The Strokes - Is This It with Steven Hyden

Join us to go back 25 years to the release of The Strokes debut album Is This It.

Steven’s new book Is This It: The Never-Ending Rise and Fall of the Strokes is out now in the US & also here in the UK.

The story begins when future Stroke frontman Julian Casablancas meets future bassist Nikolai Fraiture meet as kids.

They hold a shared interest in music as they grow up before Julian is sent to Switzerland to attend a boarding school where he meets guitar player Albert Hammond Jr.

They later reconnect in New York as Julian is putting together a band.

The lineup comes together with Albert becoming the final member to join.

The first Strokes gig takes place at The Spiral in Manhattan in September of 1999 & with the help of guru J.P. Bowersock they build the material which becomes their debut release The Modern Age EP, released on Rough Trade in the UK.

Is This It is released in the Autumn of 2001 & is an immediate success in the UK, however it is a slower process in the US with their star not rising until a year or so later.

We hear about the unique drum & vocal sounds on Is This It & the process behind some of the albums biggest songs as well as what Tom Petty made of the similarity between Strokes hit single Last Nite & his own American Girl.

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