Julian Casablancas has spoken about why he’s “kind of stepped away a little bit” from The Strokes.
Casablancas, who founded The Strokes in 1997, spoke to the LA Times about his decision to “step away” from the band. Their last album was 2020’s ‘The New Abnormal‘; since then, Casablancas has just released a new album with his experimental side project The Voidz, which dropped back in September.
Speaking with LA Times, Casablancas was asked whether there was anything he missed about working with the Strokes or the Voidz, to which he replied: “Probably one direction more than the other. I don’t know if I can answer that without being offensive to someone.”
When the LA Times presumed “that means you miss the Voidz”, Casablancas confirmed: “sometimes, yeah”.
Casablancas was then asked whether he felt like he was contributing to an “opiate-of-the-masses vibe” when playing with The Strokes. In response, Casablancas said: “No, because I think I put political thoughts now in Strokes songs too.
“I always have to some degree,” he added. “I definitely think a lot of Strokes fans don’t get that about it so much, which is maybe why I’ve kind of stepped away a little bit. But it’s a very cool day job that I’m honored to have, so I don’t feel negatively about it. If it was wasting so much of my time that I couldn’t do anything positive, then I would. But I don’t let it get to that point. At least I don’t think so. I could be lying to myself.”
Julian Casablancas. CREDIT: Mariano Regidor/Redferns
Speaking to NME last month, Casablancas elaborated on the political nature of his earlier Strokes songs. “In ‘New York City Cops’ and ‘Soma’ there were political themes,” he told us. “‘Political’ is a bad word because you think of the Tories and the Republicans – that’s not really what I mean. I’m talking about the ideas and values of human beings and how to philosophically combat the gears of power and the people who control things.”
Casablancas went on to say that those ideas were “always at the core of the musical quest” to the extent that he feels he did “maybe care more about that than the music”.
In the same interview, Casablancas spoke out on the upcoming Presidential Election earlier this month, saying the candidates were “both two sides of the same corporate coin”.
“To be super middle of the road, I would say the vice presidential [running mate] of Kamala Harris, [Tim] Walz – he seems like an honest, decent person,” he continued. “So just for him, I suppose I’ll be sports-rooting for that team more than the other team, but I think they’re both two sides of the same corporate coin.
“Emotionally, a woman of colour and all that – sure, let’s just get that out of the way and check that box so we can move forward. But, in terms of what people actually want, neither of the parties offer that – they just have a stranglehold on power.”
In other news, Charli XCX has spoken about being influenced by Julian Casablancas, Daft Punk and the NYC dance scene.
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