Russell Lissack
{{Infobox musical artist
| name = Russell Lissack
| image = Russell Lissack.jpg
| caption = Lissack in 2007
| background = non_vocal_instrumentalist
| birth_name =
| birth_date =
| birth_place =
| origin = Chingford, East London, England
| genre = {{hlist|Indie rock|post-punk revival|alternative dance}}
| occupation = Musician
| instrument = Guitar
| years_active = 1999–present
| current_member_of = Bloc Party
| past_member_of = {{hlist|Pin Me Down|Ash (touring)}}
| website = {{URL|blocparty.com}}
}}
Russell Lissack is an English musician. He is the lead guitarist of London-based indie rock group Bloc Party, whom he founded with Kele Okereke in 1999. He released a self-titled album with side project Pin Me Down in 2010, and was a touring member of Ash from 2010 to 2011.
Early life
Lissack grew up in Chingford in East London. He had some piano lessons as a child, but did not pursue music until he began guitar lessons at age 16, soon meeting other musicians including Bloc Party co-founder Kele Okereke. He studied at Bancroft's School and did A-levels at Epping Forest College before attending the London South Bank University.{{cite news |last1=Friend |first1=Doreen |title=Son in a million |url=https://www.guardian-series.co.uk/news/718290.son-in-a-million/ |access-date=24 February 2025 |work=Guardian Series |date=3 April 2006}}
Lissack said in 2010 that his interests would switch between dance music and rock music depending on the quality of each genre at any given time. He said that the late 1990s and late 2000s were periods that he found rock to be boring and followed dance music instead.
Musical career
=Bloc Party=
Lissack and Okereke formed Bloc Party at the Reading Festival in 1999,{{cite news |last1=Williams |first1=Jenessa |title='I will outshine them all': the enduring genius of Bloc Party |url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2022/dec/06/i-will-outshine-them-all-the-enduring-genius-of-bloc-party |access-date=24 February 2025 |work=The Guardian |date=6 December 2022}} with the aim of mixing rock and dance. He dropped out of his sociology course to commit to the band, and did not inform his parents of this until the band were successful.{{cite news |last1=Cripps |first1=Charlotte |title=Bloc Party: Rock around the Bloc |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/features/bloc-party-rock-around-the-bloc-526386.html |access-date=24 February 2025 |work=The Independent |date=27 April 2005}} The band released three albums and achieved four entries in the top 10 of the UK Singles Chart before entering hiatus in late 2009, to spend more time with their families.
In April 2011, Lissack announced that Bloc Party were recording new material.{{cite news |last1=Michaels |first1=Sean |title=Bloc Party back together for new album |url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2011/apr/06/bloc-party-new-album |access-date=24 February 2025 |work=The Guardian |date=6 April 2011}} Between the release of Four (2012) and Hymns (2016), bassist Gordon Moakes and drummer Matt Tong left; Lissack said in 2015 that he did not see the band as any different, as he and Okereke were still composing in the same manner.{{cite news |last1=Bambridge |first1=Fred |title=[INTERVIEW] with Russell Lissack of Bloc Party |url=https://www.itsallindie.com/2015/11/interview-with-russell-lissack-of-bloc.html |access-date=24 February 2025 |work=It's All Indie |date=6 November 2015}}
Lissack told Guitar World in 2022 that the group's compositions began with Okereke introducing a chord sequence or other idea, and Lissack adding to or adapting it. He said that effects pedals were the key part of his sound, and that he had used around a hundred of them on most recent album Alpha Games.{{cite news |last1=Scaramanga |first1=Jenna |title=Bloc Party's Russell Lissack: "The effects pedals are the defining part of our sound more than guitars and amps" |url=https://www.guitarworld.com/features/bloc-party-russell-lissack-alpha-games |access-date=24 February 2025 |work=Guitar World |date=2 June 2022}} Lissack used four delay pedals for the introduction to "Like Eating Glass", the opening song on debut album Silent Alarm.{{cite news |title=Gear Rundown: Bloc Party |url=https://mixdownmag.com.au/features/columns/gear-rundown-kele-okereke-and-russell-lissack-of-bloc-party/ |access-date=24 February 2025 |work=Mixdown |date=10 January 2025}} As with Okereke, Lissack's primary instrument in a Fender Telecaster, that he bought from the United States in 2003 upon being signed by Wichita Recordings.
=Pin Me Down=
In 2010, during a hiatus in Bloc Party, Okereke began a solo career and Lissack released a self-titled album with his side project Pin Me Down, alongside American singer Milena Mepris. Lissack and Mepris met on Bloc Party's first U.S. tour and began jamming to Weezer songs. The pair shared their respective music and lyrics by email when separated.{{cite news |last1=Murray |first1=Robin |title=Pin Me Down |url=https://www.clashmusic.com/features/pin-me-down/ |access-date=24 February 2025 |work=Clash |date=28 April 2010}} Robert Cooke of Drowned in Sound praised Lissack as having "the most imaginative guitar playing" of Bloc Party's generation but considered Pin Me Down to be too similar stylistically to the previous band's work, including Silent Alarm.{{cite news |last1=Cooke |first1=Robert |title=Pin Me Down |url=https://drownedinsound.com/releases/15293/reviews/4139690 |access-date=24 February 2025 |work=Drowned in Sound |date=14 April 2010}}
Lissack said in 2015 that Pin Me Down were unlikely to collaborate again, as Mepris was working in television.
=Ash=
In March 2010, Lissack was announced as a touring member of Northern Irish rock group Ash. He had been a fan of the band as a child and had been in a band covering their music.{{cite news |last1=Michaels |first1=Sean |title=Bloc Party's Russell Lissack to play back-up for Ash |url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2010/mar/17/bloc-party-russell-lissack-ash?INTCMP=SRCH |access-date=24 February 2025 |work=The Guardian |date=17 March 2010}} In September, he was hospitalised after being bitten by a lion cub at a nature reserve on tour in South Africa.{{cite news |last1=Michaels |first1=Sean |title=Lion attacks Bloc Party guitarist |url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2010/oct/01/lion-bites-bloc-party-lissack?INTCMP=SRCH |access-date=24 February 2025 |work=The Guardian |date=1 October 2010}} He left Ash in March 2011.{{cite news |last1=Michaels |first1=Sean |title=Bloc Party guitarist rises from the Ash |url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2011/mar/25/bloc-party-guitarist-rises-from-ash |access-date=24 February 2025 |work=The Guardian |date=25 March 2011}} He then told the New Musical Express that he was writing and producing for Japanese duo Heavenstamp, who had sent him music on Myspace.{{cite news |last1=Martin |first1=Daniel |title=Bloc Party's Russell Lissack to work with new Japanese band |url=https://www.nme.com/news/music/bloc-party-82-1301183 |access-date=24 February 2025 |work=New Musical Express |date=9 April 2011}}
References
{{reflist}}
{{Bloc Party}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lissack, Russell}}
Category:People educated at Bancroft's School
Category:Alumni of London South Bank University
Category:English rock guitarists
Category:Musicians from the London Borough of Waltham Forest