The Strokes

From Free net encyclopedia

For other uses of this term, see Stroke (disambiguation).

Template:Infobox band The Strokes are an American rock band that rose to fame in the early 2000s.

1 Early Years and Modern Age EP
2 Is This It
3 Room On Fire
4 First Impressions of Earth
5 Discography
- 5.1 Albums
- 5.2 Singles
6 Samples
7 Influences
8 See also
9 External links

Early Years and Modern Age EP

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 started playing together while attending Manhattan's Dwight School. Later on, Casablancas was sent to Le Rosey, a boarding school in Switzerland. He was sent in order to straighten up his behavior, as it was said that he developed drinking problems at a young age and was consequently doing poorly in school. At Le Rosey, Casablancas became acquainted with Albert Hammond, Jr., since they were both Americans, although they were not particularly good friends because Hammond, Jr. was two years younger. Years later, when Hammond came back to New York to attend New York University's (NYU) Tisch School of the Arts, they became reacquainted and began sharing an apartment together. In 1999, they officially christened themselves the Strokes (after passing up other names like the De Niros and the Motels). Their popularity increased quickly, especially on the Lower East Side of New York. They began to perform at Manhattan's popular 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.

The Strokes began rehearsing, keeping their day jobs (Casablancas is said to be a former bartender, while Hammond worked at Kim's Video) and forming a 10 to 12 song set list which included songs like "Last Nite", "The Modern Age", "This Life" (an early version of "Trying Your Luck"), "New York City Cops", "Soma" and "Someday" among others. Most of these songs now feature different lyrics. During this time they had also dropped several songs from their setlist, which included "Sagganuts," "In Her Prime," "Rhythm Song," "A Minor 4-4," "Elephant Song" (written for Albert Hammond Jr.'s music studies), and three songs with unknown titles. "Rhythm Song," "In Her Prime," and "This Life" were available on an early EP available from Kim's Video and Other Music in 2000.

Gordon Raphael, a small time rock producer of New York's underground rock scene, attended one of the Strokes' early concerts. Years later he admitted 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.

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.

[edit]

Is This It

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 black & white photo of a gloved hand and a woman's artfully discreet yet naked frontside in semiprofile in reference to Spinal Tap's album Smell the Glove. It was 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 independent publications, including 4 stars from Rolling Stone Magazine, and a 9.1 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 CBGB stalwarts Television was noted by many reviewers.

After the release of Is This It, the band toured exhaustively 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. This tour was largely chronicled by a relatively hard-to-find mini-documentary entitled "In Transit," which was released to members of the now-defunct "Alone, Together" fan club. 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 perform 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 knee. Fans later reported this was one of Casablancas's most boring performances due to this fact.

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

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

The group began recording their follow up in 2002 with producer Nigel Godrich (best 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.

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

[edit]

Room On Fire

They released their sophomore album Room on Fire in October 2003, to good reviews, but it was unloved by the public. 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 Spin Magazine for the second time, each member now receiving his own individual cover. They also made the cover of Rolling Stone Magazine for the first time. Additional media coverage of the band has come from the relationship between Moretti and actress Drew Barrymore.

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.

In November of 2003, The Strokes performed each Tuesday night on the show "Late Night with Conan O'Brien". They performed the following songs: "Reptilia", "What Ever Happened", "Under Control" and "The Way It Is".

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 The Clash's "Clampdown" as a cover, having Julian presenting it to the crowds as "a Clash song, called 'Clampdown'". "Clampdown" was released as a b-side in the single "The End Has No End".

Image:NMEOctober1st2005.jpgIn 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.

In early February 2005, Julian Casablancas wed longtime friend and assistant band manager, Juliet Joslin. Around this time, Nikolai Fraiture fathered a daughter.

The Strokes had a three concert South American tour in October 2005, featuring dates at Brazil, Chile and Argentina.

[edit]

First Impressions of Earth

In late September 2005, the first single from the later released album First Impressions of Earth was "Juicebox", which was leaked online and forced the single's release date to be pushed up. The single was then released as an iTunes Music Store exclusive. "Juicebox" became The Strokes' second UK Top 10 hit, as well as their second US Modern Rock Top 10 success.

During November and December 2005 the Strokes did a promotion tour for the then unreleased album First Impressions of Earth. This involved doing one-off shows in major cities around the world; including Tokyo, Sydney, London, Paris, Amsterdam, Stockholm, Berlin, Milan and Madrid. Approximately 300 tickets were made available to each show. Ticketholders either battled the weather, camping outside ticket box offices in the middle of the European winter, or were the winners of radio competitions. These concerts attracted celebrity guests including Oasis, Franz Ferdinand and Jarvis Cocker.

Their third album, First Impressions of Earth, was released in January 2006 to mixed reviews and debuted at Number 4 in the US Album charts, and scored them their first UK Number 1 album. The Strokes revealed that in order to record their third album, they built their own studio located in New York's Hell's Kitchen, and which is formally known as Red Carpet Studios. When asked to comment on the third album, Julian said: "It's like a seedless watermelon. I like it." The band performed for the second time on Saturday Night Live on January 21, 2006, playing "Juicebox" and "You Only Live Once".

January 24th, 2006 marked the first of eighteen sold out shows during their UK tour, which included two dates at the famous Hammersmith Apollo, in which The Strokes played a surprise cover of "Life's A Gas" by The Ramones. Two days after the tour ended, on February 23rd, 2006, The Strokes won "Best International Band" at the NME Awards. Julian Casablancas thanked NME on getting the award, saying "it's still the best music mag around." On February 27th, 2006, The Strokes performed the song "Heart In A Cage" on Letterman in support of the upcoming US Tour. Bruce Willis, who was also a guest that night could be seen nodding his head during the song and stated backstage that he "digs The Strokes." On March 1st, 2006, The Strokes made their return to the United States with their longest tour yet, beginning with three sold out shows at the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York. They have also scheduled seven festival dates in Europe in the Summer of 2006, including the Oxegen Festival in Ireland and the Wireless Festival in England.

The second single off First Impressions of Earth was the song "Heart In A Cage," a song which reminded some critics of "Passenger" by Iggy Pop [1]. Released on March 13, 2006, the CD1 version of the single featured their Ramones cover as a B-side, while the CD2 version featured an early version of the song "You Only Live Once" (previously named "I'll Try Anything Once") and the video for the lead track.

On March 29th, 2006, The Strokes appeared on The Tonight Show and played "You Only Live Once".

[edit]

Discography

[edit]

Albums

Is This It
Release Date:

27 August 2001 (U.K.)
9 October 2001 (U.S.)

Chart Position:

#33 (U.S.)
#2 (U.K.)

Room on Fire
Release Date:

28 October 2003

Chart Position:

#4 (U.S.)
#2 (U.K.)

First Impressions of Earth
Release Date:

3 January 2006

Chart Position:

#4 (U.S.)
#1 (U.K.)

[edit]

Singles

Year	Title	Chart Positions				Album
Year	Title	US Hot 100	US Pop 100	US Modern Rock	UK Singles Chart	Album
2001	The Modern Age EP	-	-	-	#68
2001	Hard to Explain	-	-	#27	#16	Is This It
2001	Last Nite	-	-	#5	#14	Is This It
2001	Someday	-	-	#17	#27	Is This It
2003	12:51	-	-	#15	#7	Room On Fire
2004	Reptilia	-	-	#19	#17	Room On Fire
2004	The End Has No End	-	-	#35	#27	Room On Fire
2005	Juicebox	#98	#65	#9	#5	First Impressions Of Earth
2006	Heart In A Cage	-	-	#21	#25	First Impressions Of Earth