The Strokes: Last News

Albert Hammond Jr has spoken to NME about his new hip-hop-inspired single ‘100-99’, his upcoming solo album ‘Melodies On Hiatus’, working with Arctic Monkeys‘ Matt Helders, and progress on The Strokes’ next record.The guitarist and singer-songwriter shared his latest solo track earlier this week (April 4) and announced details of the new record – which will be his fifth solo album and the follow-up to 2018’s ‘Francis Trouble’.The LP’s first single finds Hammond Jr combining a beat inspired by ‘90s hip-hop and a glacial guitar melody as he sings: “I’m not safe / I’ve made mistakes, I would again / In spite of what it cost me.” It’s a merging of styles that he has wanted to try out for some years.“I’d write riffs and think, ‘I can imagine that looped with a beat and someone rapping over it’,” he told NME. “This song just happened to work [like that].

The Strokes’ Albert Hammond Jr has announced a new solo album ‘Melodies On Hiatus’ and shared lead single ‘100-99’. Check it out below.The LP marks the fifth solo album for the guitarist and songwriter, following on from his 2018 release ‘Francis Trouble’.

IDLES, Slowthai, Arca and more have been announced for Cala Mijas festival 2023.Other named added to the Spanish festival’s line-up include Belle & Sebastian, Moderat, Charlie Cunningham and José González, who will perform debut album ‘Veneer’. They join the previously announced Florence + The Machine, Arcade Fire, The Strokes, Foals, Amyl & The Sniffers, Delaporte and The Blaze.This year’s festival on the Costa Del Sol will take place from August 31 to September 2, where the likes of Metronomy, Acid Arab, Ethel Cain, Pabllo Vittar, I.Jordan and Siouxsie will also perform.

NME has announced details of NME Screens – a new global series of events that creates exclusive film and TV experience’s for NME‘s millions of entertainment fans, and kicks off with a celebration of Meet Me In The Bathroom.The series will see NME partner with studios, distributors and streamers across the world to curate exclusive free preview screenings of new theatrical, streamer and VOD releases.Finally hitting UK cinemas on March 10, Meet Me In The Bathroom is an immersive journey through the game-changing New York music scene of the early ’00s, following bands like The Strokes, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Interpol and LCD Soundsystem.The new NME Screens series will host the first UK theatrical screening of the highly-anticipated documentary at London’s Rich Mix in Shoreditch on Thursday March 9, and will be followed by an afterparty soundtracked by era-defining ’00s bangers and with exclusive NME merch. Tickets are free and available for pre-sign-up now via DICE.“NME’s global audiences are watching more films and TV shows than ever, which is why it’s the perfect time to launch NME Screens, connecting those audiences with exclusive screenings of the best new films and shows on earth,” said NME Networks’ Head Of Marketing Benedict Ransley.“We’re thrilled to launch NME Screens with the exceptional Meet Me In The Bathroom, and thank our friends at Universal Pictures Content Group for their support and collaboration.

Damon Albarn has revealed that after Gorillaz’ divisive Glastonbury headline set in 2010, Kate Bush phoned to tell him it was “one of the best shows she’d ever seen”.Last night (February 23), Albarn and visual artist Jamie Hewlett sat down for a Q+A session with comedian Alan Carr for Banquet Records, attended by NME.Taking to the stage at former-cinema-turned-nightclub Pryzm in Kingston, Albarn explained that “Glastonbury was very memorable because it was so different to any other performance that had been before us”.“We wanted to just be, and not do the normal schtick of ‘hello Glastonbury, how are you all feeling?’ We wanted to just do our thing,” he continued.Gorillaz were last-minute replacements for U2 who had to postpone their appearance after Bono injured his back. Albarn returned to the iconic festival with Gorillaz one year after topping the bill with Blur.“I realised halfway through the Gorillaz set that the audience had no idea who some of the guests that we were bring onstage were, because I wasn’t introducing them,” he said of the set that included the likes of Bobby Womack, Bootie Brown, De La Soul, Lou Reed, Happy Mondays‘ Shaun Ryder, The Fall‘s Mark E.

Daft Punk have announced a 10th anniversary expanded edition of their final album ‘Random Access Memories’.The reissue features 35 minutes of outtakes and unheard demos across nine tracks. It will be available across various formats including 3 LPs, 2 CDs, streaming platforms and additionally a spatial audio (Atmos) mix of the original album will be made available for the first time.It will be released on May 12 and can be pre-ordered here.

