Gordon Moakes

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Gordon Moakes
Gordon Moakes playing at Madison Square Garden in 2007
Background information
Birth name	Gordon Moakes
Also known as	Gordy
Born	22 June 1976 (1976-06-22) (age 32)
Origin	Milton Keynes,England
Genre(s)	Post-punk revival, Indie rock
Instrument(s)	Bass guitar Backing vocals drums Glockenspiel Korg Keyboards Sampler
Associated acts	Bloc Party
Notable instrument(s)
Fender Precision Bass

Gordon Peter Moakes (born 22 June 1976) is an English multi-instrumentalist and backing singer for English Indie rock band Bloc Party. He was educated at Ousedale School in Newport Pagnell, Milton Keynes, and formerly of Tilehurst, Reading. During the mid-to-late 1990s, Gordon created and edited short-lived fanzine "Conform or Die".

Bloc Party

Moakes became a member of Bloc Party after responding to an advertisement placed in the NME music magazine by Kele Okereke and Russell Lissack, asking for bass players to join their band. Although not originally a bassist, Lissack told him at their first rehearsal that Moakes was the only player to have auditioned that was able to play the bassline for the song that Okereke and Lissack had played to him (apparently titled "Life of the Party"). Moakes, Lissack and Okereke formed the first incarnation of Bloc Party in 2002, The Angel Range, who played shows across London. Moakes also ran and updated the band's website at this time.

Moakes shares co-writing credits with Okereke on some of the band's earlier lyrics. In the Union/The Angel Range days he contributed lyrics mostly to the band's more political songs, and fully wrote an early song entitled "Diet".

Musically his bass playing is creative and often sparse, and usually involves very little playing until latter verses, such as in "Like Eating Glass", "Banquet" and "Hunting For Witches" where he plays very little in the first verses. Moakes added a few new instruments to his repertoire on Bloc Party's second album A Weekend in the City, including drums on "Sunday" and glockenspiel on "Waiting For the 7.18" and "SRXT." Also, Moakes has been seen playing a Korg microKORG synthesizer on such songs as Flux which was released as a part of the A Weekend In The City re-release, but he now uses a Korg X50. Moakes is often affectionately referred to as "Gordy" by his fans.

During July and August of 2008, Moakes did not tour with the band. Due to his wife being close to giving birth, Moakes decided to stay at home with his wife and soon to be child. He and the band trained a replacement during that period.

In the newest Bloc Party album, Moakes has continued his role as bass guitarist, synth/keyboards, glockenspiel and backing vocals. His role as backing vocalist appears to be more limited than both preceding albums. Adding electronic drums to his repertoire in the song Ares.

Other Works

Moakes also worked with yourcodenameis:milo on the track "Wait a Minute" taken from the album Print Is Dead Vol 1. "Wait a Minute" was released on a limited edition 7" single on 4 October 2006. The cover art was designed by Moakes himself. ^[1]

Personal life

Moakes has a tattoo of a heart on his left arm, as does his wife. Much like his other bandmates he is considered to be shy and quiet. He recently took a paternity leave from his duties as bassist to help father his newly born child, Scarlet.

Equipment

Basses:

• Fender Precision Bass-Agave Blue Metallic, white pickguard, rosewood fretboard. Used in almost all live performances.
• Fender Precision Bass-Olympic White, rose tortoise shell scratchplate, rosewood fretboard. Used at Reading 2007.
• Fender Precision Bass-Sage Green, black pickguard, rosewood fretboard. Used at Reading 2007.
• Fender Precision Bass-Dakota Red, white pickguard, rosewood fretboard. Used in the early days of Bloc Party/Union.
• Fender Precision Bass-Butterscotch Blonde, tortoiseshell pickguard, rosewood fretboard. Used at Live Earth

Moakes plays various Fender Precision Basses through an Ashdown ABM 500 EVO II amplifier head and an Ashdown ABM 410T cabinet. Gordon plays the Glockenspiel on the tracks SRXT and Waiting For The 7.18 On the track Flux Moakes plays a Korg MicroKorg. When Gordon was asked about his amps recently he said;

"I've been playing through Ashdown gear ever since I started touring in Bloc Party, which was before we even had a record deal. I don't like playing anything else now. I stop short at hissy-fits but I'm not a happy bunny if I ever have to play through anything else. I've occasionally had to rent other gear for festivals and far-flung shows and those days make me sad. Ashdown is so good because it's the only set-up that creates the sound I hear in my head. The way I want to play is about a clean, ringing high end without any lack of punch in the low. I want the bass to be musical but also heavy and percussive. You should be able to move to it and sing it at the same time. I've only been able to get that all-round sound with Ashdown. It's all about a thick, rounded sound from the lowest drop D, or lower, all the way up the high frets. It has to work at both ends. But I'm not after some over- indulgent 80s five-string bass sound. As far as I'm concerned what I play is punk rock, and even if I'm staying around three notes on the E string I want the richest, most visceral sound I can get. And that's Ashdown."

References