Kele Okereke prefers Beyonce to Indie music

Former Bloc Party front man Kele Okereke has said he prefers Beyonce to Indie music these days and embraces popular culture.

Instead of turning his nose up at what is perceived as commercial as many of his contemporaries would, Kele says: “I just love pop music, that’s the reason I’m here, I’m more interested in someone like Beyonce, that’s the truth.”

Kele Okereke has also spoken out about the reasons behind the radical change of tact and direction on his new dance centred solo album.

The 29 -year-old booked some time in the studio to explore new musical frontiers, messing with drums machines and synths, which he says was “as exciting as the first time I picked up a guitar.” The new sound came out of these embryonic sessions and provided a template for the new record.

Kele has worked with XXXchange (the Brooklyn remix master, aka Alex Epton) to develop his own sound on the new project entitled The Boxer, which reveals such varied influences as house, dubstep and leftfield electro.

The body of the new album came during Bloc Party’s well publicised decision to take a year out and Kele said it was less of a conscious decision and more of an urge to remain creative.

Kele goes as far as saying: “Being creative for me is not something I can switch off. If I wasn’t making music I would be in a loony bin.”

When asked whether Bloc Party would reform in the future, their leader Kele was quite tentative in his response saying: “It has to be different, it has to be or I won’t go back. I don’t think the others would do either. But I think that’s something we need to talk about, it’s personal. I know a lot about what I want from them and what I need from them. We’ll see. We need to find out where we are in a year’s time.”