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AMSTERDAM - Last fall, debut album Is This It (2001) of American rock band The Strokes was voted 'best record of the decade' by music magazines NME and OOR. Singer Julian Casablancas almost simultaneously released his first solo effort: Phrazes For The Young.

Casablancas' primary goal was to show versatility. “I wanted every song to be it's own world”, the 31 year old New Yorker states.

Instruments
The Strokes singer discovered his love for music by a Best Of album of The Doors. His grandfather gave it to him. “I just felt like I understood what was going on. I could hear what all the instruments were doing clearly, and I hadn’t played music at that point. It was kind of a weird revelation.”

Ever since The Strokes brought out their last record First Impressions Of Earth, the five band members didn't sit still. Guitarist Albert Hammond Jr. released two albums under his own name, drummer Fabrizio Moretti debuted in 2008 with his band Little Joy, and bass player Nikolai Fraiture last year brought out a record under the moniker Nickel Eye. Only second guitarist Nick Valensi didn't release a solo record.”

Demo's
Casablancas started recording demo's for his solo album two and a half years back. “I’ve always done demo’s alone,” the singer explains, “so it was nothing new. I was trying to do things and see what it was like to do these complicated arrangements alone. I hadn’t done it for a while, though I used to do that in The Strokes. I'd ust kind of write everything. Well, not everything, but a lot.”

Working alone gives him a form of freedom he didn't have with The Strokes. “The good thing about The Strokes is that it’s a tough music jury panel, that almost can’t agree on anything. When you write new stuff there’s a lot of resistance. For me it was kind of nice to not have that. It felt pretty liberating.”

Casablancas believes The Strokes have to work together even better in the future. Up until now, he was responsible for most of the writing and that has to change, he says. “The way we are supposed to be doing stuff in the future, is not like we are doing it now.”

Interview: Martin Kuiper
Text: Tom Springveld

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