Meet Me In The Bathroom. Watch it exclusively on NME above.Finally hitting UK cinemas on March 10, Meet Me In The Bathroom is an immersive journey through the game-changing New York music scene of the early ’00s, following bands like The Strokes, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Interpol and LCD Soundsystem.Set against the backdrop of 9/11, the film tells the story of how a new generation of artists kick-started a musical rebirth for New York City that reverberated around the world – and is based upon rock journalist Lizzy Goodman’s celebrated 600-page oral history of the scene from 2017.The film version of the book, directed by Dylan Southern and Will Lovelace – who made LCD Soundsystem‘s Shut Up And Play The Hits documentary and concert movie – features interviews, live footage and never before seen archive footage from those who spearheaded the scene.“What’s more important? A good sound or a good time?” Karen O of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs asks bandmate Nick Zinner in the clip.

Julian Casablancas has shared an update on the progress of The Strokes’ seventh album.His comments follow producer Rick Rubin revealing during an appearance on The Joe Rogan Experience, that he’s working on a new album with the band, having recently completed a recording session with them in Costa Rica.“Killed it on Joe Rogan,” Casablancas wrote. “True, Strokes’ve jammed and started some stuff, but we’re still so extremely v far off from being even close to any kinda remotely-near-doneness.”He went to write, “Enjoy this clip of the greatest (and hottest) of all time, as temporary solace Lil Richard” in the emoji-filled caption of the post, which featured a video of the singer.Casablancas added: “Lotta jumping to conclusions, “check back in a year or [two] honestly.”A post shared by Julian Casablancas (@minorbutmajor)Yesterday (October 12) saw Rubin appear on Joe Rogan’s podcast, where he spoke about upcoming projects.

Rick Rubin has revealed that he’s working on a new album with The Strokes, having recently completed a recording session with them in Costa Rica.Yesterday (October 12) saw Rubin appear on The Joe Rogan Experience, where he spoke about some of his upcoming projects. Referring to The Strokes’ seventh album – which is yet to be announced or acknowledged by the band – he said: “A few months ago I was in Costa Rica, recording a new album with The Strokes, and we rented this house up on the top of a mountain and set the band up outside.“So they’re playing… It’s like they’re doing a concert for the ocean, on the top of a mountain.

Damon Albarn has revealed that Gorillaz‘ forthcoming collaboration with Stevie Nicks was originally meant to sung by Julian Casablancas.The animated band enlisted the Fleetwood Mac star for the song ‘Oil’, which will appear on their forthcoming eighth album ‘Cracker Island’.Nicks recently spoke in an interview about her experience of becoming “an honorary Gorilla” on the Greg Kurstin-produced track.“I can’t wait till it comes out because I’m so proud of it,” she said.During a new conversation on Apple Music 1, Albarn explained that ‘Oil’ came together “very quickly” as he had previously recorded a demo version in London. However, he’d initially set his sights on The Strokes‘ frontman as a guest vocalist.“At first I was thinking of Casablancas for the voice, but that didn’t work out,” Albarn said.

‘Meet Me In The Bathroom’, the documentary based on Lizzy Goodman’s book of the same name. Watch the preview of the film below.‘Meet Me In The Bathroom’, Goodman’s 600-page oral history detailing the 00’s New York music scene was released back in 2017.

King Princess brought out Julian Casablancas to cover a Strokes classic at her New York gig this week – see footage below.Mikaela Straus headlined the legendary Radio City Music Hall in her hometown on Monday (October 3) in support of new album ‘Hold On Baby’, and welcomed a special guest to the stage.“We’re in New York, huh? We’re in my hometown,” King Princess told the crowd during the show. “So maybe it’s only fitting that we play a song by the Strokes.“I mean, I don’t know.

The Strokes played an intimate gig at The Glasshouse in Chelsea last night (September 8), as part of a New York Fashion Week kick-off event for designer Heron Preston and Bose. Watch moments from the show and view the setlist below.Following a DJ set by Preston, the Manhattan band started their performance with a quick jam session as frontman Julian Casablancas told the crowd “this is our sound check right here” before launching into ‘The Modern Age’.“I didn’t know about fashion week,” Casablancas also joked during the set.

Fleet Foxes performed a cover of The Strokes’ 2003 song ‘Under Control’.The band played to roughly 13,000 fans at the Forest Hills Stadium on Saturday (August 13), where they were supported by Nigerian singer-songwriter Uwade. She joined Robin Pecknold and co. for their Strokes cover – as well as three other songs in their career-spanning setlist – which came as part of an “encore” that ran for more a third as long as the rest of the show.Oddly, too, Fleet Foxes weren’t the only act to cover ‘Under Control’ at show in New York last weekend.

Blood Orange covered a classic song by The Strokes at his recent underplay show at New York’s Baby’s All Right – scroll down the page to watch footage of the performance now.Dev Hynes’ project performed at the small Brooklyn venue on Friday (August 12), ahead of joining Harry Styles as support at Madison Square Garden later this month.During the gig, Hynes and his band played from the middle of the venue as opposed to the stage, with the crowd – which included Lorde and Tyler, The Creator – gathering around them. At some point in the setlist, Blood Orange launched into a cover of The Strokes’ ‘Under Control’, which originally appeared on the New York band’s 2003 album ‘Room On Fire’.The cover saw Hynes swap vocals with one of his band as the audience sang along with them.

