Julian Casablancas is “sure” Nick Valensi will return to The Strokes “soon” despite absence from ‘Going Shopping’ video
The Strokes frontman Julian Casablancas has stated that Nick Valensi will return to the band in the near future.
In May, it was confirmed by the band that guitarist Valensi will miss their upcoming tour, and he was “taking a temporary break from the scheduled tour,” with Steve Schiltz deputising for him.
Valensi performed with the band at Coachella earlier this year, but Schiltz filled in during their warm-up dates in San Francisco.
Additionally, on June 29th, The Stokes released their new video for ‘Going Shopping’, which stars Walton Goggins, as well as the other members of the New York indie icons apart from Valensi.
Casablancas shared stills from the shoot on his Instagram, which they filmed last month in Tenerife, while Goggins made a feature film in the Canary Islands, and cleared up speculation about Valensi’s absence in the comments section.
The frontman responded to a fan who claimed “they broke up” with Valensi, and wrote, “Not true… he’ll be back soon I’m sure. Also he wasn’t at last shoot (adults) either btw…”
Casablancas went on to explain how the video for ‘Going Shopping’ was initially “supposed to be just me and Walton too… things just got a little out of hand”.
Meanwhile, Casablancas was full of praise for Goggins in his original post, describing him as “an American treasure and icon and legend in his own damn time,” before adding, “Not since James Dean and young Brando for me has there been a cool actor who I hang on every word every movement and tone inflection and mannerism as honest perfection.”
Similarly, Goggins was delighted to collaborate with The Strokes, writing, “Thank you fellas… Jules, Fab, Albert, Nikolai and Johann for this invitation. Days I will never forget! New Friends. Can’t wait to see you on the road gents! I’ll be singing my ass off in whatever seat I can get.”
The Strokes recently delayed the release of their first album in six years, Reality Awaits, which was set to be released on June 26th, but will now arrive on July 24th.
Their current tour is set to resume on July 12th in Richmond, Virginia. The long run will close with a huge homecoming show at Flushing Meadows Corona Park in New York on October 2nd, with support coming from Beach House, TV on the Radio and Fcukers.
Then, at the end of their North American tour at Flushing Meadows, they will kick off the European leg at The O2 in London on October 6th, which will be followed by dates in Amsterdam, Düsseldorf, Berlin, Bologna, Barcelona, Paris, Newcastle, Manchester, and Dublin.
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