The Story of The Strokes (The Strokes in general)

Member Name: RussellsReviews

Product:	The Strokes in general
Date:	10/04/09 (20 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: New, different, captivating, an incredible journey.

Disadvantages: Third album saw a huge change in sound and attitudes.

Julian Casablancas - Lead Vocals and main songwriter
Albert Hammond Jr. - Guitars
Nick Valensi - Guitars
Nikolai Fraiture - Bass
Fabrizio Moretti - Drums

The Strokes are an Indie Rock band hailing from New York City, forming in 1998 and finding fame only a couple of years later. They were given a huge hype after the release of their Modern Age EP which predated debut album Is This It released in 2001.
The Modern Age EP was raw and ragged and utterly The Strokes. Many of the songs which featured on the EP woulkd turn up on their debut Is It often with different lyrics or structure but basically the same.
On its release there was a scrabble by record labels to get them signed, RCA winning the bid war.
To give you some idea of the sound of The Strokes its interesting to listen to their studio ethic. In interviews of the time Casablancas described all of them going into the studio to record with minimal microphones, he described level meters going red and no one caring; this going some way to describe their back to basic, raw, intrinsically distorted sound which is so fresh when the music scene sounds so polished and processed these days. The band toured relentlessly to critical acclaim, drink and drugs of course were not alien in the dressing room...
In 2002 The Strokes went back into the studio with Is This It producer Gordon Raphael with the outcome Room On Fire in 2003. The album maintained the bands raw, punky, Television inspired edge but with some new influences in the form of odd electronica keyboard like guitar sounds on 12:51, but the message was still the same: bollocks to perfection, this is music in its rawest of forms. It was a good album but looked tired compared to fore runner Is This It.
In 2005 The Strokes song 'Juicebox' was leaked online forcing them to release it early, the album following in early 2006. These new songs saw a massive change in sound. With a new producer the band dropped the distorted vocals and fuzzy production for a more polished final piece. The result had a much more contemporary sound and in my opinion to the detriment of them, it seemed totally against the bands ethic, the reason why I had liked The Strokes in the first place had been utterly destroyed.
The Strokes started work on their fourth album this year, reports say it sounds like 70s rock. Perhaps a return to the sounds of The Strokes of old?
I bloody hope so.

Summary: The Strokes have made quite a journey and a big impact.