Labels: Cornmeal, Phish, Steve Kimock, Steve Molitz, The Strokes, U-Melt

By: David Schultz

If you made your way to Irving Plaza last night intending to see Lenny Kravitz as part of his weeklong residency as part of his tour to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the release of Let Love Rule, you were greeted with a brief, polite statement announcing the cancellation of the show. Due to an illness, Kravitz was unable to perform. If Live Nation can be trusted (and on this, I think we can), the show has been rescheduled for next Thursday, October 22.

JUST IN TIME TO CASH in on the upcoming onslaught of praise for The Strokes' 2001 debut, Is This It, in the impending slew of Best of the 2000 lists, on November 3, lead singer Julian Casablancas will release his solo debut, Phrazes For The Young. With Albert Hammond, Jr. having released a solo album, Nikolai Fraiture spending time with Nickel Eye and Fabrizio Morretti's success with Little Joy, we're probably more likely to see Nick Valensi engage in his own project than see a 4th Strokes album.

Labels: Lenny Kravitz, The Strokes

By: David Schultz

After years of giving audiences fierce, stadium-shaking renditions of "Born To Run," Bruce Springsteen switched gears in the late eighties, offering instead a sparse acoustic reading of his classic rock anthem. Crowds had mixed feelings towards Springsteen's softer, more introspective interpretation. Most fans relished the new arrangement, enjoying a version that differed greatly from the studio recording. Others, albeit a small minority, felt a twinge of disappointment, wondering if they were shortchanged by not getting to hear "Born To Run" in the form and fashion to which they've become accustomed. Such is the quandary for any fan when presented with an alternative take on a beloved but familiar tune. Anyone sympathizing with the latter group will find rapture with The Strokes' live show and delight in their 2006 tour as they forthrightly deliver exactly what their records promise.

Proving the old adage that there's no place like home, The Strokes kicked off their tour in support of their third album, First Impressions Of Earth, with three shows for their hometown fans at New York City's Hammerstein Ballroom. While every Strokes discussion seems to involve a grudging concession of the band's enduring success, even their biggest detractors must grant that The Strokes have expertly honed their ability to craft crisp three minute songs with energetic vocals and pulsing, pseudo-hypnotic guitar riffs. Feeling no need to repair what they haven't broken, The Strokes do not rearrange, expand or reinterpret their songs during their live shows. In fact, they reproduce their songs with such skill that, in the absence of seeing them on stage, you might be tempted to wonder if there was some Ashlee Simpsonish chicanery afoot.

The set list provides few surprises. While the band's image seems to belie a chart-conscious sensibility, they gratifyingly included all of their more popular songs. In replicating each song, practically to the note, The Strokes enhanced their greatest strengths but also magnified their most glaring weaknesses. In a testament to the production values of their albums, lead singer Julian Casablancas' voice sounds every bit as strong on stage as it does in the studio. Nick Valensi, Albert Hammond, Jr. and Nikolai Fraiture deliver the uncomplicated but hard-hitting guitar riffs without diverging from the tight knit structure of the song. However, their ability to stay true to their material also highlights their rigidity as musicians, seemingly unwilling, or possibly unable, to take a song in a different direction. On thing for sure, anyone unequivocally in love with The Strokes' studio recordings will find no qualms with their current stage show.

The Strokes refusal to improvise falls far short of becoming an issue in light of the visceral punch their music provides. Focusing primarily on Is This It and First Impressions Of Earth, the show began with First Impressions' opening track, "You Only Live Once." From thereon, the band tore into their songs with a restrained fury, quickly running through the standout tracks from their catalog. For the majority of the show, Casablancas seemed to be the only one prowling the stage, with the guitarists remaining relatively stationary, cranking out riffs with detached, often bemused, interest. Although he may not be invited back to the opera anytime soon, Fabrizio Moretti found a place where he could be more at home, enthusiastically pounding away on the drums. Fraiture's rumbling bass line from "Juicebox" loosened up the hipster crowd and by the time the band reached "Last Night," even the most reserved, ultra-hip Strokes fan couldn't help but break down and dance in place. For close to two hours, the band kept up a frenetic pace, offering very few pauses or quiet moments. The calmest selection of the evening was the guitar free reading of "Ask Me Anything" with Valensi, on keyboards, providing the sole accompaniment for Casablancas.

While hardly the type of band suited for covers, they found room in their set for a rave up of The Ramones' "Life's A Gas." Though the band typically avoids indulging the commonplace comparisons to the New York bands that preceded them, their tip of the cap to The Ramones seemed very much in step with the rest of the show.

Evidencing the ever-changing attitudes in the Big Apple, The Strokes broke out the once apocryphal "New York City Cops" in their encore. Hardly flattering to the NYPD, the song was abruptly removed, with the band's consent, from their 2001 debut in the aftermath of September 11th. It's inclusion in the set provided the only slightly political bent to the show and paradoxically seemed both in line and at odds with the band's normal removed, laissez-faire demeanor. As if remembering to exhibit some rock star attitude, Valensi jumped up onto the drum riser during the night's closer "Take It Or Leave It" leaping off just before Moretti finished the song by hurdling the drums and letting his band mates carry him off stage.

The United States leg of The Strokes' tour will continue through the end of April. After which they will head overseas, appearing at multiple European Festivals.

Labels: The Strokes

By: David Schultz

In 2001, The Strokes unleashed the much-hyped Is This It, solidifying their position as the poster boys of the hipster-cool New York scene. Although their debut album lived up to the hype, the same couldn't be said for their dreary 2003 follow-up, Room On Fire. With the first high-profile release of the New Year, the Strokes kick off 2006 with the more polished, more mature First Impressions Of Earth. The Strokes haven't abandoned the stripped down sound that earned them acclaim. Rather, they've finely honed it. Instead of channeling Tom Verlaine or the Velvet Underground's gritty New York sound, the Strokes, with their signature staccato guitars and straightforward but powerful drums, are developing their own.

