The Strokes

The Strokes

THE GENIUS OF THE STROKES
NYC Red-Hot Heroes Analyze the Hype
Next Big Things come and go, some leaving a lasting legacy -- take Beck, for instance -- and some fading faster than last month's temporary tattoo: Sigue Sigue Sputnik, anyone? It's too early to predict whether the Strokes have staying power, but the quartet, which strikes a clever balance between guttersnipe decadence and pretty-boy preening, certainly has no shortage of supporters. From day one, coolly detached frontman Julian Casablancas (whose dad happens to own one of the world's biggest modeling agencies) engendered comparisons to ol' Lou Reed, while his bandmates' collective racket has been likened to all manner of black-turtleneck-clad rockers past. Their debut, Is This It?, is remarkably mature, particularly when you realize the band formed less than two years before cutting the record. And while hearts and influences adorn many a sleeve here, the overall assemblage is darkly compelling indeed. Barnes & Noble.com's David Sprague caught up with bassist Nikolai Fraiture to sort out fact from fiction.

Barnes & Noble.com: For the past several months, the Strokes have gotten a whole lot of hype, and a fair amount of backlash to go with it. Is that easy to divorce yourself from?

Nikolai Fraiture: Oh yeah, definitely, since we were never married to it in the first place. [laughs] At first, you're really interested and read things that are written about you, but after a while, that wears off, and you might read something just for fun. It's never been about looking at the press for guidelines. It's just entertainment to us.

B&N.com: In the space of a little less than two years, you went from playing your first gig to landing a major-label deal to making it onto the cover of magazines. Does it seem like a fast progression to you?

NF: Not really. Maybe even a little bit slow. We've all been playing music for a long time, far longer than we've been playing together, so we knew, individually, what we wanted. We've taken each step as it came along, and I don't think we've skipped any of the steps you're "supposed" to take.

B&N.com: People draw some pretty heady comparisons when it comes to describing your sound, from the Velvet Underground to Television. Are those valid comparisons in your mind?

NF: Honestly, very few of them make sense to me. We acknowledge a debt to the Velvets, although we were never consciously trying to sound like them, but the others I don't see as very accurate. I like it when people bring up names like the Stooges, because we really strive to put across energy, but I think a lot of people just try to find the most obscure thing they can and try it on, which is not what we're about.

B&N.com: The songs on Is This It? are all pretty concise and to the point. Did they come quickly or were they agonized over?

NF: Well, none of them were written in 20 minutes. I've seen bands talk about things working that way, but not for us. Julian will usually come in with a main melody and then we'll get to work on turning it into a song. Sometimes that takes hours; sometimes it takes a week.

B&N.com: Was it a similar thing when it came to getting them down in the studio?

NF: It wasn't like we were harnessing some magic or anything. We wanted to get the songs down the way they sound in our live show, but better, so we didn't play "live in the studio." It was a pretty complicated process, but I think we captured the essence of the songs.

B&N.com: Would you consider the Strokes a "New York" band?

NF: I wouldn't say that. I don't think there's any such thing as a typical New York band.

B&N.com: Do you think cutting your teeth in the city's clubs was a help, though?

NF: The experience probably helped us. It's such a big city with such a diffuse scene that you can play without people knowing who you are. You can play fast and hard and have fun and get off on the anonymity.

B&N.com: And then when you're done, you can go grab a supermodel for the road.

NF: Well... that's never really been part of the picture. Julian's dad didn't have anything to do with the band, and that whole aspect is something we don't pay much attention to. Albert's dad [guitarist Albert Hammond Jr.'s father had some hit singles of his own back in the '70s] gave us some advice, but that's about it. We've done things for ourselves, and we haven't followed a formula. I'd like people to ignore what they've heard about us and listen to the record, and then if they like or dislike it on its own merits, fine.

October 30, 2001