The Strokes Reflect on Their 'Sea of Drugs, Resentment and Anger'

Posted on Mar 18th 2011 4:45PM by Tom Davenport
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David Becker, WireImage

The Strokes have opened up about their five-year hiatus, and have even hinted that a second new album could follow the forthcoming 'Angles' inside 2011.

In an interview with Shortlist, the band explained how hard it became to control their meteoric rise through fame. "We hit a wall as a band and we stopped communicating," guitarist Albert Hammond Jr. told the magazine. "I just hid under a sea of drugs and resentments and anger and had to figure them out for me as a human being."

Drummer Fabrizio Moretti began by reflecting on the stresses of their rockstar lifestyle. "Like any other family, there's happiness and there's strife. But that's just being human. It's one thing to punch in the clock and have to deal with people you work with. It's another to have to deal with those people and be creative with them.

"It never came to blows. Just shouting matches," added bassist Nikolai Fraiture.

It seems the band weren't always on the same page with regards to getting back on their feet and reforming. At the suggestion that Julian Casablancas was the glue that prevented a permanent split, he described his perspective: "I would say I tried to be the voice of reason. I think there are some people in the band who, even if they were in the hospital, would want to do a record. But people weren't all there."

As the story goes, there was a lot of stopping and starting with new recording sessions. Some members first returned to the studio in 2007, but after three attempts, it became clear a longer break was required to build back their relationships.

"We'd all see each other every couple of months," said Hammond. "We started slowly doing the communication which led to us needing to be away from each other to let it all sink in. You can't force that. We had to build a new foundation – The Strokes 2.0.

"We're not 18 any more, man. Things change, as they should. And thank God. If we were 28 and still acting like we were 18? That's not who I want to be. It was either teetotal or death. Otherwise I wouldn't have done it. Drinking was never a problem, but it got pretty bad with drugs."

Valensi said they have plenty of tracks were waiting in line for. "We have a lot of music stockpiled so, in terms of content, we're in a good place right now. If I had it my way, we'd have another album out by the end of this year."

Watch the Video for the Strokes' 'Under Cover of Darkness'