2013: Year of the Comeback

Posted February 9, 2013 by J Matthew Cobb in Features

Up for the Down Stroke

Some critics had perceived the lifespan of the Strokes to be very short. They were wrong.

Over the years, the Strokes continue to defy all odds. The inner squabbles, the drugs, the hiatuses; it’s been a part of their conversation for quite some time. And yet in still, the band pushes forward. Back in 2011, when Angles dropped, writer Herione Hoby exposed a positive forecast on the band since the rumors of an eventual band breakup filled the air during their five-year hiatus, especially when lead singer Julian Casablancas and his fellow bandmates – drummer Fab Moretti and bassist Albert Hammond, Jr. – all decided to kick out solo albums.

“Today…there’s no sign of tension, nor any indication that those years of excess have taken their toll,” she writes. “They still look great, if a little less shaggy…Extravagantly side-fiving one another, they seem to hum with a force field of fraternal affection.”

Moretti chimed in, saying that “touring and drinking and doing drugs [had] its very definite toll…physically and mentally.”

Hammond admits it was tough on him, the bad choices, the drugs, the decadence of the rock lifestyle.

“For me it was drugs,” Hammond told The Guardian. “When you’re fucked up you’re just covering something else up. I feel like I’ve never played guitar better. I’ve never actually been better at, like… just being happy because of what I’m accomplishing. I feel lucky, actually, to have these guys and this thing: friendship and music.”

The Strokes soldiered well into 2010 with their return album, Angles. They toured heavily in promotion of the new album, while also releasing tracks (“Under Cover of Darkness,” “Taken for a Fool”) to rock radio. Now the band is more than eager to drop Machine Comedown, their fifth album, on March 25. On the band’s website, the album’s first single, “One Way Trigger,” was posted, while a second single, “All the Time” dropped just a few week’s later. The 11-track album was mostly recorded at New York’s Electric Lady Studios.

According to the father of band guitarist Albert Hammond Jr., he said the stuff they’re doing is incredible.

Lately, the band has taken a quiet road in doing media to help plug the new album. But information is slowly leaking out about what’s to come. Bassist Nikolai Fraiture spoke with BBC Radio 1 and revealed that he had no idea if the band would tour to promote the album, although he’s personally hip to the idea. “I love being in the studio, I love touring, I love doing everything,” he said.

We hope the drugs aren’t totally back in the picture.