GANG OF FOUR ADMINISTER LONG AWAITED VERBAL KICKING.

Gang of Four bassist Dave Allen (not that one) has finally stepped forward to have a bit of a go at Bloc Party, Franz Ferdinand et al for y'know - ripping them off wholesale, but somehow managing to entirely miss the point. He says:

I mean, what on earth are Bloc Party up to? Franz Ferdinand? All of these
bands. They've borrowed our sound but they have not gone anywhere near our
sociological lyrics. It's hard to describe what we do. I'm trying to avoid the
word "political" because we're just not. We've been painted as a political band,
we've been painted as a Marxist band. We're usually asked those questions by
people who don't understand Marx whatsoever. We've taken to throwing that back
in their faces a bit, "Well, what does Marx mean to you?" and they stare at you.
(laughs)
Meanwhile our lyrics are really about the personal in the political
and how every day you have a serious set of choices to make. The way John (King)
painted "Natural's Not in it..."

Which is fair enough, all told. It's just a shame they weren't interviewing Andy Gill, he was always the really narky one.

Please God, don't let those rumours about them re-recording their best songs be true.