The Strokes

The Strokes are an American rock and roll band who formed in New York City and gained initial fame for their live shows. Along with other bands early in the millenium, the Strokes helped to launch a revival of a post-punk, "stripped-down" and raw sound, hailed in the media as the return of garage rock.

History

The Strokes formed at a young age, with most of the members connected in some way with lead singer/songwriter Julian Casablancas. Bassist Nikolai Fraiture and Casablancas have been friends since childhood. Guitarist Nick Valensi and drummer Fabrizio Moretti joined Casablancas after they started playing together while attending Manhattan's elite Dwight School. Later on, Casablancas was sent to Le Rosey, a boarding school in Switzerland. He was sent in order to straighten up his behaviour as it was reportedly said that he developed drinking problems at a young age. At Le Rosey, Casablancas befriended with Albert Hammond, Jr. since both had the same interests in music and both were Americans. Years later and back in New York, Casablancas bumped into Hammond, Jr., right on the street, when the latter came to New York to attend New York University's (NYU) Tisch School of the Arts. They became an official band in 1999, and their popularity increased quickly, specially on the Lower East Side of New York. They began to perform at Manhattan's ultra-hip Mercury Lounge, where Ryan Gentles was in charge of booking. Gentles was so impressed by the band that he quit his job in order to become their manager.

Related Topics:
Julian Casablancas - Nikolai Fraiture - Nick Valensi - Fabrizio Moretti - Manhattan's - New York University - Tisch School of the Arts - Lower East Side - Ryan Gentles

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The Strokes begun rehearsing strongly for days, keeping their day jobs (Casablancas is said to be a former bartender) and forming a 10 to 12 song set list which listed songs such as "Last Nite", "Modern Age", "This Life" (currently named "Trying Your Luck"), "New York City Cops", "Soma" and "Someday" among others. Most of these songs now feature different lyrics.

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Gordon Raphael, a small time rock producer of New York's underground rock scene, attended one of the Strokes early concerts, having stated years later that he actually went to watch the other band that played that night. Raphael gave Albert his telephone number, saying he could record a demo for them. After calling him a couple of days later, the band and Raphael finally met.

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The Modern Age (EP) was released in 2001 and sparked a bidding war among record labels, the largest for a rock and roll band in years. Subsequently, The Strokes became the subject of enormous hype, causing a great divide amongst rock fans, albeit mostly hipsters and independent magazines, as to whether they were the saviors of rock and roll or simply a bunch of rich kids, with cool names, ripping off the Velvet Underground.

Related Topics:
The Modern Age - EP - 2001 - Record label - Hipsters - Velvet Underground

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The Strokes released their debut album Is This It in the U.S. in October 2001 on RCA , after delays due to the album's graphic European cover (a photo of a gloved hand and a woman's crotch, changed to a photo of particle collisions in America), and the removal of the song "New York City Cops". "New York City Cops" contains the refrain "New York City Cops, they ain't too smart" in the chorus, which RCA dubbed politically incorrect so soon after the September 11th attacks. The album received very good reviews from both mainstream and independant publications, including 4 stars from Rolling Stone Magazine, and a 9.3 from Pitchfork Media; it made many critics' top ten lists, and was named the best album of the year by Entertainment Weekly. NME, in an article previewing summer concerts, dubbed theirs the one to attend because The Strokes were touring on the strength of some of the "best pop songs ever". The influence of Seventies CGBG stalwarts Television was noted by many reviewers.

Related Topics:
Is This It - 2001 - RCA - September 11th attacks - Rolling Stone Magazine - Pitchfork Media - Television

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After the release of Is This It, the band toured exhaustingly all around the world, featuring dates in Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Europe, Canada and North America, staging for the Rolling Stones. The band headlined UK's Reading Festival in 2002. In august 2002, the band played at New York's Radio City Music Hall with the White Stripes as supporting act. In that gig, Jack White joined the Strokes on stage to perfom the guitar solo in the song "New York City Cops". Julian performed while sitting on a chair as a result of an injury suffered in his ankle. Fans later reported this was one of Casablancas's most boring performances due to this fact.

Related Topics:
Reading Festival - Radio City Music Hall

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During that period, the band also appeared as musical guest on Saturday Night Live (performing Last Nite and Hard to Explain), Jay Leno, Conan O'brien and David Letterman.

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Is This It featured several singles as well as video clips, all of which were directed by Francis Ford Coppola's son, Roman Coppola (also Sofia Coppola's brother). Albert, during the live "Last Nite" video, can be seen accidentaly stumbling into the drum's microphones. He then stops playing for a few seconds to redress the mic.

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The group began recording their followup in 2002 with famed producer Nigel Godrich (most well known for his work with Radiohead), but later split with him in favor of Gordon Raphael, the producer of Is This It. Recordings with Godrich were never revealed.

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In August 2003 the band toured Japan, playing a couple of the upcomings songs: "Reptilia", "Between Love & Hate" (formerly known as "Ze Newie") and "12:51" (also called "Supernova"). The band also played Frank Sinatra's "My Way" with Japanese lyrics.

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They released their sophomore album Room on Fire in October 2003, to solid but not overwhelming reviews. The album's sound maintained the Strokes' familiar reference points, while also evoking groups such as The Cars. In the process, they made the cover of Rolling Stone for the second time. They also made the cover of Spin. Additional media coverage of the band has come from the relationship between Moretti and actress Drew Barrymore.

Related Topics:
Room on Fire - 2003 - The Cars - Drew Barrymore

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Their first single off Room on Fire was the song "12:51" which features keyboard-like sounds produced by Valensi's guitar. The video was also directed by Roman Coppola and is inspired by the futuristic look of Tron (film).

Related Topics:
Room on Fire - Tron (film)

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During the 2003/2004 "Room on Fire Tour", the band played with Kings of Leon as support act and Regina Spektor. While on tour, Spektor and the Strokes recorded the song "Modern Girls & Old Fashioned Men", released as a b-side featured in the Reptilia Single. Also during the tour, the band included Clash's Clampdown as a cover, having Julian presenting it to the crowds as "a class song, called Clampdown". Clampdown was released as a b-side in the single "The End Has No End".

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In late 2004, The Strokes revealed plans to release a live album. The Live in London LP was planned for release in October, 2004, but was abandoned, reportedly due to recording quality problems. The chosen gig was one held at the legendary Alexandra Palace in north London.

Related Topics:
Live in London - October - 2004 - Alexandra Palace - London

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Currently, they are working on a third album tentatively titled "First Impressions of Earth", due January 2006. The Strokes revealed that in order to record their third album, they built their own studio in New York.

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Song titles include "Evening Sun", "Juicebox", "You Only Live Once", "Razor Blade", "Vision of Divison", "Ask Me Anything", "Heart In A Cage", "Killing Lies", "Eyes Of The World", and "Fear Of Sleep". When asked to comment on the third album, Julian said: "It's like a seedless watermelon. I Like it.".

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The Strokes have announced a South American tour scheduled for October 2005, featuring dates at Brazil, Chile and Argentina. They are also planning a 2006 United States and United Kingdom tour.

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In late September of 2005, the first single from First Impressions of Earth, "Juicebox", was leaked onto the notorious Alt. Rock radio station in Seattle, KNDD. The song recieved airplay and was #1 on the top 10 countdown for 3 nights. "Juicebox" also leaked onto a modern rock radio station in Victoria. It sees them moving away from their classic sound, with a rockier and more beefily produced sound.

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