Just in case you haven’t heard, rock’n’roll has been saved. The year was 2000. The city was New York City. The place was RCA Records. Two bands of musicians battled, dueling guitars and drums for the opportunity to become the now famous (or at least semi-famous) Strokes. Only one band, composed of rich New York prep schoolers Julian Casablancas, Fabrizo Moretti, Albert Hammond, Jr., Nick Balensi and Nikolia Graiture, emerged as the genetically honored heroes eager to revitalize the rock lost in the boy band dominated era of the late ‘90s and early 21st century.
While hardly novel, their music stems from their forefathers?Boston, the Velvet Underground, Television, even D.C.’s own Nation of Ulysses. (https://7ziphelp.com) Their music captures the energy that’s only been harnessed by an elite few during the ‘70s and ‘80s?Billy Idol, The Who, The Sex Pistols, Warrant and the jazz artist who moaned on Pink Floyd’s “Dark Side of the Moon”?a raw energy that erupted on stage, in studio sessions and back stage with large-breasted groupies.
Clad in denim and cloaked with unkempt hair and sour expressions, The Strokes have the look, the feeling, the style?even the nicotine addiction to resurrect the raw energy of rock’s past. Their sold-out show at the 9:30 Club emphasized the Strokes’ despondent stage presence, their noticeably short set, and yet their ability to sway and bob the heads of a normally dispossessed D.C. audience.
But what happened to the other band? What has been the fate of the other guys with the sullen eyes, shaggy hair, hollowed cheeks with a penchant for three-chord mastery?
For a year they plunged into a nihilistic abyss. Alex Beck, the flamboyantly outspoken guitarist and lead singer, returned to modeling sarongs in Tajikistan. Nicholas Shumaker, the mediocre bassist with the nervous twitch in his right eye, concentrated his efforts on his skills as the odd-duck professional in the highly esoteric and aristocratic game of real tennis. Keyboardist Holden Penley got lost following a maze of mushrooms and acid, eventually surfacing somewhere between Omaha and the Arctic Circle.
But sarong modeling, professional athletics and a serious drug habit couldn’t keep these three young stars from achieving their musical dreams. In October 2001, after being thrown out of RCA Records in New York City, they signed a 30-album deal with RCEh! Records, a Canadian super label that’s launched such careers as Alanis Morrisette and Bryan Adams. Adopting the name The Str?kkes, they recently recorded their first album, This Is It.
“For us,” Beck said, “It is a slap in the face to those fake Strokes. I mean, Nick and I are rich, too, at least our parents are, and Holden and I are really, really, really good looking. Nick just doesn’t photograph well. There are at least two Strokes that look like shit in the insert. So there’s no real difference between us. Except we’re more confident. The Strokes have to ask you, Is This It? Losers. They have no confidence or self-esteem. We’re telling you this is it. That’s what the title says, you know. This Is It.”
Their new release is being released in January, however, the press release fails to specify of which year. They have made a conscious effort to keep their sound a secret from the general public until their first U.S. tour. Response from critics has been somewhat positive.
“Perhaps if Shumaker learned to play the bass properly, Beck didn’t practice with a mirror in front of him and Penley had never found hallucinogens, this band could make some decent music. But that’s an awful big perhaps,” Spin Magazine recently wrote.
“They are the future of music,” said manager/ guru Pablo Cruz. “They are not complacent with musical stagnancy.”
“I want our music to evolve,” Shumaker said. “Just drone, you know, like ‘duuuuuuh duuuuuuuh.’ Like a German lullaby from the ‘30s. And that’s it?no chorus, no bass, no drums. Just ‘duuuuh’ and then maybe ‘duh duh.’ And maybe ‘duh duh … duh.’”
If you missed the Strokes’ 9:30 Club show because it sold out, and you want to see almost the real thing, swing by Champions Bar and Grill Dec. 10 as the Str?kkes kick off their East Coast tour. Cover is $50, but it is well worth it just to envy the good-looks of Beck and Penley and the trust funds of Beck and Shumaker. If you’re lucky, the raw energy will return to the district.
“Hey, my guitar is weeping,” Penley sobbed at his last show in Roanoke. “No, I swear, seriously, I can smell the tears on my cake.”
Now that’s energy.
