In the lead up to the release of their new album, Angles, The Strokes are now professing to be a much cleaner living band these days than they were around the time of the release of their last album, 2006’s First Impressions Of Earth. Speaking to The Guardian, bassist Nick Valensi reckoned he learned to control his drug taking but had feared for his band mates at times. “I’m a fan of drugs in general. I just think it’s important to have some level of self-control. But, there are some types of people who just can’t.” Has he worried about his bandmates in that respect? “Yeah, but that’s all I’m going to say.”
Front man Julian Casablancas is more direct, having quit drinking and presumably drugging in 2006.”I was living unsustainably and unproductively,” he admits. “I would prefer it if people thought that I didn’t work hard, that I just played the guitar for three minutes a week and was like, ‘Check out this song – what do you think?’ That would be ideal. I would prefer telling people that I’m just truly talented. But you work so hard, you make it sound effortless. I mean, I never wrote when I was drunk. People just glorify that stuff so much.”
Guitarist Albert Hammond Jr is a little more circumspect, confessing that he was never much of a drinker but has only fairly recently given up the party powders. “For me it’s… I can’t believe I didn’t see it this way before. It’s so hard to say the right words without it coming across cheesy or self-help. It’s all so new. All the words are coming back to my brain. When you’re fucked up you’re just covering something else up you know? 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.”
