Matt Tong

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Matt Tong
Background information
Born	April 29, 1979 (age 27) Bournemouth, United Kingdom
Instrument(s)	drums
Associated acts	Bloc Party

Matt Tong (born April 29, 1979 in Bournemouth, UK) is the drummer for English art rock band Bloc Party. He is Half Chinese and Half English.

From an early age Matt was very musical and his first instrument was the piano. From here his musical talent blossomed and he went on to play guitar and finally by 11 the drums. At the time practicing the drums proved difficult for Matt, because at this time the he did not own a drum kit so he had to make do learning for 20 minutes a week during his lessons. By the age of 16 Matt finally acquired his own drum kit.

Later Matt moved from Bournemouth to London to further his education and received a degree in Philosophy from the Thames Valley University. At the same time he also looked for a band to join, initially intending to play guitar. He never found a band that appealed to him because they all missed the important ingredient of a drummer. Matt, feeling very frustrated about this, completely devoted himself to the drums.

About a year after having met at work, Matt was asked by work colleague Kele Okereke if he would like to try out for his band. Matt agreed and later met up with Kele and other members Russell Lissack and Gordon Moakes. Kele, Russell and Gordon were very specific in what they wanted from a drummer and 8 drummers had already come and gone. Matt then sat at the drum kit and what they heard according to the three was "Magic, It's a sound we thought could possibly never exist"^{[citation needed]}, and there and then Bloc Party was formed. One of the first things people notice about Matt is his thick glasses - he is almost completely blind without them and describes searching for them in the morning as a complicated business!^{[citation needed]}

On November 9, 2006, Matt was hospitalised after suffering a collapsed lung while on tour accompanying Panic! At the Disco. He is under observation and according to the Bloc Party website, he is in a "comfortable position and not in any danger", but will not be ready to play for several weeks. Thus, Bloc Party was forced to leave the tour.