At WLTL we listen to many different types of music along with the usual variety rock. Our staff enjoys genres from reggae to metal, and everything in between. One group from the in-between category is The Strokes.
In 1998 teenagers Julian Casablancas, Nick Valensi, Nikolai Fraiture, Fabrizio Moretti, and Albert Hamond Jr. started the strokes as a group of friends in New York. The band rehearsed together and performed songs together such as: “Someday”, “New York City cops” “Alone, Together”, “The Modern Age”, and one of their biggest hits to come, “Last Nite”. The Strokes started to attract a lot of attention from British Media. Amongst this success they released their debut studio album “Is This It” on July 30, 2001.
“Is This It” would later become commercially and critically acclaimed, becoming number 114 on Rolling Stones magazine’s 500 greatest albums of all time. The success of this album paved the way for a new generation of rock bands such as Arctic Monkeys.
The Strokes tried to replicate the success of “Is This It’ with four more albums before taking a five year hiatus because of many issues regarding solo projects and sobriety. They came back from the hiatus in 2011 with the release of the album “Angles”.
The Strokes teased songs after this such as “The Adults are Talking” and “Ode to the Mets” suggesting an album to come. In April 2020, the album “The New Abnormal” was released including both of the aforementioned songs but also my personal favorite song by The Strokes “Brooklyn Bridge to Chorus”.
The Strokes are not currently on tour, and have no current plans for shows in 2023. The last three of their concerts were in Europe and before that they were performing with the Red Hot Chili Peppers. They haven’t performed for two months, and not in Chicago for more than a year. The Strokes tour mostly with Kings of Leon and have played the most concerts in Los Angeles at 74 total concerts. Hopefully they will come back to Chicago sooner than later so I can see them in person.
Some fun facts about The Strokes are that their first release was actually a free MP3 of Last Nite that was released on NME.com. Albert Hammond Jr’s father, Albert Hammond Sr was a successful songwriter, writing songs for Whitney Houston and Starship. Casablancas and Hammond grew up fairly wealthy, however bassist Nikolai Fratirue did not. His father worked at a Macy’s department store and actually caught Nikolai stealing a Star Wars doll of Luke Skywalker from the exact Macy’s he worked at.
Listen to The Strokes on 88.1 FM!
Also check out The New Abnormal: https://open.spotify.com/album/2xkZV2Hl1Omi8rk2D7t5lN
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