Mercury Lounge: Last News

New York, a city responsible for bands such as The Velvet Underground, Blondie and Ramones, was a cultural wasteland by the late 90s and the wider music scene was pumping out shlock like Limp Bizkit and Hoobastank.

The Strokes, taken during their first publicity shoot, will be on display and available for purchase for the first time.Shot by photographer Leslie Lyons after the New York City band’s Rough Trade Records signing, the photos were featured in the oral history and documentary, Meet Me In The Bathroom.Modern Rocks Gallery in Austin, TX, will be displaying and selling the photos here, with plans to share additional exclusive photos of the shoot. Lyons also shared what happened during The Strokes’ first publicity shoot with the gallery, saying that mid-way through listening to the band’s demo she wanted to “shoot immediately if not sooner.” “I didn’t need to see the band. I could hear what I knew was there, energy, authenticity, poetry,” she added.The band was reluctant to do the shoot at first when she met them in the Lower East Side’s Mercury Lounge.