On the whole, First Impressions has a cleaner, fresher sound than their two prior releases. With David Kahne replacing longtime producer Gordon Raphael, lead singer Julian Casblancas no longer sounds like he's singing in a different room, trying to be heard above the noise. For this outing, Casablancas now appears to have been invited into the same room as the rest of the band and given a better microphone. Although given room to belt out some of his trademark howls, Casablancas tones it down, showing some vocal versatility. Guitarists Albert Hammond Jr. and Nick Valensi and bassist Nikolai Fraiture keep things simple but forceful. The relatively modest song lengths give their in-your-face riffs a stark, hit-and-run feel. Drummer Fabrizio Moretti invaluably keeps the whole thing grounded and it would be hard to imagine the Strokes getting the same feel with a different drummer.

Emblematic of First Impressions, the lead single "Juicebox" epitomizes the band's growth. Containing the expected growling guitars behind Casablancas' strong vocals, there is a crispness to the track that's been missing from their prior releases. With its sparse opening evolving into a rumbling mix of guitars, "Evening Sun" captures the band stylishly pulling out their Velvet Underground tricks. The band experiments with some new sounds, incorporating Valensi's Mellotron into "Ask Me Anything" and bafflingly integrating a chorus right out of Barry Manilow's "Mandy" into the otherwise hip "Razorblade." First Impressions opens briskly, with "You Only Live Once," gallops along nicely through "Heart In A Cage" (providing a nice couplet with "Juicebox"), drifts into a U2 worthy climax on "Fear Of Sleep" before closing with the jaunty, upbeat "Red Light." Even the uninspired, formulaic songs like "On The Other Side," "15 Minutes" and "Killing Lies" possess a nice sharp beat and hardly detract from the overall album.

Since their debut, The Strokes have been a polarizing force amongst music fans. Be it a dispute over whether Casablancas and Hammond's silver-spoon upbringing rob the band of ever possessing street credibility or whether the band deserved the hype lavished upon them in their infancy, The Strokes have always provoked animated discussion. Their tertiary effort won't serve to answer any of the questions, save one that has dogged throughout their short career, will they last? Reigning in their less defined impulses on First Impressions, the Strokes demonstrate a maturity and control demonstrating that they will not only last, but should be unveiling creative, intelligent and edgy music for many years to come.

Labels: The Strokes

The driving rhythm behind The Strokes, drummer Fabrizio Moretti, has been positively impacting the lives of young people in New York and beyond by spearheading his own foundation while joining efforts of New York's music industry foundation Road Recovery.

Together with family and friends, the Moretti family recently launched the JuDi Foundation whose goal is to support, finance, and promote public education relating to juvenile diabetes information and research. "Diabetes has touched our family directly. It is a disease that can literally be arrested through early detection and ongoing medical care. Moretti explained, "The primary goal of the JuDi Foundation is to promote early screening, identification, and treatment of children suffering from diabetes, along with raising funds for research using embryonic stem cells, particularly research that is operating without governmental funding."

While launching the JuDi Foundation, Moretti was introduced to Road Recovery, the New York based non-profit foundation whose action programs join music industry professionals whose lives have been touched by drug/alcohol addiction with teenagers in an environment that nurtures creativity and mentorship while offering positive alternatives.

Both Road Recovery and the JuDi Foundation speak the same language in furthering a message of healthy living to youth. In February 2005, Moretti personally spent an evening with youth from the Caron Foundation, where Road Recovery has developed an on-going program for teens in early recovery. Moretti began working with Crazy James, a band comprised of teens whose recovery spans from days to a year, during pre-production rehearsals for their upcoming recording sessions. Moretti demonstrated proper drumming techniques and song crafting skills to the teens. He referenced his real life experiences as the drummer for his band, and how he has learned to bring life's experience and feelings to drumming. Moretti encapsulated such knowledge with sensitivity and intuition, with the ability to connect as a peer-to-peer, instead of the façade as a rock star talking down to a fan.

In furthering his involvement with Road Recovery Caron Foundation teen alumni, Moretti chose to get involved with Crazy James' first CD recording in a world-class professional recording studio. He has been lending a hand in sitting in the studio with the teens, advising on the recording session with Road Recovery's pros (Groove Collective bandmates Jay Rodriguez & Chris Theberge, with Owen Comaskey, songwriter/Talent Buyer - Crash Mansion/BLVD), and showing support to teens trying to lead a healthy life through the power of music and shared experience. Crazy James' music draws from each band member's life experiences: going from confusion, anger, desolation and near death self-destruction to hope, conviction, peace and life. A Spring release is anticipated.

Moretti explains, "Road Recovery seems to trade sadness and disparity for focus and creativity. The life stories of these courageous people are testimonies of their strength and maturity. Watching them carry each other with kindness, sensitivity and regard was moving, but seeing them work together, writing music and allocating their passions to something communal, was inspiring. Music has never seemed so therapeutic as it does with these kids through Road Recovery."

Labels: The Strokes

Ryan from Wiz Kid Management tells me that the Strokes are working on new material and are in pre-production with a few new songs. Ryan says the guys are taking their time with the writing/recording process and that the new cd could be out Spring 2005 or a little later.

Also, The Strokes have been added to the lineup for Little Steven's International Underground Garage Festival. An offshoot of Little Steven's Underground Garage radio show, the event will be held Aug. 14 at New York's Randall's Island. Iggy and the Stooges, the New York Dolls and Bo Diddley also share the bill with several other bands.

Labels: The Strokes