Usually bands reveal their bitter recording-studio conflicts decades after the fact, when they have the reissued anniversary version of the album to sell, but Julian Casablancas — currently hard at work on the fourth studio album from the reunited Strokes — has no problem doing so in real time. And thank goodness for that! In an interview with ABC’s Dan Harris, Casablancas explains, with some brilliant thinly veiled condescension, that the rest of the band’s been working on music without him: “I thought honestly it would be a good chance for them … I’m pretty opinionated. I’m not saying pushy … I’ll hear a song and say, ‘It seems like the bass should do something different.’ … If I wasn’t in the room, they could kind of spread their wings, if you will.†Casablancas had already hinted — even though the Strokes decided to get back together after his solo album, Phrazes for the Young — that things weren’t quite right. Sure is nice to get details on the awkwardness, though.
Strokes Recording Tracks Without Julian Casablancas [SPIN]
Related: Different Stroke [NYM]