour with Ash in South Africa you were brutally massacred by a murderous lion. What exactly happened? Is this an accurate story? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-tzxV6OXfoc


Ha ha, Yes, that is a live recording of what happened. And here is a photo (attached) of the culprit, washing down my blood afterwards




Speaking of Ash, you were in an Ash tribute band when you met Kele, correct? How has touring with a band, and musicians you hold so highly been, and do you feel that touring with another band on that scale has changed your thoughts towards Bloc Party or how you will write music?


That's not quite correct. For mine and a friends birthday, we decided to do a one off show of Ash cover's, as we were such big fans and both knew most of their songs. Fun fact, Mattie from the band Does it offend you yeah? played the drums for us.
Touring with them has been amazing. Fortunately we'd met a few times prior to this, so it wasn't too awkward when we started... and the fact i already knew how to play the songs helped!
I think it reminded me how much i enjoy playing the guitar, and how fun it can be to rock out. It has definitely reignited my passion.

You and I are both vegetarians. While a lot of things came into play with me deciding to become a vegetarian, admittedly 'Meat is Murder' and my respect for Morrissey had a great influence and was the final nail in the coffin for me. What made you become a vegetarian and do you find any difficulty being one?

I became a vegetarian for health reasons. The book Fast Food Nation was very influential in my decision.
Travelling to different countries, sometimes it can be really tricky finding food. The worst are when we play in Spain or Portugal, every restaurant serves plates of meat and cheese, yet its impossible to get any vegetables. Its really infuriating, as i love visiting those countries, but you feel pretty sick after 2 days of eating just bread and cheese.
Japan was a place i was always nervous about being vegetarian too, but as long as you have someone who can translate for you, its easily the best food in the world. That and New York, they have crazy fake meat there i never see anywhere else.

Sorry, my puppy is misbehaving, to be continued!