Pearl Jam’s Eddie Vedder joined The Strokes on stage in Seattle this week.The band were opening for Red Hot Chili Peppers when Vedder joined them for a rendition of ‘Juicebox’.Vedder has long been a fan of the song, which appeared on The Strokes’ 2005 album, ‘First Impressions Of Earth’. The grunge frontman previously joined the New York band on stage back in 2019, when they performed ‘Juicebox’ and Pearl Jam’s ‘Hard To Imagine’.He’d called it one of his “favourite” songs and has previously recalled telling The Strokes’ frontman Julian Casablancas how much he liked the song.Casablancas admitted later that it was inspired by Pearl Jam’s ‘Not for You.’“I would have had no idea, I still don’t really hear it… I think it’s totally original,” Vedder said.

The Strokes performed their 2013 song ‘Welcome To Japan’ for the first time in six years.Sandwiched between ‘Hard To Explain’ (from the band’s 2001 debut ‘Is This It’) and ‘What Ever Happened?’ (from 2003’s ‘Room On Fire’), the cut surprised fans in attendance, given that Julian Casablancas and co. hadn’t featured it in their setlist since 2016. They played it twice that year, and incidentally, one of those performances was also in Australia, at that year’s Splendour In The Grass festival.As pointed out by Reddit user Clarkey101, last night’s show was also memorable for being The Strokes’ first performance to feature songs from all six of their studio albums as well as 2016’s ‘Future Present Past’ EP.

Beabadoobee has shared a cover of The Strokes‘ ‘The Adults Are Talking’ as part of a deluxe edition of new album ‘Beatopia’.‘Beatopia’ was released today (July 15) via Dirty Hit, and the deluxe version – titled ‘The Antidote Version’ – is available as an Apple Music exclusive.Alongside the regular album are live versions of three tracks from ‘Beatopia’, as well as the Strokes cover.‘The Adults Are Talking’ appeared on the legendary New York band’s 2020 album ‘The New Abnormal’.Listen to Beabadoobee’s version of the track below.Reviewing ‘Beatopia’, NME said: “What started as a place that existed only as an escapist haven in the imagination of a seven-year-old Bea – a drawing of which was once mocked by a “dickhead” teacher in front of the class – now serves as a “feeling” of acceptance and openness.“Finally stopping to smell the flowers, the singer serenely dawdles through ‘Beatopia’s 14 tracks, an album which feels like watching a hazy cloud float by on a balmy spring day. This sense of contentment trickles into the folksy, communal chant of ‘Beatopia Cultsong’, while similarly blissful melodies can be found in the glistening guitar chords of ‘fairy song’ and classical strings of ‘Ripples’.”The singer-songwriter is due to hit the road for a UK and Ireland tour in the autumn, kicking off at the Olympia Theatre in Dublin on October 4 before wrapping at the O2 Brixton Academy on October 19.

The Strokes covered Clairo during their set at NOS Alive 2022 last night (July 6) after the singer-songwriter cancelled her appearance at the festival.Clairo had been scheduled to perform at the Lisbon event yesterday, but was forced to pull out due to a flight cancellation. “Hope you guys understand & I’m truly sorry,” she wrote in a statement on Instagram.Later, The Strokes jammed out a version of ‘Sofia’ from Clairo’s 2019 debut album ‘Immunity’ in tribute to the absent musician.

The Strokes frontman Julian Casablancas has responded to criticism that emerged after the band’s headlining performance at this year’s Roskilde festival.The band performed at Roskilde last Saturday (July 2), closing out the Danish festival’s four-day roster. According to setlist.fm, their set – which consisted of 14 songs – started half an hour behind schedule and featured “lots of erratic and endless banter from Casablancas”. Punters on the ground were less reserved in their assessments, with one writing on Twitter that Casablancas appeared “stiffer than a student on a wagon ride”.

Julian Casablancas has called The Smile’s set at this year’s Primavera Sound the “best show I’ve seen in years”.Radiohead and The Strokes were both performing last night (June 10) as part of the Barcelona festival’s second weekend.Casablancas shared a short video of The Smile – comprised of Radiohead’s Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood, and Sons Of Kemet’s Tom Skinner – playing on his Instagram page. “Had my fucking mind blown yesterday, best show i’ve seen in YEARS ……The Smile (Thom Yorke / Johnny Greenwood) – shiiiiiiit that was good,” he captioned the post.“Like modern phillip glass with best of Radiohead or something… idk,” he continued.