Julian Casablancas on why Jim Morrison was a terrible role model
Like many indie-rock frontmen, Julian Casablancas doesn’t exude the same level of confidence he displays onstage. In fact, when it comes to press interviews, the renowned Strokes musician would prefer to avoid them. “I don’t like exploiting [my] personal life,” he once said. And it makes sense: in a job that places vanity at its crux, it might feel more tempting to protect your personal intricacies. Perhaps this is also one of the reasons why Jim Morrison – and, by extension, The Doors – were a terrible role model for him.
Becoming a charismatic frontman is a crucial aspect of leading a band. During The Strokes’ live shows, Casablancas wholeheartedly commits to this role, allowing his bandmates to expertly wield their instruments while he effortlessly transitions between confident stage presence and audience interaction, all as part of his captivating performance.
If you were to ask Casablancas to explain the feeling that comes over him when he’s performing, he’d say it’s similar to getting lost in a trance. As he once explained to Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ Karen O when the two indie icons interviewed each other for Time Out: “There’s an element of performing where I just like to get lost, and I think the technical thing of playing an instrument and singing is like walking a tightrope. I would have to focus on not falling off the rope.”
Instead of concentrating on maintaining his composure, Casablancas opts to remain flexible during his stage performances: “I just want to be able to whirl around like a fool and ‘shoo-bop-bop’ – scat if I want to, point to someone, make melodic or lyrical jokes within the song,” he said. “And also, I want each guitar to be doing some crazy shit that’s almost too hard to play and sing at the same time.”
This incorporation of complex guitar parts is something that was first inspired by The Doors, as Casablancas was initially drawn to the more layered and complicated songs “like The Doors“. The influence of Morrison can also be heard in some of Casablancas’ vocalisation, along with the musical intricacy that he enjoyed.
Music aside, Casablancas also found himself being drawn to the fast-paced, partying lifestyle promoted by bands like The Doors, which was often the case with rock bands and the rock and roll culture they found themselves residing in. While Casablancas also got involved, he soon realised it wasn’t the right road to go down. “The Doors were terrible role models,” he admits.
He added: “Jim Morrison probably worked and read awesome literature and worked on poetry in sobriety for years, and then he finally made it, and he partied and acted like a maniac, and people think, ‘OK, if I want to sing cool, I have to drink whiskey’. But it doesn’t work that way. And then he died at 27. I think I was living that kind of mimicking cliché. And I felt kind of really roughed up by it. And so I realized what I really wanted to do was make positive things.”
