What happened to the lost collaboration between The Strokes and Damon Albarn?
If you were to have some sort of indie fever dream at any point in the early 2000s, it was likely that The Strokes and Damon Albarn were going to appear as characters.
In this sense, it was probably something that the two were quite aware of when they came together back in 2003, although none of their fans managed to reap the rewards of hearing their collaborative efforts. To some, this would have been a sliding doors match made in heaven, while to others, it would have been a bullet well-dodged.
I’m only here to give you the facts: it’s up to you to make up your own mind. The story goes that The Strokes were obviously putting in a lot of late nights during the making of Room on Fire. They had a history-making debut to follow up on, after all. But it was only right that there were moments between the hours in the studio where they could let off steam.
For that, the heights of Blur were calling, albeit with an unexpected sort of afterparty following the show. As the band’s producer, Gordon Raphael, said at the time: “The Strokes went to a rock n’ roll concert while we were making the album and they brought back the lead singer of the band they went to see… A man called Damon Albarn from Blur.”
The sheer nonchalance of this statement was what made it even more hilarious, as if that man in question was just casually responsible for some of the most illustrious hits of the previous decade, as well as some of the most ridiculous rock and roll moments to boot. But evidently, in The Strokes’ microcosmic studio world, he was nothing more than a piece of riffraff they’d pulled in off the street.
Yet regardless of whether it was his place to say this or not, Albarn had some grand ideas when it came to tackling that infamous sophomore album for the New York rockers. He wanted to go full “Beatles with all those harmonies”, according to Raphael, noting that The Strokes never used backing vocals in any of their tracks.
Compared to the relative new kids on the block, it was clear they felt that the Blur frontman was the most experienced head in the room, so they had to oblige him. “We let him go out and try for a couple of hours… singing backing vocals. Julian’s taking it really seriously, seeing if he can craft what Damon’s doing into something that would make it on the record,” Raphael said.
However, despite arguments over whether it was a genuine realisation or total bravado, Albarn eventually had to admit defeat and bow out. “In the end, Damon said, ‘Well, I guess the songs are just perfect the way they are.’ And so no backing vocals were used.” With a flourish, the frontman was gone, seeing his services were needed elsewhere.
The effects of that one night in 2003, dare I say it, might have tempted fate a little bit. The fact that they were struggling to find their sound with Albarn might have translated into the album as a whole, with Room on Fire never reaching the heights of what had come before. Their brush with Blur was a symbol of fleeting moments, before they were gone.
