“This is the new vibe”: The album Julian Casablancas wants The Strokes to be remembered for
In 2001, the modern indie revolution began with Is This It. Armed with gripping guitar riffs and anthemic melodies, The Strokes led the charge with passion and purpose, paving the way for countless others. After all, without them, it’s unlikely that bands like Arctic Monkeys would have emerged, or that the indie resurgence of the 2000s would have had the same punch.
Following the Britpop era of the 1990s onwards, The Strokes brought something more reminiscent of garage rock, reinstating the power of gritty guitars and unpolished vocals in a way that stood in stark contrast to the more refined pop-leaning sounds that dominated the mainstream. Is This It, with its heart-pumping favourites like ‘Soma’ and ‘Barely Legal’, captured this with a somewhat effortlessly cool demeanour, reigniting everything about what made indie rock great in the first place.
A couple of years later, Room On Fire satiated the need for an Is This It 2.0, with the band delivering even more indie anthems without operating under the pretence of what a sophomore album should and could be. After all, for a juncture with the most pressure, especially if the debut comes with as much success as their 2001 masterpiece did, the second one is either make or break or a cop-out entirely.
However, while Room On Fire was undeniably an extension of their debut, it avoided the common pitfall of a sloppy continuation. Instead, it refined what made them great in the first place by doubling down on everything that made Is This It so appealing. As a result, The Strokes reinforced their dominance in the burgeoning indie movement, with Room On Fire proving that sometimes consistency is key.
But Room On Fire wasn’t just a rehashing of old flames, it took familiarity and added even more refinement without venturing too far into overproduction. For instance, songs like ‘Reptilia’, ’12:51′, and ‘Under Control’ emerge more from a quiet confidence, free from the burden of “making it” after already establishing that they had the means to do so. In Julian Casablancas’s eyes, this made the album the better component of the two.
“I wanted to finish the Is This It? thought; even when we were doing it, I always thought it was part two [of Is This It],” Casablancas told Rolling Stone in 2014. “I remember when we started ‘Reptilia’ and ‘The End Has No End,’ I was like, ‘This is the new vibe.’ I think we always felt like we were in jeopardy. When we did Room on Fire, things were established, but things were internally, at least from my perspective, not healthy.”
Casablancas’ particular fondness for Room On Fire stems from his broader vision of how he hopes The Strokes will be remembered. While Is This It had a rawer edge, especially in terms of its success, Room On Fire allowed them to exercise more creative freedom without certain pressures, settling into their sound with more purpose and making the album feel more effortlessly pulled together.
Even many of their later releases, like Comedown Machine, feel intrinsically linked to everything they established on Room On Fire, anchored by the band’s knack for raw indie rock with endearing melodies. This almost comes full circle with The New Abnormal, where the band proves that, even during times of intense cultural upheaval, those initial sparks still shine, and they’re even more intact than ever.
