The Strokes

Alongside the White Stripes, the Strokes became one of the defining acts of the early-2000s garage-rock revival, offering a leaner alternative to the rap-rock and nu-metal dominating mainstream guitar music. The New York group took shape in 1998 around singer Julian Casablancas, guitarists Nick Valensi and Albert Hammond Jr., bassist Nikolai Fraiture, and drummer Fabrizio Moretti. Casablancas, Valensi, and Moretti had played together while attending Manhattan’s Dwight School, Fraiture was a childhood friend of Casablancas, and Hammond had first met the singer at boarding school in Switzerland. After establishing themselves in clubs around New York’s Lower East Side, the band attracted the attention of Rough Trade, which released The Modern Age EP in the UK in 2001. Their first single, “Hard to Explain,” reached number 16 on the UK Singles Chart, while their debut album, Is This It, climbed to number two in Britain later that year. Built around economical arrangements, interlocking guitars, and Casablancas’ detached vocals, the album also produced “Last Nite” and became one of the decade’s most influential rock records. The Strokes followed it with Room on Fire in 2003, featuring “Reptilia,” “12:51,” and “Meet Me in the Bathroom,” before broadening their sound on First Impressions of Earth. Released in 2006, the album topped the UK chart and included “Juicebox” and “Heart in a Cage.” After several years devoted partly to individual projects, the group returned with Angles in 2011, which reached number four in the US, and the comparatively understated Comedown Machine in 2013. The latter received little promotion and was not supported by a tour, while Casablancas subsequently appeared on Daft Punk’s “Instant Crush.” The Strokes resurfaced with the EP Future Present Past in 2016 and announced their sixth album during a 2020 rally for US presidential candidate Bernie Sanders. Produced by Rick Rubin, The New Abnormal arrived two months later and included “At the Door,” “Bad Decisions,” and “The Adults Are Talking.” The record earned the band its first Grammy Award, winning Best Rock Album in 2021. After returning to large-scale touring and compiling early singles and B-sides on The Singles – Volume 01 in 2023, the Strokes headlined Austin City Limits in 2025. In 2026, they performed at Coachella and launched an international tour before releasing their seventh album, Reality Awaits, on July 24 through Cult and RCA. Again produced by Rubin, the record was introduced by “Going Shopping” and “Falling Out of Love” and combined the group’s intertwined guitars with a more pronounced use of synthesizers, processed vocals, and experimental pop textures.