Gordon Peter Moakes is an English musician, best known as the

bassist A bassist (also known as a bass player or bass guitarist) is a musician who plays a Bass (instrument), bass instrument such as a double bass (upright bass, contrabass, wood bass), bass guitar (electric bass, acoustic bass), synthbass, keyboar ...

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...

band

Young Legionnaire Young Legionnaire are a British band formed in 2009. Since 2010, the band's lineup has consisted of founders Paul Mullen (of The Automatic, formerly of yourcodenameis:milo) and Gordon Moakes (formerly of Bloc Party) alongside drummer Dean Pe ...

and former member of

indie rock Indie rock is a Music subgenre, subgenre of rock music that originated in the United States, United Kingdom and New Zealand from the 1970s to the 1980s. Originally used to describe independent record labels, the term became associated with the mu ...

band

Bloc Party Bloc Party are an English Rock music, rock band, composed of Kele Okereke (lead vocals, rhythm guitar, keyboards, sampler), Russell Lissack (lead guitar, keyboards), Justin Harris (bass guitar, keyboards, saxophones, backing vocals) and Loui ...

Bloc Party

Moakes became a member of

after responding to an advertisement placed in the ''

NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming, and culture website and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a 'rock inkie', the NME would become a magazine that ended up as a f ...

'' music magazine by

Kele Okereke Rowland Kelechukwu Okereke (born 13 October 1981), also known mononymously as Kele, is an English singer, songwriter, and musician. He is best known as the lead singer and rhythm guitarist of the indie rock band Bloc Party. Early life Okere ...

and

Russell Lissack Bloc Party are an English rock band, composed of Kele Okereke (lead vocals, rhythm guitar, keyboards, sampler), Russell Lissack (lead guitar, keyboards), Justin Harris (bass guitar, keyboards, saxophones, backing vocals) and Louise Bartle ( ...

, who were seeking a

. Although not originally a bassist, Moakes was the only player the band auditioned who was able to play the

bassline Bassline (also known as a bass line or bass part) is the term used in many styles of music, such as blues, jazz, funk, Dub music, dub and electronic music, electronic, traditional music, traditional, or classical music for the low-pitched Part ( ...

for a song that Okereke and Lissack had presented. In 2002, Moakes, Lissack, and Okereke formed the first incarnation of

– then known as The Angel Range – and played shows across

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

. Moakes also ran and updated the band's

website A website (also written as a web site) is a collection of web pages and related content that is identified by a common domain name and published on at least one web server. Examples of notable websites are Google Search, Google, Facebook, Amaz ...

at the time. Moakes shared co-writing credits with Okereke on some of the band's earlier lyrics. In the early days of the band, he contributed lyrics mostly to the band's more political songs, and he composed the song "Diet". Moakes added new instruments to his repertoire on

's second and third albums, ''

A Weekend in the City ''A Weekend in the City'' is the second studio album by British indie rock band Bloc Party. It was recorded at Grouse Lodge Studios in Westmeath, Ireland, in mid-2006 and was produced by Jacknife Lee. The album was refined and mixed at severa ...

'' and ''

Intimacy An intimate relationship is an interpersonal relationship that involves physical or emotional intimacy. Although an intimate relationship is commonly a sexual relationship, it may also be a non-sexual relationship involving family, friends, or ...

'' respectively. He played

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

on "Sunday",

electronic drum Electronic drums is a modern electronic musical instrument, primarily designed to serve as an alternative to an acoustic drum kit. Electronic drums consist of an electronic sound module which produces the synthesized or sampled percussion sounds ...

s on "Ares",

glockenspiel The glockenspiel ( or , : bells and : set) or bells is a percussion instrument consisting of pitched aluminum or steel bars arranged in a keyboard layout. This makes the glockenspiel a type of metallophone, similar to the vibraphone. The glo ...

on "Waiting for the 7.18" and "SRXT" and a microKORG

synthesizer A synthesizer (also spelled synthesiser) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis and ...

on "

Flux Flux describes any effect that appears to pass or travel (whether it actually moves or not) through a surface or substance. Flux is a concept in applied mathematics and vector calculus which has many applications to physics. For transport ph ...

". His voice can be heard in many of the band's songs, often in contrast with Okereke's lead vocals. Moakes remixed the band's song "

Talons A claw is a curved, pointed appendage found at the end of a toe or finger in most amniotes (mammals, reptiles, birds). Some invertebrates such as beetles and spiders have somewhat similar fine, hooked structures at the end of the leg or tarsus ...

" from their album ''

''. It was featured as a part of the single download as well as appearing as the B-side to its vinyl release. In 2015, confirmed that he had left the band to focus on

. He was replaced by Justin Harris later in the year. Moakes currently resides in Austin, Texas.

Other works

Moakes worked with yourcodenameis:milo on the track "Wait a Minute" from the album '' Print Is Dead Vol 1''. "Wait a Minute" was released on a limited edition 7" single on 4 October 2006. Moakes designed the cover art. In December 2009, Moakes, Paul Mullen (vocalist and guitarist of

The Automatic The Automatic (also known as The Automatic Automatic in the U.S.) was a Welsh rock band. The band's last-known lineup was composed of Robin Hawkins on vocals, bass and synthesisers, James Frost on guitar, synthesisers, backing vocals and occas ...

) and William Bowerman (drummer of

La Roux La Roux ( ) is an English synthpop act formed in 2008 by singer Elly Jackson and record producer Ben Langmaid. The act's debut album ''La Roux'' (2009) was a critical and commercial success, winning a Grammy Award and producing hit singles suc ...

) worked in the studio together on a new side project, with

on hiatus and both

and

inactive over the

Christmas Christmas is an annual festival commemorating Nativity of Jesus, the birth of Jesus, Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people Observance of Christmas by country, around t ...

break. In January 2010, the group were revealed to be named Young Legionnaire and were set to play their first show at the end of January in

.3 days recording with an exciting new side project starting tomorrow with @paulmullen and Gordon Moakes
william bowerman, twitter, 13 December 2009

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Moakes, Gordon English rock bass guitarists Male bass guitarists Bloc Party members People from Newport Pagnell 1976 births Living people People educated at Ousedale School 21st-century English bass guitarists